Thermal camera sharpens focus for hotspot inspection

Traditional macro lenses are often challenged by their short working distance. And with the tall components on some PCBAs it can be difficult to physically position a thermal camera close enough to focus on shorter components.

FLIR’s Macro Mode allows users to place their T500 Series thermal camera at a workable distance while still providing a small spot size.

Macro Mode works by adjusting the thermal camera’s detector position during the calibration process, which provides additional working distance between the sensor and lens.

It allows the user to capture accurate temperature measurements of small targets without incurring the cost or inconvenience of switching between additional lenses.

Using a FLIR T500 Series thermal camera with a standard 24° lens and Macro Mode enabled – users can acquire data from a spot size as small as 71µm — no lens change needed.

At this tiny spot size, the camera can still accurately measure temperatures and thermally characterise 1.6mm × 0.8mm sized 0603 components. It can detect hot or under-performing components as small as 0.6mm × 0.3mm.