How to make night vision with your own hands. DIY night vision device - is it possible? How it works and resources for homemade NVGs

Any body has the ability to emit or reflect IR (infrared) rays. The “NVD” (night vision device) developed in 1984 by the German company “Elektrisch Manufactur” is built on this principle. This device is based on the internal photoelectric effect. When projecting an IR image, the electrical conductivity of the irradiated areas of the photosemiconductor (2) (see Fig. 1) changes and a potential distribution is created on the adjacent electroluminescent layer (4) corresponding to the distribution of image brightness on the photoconductor (2). To carry out this process, it is necessary to apply an alternating voltage of 250-500 Volts with a frequency of 400-3000 Hz and a current of no more than 10 mA to the outermost transparent electrodes

So, let's start making NVGs. The chemical elements necessary for the manufacture of the device can be obtained from any school chemistry laboratory or chemical laboratory of any enterprise. To begin with, let's take two glass plates, tin chloride SnClz, silver, zinc sulfide ZnS (crystalline) and copper. Keep the glasses in a mixture of H2SO4 and K2Cr2O7 (potassium dichromate) for 4 hours. Dry. Then take a porcelain cup, put SnCl2 in it and place it in a muffle (or electric) furnace. Fix the glass above it at a distance of 7-10cm. Cover the cup with a metal plate and turn on the oven. Once it warms up to 400-480 degrees, remove the metal plate. As soon as a thin conductive coating is formed, turn off the oven and leave the glass in it until it cools completely. Check the coverage with a tester.

Then coat one of these wafers with a photosemiconductor. To do this, prepare equal amounts of a 3% solution of thiocarbamide Na4 C(S)NH2 and a 6% solution of lead acetate. Pour both solutions into a glass container. Using tweezers, insert a glass plate into the solution and hold it vertically. But before that, apply varnish to the side free from the conductive coating. Wearing rubber gloves, pour concentrated alkali solution to the top into the vessel with the plates /carefully!!/ and stir very carefully with a glass rod without touching the plates. After 10 minutes, remove the plate (carefully) and wash it under running distilled water. Dry.

Turn on the oven and place the silver in a clean porcelain cup. Repeat the process described above at 900 degrees. The coating is applied to the photosemiconductor wafer. Get a mirror film. To make a phosphor, prepare pure ZnS crystals. If there are any impurities, the brightness of the glow drops sharply or disappears. Prepare the oven. Place pure copper in a porcelain cup. Crystals of copper and ZnS should be as small as possible. Maintain the proportion of ZnS - 100%, Cu (copper) - 10%. In the furnace, circulate copper vapor and pass it through the gaps between the crystals. The resulting crystals should not be ground under any circumstances. You should get a colorless powder. Mix tsapon varnish with crystals. Take the minimum amount of varnish possible. Pour the mixture onto the plate with a layer of silver and wait until it completely spreads and forms a smooth surface. Place a second sheet of conductive coating on top of the varnish and press lightly. After drying, seal the resulting NVD. Before all these operations, after applying the conductive coating, wires should be soldered as leads along the edges of the plates.

Now all you have to do is assemble the high voltage generator circuit and assemble it all into a single housing. It can be of any shape. But the one proposed by the developer is still recommended (see Fig. 2). The lens can be from any camera, preferably short-focus, for example from "FED", "Smena-M". Any biconvex lens can serve as an eyepiece. After final assembly, check all connections for correct connection and tightness. When you turn on the NVD, the transformer should beep quietly. If the image does not appear, do not despair. Change generator frequency or voltage level. Set sensitivity to maximum.

Resistor R2 changes the frequency of the generator.
The transformer is wound on any core and contains:
Winding I contains 2000 - 2500 turns, wires - 0.05 - 0.1 mm;
Winding II contains 60 turns;
Winding III - 26 turns, wires - 0.3 mm.

