How Much Quality Assurance Can You Do with a Smartphone?

(Image courtesy of Seek Thermal.)

A few decades ago, if you were listing the essential items in a quality professional’s toolkit, you’d probably include things like calipers, gauges and calculators. Since then, the quality assurance toolset has expanded to include sophisticated technologies such as portable scanners and especially personal computers.

In another decade, could the quality professional’s toolkit could be reduced to only a smartphone? It’s already possible to monitor the status of your production line with an app for Android or iOS. Now, a new smartphone add-on enables professional-grade thermal imaging.

(Image courtesy of Seek Thermal.)

Weighing less than half an ounce, the Seek CompactPRO plugs directly into an iOS or Android device and features 76,800 measurement pixels, a thermal sensor array of 320x240 and a sub-$500 price point.

"The industrial and commercial segment has always been an important focus for our company,” said Tracy Benson, chief marketing officer and vice president of global marketing for Seek Thermal. “High performance thermal imaging tools used to be expensive, difficult to carry and primarily used by only a few people in large industrial facilities. It is one of the most important sensing technologies that can prevent costly damages, increase productivity and help avoid dangerous situations in hundreds of applications.”

(Image courtesy of Seek Thermal.)

The CompactPRO is capable of measuring temperatures between -40°F and 626°F, with sensitivity levels under 70mK. It also incorporates an adjustable focal lens. The camera also stores all radiometric data for documenting, cataloging and post-capture analysis of infrared images.

Notable software features of the free mobile App include:

Thermal Level and Span: set and lock a temperature range to display the maximum thermal information of any object or scene with a set point and range
Emissivity Control: calibrate for emissivity to compensate for various surface materials
Full Frame Thermography: choose from 4:3 or 16:9 formats for displaying temperature data
Seven User Modes: spot temperature, high/low temperature, level and span, above threshold, below threshold, equal threshold and thermal + visible

For more information, visit the Seek Thermal website.