A method for the temperature calibration of an infrared camera using water as a radiative source

Presented here is an effective low-cost method for the temperature calibration of infrared cameras, for applications in the 0–100 °C range. The calibration of image gray level intensity to temperature is achieved by imaging an upwelling flow of water, the temperature of which is measured with a thermistor probe. The upwelling flow is created by a diffuser located below the water surface of a constant temperature water bath. The thermistor probe is kept immediately below the surface, and the distance from the diffuser outlet to the surface is adjusted so that the deformation of the water surface on account of the flow is small, yet the difference between the surface temperature seen by the camera and the bulk temperature measured by the thermistor is also small. The benefit of this method compared to typical calibration procedures is that, without sacrificing the quality of the calibration, relatively expensive commercial blackbodies are replaced by water as the radiative source (ε≈0.98 for the wavelengths considered here). A heat transfer analysis is provided, which improves the accuracy of the calibration method and also provides the user with guidance to further increases in accuracy of the method.