Graphics Card Thermal Imaging Measurements (FLIR)

Thermal Imaging Temperature Measurements

In order to obtain a more precise visualization of heat emissions from tested products or components, thermal imaging hardware, such as a FLIR camera, are utilized. The term "FLIR" is short for Forward-looking Infrared and refers to a brand of thermal imaging camera. The infrared light emitted by all objects within the field of view is focused through a specialized lens and scanned by a phased array of infrared detector elements. The resulting temperature pattern, known as a thermogram, is incredibly detailed and obtained in less than one-thirtieth of a second. The thermogram is created by several thousand points and then translated into electric impulses which are processed by a dedicated chip on a circuit board. The final display shows various colors corresponding to the intensity of the infrared heat and indicates hotspots on the card or PCB. By analyzing the heat distribution throughout a product, temperature bleeds can be identified.

To enhance analysis, we have made slight modifications to the thermal image by adding a card and heatmap overlay. Our observations thus far have not raised any concerns. It is worth noting that the card is positioned on a riser card to monitor power consumption.