Infrared thermometers measure temperature from infrared electromagnetic radiation of bodies. All bodies emit radiation in an amount proportional to its surface temperature infrared spectrum.
The measuring sensor is a phototransistor.
Infrared thermometers can be manual equipment or fixed installation. Portable devices incorporates the supply through batteries and a display for visualisation Additionally a keyboard allows you to configure specific elements of measurement like the emissivity of the surface factor which varies depending on the material and colour.
The transmitters allow a fixed installation with an analog output proportional to the measurement.
Most of devices (specially portable ones) incorporate a incorporate an infrared beam that indicate the centre point of the measure or in some cases the perimeters of reading. This laser pointer has no measurement function but allows us to avoid measurement errors when we can not guarantee that the measurement zone coincides with the surface to be measured.
Infrared thermometers have different measuring ranges depending on the design. Fields can be covered between -50 and 1900ºC.
Among the characteristics of the device, apart from the emissivity factor and the temperature measurement, we want to highlight the measurement angle; the opening of the beam indicates the measurement area at a given distance.
The most frequent accessories in infrared thermometers, we highlight the refrigeration system of the head and the cleaning systems of the optics.