Infrared thermal imager based on LCSC development board

Project Introduction:
Infrared thermal imaging can detect temperature changes that are imperceptible to the human body, making it a very useful electronic product, particularly in areas such as circuit fault repair, biological sensing, and overheat detection. However, commercially available thermal imaging devices are generally expensive, costing hundreds or even thousands of yuan. Therefore, a low-cost solution is needed for personal daily use. This project aims for low cost and modularity, using the AMG8833 infrared thermal imaging module combined with the GD32E230 LCSC development board to create this infrared thermal imager. Aside from the infrared thermal imaging module costing approximately 90 yuan, the remaining hardware costs were less than 30 yuan thanks to a coupon issued by LCSC.
Project Function
1: Refreshing the Infrared Thermal Imaging Screen.
Simply plug the USB cable into the LCSC development board or turn on the built-in lithium battery to power on the infrared thermal imager. After initialization, it automatically refreshes and displays the infrared thermal imaging screen, as shown in the image below. A finger placed in front of the infrared thermal image will display a colored outline of its temperature; bluer indicates a lower temperature, and redder indicates a higher temperature. The lowest and highest temperatures of the currently detected image are displayed in the lower left and lower right corners of the screen, respectively.
2. Fixing the Infrared Thermal Imaging Image:
Sometimes we want to fix the thermal imaging image for better viewing. To do this, press the first button on the right side of the screen until "pause" appears at the bottom of the screen, indicating the infrared thermal imaging image is now fixed. As shown in the image below, after pointing the infrared thermal imager at the hot water cup, press the first button to fix the image. In the "pause" state, you can move the imager to point it at other locations; the image will stop refreshing until you press the first button again. The "pause" message at the bottom of the screen will disappear, and the image will resume refreshing.
3. Displaying the Highest Temperature Point:
While the screen is normally refreshing and displaying the infrared thermal imaging image, press and hold the second button on the right side of the screen. A white crosshair with a red background will appear on the screen. The position of this crosshair is the highest temperature point in the entire thermal imaging image. Moving the imager will move the crosshair back to the location of the highest temperature point. As shown in the following figure:
4: Long press the button to turn off the screen.
When charging or temporarily not in use, press and hold the third button on the right side of the screen until "Standby mode" appears, then release to turn off the screen. The development board enters standby mode, and power consumption drops to the μA level. It can be woken up again by using the power switch on the left or by powering on again.
5: Real-time acquisition, display, and saving
of infrared thermal imaging images by the host computer. The Type-C port of the development board can not only provide power but also transmit temperature field data. Connect the other end of the Type-C port (USB port) to the computer. When the infrared thermal imager refreshes and displays the infrared thermal image, the computer's serial port simultaneously receives the real-time temperature data from 64 points (because the AMF8833 is an 8x8 infrared thermometer, it returns 64 temperature field data points each time it acquires data). The author developed a LabVIEW-based host computer for the infrared thermal imager, as shown in the following figure. The host computer can display the raw acquired data and the data and images calculated by bilinear interpolation in real time. In addition, it can save the thermal imaging images as BMP files to the computer separately.
Project Parameters:

This design uses the AMG8833 infrared thermal imaging module as the infrared thermal imaging sensor, which can transmit 8x8 temperature field data in a single transmission via IIC communication. A
1.8-inch 128x160 RGB TFT display module is used to display the infrared thermal imaging image and temperature minimum and maximum values ​​in real time.
A lithium battery charging/discharging module with a 180mAh lithium battery is used for power supply.
The design is based on the LCSC GD32E230C8T6 development board as the main control chip board, with the Type-C port on the development board used for power supply and communication.
An SD card module is reserved, which can later communicate with the development board via the SPI protocol to store the infrared thermal imaging image to the memory card.
This design is compatible with LabVIEW host computer, which can be installed with NI-VISA and runs normally in version 2016 and above.

Principle Analysis (Hardware Description)
This project adopts a modular design, divided into a back layer, a front layer, and a middle layer.
The back layer, as shown in the diagram, houses the AMG8833 infrared thermal imaging module (hardware cost approximately 90 RMB), the lithium battery, and the development board module (hardware cost 9.9 RMB).
The front layer, as shown in the diagram, houses the display module and three long-handled button control modules.
Removing the display module reveals the middle layer, as shown in the diagram, which contains the lithium battery charging/discharging module, the SD card module, and the power switch. Power is supplied
via the lithium battery and its charging/discharging module or a Type-C port. The power switch controls whether the lithium battery is connected to the circuit. The three buttons control the display and interaction with the infrared thermal imager. The LCSC development board serves as the main control board. Software Code The core code of this project displays and sends the data collected by the infrared thermal imaging module, and handles user interaction. Infrared thermal imaging data acquisition, processing, display, and transmission code: The button control interaction logic code is as follows: Links to some of the code referenced in this project are as follows: AMG8833 8x8 thermal imaging sensor_amg8833 Chinese datasheet ; C language implementation code for bilinear interpolation function. Important notes: When soldering pin headers and sockets, the hot air gun temperature should not be set too high. Excessive temperature can cause unmelted solder to flow through the holes to the other side of the PCB, causing a short circuit between two adjacent drilled holes! When charging the lithium battery, press the third button to enter standby mode to reduce power consumption. A hole needs to be made on the back of the casing to prevent the development board's pin headers from interfering with the back casing. Additionally, the side USB hole should be flush with the side opening during soldering; otherwise, the charging interface will be interfered with by the casing, preventing the charging cable from being inserted. The assembly process involves soldering surface-mount components, such as the pull-up resistors, capacitors, and SD card slot for the SD card module. Next, solder headers, sockets, and through-hole components, such as buttons, lithium battery charging/discharging modules, display sockets, development board sockets, and infrared thermal imaging module sockets (so that the sockets can be easily removed from the corresponding modules). Finally, insert the display, infrared thermal imaging module, and development board into their respective sockets. The front view of the hardware PCB for this project is shown below. The back view of the hardware PCB for this project is shown below. In addition, this project also designed corresponding upper and lower housings, as shown in the following figures. After the PCBA is completed, the bare device is placed inside the housing and secured with thin screws. The assembled device and its usage are shown below: Bare device without housing: Hardware measurement with housing: Finally, thank you for your support, JLCPCB. This project may have shortcomings; please leave comments for discussion. Thank you.