CI Systems blackbody systems have been used for calibration and testing of thermal imagers for over 30 years. They are renowned for their quality, accuracy and long life. The popular SR-800 series has just been upgraded to address one of the important questions – calibration of blackbodies.The original SR800 blackbody systems are calibrated with a standalone calibration instrument, the CK80/800. The temperature reading of the sensor permanently installed in the blackbody emitter plate is referenced to the reading of the master temperature sensor connected to the CK80/800 as the temperature is modulated across the entire operating range of the blackbody.
The newer SR-800R is equipped with a removable temperature sensor. This sensor is calibrated outside the instrument in a thermal bath; a new calibration table is generated and programmed into the blackbody head. Because the TSC (Temperature Sensor Card) in the head is a very accurate and consistent ohmmeter, a calibrated sensor can be fitted into any CI blackbody head and maintain calibration and traceability. This method requires only the single temperature sensor in the emitter plate, eliminating the need for a separate reference sensor and an additional calibration instrument.
Now, all new blackbody systems will come from the factory configured for compatibility with both calibration methods. Customers can choose whether to simply replace the temperature probe with a newly calibrated one, or to calibrate the system with the original method using a CK80/800 calibration kit.
For customers who already own a standalone CK80/800 instrument and choose to use it on new blackbodies, CI Systems offers an upgrade kit for the CK80/800 calibration instrument that includes a new master probe, hardware for target sensor calibration, updated software and documentation.
For customers utilizing the newer removable probe methodology, CI offers either one (or two for differential blackbodies) calibrated temperature sensors.