Human vision is an amazing thing. The eyes are called the mirror of the soul and a powerful weapon that nature has endowed us with. What we really are not given is to see in the dark, unlike technical devices called NVGs or night vision devices.
Until recently, we heard about them as special equipment for the military, who use them for covert surveillance and combat operations in the dark. The capabilities of such devices are also used in modern conventional cameras. Moreover, some of them are able to distinguish objects in the infrared spectrum, while others are not. Today we will show you how to make a night vision device from a regular digital camera. So let's get started!

How it works and resources for homemade NVGs

Our NVD is based on a digital camera, popularly nicknamed a “point-and-shoot.” The electronic content is preserved, since it is capable of transmitting images in real time through the LCD screen. By changing the lens filtration and increasing the camera's sensitivity to the infrared range, as well as equipping the camera body with infrared illumination, we open up new possibilities for a digital camera capable of capturing objects in the near-infrared range. Also, such a device can be used as a thermal imager, distinguishing heated objects, for example, an unattended iron, electric stove or kettle.
Materials:

• Digital camera;
• Button – switch;
• AA AA battery 1.5 V – 2 pcs;
• Wiring, electrical tape.

Tools:

• Soldering iron;
• Screwdriver with replaceable bits;
• Painting knife;
• Hot glue gun;
• Tweezers.

We manufacture a night vision device (NVD)

For this experiment, the author purchased a working digital camera Samsung S1030. This is a regular point-and-shoot camera with a sensitivity of 50 - 1600 ISO, a maximum resolution of 3648 x 2736, equipped with a 2.70-inch LCD screen on the rear panel.

Removing the infrared filter

Unscrew all visible screws from the back cover of the camera. This is easy to do with a screwdriver, making sure that nothing interferes with its dismantling. This must be done as carefully as possible, without damaging the plastic closures and clips, and without pulling out the cables of the electronic filling.

We unlock the LCD screen by carefully removing it from the holder frame, which we then also dismantle. We release the cables from the LCD screen and camera control from the connectors. The output control board should release the front cover, which can now be unfastened from the device.

The wiring leading to the microphone must be removed, or this element must be disconnected completely. Having gained access to the high-voltage capacitor for the flash, it must be de-energized with a resistor, voltmeter, tester or light bulb by short-circuiting its contacts.

Having unsoldered the power contacts, remove the camera control board, leaving only the lens and matrix. It is to her that we need to get close.

We unscrew the matrix board with the light-sensitive sensor that captures the image. In this model, the infrared filter is a small removable glass covered with a polymer frame. Remove it carefully with tweezers, without damaging the surface of the sensor.

To maintain the camera's ability to autofocus, it is necessary to compensate for the lack of a filter with a transparent material of similar size. The author adapted it from a protective film for his smartphone.

We mount the control board, front cover and LCD screen with a frame for it in the reverse order. Don't forget to connect the disconnected cables to the connectors. By connecting the control panel on the back cover, we check the functionality of the camera.

Installing LED lighting

We place LEDs and output contacts on the cooling radiator boards. We connect the voltage reduction module to the batteries and configure it to the required parameters.

We coat the LEDs with thermal conductive paste to transfer heat to the radiator panel, and then solder them to the contacts.

Our homemade NVD can be considered ready. The range of such a device will directly depend on the photosensitivity of the camera sensor, as well as the power of the IR LEDs. Of course, it will be far from what real night vision devices offer, but for short distances it is what you need.
The quality of ordinary photographs after removing the IR filter will not be correct, and the colors in the photo will be mixed and do not correspond to the actual ones. However, for true IR photography this option is the most suitable!

In this material we will talk about zero generation night vision devices. What exactly are these devices? Zero-generation night vision devices are the simplest types of the family of these devices that have active illumination. These devices operate in the near-infrared range. It should be noted that remote controls for TVs and household appliances operate in the same range.

Let’s finish the introductory part here and start assembling the device, but before that we suggest watching the video

What we need:
- old web camera;
- 4 infrared LEDs;
- 4 resistors of 50 ohms;
- a piece of plastic;

At the very beginning, you should clarify the features of some materials. Infrared LEDs can be removed from old remote controls. The author does not recommend using more than four LEDs. And the plastic that we will use during assembly should be visible through infrared rays, but not visible through ordinary light. The best option would be exposed film. If you don't have one, you can simply connect the camera and look through different pieces of plastic. According to the author, soft black folders from Erich Krauser are excellent. Let's get started.

