The Advantage of Thermal Imaging Solutions After Lockdown
One of the key technologies in Coronavirus detection is temperature scanning. The widespread dissemination of this technology allows elevated body temperature to be detected at the early stages of infection. While the technology cannot detect whether a person actually has COVID-19 (or any other infection), it can alert individuals with elevated body temperatures to seek further medical testing to determine if they do in fact have a fever which a key indicator of COVID-19 symptoms.
The temperature scanning technology itself involves the use of thermal imaging cameras that can detect elevated temperatures from one to two meters away, allowing an easy non-contact solution to taking temperatures in particularly high-traffic areas.
Thermal imaging is a non-contact technology that makes the thermal radiation (mid-infrared) of an object or body, invisible to the human eye, visible. In thermal imaging, temperature distributions on surfaces and objects are recorded and displayed. The bolometer matrix (image resolution) is considerably lower in terms of the number of pixels than in cameras for the visible spectral range.
In contrast to cameras with optical image sensors, a thermal camera can detect extremely small temperature differences and visually display them with colors. Some thermal cameras can monitor temperature differences as low as 0.1 °C, which is within the peak range currently available for general use.
A range of thermal cameras can not only provide meaningful thermal images, but can also automatically trigger temperature notifications and events within a temperature range of -40 °C to +550 °C. These state-of-the-art systems then also serve to automatically alarm temperature limits or ranges, which is crucial for the timely detection of sources of fire, heat or malfunction.
The quality of thermal imaging camera for critical environments should be selected to show significantly more details than the lower-performance thermal imaging cameras.
Equipment applications utilizing thermal imaging technology include stand-alone or mounted cameras, kiosks, and hand-held devices. Additional applications beyond skin temperature testing for thermal imaging cameras include the following:
Critical access points in healthcare, schools, public events and buildings
Perimeter protection
Indoor and outdoor fire protection
Plant protection and safety in industrial and manufacturing facilities
Machine and equipment monitoring
Food industry and logistics
Production, storage and transport of dangerous goods
Controlled area monitoring, borders
Public transportation
Applications for thermal imaging technologies are endless. Thermal imaging can be implemented at airports, train and subway stations and bus stops to test passengers before they board, reducing possible transmission of infection. Workplaces and schools can install the technology on their doors to test employees, visitors and students before they enter the building. Grocery stores and other essential services can implement the technology to prevent potentially-infected customers from entering the building, and doctors’ offices and hospitals can use it to effectively quarantine potentially infected patients from those with non-contagious medical conditions.
Aside from providing temperature measurement of people with infection, the other uses for thermal imaging cameras include perimeter protection, privacy protection, early fire detection, entry control, no smoking zone monitoring, and thermal image overlay.
Selective thermal imaging cameras on the market have durability for high investment security and utilize extremely low energy consumption.
Kiosks with thermal imaging cameras can include additional safety and security functions such as facial recognition, fingerprint and finger vein sensors, transaction logging, image logging, RFID card reading, and, of course, temperature measurement.
Contact us for more information about our access to a variety of thermal imaging technologies. Also, visit the FDA’s page on telethermographic technology guidelines. To see a quick video demonstration of how thermal imaging camera solutions work, check out Dahua Technology’s YouTube video ”Thermal Body Temp Measurement Solutions”.
Citations:
Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Office of Product Evaluation and Quality. “Enforcement Policy for Telethermographic Systems During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Apr. 2020.
“Frequently Asked Questions: Thermal Imaging for Elevated Skin Temperature Screening.” FLIR.
Technical features and areas of application, MOBOTIX Thermal Solutions.