Most of thermal cameras can't just appreciate the absolute temperature of an object. Their image only gives an idea of relative temperatures between objects in the scene, like the white area here which is the hottest part of the scene, w. r. t. the other objects on the left that are colder. These cameras can only be used for fire start detection inside buildings, where the temperature is controlled and evolves slowly. Visible cameras provide a possibility to detect fire and smoke at close distance or indoor, but once a detection is possible, it's already too late, since the fire has started, and time is very short for fire rescue teams.
In organic decomposition processes, or on a truck or bus engine, it is normal to reach temperatures from 50°C to 70°C, without being afraid of a firestart. Likewise, the heating of small herbs by the sun outdoors in winter over a frozen ground can also be observed as a quick heating, without being a firestart.
With the combination of Jaguar and the specific thermal camera associated to this application, it is now possible, at a reasonable cost, to only detect the firestart conditions, before the fire is visible, when the camera observes a really hot aera, overcoming a predefined threashold, like 38°C, 150°C, or 200°C, 400°C.
We can observe here on the next image the increasing size of the heated zone whose temperature overcomes 200°C, like a fire which would progress under the cover of a truck metal body.
This detection mode allows to raise an alarm only in case of presence of a heat zone of a given size in a given area or on a given target. All the power of the Jaguar software is available in combination with this technology, which enables to protect forests, to control "at the fly" vehicles or wagons, or to supervise industrial areas where it can be normal that some elements on the image overcome the defined temperature threashold at given places of the image. Alarms are transmitted by all alarm modes available under Jaguar, like messages, dry contactors, mails, video recording and dome pointing. Reciprocally, it is also possible to detect the decrease of temperature of some process under the threashold. EVITECH's engineers are at your disposal for any question about this product, and to help you to configure the fire start detection solution ideally for your project.
