How Does an Infrared Digital Thermometer Work?
Infrared thermometers are instruments that are used for measuring temperature from a distance. You can use an infrared digital thermometer to monitor the temperature in a wide scope of applications. Whether you run a business in the electrical, manufacturing or food industry, or you are using HVAC equipment for monitoring electrical circuits, pipes and radiant heating and determining leaks or infiltration, an infrared digital thermometer is what you need to get the accurate results. Simply put, some of the main advantages of using this type of temperature test and measurement instruments are the following:
- a quick and foolproof diagnosis of various systems without having to interrupt their work;
- preventing equipment defects and with that malfunction and even total breakdown;
- measuring temperature of hot and moving objects;
- measuring food temperature with no risk of contamination;
- advanced temperature measurements;
- option to memorize the results for further processing.
If you are a curious tech geek like me, I assume you will not be satisfied with just a basic introduction to infrared thermometers. And you should not be. So, if you are eager to learn how an infrared digital thermometer works, stay with me – I offer you a comprehensive explanation about the working principle of these valuable test and measurement instruments.
Black body radiation is the phenomenon beyond the work of infrared thermometers. Namely, inside the surface of an object at a temperature above absolute zero there are countless molecules that are moving. The moving speed of these molecules is determined by the temperature the object is exposed to. In fact, the higher the temperature, the faster those microscopic particles move. As the tiny particles move infrared radiation is being emitted. The amount of infrared radiation that is generated depends on the actual temperature. In cases of extremely high temperatures, the molecules emit a visible spectrum of light and that is the reason why iron and other metals heated at high temperatures glow in red.
An infrared digital thermometer gives information about the temperature of a given object by measuring the electromagnetic radiation, or more specifically the infrared light that the object emits. This is possible thanks to the two essential parts of the thermometer: the lens and the detector. In fact, the lens focus on the infrared light, transfer it to the detector after which the detector measures the received value and displays it in units of temperature.