Cooled Thermal Camera

COMPARED with uncooled thermal camera, cooled Thermal camera performs better on effect, accuracy as well as reliability...

What is the different between uncooled and cooled thermal imaging camera?

There are different classifications of infrared thermal cameras according to working temperature, detection principle, wavelength, etc. According to the working temperature, it can be divided into two types: cooled type and uncooled type. The detector of the cooled thermal imaging camera is equipped with an integrated low temperature refrigeration device, which reduces the detector to low temperature for operation.

Below is a sheet to analyze the differences of uncooled/cooled thermal cameras.


	Cooled Thermal Camera	Uncooled Thermal Camera
Sensitivity	When cooled thermal camera starts work, refrigerator works in advance, to reduce self temperature. So, when the sensitivity will be better when detect other objects, also, accuracy will be better with lower error.	Uncooled thermal camera is with lower sensitivity and accuracy during work, compared with cooled thermal camera. Especially the non-uniformity of Uncooled Infrared Focal Plane Array is with bigger affects to the measurement result.
Detector type	Insb, MCT	VOx
Wavelength	3.7～4.8μm	8～14μm
Response time	Cooled thermal camera has unique advantage, its response time is as a good example. Due to the detector, cooled thermal camera is with microsecond level, find target and reponse quickly.	Uncooled thermal camera generally with millisecond level, widely used in industry applications.
Dimension	Cooled thermal camera needs to joint work with refrigerator for cooling, so the dimension will be bigger than uncooled ones.
Power consumption	Cooled thermal camera needs to cooling before work, so it uses more energy.
Working life	Cooled thermal camera working life is relevant with the refrigerator, usually, the refrigerator works 8000 to 10000 hours.	Uncooled thermal camera works longer than cooled ones.

Relationship Between Effective Distance & Thermal Camera Focal Length


Cooled Thermal Camera Lens & Effective Range
Lens	300mm		450mm	630mm	730mm
Zoom	15-300mm		45-450mm	30-630mm	32-730mm
FOV	1.8°×1.5°～20.6°×15.5°	1.8°×1.5°～20.6°×15.5°	1.2°×1.0°～12.2°×9.8°	0.9°×0.7°～18.2°×14.6°	0.8°×0.6°～15.6°×12.5°	0.8°×0.6°～15.6°×12.5°
Target	Human(1.8x0.5m), Vehicle(2.3x2.3m)
Distance	Detection: 11000m, 18000m	Recognition: 3400m, 7670m	Detection: 12740m, 18880m	Detection: 14500m, 19800m	Detection: 16400m, 20000m
	Recognition: 3400m, 7670m	Identification: 1650m, 4100m	Recognition: 4970m, 9660m	Recognition: 6400m, 11600m	Recognition: 6400m, 13500m
	Identification: 1650m, 4100m		Identification: 2630m, 5900m	Identification: 3500m, 7500m	Identification: 4300m, 9000m