A thermal imaging camera is used for the purpose of energy auditing for homes and offices. Typically these require equipments such as FLIR B60 which are worth $5000 to $8000. This article by David Schneider however talks about a cheap DIY camera. Inspired by the award winning design using Arduino by two two 18-year-old students, Max Ritter and Mark Kohl, from Mindelheim, Germany.

The Schneider version of the thermocam, however, uses a slightly different partlist for the sake of robustness.

The parts used were:
Melexis’s MLX90614?DCI ($52), Arduino microcontroller($30), powder-coated metal enclosure for Arduino($30), Hitec HS425BB x 2 servos($13×2), DDT500H for pan-tilt mechanism($25), plastic mount for servos($5), COM-08654 Laser module with digital controller($19)

The applications were numerous:
– Checking around the home for weather-stripping faults. Even minor gaps were shown more clearly.
– Scanning people and imitating Kirilian photography to picture the actual energy that people emit.

For a more step-by-step on how to build, head here.

Happy building!

Via:[IEEE Spectrum],[Cheap-thermocam]