Since the outbreak of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus in Wuhan, many private enterprises have devoted themselves to the battle against the epidemic. As a leading enterprise of infrared temperature measurement equipment in China, AutoNavi Infrared Company works together, employees in key positions are open during the Spring Festival holiday, and production employees work overtime in a 24-hour shift system to produce infrared body temperature rapid screeners.

When the epidemic first broke out, AutoNavi has installed rapid infrared temperature screening devices in Wuhan Tianhe Airport, Wuhan’s three major railway stations, key hospitals and government agencies, building the first line of defense for epidemic prevention and control. So far, thousands of infrared body temperature rapid screeners produced by the company have been installed in hospitals, stations, airports and other crowded public places in Beijing, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Yunnan, Anhui and other parts of the country.

AutoNavi infrared body temperature screeners installed across the country

“Can this rapid infrared body temperature screener really detect people with abnormal body temperature?”, “What’s the difference between it and a thermometer?”, “Can multiple people be measured at the same time”, “Will this test have Radiation, is it harmful to the body?” Many people who don’t know much about infrared temperature measurement technology have similar confusion and concerns.

To this end, the reporter specially invited Zhang Congrong, director of the application technology of high-tech infrared civilian products, to popularize what “infrared thermal imaging temperature measurement” is from a professional and authoritative point of view, and why in the face of a sudden epidemic such as the new coronavirus Infrared temperature measurement can “build the first line of defense”.

(The following is the transcript of the dialogue, the reporter is abbreviated as “Ji”, and Zhang Congrong is abbreviated as “Zhang”)

Note: Zhang Gong, can you first introduce the basic principles of infrared temperature measurement?

Zhang: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue and purple are the visible light of nature that everyone is familiar with. In addition to visible light, there is a kind of “light” invisible to humans, called “infrared light”. As long as the object is higher than absolute zero (-273.16°C), it will radiate infrared rays outward. Therefore, everything in nature is radiating this invisible infrared rays all the time, and humans are of course no exception. The physical properties of infrared rays have a strong thermal effect. For example, the heat of the sun is mainly transmitted to the earth through infrared rays. Therefore, the infrared light emitted by the object can be converted into the temperature information of the surface of the object through the advanced photoelectric conversion effect of the infrared detector, and then processed by scientific algorithms and precise programs. This is the basic principle of infrared temperature measurement. principle.

Q: Will this detection method cause harm to the body?

Zhang: Our infrared temperature measurement products passively detect infrared rays instead of emitting electromagnetic waves. Naturally, there is no so-called “radiation”. Its principle is actually very similar to that of a camera. The camera will not cause harm to the human body, and neither will our “infrared camera”. Therefore, if you encounter infrared temperature measurement products in various security inspection places, you can safely accept the detection.

Q: So what is thermal imaging?

Zhang: The scientific term for this infrared temperature measurement technology is called infrared thermal imaging technology. Thermal imaging means that after the infrared radiation emitted by different parts of the surface of the object is detected by infrared detectors, after photoelectric conversion and signal processing, different colors are given to different temperatures, and finally a black and white or color image is displayed on the screen. , which represents the image of the temperature distribution on the surface of the object, that is, the thermal image.

In this thermal image, yellow represents high temperature and purple represents low temperature

Note: The pneumonia epidemic is raging, and its impact and harm are so wide that it is no longer necessary to mention. In this national mobilization of the epidemic defense battle, why can the infrared body temperature rapid screener build the “first line of defense”?

Zhang: The three features of “non-contact temperature measurement”, “real-time temperature measurement of large-scale people”, and “automatic capture of hot people” are the first way that infrared body temperature rapid screeners can be used in the prevention and control of new pneumonia. The main reason for the line of defense.

