Thermal Imaging for improving fuel economy

[bennelson]

The thermal camera is a FLIR ONE. It was $250. The Consumer Electronics show is going on right now, and FLIR is showing off the next generation version of the same camera, coming out later this year, which will of course be even better.

FLIR ONE and SEEK are the two main inexpensive smartphone thermal cameras out there right now.

I've been having lots of fun with it. It's very interesting to see heat. I'll be using this on some solar projects and anything else I can think of.

[spacemanspif]

Brakes transfer heat into the wheels and tires too. That is why the fronts are warmer than the rears, fronts do more work when stopping. Wheels/tires will warm with use fbut I'm sure most of that front wheel temp is from the brakes. This could be useful to see if brakes are dragging more than the rest...

[P-hack]

cool, in case anyone is wondering how it works (NoIR, should experiment with a usb camera), not sure how it feeds the image to the iphone:

Is there any method to modify a camera CCD to sense emitted infrared in order to detect temperature variations?

Hi Stefan,
I modified my camera to detect near IR signals by removing IR filter and insert magnetic film of floppy as visible light rejecting filter. But my intention is to record emitted IR from hot object (8µm to 14 µm range). But all the thermal imaging cameras that can capture emitted IR are very much big in size.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by spacemanspif

This could be useful to see if brakes are dragging more than the rest...

I use my finger for that.

[bennelson]

I don't think there is much brake heat shown in these photos. It's a Prius, it's mostly using regenerative braking. Waste heat from that would show up in the transmission.

I'll try to see if I can find a hybrid and non-hybrid both driven the same route and distance. It would be interesting to see the difference in the tire and rim temperature.

[Daox]

Originally Posted by P-hack

cool, in case anyone is wondering how it works (NoIR, should experiment with a usb camera), not sure how it feeds the image to the iphone:

Is there any method to modify a camera CCD to sense emitted infrared in order to detect temperature variations?

The IR spectrum really doesn't accurately represent thermal emissivity. Thus the reason that you can't buy a thermal camera for the same price as a regular camera. If it were that easy it would already be done. We were discussing this over on ecorenovator:

EcoRenovator - View Single Post - Ben's Flir One Thermal Camera

I was talking to a guy at a local geek meeting, who works for a company that develops Thermal Imaging equipment. I don't think it was Flir, because I would have remembered that name.

I told him about DIY infra red camera conversions, which involve removing the IR filter that covers the lens on most digital cameras. Seems that the IR filter is easier to remove on certain cameras.

I asked him if it was possible to make your own Thermal Imaging camera this way, because Flir and other Thermal imaging cameras are so darn expensive?

He corrected me, saying that Thermal Imaging is not the same thing as Infra Red, and Thermal Imaging takes place at a longer wave length than IR, and working with this longer wavelength is more difficult, and more expensive than working with IR, and that is why Thermal Imaging should not be confused with Infra Red imaging.

[RunningStrong]

Firstly, nice purchase on a thermal imaging sensor. However, whilst it is great for illustration, it doesn't tell you an awful lot. Unless of course you have a clear understanding of the thermal scale, and this will often only be possible on review. That said, used alongside an inexpensive item like a Temperature Gun, and you have a very effective set up.

Regarding Infrared and Thermal Imaging, in practical sense there is little difference as IR is often passive, and TI systems can work uncooled.

[mort]

Originally Posted by bennelson

I don't think there is much brake heat shown in these photos. It's a Prius, it's mostly using regenerative braking. Waste heat from that would show up in the transmission.

Battery.

[RedDevil]

I noticed the sidewalls of the front tires seem to be much hotter than the thread.
Is your tire pressure off?
The lower the pressure, the more the sidewalls will flex and the more the friction while flexing will heat them.
The thread will flex less too under higher pressure but the difference on that will not be as big as on the sidewalls.

So, what PSI are they?

[freebeard]

This looks looks it would work well in conjunction with a handheld IR thermometer; using the FLIR to examine a field or object, then picking the values of interest with the remote thermometer.