A6450-Series Cooled MWIR Camera

The A6450 cameras use a linear Stirling cooler engineered for an exceptionally long service life (around 27,000 hours of operation before maintenance). Traditional cooled infrared cameras often needed annual servicing because their coolers would wear out faster. By extending the cooler’s lifespan to several years of continuous use, the A6450 significantly reduces maintenance downtime and cost. In practical terms, this long-life cooler allows you to run the camera 24/7 in production without frequent interruptions, making it far more feasible to deploy cooled MWIR technology on the factory floor or in other continuous monitoring roles.

Cooled MWIR cameras offer higher sensitivity, faster response, and the ability to see smaller temperature differences or faster events than common uncooled thermal cameras. In the A6450’s case, the cooled MWIR detector (3–5 µm wavelength) can capture fine thermal details with NETD <30 mK sensitivity. This means it can detect subtle heat variations that an uncooled camera might miss. Additionally, the A6450’s cooled sensor and optical setup support high frame rates (up to 125 Hz) and short exposure times (sub-millisecond), enabling it to freeze and analyse very fast thermal phenomena (for example, quick heat spikes or fast-moving targets). The trade-off is that cooled cameras require a cryocooler, but with the A6450’s long-life cooler, you get those performance benefits without the usual maintenance burden.

Both models share the same core sensor and performance, but they differ in focusing and filter capabilities. The A6451 uses a manual focus lens – you adjust focus by hand on the lens itself. In contrast, the A6481 has a motorised focus system, allowing you to focus the lens remotely via software or controller, which is useful if the camera is in a hard-to-reach spot or if you need to automate focus adjustments. Moreover, the A6481 also includes a motorised filter wheel for spectral or ND filters, so you can remotely insert neutral density filters or other spectral filters as needed (for measuring very high temperatures or specific wavelength bands). The A6451 can also use filters, but you have to manually place them in its behind-the-lens holder. In summary, choose the A6451 for simpler, fixed setups where manual focus suffices, and choose the A6481 for more complex setups requiring remote focus changes or frequent use of different filters.

Integration is very straightforward thanks to the camera’s automation-ready interfaces and standards support. The A6450 series communicates over Gigabit Ethernet and is GigE Vision and GenICam compliant, which means you can plug it into standard machine vision networks and software without custom code. You can control the camera, stream full radiometric data, and trigger image capture all through these standard protocols. Additionally, the camera provides hardware I/O: a sync input to accept an external trigger (for example, from a PLC or an encoder on your production line) and a sync output to signal events or synchronise other devices (like strobe lights or another camera). There’s also an HD-SDI video output if you want to display the live thermal feed on a monitor in real time. In practice, many users find they can add the A6450 into their process monitoring system just like any other machine vision camera, using existing cables and software libraries, which speeds up deployment.

Yes, these cameras can measure very high temperatures well beyond the standard range, by using optional neutral density (ND) filters and calibration profiles. Out of the box, the A6450 series can typically measure from about -20°C up to 350°C on a standard calibration. For higher temperatures, you can equip the camera with ND filters (thin heat-resistant filters that attenuate the infrared energy) and apply the corresponding calibration. The manufacturer offers calibrated options like ND1 (for up to ~600°C), ND2 (up to ~2000°C), and ND3 (up to ~3000°C). By sliding in an ND filter (manually on A6451, or remotely via the A6481’s motorised filter wheel), the camera can accurately measure extreme temperatures such as molten metal, furnace interiors, or rocket exhausts without saturating the detector. This flexibility means the same camera can be used for both low-temperature and ultra-high-temperature targets, as long as the appropriate filter and calibration are in place.

The A6450 series is capable of 125 Hz full-frame rate at its native 640 × 512 resolution, which is already fast enough for many high-speed processes and thermal transient analysis. At 125 frames per second, it can capture events that occur in just a few milliseconds. Furthermore, the camera supports windowing (sub-frame readouts): you can reduce the resolution (by selecting a smaller region of interest on the sensor) to achieve even higher frame rates, if needed, for extremely fast events. For example, you could capture a smaller hundred-line-high strip at much higher than 125 Hz, allowing analysis of ultra-fast phenomena (exact maximum rates depend on window size). This flexibility, combined with the camera’s very short integration times (down to 480 nanoseconds), means the A6450 is well-suited for recording and analysing high-speed thermal events like explosions, laser heating, fast-moving objects on a production line, or rapid thermal cycles in materials testing. Even at full speed, all frames are fully radiometric (temperature-calibrated), so you don’t lose measurement accuracy at high frame rates.

The A6450 Series is ideal for any application where continuous thermal monitoring can improve quality or safety. Common use cases include inline quality control (for example, inspecting electronic components for hot spots, checking seal integrity in packaging, or spotting defects in automotive parts), process control in manufacturing (such as monitoring uniform heating in glass or steel production, or ensuring proper cooling rates in forged parts), and non-destructive testing (like detecting delaminations or cracks by thermal variance). Because of the high speed and sensitivity, these cameras excel in catching issues on fast-moving conveyor lines or in rapidly cycling processes – things like detecting a missing weld on a production line or identifying an overheated cell in a battery manufacturing process. Another big area is research and development: the A6450’s ability to capture transient thermal events makes it valuable in laboratories for materials testing, aerospace component development, or any experiments involving heat and energy. Essentially, any scenario that demands 24/7 thermal oversight or analysis of fast thermal dynamics is a strong fit for the A6450 series.

The camera streams calibrated thermal data that can be used with many common tools. If you have an existing machine vision or automation system, the GigE Vision/GenICam interface means you can pull the camera’s feed into your software or PLC just like a normal imaging device. For deeper thermal analysis, such as recording sequences, performing detailed temperature measurements, or creating reports, you can use dedicated thermal analysis software. The cameras are compatible with FLIR’s Research Studio and SDKs (and third-party applications supporting GigE Vision). Using such software, you can capture radiometric video, set up analysis routines (like spot measurements, alarm triggers on temperature thresholds, etc.), and visualise the heat patterns with various colour palettes. The A6450 does not store images onboard (it outputs the data in real-time), so you will generally use a connected PC or device to record and analyse the imagery. The good news is that since it adheres to standard protocols, you aren’t locked into one software environment – you can integrate it into custom programs or use off-the-shelf thermal analysis suites. This gives you a lot of flexibility in how you process and leverage the thermal data from the camera.