The first is “contactless temperature measurement”. As an infectious disease, the biggest difficulty in prevention and control of COVID-19 lies in its high infectivity during close contact. Traditional mercury thermometers, forehead thermometers, spot thermometers and other temperature measurement tools require direct or close contact with the person being tested, which brings a great risk of infection. The infrared body temperature rapid screener can solve this problem well. It not only does not require direct contact with the person being tested, but also keeps the test results unaffected while maintaining a considerable detection distance. Taking the latest XT236 of AutoNavi Infrared as an example, its maximum temperature measurement distance reaches 10 meters, which greatly reduces the risk of contact for inspectors during work.

Left: Forehead Thermometer Right: Infrared Body Temperature Rapid Screener

Secondly, after solving the difficulty of temperature measurement contact, it is also necessary to ensure the timeliness of temperature measurement work. Just imagine, if it takes three to five minutes for each passenger to get a temperature result from the start of detection in airports, train stations, and subway stations with a lot of traffic, like a mercury thermometer, then the result must be crowded. , the risk of infection between them does not drop but rises. Even the temperature gun needs 3-5 seconds, and it must be lined up for one-to-one monitoring. The infrared body temperature quick screener detects the infrared radiation of the human body in real time, and the body temperature data obtained by the algorithm is in milliseconds. When the system is working, it does not require any stop by the crowd. After the range, body temperature data can be measured immediately. All this can be done silently, and the tested person has no feeling at all.

Finally, I want to emphasize the importance of “automatically grabbing hot people”. Due to the very dense flow of people at the airport and railway station, if you just measure the temperature of everyone, the workload of the staff screening is still very large, and even need to stare at the computer screen 24 hours a day, otherwise there may be a fever person missing at any time. cause even bigger problems. In view of such application scenarios, we specially designed the function of “Automatic Alarm Snapshot”. The system can set an alarm temperature, such as 37.3°C. When monitoring the body temperature of multiple people in real time within the effective range, the system will automatically compare the acquired temperature with the alarm temperature. Once it is higher than 37.3°C, the system will automatically alarm. At the same time, the infrared temperature image and visible light image of the current fever personnel are automatically recorded for the staff to view and confirm. As a high-end product, the XT236 also has a face recognition function, which can automatically capture multiple hot people at the same time. This design can greatly reduce the arrangement and work of staff. Each system only needs to arrange 1-2 people to do the work of temperature confirmation, which greatly improves the efficiency of prevention and control screening.

XT236 automatically captures high temperature crowd

Note: Through the above introduction, I believe that everyone has a basic understanding of infrared thermal imaging temperature measurement. The current pneumonia epidemic prevention and control situation is still severe. We also call on the majority of netizens not to listen to rumors and actively cooperate with the security personnel in the temperature measurement work, which is not only to understand their physical condition, but also to support the prevention and control work. Last question, what is the current production capacity of AutoNavi Infrared? Can the product be shipped out of Wuhan?

Zhang: At present, AutoNavi’s infrared body temperature rapid screening system uses all the infrared detectors produced by AutoNavi with independent intellectual property rights. Since the core devices are not controlled by others, AutoNavi can respond positively in the early stage of the outbreak. Arranged production and provided the society with an infrared body temperature rapid screening system as soon as possible, which effectively prevented the spread of the epidemic. In addition to the XT236 and MS series currently mainly supplied, we are also constantly developing and upgrading other products. In the near future, we will launch 3-4 models to deal with epidemic prevention and control, and will maintain a 24-hour shift production system, so that we can fully release capacity. We have added a production plan of 15,000 sets, which will be produced at a rate of 1,000 sets per day, providing more products in a short period of time to help front-line personnel in their epidemic prevention and control work. In terms of transportation, as an important epidemic prevention and control material, the relevant departments have opened a green channel for us, so there is no need to worry about this.

Left: XT236 Right: MS series

Of course, in view of the increasing demand for infrared body temperature screeners across the country, we sincerely hope that all infrared manufacturers in the country can resume work as soon as possible. Let’s work together to win this battle against the epidemic without gunpowder smoke!