Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

An infrared ear thermometer includes a detector head housing, a heat sink, a recess formed in the heat sink, a thermopile sensor mounted within the recess, a thermistor, and temperature determination circuitry. The recess defines an aperture that limits the field of view of the thermopile sensor. The thermal capacities and conductivities of the heat sink and the thermopile sensor are selected so that the output signal of the thermopile sensor stabilizes during a temperature measurement. A method of determining temperature using the ear thermometer takes successive measurements, stores the measurements in a moving time window, averages the measurements in the moving window, determines whether the average has stabilized, and outputs an average temperature. A method of calculating a subject's temperature determines the temperature of a cold junction of the thermopile, looks up a bias and slope of the thermopile based upon the temperature of the cold junction, measures the output of the thermopile, and calculates the subject's temperature based upon a linear relationship between the output and the subject's temperature. The linear relationship is defined by the bias and the slope.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim