thermal cameras

Specifications for the Use of Thermal Imagers during the Coronavirus Pandemic

In the fight against Coronavirus, any resources can be valuable in enforcing the new safety standards that have been established to combat have been put in place. We still have several months ahead of us in which citizens and the public will and public and private bodies will need to continue to demonstrate their commitment to these new safety standards. these social distancing and capacity control measures in enclosures and enclosed spaces.. Thus, elements such as thermal cameras are being presenting themselves as a great solution for companies and security services.

First and foremost, it should be noted that these specific tools specific tools are not intended to confirm or rule out COVID-19 diagnoses. They should not be misused, because they are not  used to identify the disease in any casebut are limited to pointing out symptoms that may be caused by the disease.  Specifically, they detect signs of elevated body temperature or fever in people who stand in front of their lens, which helps security staff to locate individuals at potential risk of contagion and to establish the measures required to prevent them from coming into contact with more people.

Therefore, they can be an important help to carry out surveillance and security tasks to perfection, so the ideal is to to know some of their specific features and specifications and specifications to get the best out of them. And at SICOR Group we want to make things easier for you, so here is a summary of everything you need to know for to be able to managewhen it comes to using them.

Technology and temperature considerations

Thermal cameras work with infrared technology and detect the heat given off by bodies. However, it is important to note that not always high temperature temperature values a person are not always an equivalent to fever. There are individuals who usually have a higher temperature than the usual average of 36.6 ºC and are perfectly healthy, but the ideal is to identify each case to assess the protocol to follow. Hence its usefulness.

Thermal chambers for sanitary use are the right ones for this pandemic.

For its use in the prevention of Coronavirus infection, sanitary chambers are necessary. Because of their characteristics, these tools also have applications in the industrial sector and have a wide range of measurement, although logically these models are not useful for what we need in our case, as they usually have a margin of error of +/- 2º C and what we are looking for is precision. Specifically, as reflected in the standard ASTM E1965-98 (2003), the ideal margin of error is +/- 0.3º C, so that no serious errors are made in the measurement. And this is what sanitary type chambers usually offer.

Factory calibration is essential

The camera must be calibrated at its origin and be wary of whether it requires the user to set the measurement values. Normally these tools include a device called a blackbody (blackbody), which is placed in front of the camera and helps its sensor to have a constant reference., with which to compare the rest of the bodies and objects that are scanned. 

Incorporation of alarm system

The main objective is to provide preliminary monitoring of the people in front of the camera, so these tools usually include an alarm..This warns of a possible case and allows to take a second temperature a second temperature measurement,which can be used to confirm or rule out.

Saves time and allows you to keep your safety distance

The cameras provide two great advantages over the other temperature measurement system, which is carried out with front thermometers. On the one hand, their comfort and automatism, since the guard does not need to approach the people; and on the other hand, their capacity to monitor large groups of people at the same  time margins of less than a second.. Specifically, this system canmake 30 calculations simultaneously, which saves a considerable amount of time.

Measuring range and resolution considerations

It is important to work with thermal cameras that have a wide measuring range, between 3 and 5 meters; as well as a resolution of at least 640×480 px. This makes it possible to take several measurements at the same time and to accurately monitor large spaces where there may be many people.

The forehead and the eye area, the ideal places to measure the temperature.

It is advisable to combine this system with an advanced facial recognition program and live face detection software. This allows the calibration of the camera to focus on certain areas of a person's head, which helps to increase the accuracy of the data taken. In fact, in these cases, it is recommended to measure the temperatures of the forehead or even around the eyes, as these are the parts of the body that offer the best references.

Before buying them, pay attention to their certificates and homologation.

And finally, watch out for the certification of the cameras. These tools are going to perform a very important work and this requires us to work with materials approved and totally adaptated. For this reason, when acquiring them, it is essential to verify that they have they have certificates CE and FCCcertificates, as well as including a certificate of calibration of calibration of your measuring system.

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