First of all, we disassemble our webcam and unscrew the lens from it.

Next, we look at where exactly the filter is located in the camera. Sometimes the filter we need is in the lens holder and is installed inside. That is, in order to remove it you need to unscrew two screws on the back side, remove the holder or simply break the filter and screw the holder back. The author has a filter installed in the lens.

To do this, he simply lifts the top locking ring and pulls out the light filter itself. This filter allows only the visible part of light to pass through and blocks infrared rays, which is not acceptable if we want to use infrared radiation specifically.

Now, instead of the old filter, we need to put our new one and put the web camera back together.

Each LED has two outputs. We need to combine their cons.

Now we need to connect a resistor to each plus.

We connect the free ends of the resistors to each other.

Optics/NVD

Today we will not touch on the medieval alchemical method to make a night vision device with our own hands. This is, of course, simple if you have sulfuric acid and a little tin chloride at home, but we think this approach is somewhat dangerous. Therefore, the work plan for today is as follows: we will briefly discuss the principle of operation of a night vision device, we will tell you what it can be assembled from if you cannot sit still, perhaps we will make a short excursion into the topic of what is available in the store in this area.

The night vision device includes:

1. Converter of infrared radiation to video signal.
2. A kind of eyepiece that could display the signal in real time.
3. Backlight.

The store has many devices that allow you to shoot in the dark. A night vision device should obviously be based on one of them. A black and white micro camera will do just fine. It is not very cheap, but you can use it for something else if you get tired of the night vision device. An example of such devices is JK 007B or JK-926A. The main thing is that the device has a video output, and any camera has it, otherwise why would it be needed at all! The purchase price should not greatly exceed the store price of the night vision device (see above), otherwise greed will stifle it. Take comfort in the fact that our device will be able to record, and this costs even more money on the counter.

You need to find an old viewfinder. To do this, you can go to a salon that repairs household appliances if you don’t have suitable equipment at home. The viewfinder must have a video input using the same protocol as the camera transmits.

This question can not only be clarified with local professionals, but also checked there by connecting the devices with a cable. If everything works, then all that remains is to buy the backlight. Order LEDs online or buy them at your nearest market. How to check? We also have a video camera for shooting at night. Go into the dark, turn on the power and see if the radio element glows. To do this, just point the video camera at him.

A foreign do-it-yourself enthusiast recommends combining a dozen LEDs in garlands of 6 pieces per branch. They must be equipped with a 10-ohm shunt for the entire bunch, after which power can be supplied from a regular battery. It is difficult to reverse the polarity, but just in case, use a special reference book for LEDs. The backlight block is ready. LEDs are mounted on any case, it can be an ordinary children's pencil case or something else of the same kind.

Actually, everything is ready. It is necessary to connect the camera and viewfinder with a video cable, and place the lens in the same plane as the LEDs. Considering the size of the devices, they can fit into one pencil case. The viewfinder is mounted on the side. For the recording device, you will need to install the appropriate connector into the housing. Night vision devices from China cannot compare with ours! Here's how it works:

1. The night camera captures your surroundings.
2. LEDs illuminate objects for better visibility.
3. The viewfinder begins to receive an image visible to the eye.
4. If necessary, registration is carried out through a special connector.

Don’t be surprised if distant objects are not visible; the LED beams cannot reach them. Such a night vision device also has disadvantages: there are no glasses, the cost of new all components is quite high, it is necessary to purchase batteries and place them in the case. But we explained in simple language the principle of operation of the device. Our goal was to show how to make a night vision device from improvised materials. However, there are probably a couple of reagents lying around in the chemistry lab. Try talking to the teacher!

