The main differences between uncooled and cooled infrared thermal imagers are in terms of working principle, performance, power consumption, size, price and application scenarios.
Working principle: Cooled infrared thermal imagers are equipped with an integrated cryogenic refrigerator, which can reduce the temperature of the detector during operation, thereby improving the sensitivity, accuracy and measurement range of detecting other objects. Uncooled infrared thermal imagers do not require cryogenic refrigeration, and directly receive infrared radiation through the detector and convert it into electrical signals.
Performance: Sensitivity and accuracy: Due to the reduction of the temperature of the detector, cooled infrared thermal imagers have higher sensitivity, higher accuracy, smaller errors and a wider detection temperature range. Influence of non-uniformity: The non-uniformity of uncooled infrared focal plane arrays has a greater impact on the measurement error, resulting in its performance being inferior to that of cooled ones. Power consumption: Cooled infrared thermal imagers require a refrigerator to work and cool down, so the power consumption is relatively large. Uncooled infrared thermal imagers have relatively low power consumption.
Service life: The service life of a cooled infrared thermal imager is related to the working time of its refrigerator, and the aging of the refrigerator will affect its service life. Uncooled infrared thermal imagers have a longer service life, but the measurement accuracy will decrease after the components age. Reliability: The cooled infrared thermal imager has the characteristics of high sensitivity, small error and high precision, and the detection results are more reliable. Although the reliability of the uncooled infrared thermal imager is slightly lower, it can still provide reliable detection results in some applications. Price: The price of cooled infrared thermal imagers is higher. Uncooled infrared thermal imagers are relatively cheap. Size: The cooled infrared thermal imager is larger in size because it needs the refrigerator to work together. Uncooled infrared thermal imagers are relatively small in size. Application scenarios: The cooled infrared thermal imager is suitable for occasions with high requirements for accuracy and sensitivity, such as the military field. Uncooled infrared thermal imagers are suitable for civilian applications where temperature measurement accuracy is not required, such as industrial inspection, building inspection, etc.