New outdoor protective housing for infrared cameras under harsh environmental conditions

Precision electronic equipment is difficult to operate in harsh environmental conditions such as extreme temperatures, humidity and dust levels and therefore needs adequate protection to function properly. Optris have recently introduced a new outdoor housing for their PI and Xi series of infrared cameras to enable these precision devices to operate in harsh environmental conditions. The housing enables a combination of an infrared camera and a high definition camera in a single compact system with an integrated and compact USB server.

The new housing is IP66 compliant and is therefore suitable for operation in dusty or humid environments. An electrical heating element is included that activates automatically at temperatures below +15 °C to enable use in very low temperatures; a ventilation fan circulates warm air evenly within the housing. The system can operates at temperatures ranging from -40 °C up to +50 °C.

An optional air purge unit continuously clears the protective housing’s window with compressed air while ensuring that no dust or condensation gathers there. This ensures that the infrared camera consistently has clear visibility and can provide precise and reliable temperature measurements.

When operating in conjunction with the optional HD video camera, with its 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, combined thermal and optical condition monitoring as well as fire protection applications can fulfilled with precision and confidence.

The integrated USB server transfers the images from the infrared camera and the video camera can be used so that data from both cameras is merged into a single stream; transmission occurs via an Ethernet line. These cameras are therefore  easily integrated into existing industrial video
control systems.