Made for infrared laser spot detection and tracking of hot fast moving objects, Xenics’ high-speed SWIR camera Cheetah-640CL now offers innovative non-contact thermography up to 2,000°C. The new model Cheetah-640CL Thermography, covering the SWIR spectral band 0.9.to 1.7 μm, offers a high pixel resolution of 640 x 512 at 20 μm pixel pitch and runs at full frame rates of 120 or 400 Hz.
Cheetah enables fast data transfer via 12-bit CameraLink. The camera is fully software-configurable; it combines the TE-cooled InGaAs FPA detector head with all control and communications circuitry in a forced air-cooled compact housing.
SWIR fills the gap between LWIR and visible (>700°C) thermal imaging
In general, higher temperatures amount to more radiation and shorter peak wavelength emission. Therefore the Cheetah-640CL SWIR camera is a useful tool for high temperature thermal imaging applications, where object temperatures are above 300°C. Depending on the application, the camera can be configured with a calibration of 300 to 950°C, 400 to 1400°C or 550 to 2000°C. Reliable noncontact thermography measurements can be performed with an accuracy of +/- 2%. Typical applications include industrial furnace monitoring, glass bottle inspection, and detection of slag impurities on molten metal and tracking of hot fast moving objects.
High speed thermography
Users of these type of applications need very flexible camera equipment to follow the different conditions they may encounter. The TE1-cooled sensor make the Cheetah-640CL highly sensitive, achieving low dark current characteristics at flexible integration times from 20 μs to 80 ms, depending on the thermal scene and the related temperature range. The Cheetah-640CL camera now also features a removable one inch filter inside the c-mount optical interface. This allows selecting spectral sub-bands to adapt the system’s response to the specific application.
One other key element is to be able to detect temperature differences in high speed. Therefore the Cheetah-640CL camera is available as a 120 Hz or 400 Hz version. By doing this the imaging speed as well as temperature range and camera sensitivity are tuned in the best possible way to meet the application requirements.
Beside powerful core electronics enabling this flexibility, a rugged data interface like CameraLink assures a complete data processing to the receiving computer.
