Thought this might interest some of you. I have access to a high resolution thermal camera (640x480 being high resolution in the thermal camera world) for a period for some development work we're doing so I thought I grab a couple of shots of the S2K in the car park with it. It was a hot day (about 40C in the car park) so there's not as much contrast as you might get on a colder day, but interesting to see anyhow.

I let the engine idle for fifteen minutes before taking the shots just to get some heat into it.















A couple of things to notice (apart from the obvious, such as the radiator and exhausts being very hot):
* Note that the front panels get quite hot (from the engine, obviously) but there's no significant conduction to the door panels.
* You can't see through the windscreen or side windows; glass is opaque at thermal wavelengths (hence the reason that your car gets so hot in the sun).
* You can see some reflection from other heat sources in some of the shots; metal (and other surfaces) will reflect heat just like they reflect light. In fact, if you reverse the contrast in some of the images, parts of the picture resemble a conventional black and white photo due to the metal reflecting the ambiant heat in the same way it would reflect diffuse light.

If anyone really wants a shot of a particular part of the car let me know and I'll see what I can do. They don't like me messing around with a US$90,000 camera too much .

Gavin

 

For my learning curiousity, why do reflections show up on this film?

By the way, SWEET PICS!

 

Those are awesome Most definately brings a new perspective to our cars. I found it interesting that while headlights don't heat up, a lot of heat gets conducted by the fenders.

Thanks again.
Asif

 

Most cool! I picked up on the door panel thing.

 

That is very cool, and its amazing to see what is really going on in there..

A pic under the hood may be helpfull

 

I just had a thought. I'd like to see pics taken after speeds of 150 mph.

SMOKIN'!

 

The camera is imaging thermal radiation, which is just light at a different wavelength (colour). Metal reflects this like it reflects other electromagnetic radiation, hence the reflections on the metal panels.

This camera is digital, by the way. It's a cryogenically cooled thermal sensor (it runs at about 70 Kelvin, or 70C above absolute zero).

Thankyou!

 

Take a pic with the headlights on too!!! That would be bad ass!

 

...how 'bout some "thermal" images of Porn Stars at work?

Asif

 

Note that the area directly above the engine is cooler than the front and sides. Guess this is the effect of the coolant moving the engine heat to the radiator and the fan moving air (and heat) from the radiator fins and blowing it toward the sides of the engine compartment.

Cool pics. Thanks for posting them.