Light "paints" wall with colors corresponding to surface temperature

lumen aeternum

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
890
from 2012. I cannot find the actual instructions though

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328546-200-thermal-flashlight-paints-cold-rooms-with-colour/

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, the thermal flashlight prototype costs about $40. What's more, it can easily be assembled by someone with no electronics expertise. To prove how easy it is, visitors to the Citizen Cyberscience Summit in London last month were shown how to build their own devices by fastening probes and wire to a circuit board. They used recycled VHS cases to house their creations.
"The thermal flashlight can be easily assembled by someone with no electronics expertise"


The thermal flashlight is built around a single infrared thermometer. This scans an area of wall and picks up varying levels of radiation emanating from it. This temperature information is fed into a microprocessor, which controls a multicoloured LED light. Shine the flashlight against a surface and the colour shows you a real-time temperature reading. Areas of the wall with a cooler temperature show up blue, while red light shines on patches that register as warmer. An image of the light-painted room showing exactly where heat is leaking can then be captured using a webcam with an online app called Glowdoodle or just standard time-lapse photography.


The team hopes that such pictures can be used to confront landlords who are not insulating their apartments sufficiently. In New York, for example, landlords must make sure their apartments are at 20 °C if the outdoor temperature falls below 12.8 °C between 6am and 10pm.
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iamlucky13

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 11, 2016
Messages
1,139
That's a really interesting idea. Perhaps not quite as convenient as a thermal infrared camera, but it might be the next best thing at a lower price.
 

ssanasisredna

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
457
from 2012. I cannot find the actual instructions though

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328546-200-thermal-flashlight-paints-cold-rooms-with-colour/

snip
, the thermal flashlight prototype costs about $40. What's more, it can easily be assembled by someone with no electronics expertise. To prove how easy it is, visitors to the Citizen Cyberscience Summit in London last month were shown how to build their own devices by fastening probes and wire to a circuit board. They used recycled VHS cases to house their creations.
"The thermal flashlight can be easily assembled by someone with no electronics expertise"


The thermal flashlight is built around a single infrared thermometer. This scans an area of wall and picks up varying levels of radiation emanating from it. This temperature information is fed into a microprocessor, which controls a multicoloured LED light. Shine the flashlight against a surface and the colour shows you a real-time temperature reading. Areas of the wall with a cooler temperature show up blue, while red light shines on patches that register as warmer. An image of the light-painted room showing exactly where heat is leaking can then be captured using a webcam with an online app called Glowdoodle or just standard time-lapse photography.


The team hopes that such pictures can be used to confront landlords who are not insulating their apartments sufficiently. In New York, for example, landlords must make sure their apartments are at 20 °C if the outdoor temperature falls below 12.8 °C between 6am and 10pm.
snip

When that article came out, it was quoting thermal cameras in the $1000's of dollars. Now you can get something for $250 or less. If you want to take good pictures of that thermal flashlight, you are going to need a good camera that does long exposure or at least find an app that works suitable, a tripod, etc.
 
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