There are two primary types of environmental investigations that are driving the development of DIY thermal imaging tools and methods: a "heat-busters" program in East Harlem, and a near-forensic-level water quality monitoring program in the Gowanus Canal.

There are three prototypes in development: - a RGB LED flashlight with a non-contact infrared sensor that "paints" the temperature of the surface directly on the wall for capture with a second timelapse camera. - a thermometer for draggling through the water, taking contact measurements mapped to a RGB light, also for capture with a second timelapse camera. - a scanning thermal imager on a lego turntable (software also in development) that sweeps back and forth across a scene, recording the temperature variation to build up an image that looks like this:

There are two main parts to the scanning thermal imager project: the camera itself (currently made of Legos and an Arduino, and the website, thermographer.publiclaboratory.org, which helps you create an image from your recorded temperatures. Both are under development and we don't yet have a demo to show you. Check back soon!

Parts:

• The camera currently uses a Melexis non-contact infrared thermometer:
  • http://www.melexis.com/Sensor-ICs-Infrared-and-Optical/Infrared-Thermometers/MLX90614-615.aspx
  • Datasheet: http://www.melexis.com/Assets/IR-sensor-thermometer-MLX90614-Datasheet-5152.aspx
• Lego turntables: http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?pg=1&colorID=11&itemID=67722&sz=10&searchSort=P
• an Arduino
• two EasyDriver stepper motor drivers and matching stepper motors

(above, the first step was to 'clone' an off-the-shelf non-contact IR thermometer)

Code at: https://github.com/jywarren/thermographer