Using Infrared Thermometers

Infrared thermometers are uniquely useful tools for difficult temperature measurement applications that do not lend themselves readily to conventional "contact measurement." Infrared thermometers are used to good advantage for measuring the temperature of moving machinery, in situations where contact would cause a personal hazard (high voltage, etc.), when measuring temperature of inaccessible objects, or where contact measurement would cause contamination.

The most important factors to consider when using infrared thermometers are "field of view" and "emissivity".

"Field of view" is the area of the target circle that the infrared thermometer is measuring. For the most accurate results, the actual target should completely fill the "field of view". "Field of view" is commonly expressed as a ratio of target distance versus spot size; e.g. "6:1", "14:1" etc.

Emissivity can be considered as the target object's willingness to radiate infrared energy as compared to the willingness of a theoretical "black body" (emissivity = 1) held at the same temperature as the target object. This is expressed as a decimal ratio, and it always equals less than 1.0. Emissivity of organic material, painted objects, most ceramics and masonry, plastics and glass is generally high; these materials are very suitable for infrared measurement. Low emissivity material such as polished metal is not suitable for measurement with infrared.

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