LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — While we wait for the COVID-19 vaccines to become widely available, we've come to rely on certain public safety measures, including thermal scanners, to detect when people may have a fever. But, experts warn the market is flooded with fake and faulty scanners that don't actually detect a fever.
Dan Dietrich, the CEO and founder of Jogan Thermal Checkpoint says there are two main reasons many scanners don't work as promised. The first reason is a phenomenon called elevated skin temperature when the temperature outside affects the scanner reading inside.
"Many people might have experienced that when you go to a facility and they put the handheld temperature gun to your forehead it often runs hot, especially in the summer. Las Vegas was actually a key point of that, dealing with people with hot faces from the hot temperatures that are pretty normal through a large portion of the year," said Dietrich.
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Dietrich says the second potential problem is something called thermal drift.
"Think of the doorway of an entry to a facility, maybe a casino in Las Vegas. You have hot air drafts coming through in the summer and then cold air conditioning blowing. So, you have a lot of temperature deviation that’s occurring. As soon as the A/C comes on and blows on it, we experience a phenomenon called thermal drift. And when the drift starts occurring and it exceeds the threshold of a human at 98.6 degrees versus the CDC's 100.4 degrees, the systems are no longer functioning correctly," said Dietrich.
These common flaws led Dietrich to develop the Jogan thermal scanner, which he says addresses both issues.
"It really focuses on measuring the temperature at the tear duct. So, basically by the bridge of your nose, they call that the canthus area and it’s conditioned by the eye and it’s the area that’s over the largest artery closest to the skin. So, if you’re able to measure the temperature at the canthus you’re going to get a nice accurate reading that is not affected by things like perspiration or a hot or cold face," said Dietrich, describing how his Jogan thermal scanner accounts for elevated skin temperature.
"Our system uses a precision control temperature stabilization that replicates a laboratory level of stability, but in the real world, like at the entrance to someone’s facility," said Deitrich, addressing how the Jogan thermal scanner overcomes thermal drift.
Dietrich is hoping a more accurate thermal scanner will help us all get back to business safer and sooner.
Currently, there is a Jogan thermal scanner demo unit in Las Vegas. It's by appointment only, but the company is hoping more businesses will jump on board and invest in its thermal scanner.
If you want to learn more about how the Jogan thermal scanner works or to schedule a demo, click this link.
