We are entering a very new and interesting market with a product utilizing a unique technology for temperature measurement. This new product offers opportunities and solutions for a wide range of applications. Although this is a modest start, I believe August 1999 will be remembered as a special month for us —venturing into the world of temperature on a global basis. The AD-5611 (Infrared [IR] Non-Contact Thermometer) employs infrared technology and a temperature radiation measurement sensor, so it measures temperature with no contact. The greatest advantage is speed; measurement is instantaneous. The wide temperature range surpasses most conventional contact methods. You just point it at an object and click a button, then it instantaneously displays the temperature in digits.

If you recall your high school physics, there are three types of temperature or heat transfer phenomena; convection, conduction and radiation. All explain how energy is transferred from one place to the other. The first two are straightforward and concern transfer of energy by some medium until it reaches a thermal equilibrium state as a whole. The difference between the two is that convection concerns a non-solid medium (air, water) of freely moving molecules, while conduction is the vibration of atoms in a solid medium (direct contact or touch).

Temperature radiation is very different from the first two. A good example of temperature radiation is the sun transferring energy in a vacuum, or how we receive heat and energy from the sun. Unlike convection or conduction, there exists no medium in space to transfer energy from the sun, yet because energy travels in a vacuum, we are able to receive the energy the sun emits (radiates). Everything emits radiation. The atoms inside any object are constantly in motion, creating energy, and since temperature is related to energy, if you can capture the radiation and measure its energy, you can determine the temperature of the object emitting radiation.

Although it is now common knowledge that energy and temperature are related, this has not always been the case. History shows this theory was not accepted until the end of the 19th century. Ludwig Boltzmann was the physicist who laid the foundation for Thermodynamics, explaining thermal phenomena in terms of mechanical or Newtonian physics. Though his theory explained thermal phenomena well, it faced heavy criticism, because the mechanical physics that predicted the thermal phenomena were theoretically reversible. This led to a contradicting conclusion. Air molecules in a room are evenly distributed as a result of random mechanical motion that can be explained by the Newtonian physics. If Newtonian physics were applied, then the phenomena would be reversible, however remote the possibility. So theoretically, if all the air molecules in the room began moving to a corner of the room simultaneously, in the same manner in which they dispersed evenly in the room, people in the room would be suffocated by the lack of oxygen. This dilemma was used to attack Boltzmannís theory and he became so distraught , that he committed suicide. (I heard this story somewhere to explain how dedicated a physicist could be to a theory, but can't verify how true it is)

But, back to business. As weighing is a daily fact of life, so is temperature measurement. The concept of temperature is as ancient as weighing. The simplest form of measuring temperature is touching the forehead of a child (conduction) when a mother is worried about the child's health. However, we are not entering this market sector just because temperature measurement is as universal as weighing. We are adding this to our product line because it addresses the needs of many of the same customers in the weighing field, especially in the food market sector. In the food industry, temperature is a very important parameter in terms of sanitation, health and food preparation; from purchasing foodstuffs through serving meals. Most nations of the world have regulatory bodies charged with insuring minimum standards are met in the preparation of foods for public sale and consumption. The most well-known is the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HAACP), which was developed in the early 1970ís to provide 100% safe meals for astronauts, and was then later adopted by the National Restaurant Association (NRA) in the USA.

Why has A&D decided to offer a product which would appear to be so radically different from our other products? Thanks to our domestic sales people, who have developed close ties and contacts with our customers in the food processing industries, our marketing team was able to determine that HACCP-type regulations are becoming an issue in Japan. This prompted us to find a product that would be both accurate and easy to use. As a result, the AD-5611 IR Thermometer has turned out to be our most successful new item this year. People in the food industry use thermometers of various kinds at all levels for all types of applications, and they are finding our AD-5611 IR Thermometer extremely convenient because of its speed, accuracy and ease of use. We are now ready to make it available to the global market. Just aim and click, and you just might hit the hot spot, if not the jackpot in the market place near you.

You may address any comments concerning this editorial by email to Mr. Eto

Index of Mr. Eto's other articles