A thermal imaging camera with an Arduino UNO. Does it work? Yes it works!!

With this setup, you can quickly familiarise yourself with the function of an IR camera. Many applications in the field of temperature measurement are possible, e.g. recording the thermal conditions on an electronic assembly.
The key is a suitable sensor array. Panasonic's grideye sensor AMG88xx, with its 8x8 thermopiles, is the best choice for this. Unlike other sensors, the measured values are already processed internally and the valid data is made available via IIC. The array is housed in a solid metal casing that keeps the reference temperature stable for the duration of the measurement. It also has a lens that projects the object surface (measurement object) onto the sensor array.The measurement results are displayed on a 1.8" TFT for €5, either numerically or in false colours. The settings can be made manually or by autoranging.
The sketch contains the functions for the sensor directly, making it very easy to personalise the software for your own applications.
With this arrangement you can familiarize yourself very well with the function of an IR camera. Electronics engineers can record the thermal conditions on an assembly and much more is imaginable.
It is always fascinating to see what you can do with an 8-bit ATMEL.
The sketch contains the functions for the sensor directly, making it very easy to personalise the software for your own applications.
With this arrangement you can familiarize yourself very well with the function of an IR camera. Electronics engineers can record the thermal conditions on an assembly and much more is imaginable.
It is always fascinating to see what you can do with an 8-bit ATMEL.
Discussion (2 comments)
J.F. Simon, Elektor 1 year ago
HaSch 1 year ago
Rol 1 year ago
I'm very glad that you like this project. I changed the circuit diagram.
Please see my reply to Pjotr.
Best wishes, Roland
Pjotr1010 1 year ago
After reading I had some questions:
What are the values for the 15 resistors and the 4 capacitors in the schematic?
Is there a PCB design (Gerber?) available or a complete shield?
Pjotr1010
Rol 1 year ago
I'm very pleased that you like this project.
I have made some changes to the circuit diagram and added the component values.
You can find it under the tab schematics.
For your information: Resistors R16 ... R20 form a voltage divider to reduce the 5Volts
outputs of the Uno to 3.3V which expects the ST7735. They are not really necessary but
they increase the reliability.
R4, R5 are on the Sparkfun BOB, you can leave them but they are not needed.
Unfortunately i don't have a PCB, but the circuit is very easy to build on a prototype shield.
I wish you a lot of fun with this project, Roland