SEAFLIR III MWIR THERMAL IMAGING AND CRYOCOOLERS HELP

[dreamc]

Dear All

Looking for anyone with an insight knowledge on the SUPER expensive and advanced SEAFLIR STABILIZED GIMBALS..

I have a couple but don’t Have the rest of the electronics...

I already have one of them being looked into by a friend which knows a lot about this stuff, but just wondering if there is anyone else out there that used them, owned one, disassembled one and that can assist on the project of trying to make them work without the external electronic boxes

They meant to deliver COMPOSITE VIDEO FOR THE CCD AND FOR TEH THERMAL IMAGER

They also have a 20km range finder and a laser pointer

These things used to cost almost $500k or so I am told l...

Any help would be appreciated

They have low hours but not sure the condition of the cryocoolers

Cheers
Marco

[Spirit532]

The fact that you highlight the perceived value so much is a little odd. They definitely didn't cost anywhere close to $500k though, likely a tenth of the price or even less, and a long while ago. $500k right now can get you a brand new light passenger helicopter outfitted with a Star SAFIRE system.
More information and photos are needed to give even an idea of what would be required to run them.

If you can't get em to run, I'll trade you for one of my known-good FLIR PTZ-35-MS units

[Guy]

I haven't worked directly with the SeaFLIR III, but I have limited experience with military grade thermal imagers. 

Firstly, I can confirm that new, this would have cost in the realm of $300-500k USD depending on options.  Keep in mind the target market was military and government customers, so the price usually includes project services as well as the equipment costs.

Next, the bad news.  Most of the systems of this level that have made their way into public hands have been salvaged, and to conform with ITAR and other regulations, the contractors responsible have a legal obligation to disable them.  The electronics will be stripped, and often the remaining hardware considered vulnerable to reverse engineering will be physically sabotaged.  Even if you're lucky enough to find a unit with no physical damage, to reverse engineer the electronics would take time and resources that likely exceed the cost of a new system.

You can salvage the actuators, optics, mechanical components, and some electronics (e.g. EO sensor and laser), but you're extremely unlikely to ever get the MWIR sensor functioning again without the original electronics.  The residual value for an early model SeaFLIR III system would be well under $5k in my opinion.

[Stray Electron]

Firstly, I can confirm that new, this would have cost in the realm of $300-500k USD depending on options.

   The MIL grade FLIR system that I worked on was priced at $1.35 million each. And we lost money on every one of them at that price! Otherwise I agree with everything that Guy says.  Since Marco seems to be mainly concerned with the stabilization system let me add this. Our system used three nested gimbal systems on the EO module and two more on the turret and two more between the turret and the vehicle and a two axis gimballed mirror inside of the FLIR.  The positional accuracy and repeatability was and still is classified but let's just say that it was GOOD! Did I point out that every gimbal/servo system was nested inside of other ones?  Yes, something like 8 different control and feedback loops inside of each other and independent on each other.  The official tracking range was 10km but it was MUCH better than that.   And as you probably guessed, the amount of electronics just to control all of the servos and gimbals was MASSIVE.  You could NOT built one even if you had the schematics and a complete parts list.  Many of hybrid amplifiers and other parts were built especially for it and were not and never will be available to the public.  Many of the companies that supplied parts, don't sell, deal or supply ANY data to ANYONE outside of the .GOV or .MIL

   You have an interesting but otherwise useless piece of high tech gear. In addition, depending on what type cooler was used in your FLIR, the failure rate is/was absolutely horrendous so the cooler could be total junk. And without a properly operating cooler the rest of the FLIR is just dead weight.

[Guy]

The MIL grade FLIR system that I worked on was priced at $1.35 million each.

I don't doubt this.  I was involved in civilian applications, so budget constraints and export restrictions meant we only ever dealt with 'entry level' systems.  Even at that level, the engineering that went into them was pretty ridiculous.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Hi there

Glad this is bringing interest to the community

These have :
Flir Built or rebranded Cryocooler
a Flir FPA with 1 18x Optical Zoom assembly
a L-3 Technologies Range finder capable of 20KM detection I think
a CCD Camera
1 Laser Pointer
3x Fiber optic Gyroscope inside made by IAI / TAMAM

Still figuring out what's what

M

PICTURES PLEASE!!!