Scanning infrared thermometer with DC offset and emissivity correction
First Claim
1. In a scanning infrared thermometer having an optical system for collecting light from a target and means including a photoelectrical detector for converting the collected light to an analog radiation temperature signal having a magnitude related to temperature, the improvement being a correction circuit, comprising:
- means for altering the analog temperature signal to produce a corrected analog temperature signal in which errors due to emissivity are reduced includinga reference, andmeans for correcting for emissivity;
means responsive to the reference for automatically correcting for DC offset fluctuations prior to correction by said emissivity correcting means;
means including an analog to digital converter for converting the corrected analog temperature signal to generate a corresponding corrected digital temperature signal representative of the magnitude of the corrected analog temperature signal; and
means responsive to the corrected digital temperature signal for displaying the temperature of the target.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A scanning infrared sensor (10) in which the scanner (21), detector (32) and temperature converter (35) are all contained in proximity with one another in a single housing assembly (18) enables correction of both emissivity based on emissivity settings (41) for each of a plurality of spot targets (16'"'"') along a scan line (16) and correction for DC offset errors based on reference temperature measurement (45) of hot and cold references (34, 36). Correction is performed before digital conversion by an A/D converter (56) by a nulling circuit (46), a programmable gain circuit (50) and a bias circuit (62) to produce corrected digital temperature signals on a plurality of output ports (26) respectively associated to a plurality of spot targets (16'"'"') along a scan line (16) on a target (12) which are individually connectable with a multiple temperature display (27), a temperature recorder (28) and a process control (30).
43 Citations
77 Claims
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1. In a scanning infrared thermometer having an optical system for collecting light from a target and means including a photoelectrical detector for converting the collected light to an analog radiation temperature signal having a magnitude related to temperature, the improvement being a correction circuit, comprising:
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means for altering the analog temperature signal to produce a corrected analog temperature signal in which errors due to emissivity are reduced including a reference, and means for correcting for emissivity; means responsive to the reference for automatically correcting for DC offset fluctuations prior to correction by said emissivity correcting means; means including an analog to digital converter for converting the corrected analog temperature signal to generate a corresponding corrected digital temperature signal representative of the magnitude of the corrected analog temperature signal; and means responsive to the corrected digital temperature signal for displaying the temperature of the target. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. In a scanning infrared thermometer having a scanning optical system for collecting light from a target and means including a photoelectrical element for converting the collected light to an analog temperature signal with a magnitude related to temperature, the improvement being a correcting circuit, comprising:
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means for automatically altering the analog temperature signal to correct for DC offset errors from the detector to produce a first order corrected analog temperature signal; means including an analog to digital converter for converting the corrected analog temperature signal to a corresponding corrected digital temperature signal representative of magnitude of the corrected analog temperature signal; and means responsive to the corrected digital temperature signal for displaying the temperature of the target. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. In a scanning infrared thermometer having a scanning optical system for collecting light from a target and means including a photoptical detector for converting the collected light to an analog temperature signal with a magnitude related to the temperature of the target, the improvement, comprising:
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a correcting circuit responsive to the analog temperature signal circuitry for producing a corrected analog temperature signal corrected for errors due to at least one of (a) variations in DC offset of the light converting means and (b) errors due to target emissivity, at least once per complete scan of the scanning optical system; a linearizing circuit responsive to the corrected analog temperature signal for producing a linearized corrected digital temperature signal; a controller responsive to the linearized, corrected temperature signal for controlling the correcting circuit; a housing assembly for protectively enclosing together in proximity the correcting circuit linearizing circuit and the controller; and an output interface including an output terminal mounted to and accessibly from the outside of the housing, and means for producing a representation of the linearized, corrected temperature signal at said output terminal in digital form. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. In a scanning infrared thermometer having a scanning optical system for collecting light from a target and a detector circuit including a photoelectrical device for converting the collected light to an analog temperature signal having a magnitude related to temperature, the improvement being a correcting circuit, comprising:
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means for altering the analog temperature signal to correct for DC offset errors from the detector circuit to produce a corrected analog temperature signal; means for altering the magnitude of the analog temperature signal to correct for magnitude errors caused by at least two of emissivity effects, circuit stability and component variations; means including an analog to digital converter for converting the corrected analog temperature signal to a corresponding corrected digital temperature signal representative of the magnitude of the corrected analog temperature signal; and means responsive to the corrected digital temperature signal for outputting the signal in digital format to at least one of a display, a recorder and a process controller. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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Specification