Part 6: What additional accessories may be required?

Part 6: What additional accessories may be required?


Project equipment requirements may extend beyond the need for an infrared camera and software. For example, you may need a protective enclosure to use your camera in a harsh or demanding environment. Safety requirements may force you to work miles away from the camera, necessitating a remote operation system. In these and other situations, it’s vital to buy from an IR camera provider that can offer accessories as turn-key solutions.

For mounting the camera outdoors or in manufacturing environments, you may want to consider an enclosure with a special infrared window that is optimized for that specific camera and detector. Another consideration is: will the camera be looking inside an environmental chamber or other pressurized enclosure where a special infrared window would be required? In either of these scenarios, you need to make sure you get a window that has good transmission for the detector’s waveband of sensitivity and has anti-reflective coatings. FLIR provides tools for calculating what type, size, and thickness of material will be best suited for your requirements. FLIR also offers off-the-shelf enclosures for most cameras, creating a true out-of-the-box solution. (See Figure 7.)


Figure 7: FLIR RS8300 environmental enclosure example

Figure 7: FLIR RS8300 environmental enclosure example


Another common accessory is a cable extension for situations where the camera is located a long distance from the camera operator. One example is if the camera is on a tracking mount near a test that is considered too dangerous for humans. In this case you can use Ethernet, Firewire, or CameraLink to fiberoptic extenders that allow you to transmit the thermal data at full frame rates for miles if necessary. FLIR provides solutions for these situations as well, which save you time and money and removes the guess work in building an integrated test system.

There are many additional considerations for optional accessories when building the final thermography system. Be sure to consider the test environment when defining your infrared system requirements, and take note of what accessories may be helpful. Whether it is availability of the appropriate optics, extended cable lengths, a camera stand, enclosure, or a data system, FLIR is dedicated to helping you solve these problems with a broad range of products, and information on third-party sources.


Various accessories are available to customize your FLIR camera

Various accessories are available to customize your FLIR camera


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