Thermal imaging & vision systems


thermodynamic properties of butterfly wings and the importance of radiative cooling in keeping these delicate structures fluttering. Nanfang Yu, associate professor of applied physics at Columbia, describes how thermal imaging played an important role in the study. “It’s the most non-invasive way to measure temperature,” Yu explains. In the study, the team identified the complex living structures in butterfly wings that expertly aid in thermoregulation. With a thermal camera such as the FLIR T865, “you begin to essentially see the skeleton of the butterfly,” says Yu. “It’s almost like an x-ray - you are seeing the framework, the wing veins, the membrane… the whole cross section of the wing material.” In thermal, the bright colours and patterns of a butterfly wing all disappear, and what you see instead is the underlying structure of the wing itself. Past studies of butterfly wings have been limited by using equipment like thermocouples to measure temperature. Even the smallest probes are large compared to the thickness of a butterfly wing, and the act of measuring can affect the local temperature. Additional inaccuracies may occur because the measurements are only point-by-point. With thermal, “you can measure and map the entire temperature distribution,” Yu says. His team has been able to view and measure the difference in temperature between the wing veins,


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t turns out that butterflies are just as striking in thermal as they are in the visible light spectrum. According to a study published in Nature by researchers from Columbia Engineering and Harvard University, it is possible to examine the


Seeing beyond the surface of butterfly wings


Living wing structures (wing veins, scent pads/patches) have elevated emissivity to facilitate heat dissipation through thermal radiation. Image credit: Nanfang Yu and Cheng-Chia Tsai


November 2022 Instrumentation Monthly


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