Bolometric infrared quadrant detectors and uses with firearm applications

• US 9,261,408 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2014
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SVZ Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: SVZ Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Zaitsev, Sergey V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Kiho
• Application Number:
  US14/577,849
• Publication Number:
  US 20150176947A1
• Time in Patent Office: 424 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 3/16 Sighting devices adapted for indirect laying of fire
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/027 making use of sensor-related data, e.g. for identification of sensor parts or optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0806 Focusing or collimating elements, e.g. lenses or concave mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/085 having a through-hole enabling the optical elements to fulfil an additional optical function, e.g. mirrors or gratings having a through-hole for a light collecting or light injecting optical fiber
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/20 using resistors, thermistors or semiconductors sensitive to radiation, e.g. photoconductive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/24 Use of specially adapted circuits, e.g. bridge circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/784 using a mosaic of detectors

Abstract

A thermal position sensor includes a collection of micro-bolometers, each having an electrical resistance and each including a substrate and an absorptive element. The absorptive element is suspended above the substrate and configured to absorb infrared radiation, including 10-micron long-wavelength infrared radiation. A change in a temperature of the micro-bolometer causes a change in the resistance of the micro-bolometer. The collection of micro-bolometers is partitioned into a first quadrant, a second quadrant, a third quadrant, and a fourth quadrant, where each of the quadrants represents a 90-degree segment of the sensor and includes at least one micro-bolometer of the collection of micro-bolometers. Each of the quadrants includes at least one output signal that provides information indicative of a temperature of the quadrant based on a resistance associated with the at least one micro-bolometer of the quadrant.

Claims

1. A thermal position sensing system, comprising:

a thermal position sensor, that includes;

a collection of micro-bolometers, each of the micro-bolometers having an electrical resistance, and each of the micro-bolometers comprising a substrate and an absorptive element, the absorptive element being suspended above the substrate and configured to absorb infrared radiation, including 10-micron long-wavelength infrared radiation, and wherein a change in a temperature of the micro-bolometer caused by infrared radiation incident on the absorptive element causes a change in the resistance of the micro-bolometer;

wherein the collection of micro-bolometers is partitioned into a first quadrant of the sensor, a second quadrant of the sensor, a third quadrant of the sensor, and a fourth quadrant of the sensor, each of the quadrants representing a 90-degree segment of the sensor and comprising at least one micro-bolometer of the collection of micro-bolometers; and

wherein each of the quadrants comprises at least one output signal that provides information indicative of a temperature of the quadrant based on a resistance associated with the at least one micro-bolometer of the quadrant;

an optical element configured to receive infrared radiation and focus the infrared radiation into a beam of infrared radiation on the thermal position sensor; and

an electronic unit configured to receive the at least one output signal from each of the quadrants of the thermal position sensor and determine a position of the beam of infrared radiation on the thermal position sensor relative to the first, second, third and fourth quadrants of the thermal position sensor;

wherein the electronic unit is further configured to determine whether a threshold level of infrared radiation is incident on the thermal position sensor based on the received at least one output signal from each of the quadrants of the thermal position sensor and provide an indication of whether the threshold level of infrared radiation is incident on the thermal position sensor.

2. The thermal position sensor of claim 1, wherein each of the quadrants includes a single micro-bolometer of the collection of micro-bolometers.

3. The thermal position sensor of claim 1, wherein each of the quadrants includes two or more micro-bolometers of the collection of micro-bolometers, the two or more micro-bolometers electrically connected and configured to cooperatively provide an indication of temperature for the respective quadrant based on resistances of the two or more micro-bolometers.

4. The thermal position sensor of claim 1, wherein each of the quadrants includes two or more groups of micro-bolometers, each of the groups including two or more micro-bolometers of the collection of micro-bolometers, the two or more micro-bolometers electrically connected and configured to cooperatively provide an indication of temperature for the respective group based on resistances of the two or more micro-bolometers.

5. The thermal position sensor of claim 1, further comprising a thermoelectric cooler disposed underneath the collection of micro-bolometers and configured to cool the collection of micro-bolometers.

6. A tracking system, comprising:

a thermal position sensor, comprising;

a collection of micro-bolometers, each of the micro-bolometers having an electrical resistance, and each of the micro-bolometers comprising a substrate and an absorptive element, the absorptive element being suspended above the substrate and configured to absorb infrared radiation, including 10-micron long-wavelength infrared radiation, and wherein a change in a temperature of the micro-bolometer caused by infrared radiation incident on the absorptive element causes a change in the resistance of the micro-bolometer;

wherein the collection of micro-bolometers is partitioned into a first quadrant of the sensor, a second quadrant of the sensor, a third quadrant of the sensor, and a fourth quadrant of the sensor, each of the quadrants representing a 90-degree segment of the sensor and comprising at least one micro-bolometer of the collection of micro-bolometers;

and wherein each of the quadrants comprises at least one output signal that provides information indicative of a temperature of the quadrant based on a resistance associated with the at least one micro-bolometer of the quadrant;

an optical element configured to receive infrared radiation and focus the infrared radiation into a beam of infrared radiation on the thermal position sensor;

an electronic unit configured to receive the at least one output signal from each of the quadrants of the thermal position sensor and determine a position of the beam of infrared radiation on the thermal position sensor relative to first, second, third and fourth quadrants of the thermal position sensor, the electronic unit further configured to determine a positional adjustment and provide one or more command signals representing the positional adjustment, wherein the electronic unit is further configured to determine whether a threshold level of infrared radiation is incident on the thermal position sensor based on the received at least one output signal from each of the quadrants of the thermal position sensor, the electronic unit being further configured to provide an indication of whether the threshold level of infrared radiation is incident on the thermal position sensor to a user of the tracking system; and

a positioning element configured to receive the one or more command signals from the electronic unit and positionally adjust one or more components of the tracking system based on the received one or more command signals.

7. The tracking system of claim 6, wherein the positioning element comprises a first motor and a second motor.

8. The tracking system of claim 6 further comprising a firearm to which the tracking system is attached, the firearm including a striker and an interlock for the striker, and wherein the electronic unit is further configured to provide a command signal for controlling the interlock of the striker based on the determination of whether a threshold level of infrared radiation is incident on the thermal position sensor.

9. The tracking system of claim 6, wherein:

each of the quadrants includes two or more groups of micro-bolometers, each of the groups including two or more micro-bolometers of the collection of micro-bolometers, the two or more micro-bolometers electrically connected and configured to cooperatively provide an indication of temperature for the respective group based on resistances of the two or more micro-bolometers; and

wherein the electronic unit includes, for each of the groups, a switch for activating or deactivating the group based on a state of the switch, the electronic unit configured to control the state of the switch.

10. The tracking system of claim 9, wherein the electronic unit is adapted to configure the switches to activate a first subset of the groups and to deactivate a second subset of the groups, the first subset of the groups representing an effective thermal position sensor of reduced size compared to the thermal position sensor.

11. The tracking system of claim 6, further comprising an optical sight, and wherein coarse aiming with the tracking system is performed using the optical sight and fine aiming is performed by the thermal position sensor, the electronic unit, and the positioning element.

12. A tracking system, comprising:

a bipod comprising a first leg and a second leg orthogonal to the first leg, the bipod further comprising a first positioning element and a second positioning element, the first positioning element configured to adjust a distance between a first end of the first leg and a second end of the first leg, and the second positioning element configured to adjust a distance between a first end of the second leg and a second end of the second leg;

a thermal position sensor, comprising;

a collection of micro-bolometers, each of the micro-bolometers having an electrical resistance, and each of the micro-bolometers comprising a substrate and an absorptive element, the absorptive element being suspended above the substrate and configured to absorb infrared radiation, including 10-micron long-wavelength infrared radiation, and wherein a change in a temperature of the micro-bolometer caused by infrared radiation incident on the absorptive element causes a change in the resistance of the micro-bolometer;

wherein the collection of micro-bolometers is partitioned into a first quadrant of the sensor, a second quadrant of the sensor, a third quadrant of the sensor, and a fourth quadrant of the sensor, each of the quadrants representing a 90-degree segment of the sensor and comprising at least one micro-bolometer of the collection of micro-bolometers;

and wherein each of the quadrants comprises at least one output signal that provides information indicative of a temperature of the quadrant based on a resistance associated with the at least one micro-bolometer of the quadrant;

an optical element configured to receive infrared radiation and focus the infrared radiation into a beam of infrared radiation on the thermal position sensor; and

electronic unit configured to receive the at least one output signal from each of the quadrants of the thermal position sensor and determine a position of the beam of infrared radiation on the thermal position sensor relative to the first, second, third and fourth quadrants of the thermal position sensor, wherein the electronic unit is further configured to determine whether a threshold level of infrared radiation is incident on the thermal position sensor based on the received at least one output signal from each of the quadrants of the thermal position sensor and provide an indication of whether the threshold level of infrared radiation is incident on the thermal position sensor, and the electronic unit is further configured to determine a positional adjustment and provide a first command signal to the first positioning element and a second command signal to the second positioning element.

13. The tracking system of claim 12, wherein a first axis of the thermal position sensor is aligned with the first leg of the bipod, and a second axis of the thermal position sensor is aligned with the second leg of the bipod.

14. The tracking system of claim 12, wherein the first positioning element is a linear motor and is coaxial with the first leg, and the second positioning element is a linear motor and is coaxial with the second leg.

15. The tracking system of claim 14, wherein the first linear motor is disposed near the first end of the first leg, and the second linear motor is disposed near the first end of the second leg.

16. The tracking system of claim 14, wherein the first linear motor is disposed near the second end of the first leg, and the second linear motor is disposed near the second end of the second leg.

17. The tracking system of claim 12, wherein the first and second positioning elements are rotary motors.

18. The tracking system of claim 12, wherein the first leg includes a first joint, and wherein a positional adjustment by the first positioning element causes at least a portion of the first leg to pivot about the joint.

19. The tracking system of claim 12, wherein the system is configured to automatically perform fine aiming when the first leg and the second leg are in contact with a surface, and wherein the system is also configured to automatically perform fine aiming when one or both of the first leg and the second leg are not in contact with the surface.