3 ms·

It doesn't take long at all to figure out how fast it takes pans to get up to temperature when you start cooking on a new stove. 90% of stovetop cooking doesn'

It doesn't take long at all to figure out how fast it takes pans to get up to temperature when you start cooking on a new stove. 90% of stovetop cooking doesn't require this level of precision Many cooking processes start with warming the pan up with something in it, and using the state of that material. Spices, onion, garlic are a few examples. Mirepoix is another example, cooked gently until you smell it, not based on temperature. There are also a multitude of tricks to telling how ready a pan is - the water droplet test, putting your hand near the pan surface, etc. It's a clever concept, but the sensor is going to get contaminated by smoke residue, grease, food splashes, etc pretty quickly. 3d printed cases are not appropriate for the kitchen because the rough, permeable surface is a breeding ground for bacteria and mold soon as it gets any food residue on it. The inset screen and buttons are also terrible for kitchen devices. Also, it's not worth anything close to $100. OP's claim that it is somehow more accurate than handheld temperature guns is quite silly, given how widely they're used in industrial applications where accuracy can be quite important. OP used a lot of expensive components (nRF chips, OLED display etc) and a case manufactured using slow prototyping equipment. That doesn't translate into value for the purchaser. Even if it does have a "more expensive sensor", which is certainly doesn't compared to any gun made by a reputable test equipment company - if you're not bothering with emissivity correction, the quality of the sensor is irrelevant.

the__alchemist 5y ago
All great points! I think you've hit the key question of "Is this useful", plus a lot of valid concerns about wear+tear, the environment it's in etc. I'd love to get the price down. Getting the enclosures injection molded would be great, but need to validate if it's worth the upfront cost first. The main BOM driver is the sensor, due to needing one with narrow-FOV optics. I originally planned to use milled aluminum attached to the bottom of the sensor unit as a steam-shield, but the plastic has held up well after testing for a few months. There's an o-ring seal around the sensor, which should help. It's probably worth adding it to the base-unit buttons as well. You're also right on the sensor quality claim. It's likely not as good as that used on industrial test equipment - the comparison is to the cheaper consumer grade ones many people use.
- the_pwner224 5y ago
  Could you make a 'shotgun sensor' like a shotgun mic? Those things are basically just a microphone in a long tube, which reduces the 'field of view'. The sensor reading would go down, but you could measure how it's affected and compensate for that.
  - the__alchemist 5y ago
    Roughly, I think that's what the optics are doing. The higher-FOV sensors are short, while variants that have smaller FOVs like this use a long tube. Also of note, you can get directionality from microphones by using arrays configured in various ways, that take advantage of interference. For example, 2 microphones, with the front summed with the inverted rear delayed by the dist sound takes to travel between the 2. There are caveats to this, like non-uniform freq response. Radars do this for transmitting RF energy; I'm curious if this could be employed in a camera.

the__alchemist 5y ago

All great points! I think you've hit the key question of "Is this useful", plus a lot of valid concerns about wear+tear, the environment it's in etc. I'd love to get the price down. Getting the enclosures injection molded would be great, but need to validate if it's worth the upfront cost first. The main BOM driver is the sensor, due to needing one with narrow-FOV optics. I originally planned to use milled aluminum attached to the bottom of the sensor unit as a steam-shield, but the plastic has held up well after testing for a few months. There's an o-ring seal around the sensor, which should help. It's probably worth adding it to the base-unit buttons as well. You're also right on the sensor quality claim. It's likely not as good as that used on industrial test equipment - the comparison is to the cheaper consumer grade ones many people use.

the_pwner224 5y ago
Could you make a 'shotgun sensor' like a shotgun mic? Those things are basically just a microphone in a long tube, which reduces the 'field of view'. The sensor reading would go down, but you could measure how it's affected and compensate for that.
- the__alchemist 5y ago
  Roughly, I think that's what the optics are doing. The higher-FOV sensors are short, while variants that have smaller FOVs like this use a long tube. Also of note, you can get directionality from microphones by using arrays configured in various ways, that take advantage of interference. For example, 2 microphones, with the front summed with the inverted rear delayed by the dist sound takes to travel between the 2. There are caveats to this, like non-uniform freq response. Radars do this for transmitting RF energy; I'm curious if this could be employed in a camera.