Extreme temperature radiometry and imaging apparatus

US6255650A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• FLIR Systems, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Charles C. Warner · Forest Grove, US
• Scott A. Foster · Tualatin, US
• Stewart W. Evans · Keizer, US
• Raul Krivoy · Beaverton, US
• Michael W. Burke · Tualatin, US
• John Rae · Lake Oswego, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 11, 1998
• Grant date: Jul 3, 2001
• Expiry date: Dec 11, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G02B2027/0138
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A head-up display, an IR camera and associated electronics including power are integrated into portable, self-contained, wrap-around, face-worn vision-enhancement apparatus useful in environments of dense air-borne particulate and thermal extremes such as encountered in fire fighting situations, in accordance with the invention. Reflective and opaque lenses are provided at approximately eye level for IR, vision display and blinding purposes, respectively, to produce a clear bright picture of a scene otherwise obscured by darkness or obscurants. The IR camera is integral with wrap-around system along with a self-contained power supply so that the system is portable and requires no umbilical cord or other external connections. An optical axis of the IR camera and an axis describing the user's virtual line of sight through the viewing eye converge at a nominal arm's length in front of the user's viewing eye, e.g. 3 feet away. The imager is preferably an un-cooled focal plane array and associated imaging, storing, processing and displaying electronics are cooled in the extreme thermal environment using an integral plural phase heatsink. The apparatus is separate from, but compatible wi…