Pelican Parts Forums - IR non-contact thermometer

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybek (Post 10958418)

I was using my mini IR to check temps on my new to me stick burner the other day.

The forehead IR is calibrated only for that job.

My Raytek Mini Temp is way off when shooting forehead temp. 93 deg F.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vash (Post 10958419)

my dentist took my temp monday with one of those. laser dot to the forehead. it read 98.2. i was impressed. my garage IR indicates i am dead. way cold.

my wife and i each have our own ear read units. i think that is super accurate.

It's not actually way off. That's probably the temp of your forehead. The deal is that your skin (on the outside) is not the same as your temp on the inside (hence the reason why most thermometers go under the tongue or in your butt, so they get the "inside" temp.

The NC IR thermometers that are designed to be used on the forehead are designed to adjust for the difference.

https://www.thermoworks.com/covid-19-screening

Quote:

Forehead temperature is several degrees lower than core body temperature of 98.6 F (37 C). Clinical forehead thermometers make a mathematical adjustment to display an equivalent oral temperature. When using general-purpose infrared thermometers to read forehead temperatures, the readings will likely be lower than 98.6 F, even if a fever is present. Normal forehead skin temperature can vary several degrees depending on your environment (indoors or out), exercise, perspiration, direct heat or air conditioning, etc. It would be normal to read an actual forehead skin surface temperature between 91F and 94F if using a general-purpose infrared thermometer.

Some industrial IR thermometers allow the adjustment of the emissivity setting. In medical literature human skin is noted to have an emissivity between 0.95 and 0.99 regardless of color. By setting an adjustable emissivity to 0.78, the instrument will give a forehead temperature reading that approximates the normal oral temperature. This approximates an “offset” to the reading that will render a measurement near 98.6 F on the forehead of a healthy individual.