The Compix® PC2000 thermal imaging system is designed for mapping and measuring temperatures across the surface of a wide variety of objects. It is a sophisticated camera system which, unlike a traditional camera, is sensitive to infrared radiation rather than visible light.
An example of its application is in the study of temperature distribution and heat flow on electronic circuit boards. In an energized electronic circuit, power is dissipated as heat. This heat produces radiant infrared(IR) energy which is related to temperature. The PC2000 captures this radiation and produces of temperature distribution map of the object's surface. These images are commonly referred to as "thermal images."
Since elevated temperatures are often cited as a cause of failure in electronic products, thermal phenomena are of particular interest to design and reliability engineers. The PC2000 is an efficient, cost effective tool providing quick and comprehensive evaluation of thermal performance of products during the design stages.
Additionally, thermal images can be valuable diagnostic tools. Since the heat from an electronic component depends on the power dissipated by the component, a thermal image can be interpreted as a map of power density factors. Experience has shown that many common circuit board faults will change the power dissipation pattern of a circuit enough to be visible on a thermal image. This is true for subtle faults which may be hard to locate with traditional testers. As a result, the Compix PC2000 may also be used as a non-contact troubleshooting tool.
Both the PC2000 and the PC2000/e use IBM compatible personal computers (PC) for camera control, image storage and retrieval as well as for displaying and printing images. The Windows 95 based Thermal Evaluation Software, WinTES95, provides the interface which permits the computer to communicate with the Compix IR Camera. At a minimum, WinTES95 requires a computer runnuing Windows 95 with a 486-based processor having a clock speed of 100-MHz and a VGA display.
The user, through the mouse or keyboard interface can adjust the display, compare images, change colormaps, change emissivity, read temperatures at specific locations, compute area statistics and show thermal profiles.
An important feature of WinTES95 is the use of the industry standard TIFF image file format for storing thermal images. This makes it easy to use the images with other applications software packages. A second format for image storage is the Compix format (cpx). This format stores the full 32 bit range of temperature data. It is also a larger file than the TIFF format (185k vs 95k). The Compix format is readable only with Compix software such as WINTES95.
The rest of this manual describes the Compix PC2000 and its operation in more detail. BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO OPERATE THE SYSTEM YOU SHOULD READ SECTIONS 2. OPERATING REQUIREMENTS, 3. INSTALLATION AND SET-UP and 4. MAKING THERMAL IMAGES. The remaining sections provide more detail on all aspects of the system. Please read them if you want to take full advantage of all the features of the Compix PC2000 or PC2000/e system.