Thermal camera

A thermal camera records different the radiations infra-red (waves of Chaleur) emitted by the bodies and which vary according to their temperature. As opposed to what one could think, a thermal camera does not make it possible to see behind a wall or an obstacle. It reproduces the temperature stored by a body, or shows the heat flux of a wall because of a hearth being with the back.

The panes as well as the polished metal parts reflect the thermal image a such mirror. This image, although less clear, can however induce the rescuer in error.

Fields of application of a thermal camera

A thermal camera can be used in various situations. This list is thus not exhaustive:

for the firemen:

search for victims at the time of fires of apartments and especially in great volumes such as underground car parks, factories, halls of storage, forest fire…
search for hearth: the thermal camera makes it possible to detect a hearth very quickly or even a fire brooding
fire or residual hearth in an expansion joint following a fire of cellar in a standard apartment building bars dwelling,
not hot after extinction of a fire of chimney or roof,
electric fire: short-circuit, overpressure…
at the time of the discharge of coaches or cistern, the level in the tank of certain chemicals can be observed using the thermal camera
at the time of an intervention for an traffic accident of night in shift, to detect a possible body ejected out of the road
in rescue clearing, to locate a victim in a room accessible by a small opening

the models are in general not explosion-proof and cannot thus be committed in explosive environments.

for the Armed and the services with police force: for the operations of night;
recently, with the owners of rooms of Cinéma in the United States equipped their personnel with thermal cameras in order to detect the people filming projections since the room ( Screening ).
In addition, a thermal camera can be useful for the detection of the weak points of the insulation of a building.

Characteristics of the thermal cameras

The thermal cameras or infra-red cameras are defined by their space Resolution (the smallest visible object) and them thermal Résolution (the smallest difference in perceptible temperature). These two resolutions are not independent and the cameras are in general characterized by the curve giving the evolution of the thermal resolution according to the space resolution. This curve is called curve of MRTD.

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