Tamron announces the market launch of Three Shutterless Compact Long-Wavelength IR Camera Modules

August 7, 2020, Saitama, Japan - Tamron Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Shiro Ajisaka; Headquarters: Saitama City, Japan), a leading manufacturer of optics for diverse applications, announces the market launch of Shutterless Compact LWIR (Long-Wave Infrared) Camera Modules that support simultaneous thermal imaging and temperature measurement. The modules are expected to be available on August 28, 2020.

General LWIR camera modules need to update internal referential data by operating a mechanical shutter at regular intervals in order to achieve precision in thermal measurement and stabilize thermal images. This necessarily accompanies incursion of the shuttering noise and disruption of image sequence. The mechanical durability of the shutter is also an issue for a long-time usage.

To address these issues with general LWIR camera modules, Tamron will release ‘Shutterless LWIR Camera Modules’ that eliminate the need for calibration using a mechanical shutter, by employing an LWIR sensor using Amorphous Silicon possessing excellent property in reproduction of thermal reference against changes in temperature, and integrating state-of-the-art image processing and optical technologies that have been developed in-house.

LWIR camera modules are capable of detecting thermal emission from a target and visualize it under poor or no illumination. This advantage is fully beneficial for various applications including night-time nursing care without disturbing patient’s sleep, night-time surveillance in complete darkness, and the detection of abnormal temperatures to monitor facility equipment. Tamron’s new Shutterless LWIR Camera Modules offer distinguished improvement on nursing care, surveillance, and abnormal temperature detection by completely eliminating the annoying shuttering noise and intermittent image interruption.

Market demands are also growing in the area of precision temperature measurement and control for livestock breeding, agriculture, etc. Tamron releases three models of Shutterless LWIR Camera Modules with lenses of different focal lengths to address these growing market needs.

As for the precision temperature measurement, Tamron’s proprietary signal processing technology warrants a temperature precision of ±2℃ (*1) under the adverse condition of shutterless measurement.
*1: Under the condition that the target temperature is within 10 to 60℃.

An Example of Application for Livestock (Prediction of delivery sign in a cowshed)

Pixel-by-pixel measurement of temperature (*3) is achieved through the use of Tamron’s high-performance lenses and proprietary temperature signal processing developed for shutterless measurement. Thermal images and temperature data are simultaneously available.
*3: LW10F90-E: temperature measurement is available only in the central area.

Shutterless feature eliminates incursion of shuttering noise and interruption of image sequence. New modules improve on reliability, free from durability issue related with a mechanical shutter.

New modules adopt a new mechanism to protect against dust and water to assist implementation in various industry applications.