Shop night vision devices

The Cyclops night vision device is so named because it has a monocular instead of glasses. This would be just what a one-eyed giant would need. Like all others, this night vision device is characterized by three parameters:

1. Resolution in arc minutes. That smallest part of the viewing sphere that can still be distinguished from the neighboring one.
2. Gain.
3. Line of sight.

For the devices to work, at least a faint reflection of the stars is enough, and if the Moon rises in the sky, the picture will become completely clear. These celestial bodies will illuminate the landscape no worse than the LEDs we talked about above. Of course, if you look at the sky, you can study Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, but all this will be filled with a whitish glow.

The Zenith monocular night vision device has a built-in backlight and a piezoelectric energy converter for power supply. There are also scopes under this brand, so don’t confuse one with the other. There is a lens adjustment especially for people with poor vision. These are already night vision goggles for reading in the dark!

NPF Dipol also produces night vision devices, but they are not affordable. However, you need to look at what exactly the device is for. If you have the opportunity to pay about 190 thousand rubles for glasses, then for this money you can buy from Belarusians a real cool device for viewing the surroundings at night.

Operating principle of a night vision device

The eye is a passive radar, that is, it receives radiation that comes from objects. But the visible spectrum is only a small range of vibrations on the body of the universe that surround us. In particular, the predator from the film of the same name could switch ranges, but even he could not see the whole picture! The eye cannot see in the dark because we cannot observe infrared radiation. All bodies will emit waves, especially at low temperatures. Therefore, the first night vision device is emerging. He has nothing to do with the military. Builders use it.

Meet the thermal imager, which receives thermal radiation from objects. The device itself is not designed to see in the dark, but you can see something on it. It has a number of settings, but in a typical state:

• temperature of about 10 degrees Celsius heat appears orange glow;
• the walls of the houses look reddish;
• The surrounding inanimate nature can have a variety of shades, even black.

It is unlikely that you will be able to assemble a thermal imager with your own hands, but it is quite possible to buy it for 50 thousand. And for seven thousand you can buy a night vision device (NVD) in a store. Usually there is no point in taking a thermal imager specifically for vigil in the dark, because it serves builders, for example, for the purpose of assessing the quality of thermal insulation work. But if you find a foreman you know, then you can, of course, admire nature in the dark.

The circuit of the night vision device is also based on these processes, but in order not to irritate the eye with such an unusual rainbow, inside the factory product there is a transparent plate covered with semiconductor material, which, due to the internal photoelectric effect, allows you to “see” infrared radiation from objects.

For reference. The photoelectric effect is the phenomenon of the transition of electrons in a material to new energy levels under the influence of photons of light. Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to use this term for invisible radiation, but this is how it is used in the literature, so we will not contradict other sources in any way.

Under the influence of invisible “photons,” the electrons in the plate gain energy. Information can be read by changes in the transparency of the material or its conductivity. In particular, microchannel technology for manufacturing sensitive elements makes it possible to avoid illumination on neighboring pixels. The Nazis were the first to approach the solution of the problem. Many talented scientists worked for them. Some voluntarily, others, according to some sources, were forced. A scope was even created for a rifle weighing 2.25 kg with a suitcase of batteries (13.5 kg). This would probably have made it possible to accomplish many feats (or crimes) if Soviet troops had not taken Berlin in May 1945.

Sometimes the radiation is further amplified, for example, by photomultipliers. This allows you to get a brighter and more contrasting picture in a night vision device. But often there is not enough external radiation, and then illumination in the infrared range is used. Lamps can also be used for this, but most often semiconductor diodes of a special type are used. You can find these in any store. By the way, the coherence of LED radiation is very high. This means that interference will not affect the picture quality.

For reference. Coherence refers to the concept of being in phase with a wave. It doesn't matter what this means - we need to know that such light is concentrated in a very narrow part of the spectrum, and in addition it is easily combined, giving greater brightness than any other sources of radiation. As a result, you can get high-quality illumination at low power. (See also: The principle of operation of a night vision device)

So, night vision devices are divided as follows:

1. By the nature of the impact on the environment:
   1. Active with LED backlight.
   2. Passive, receiving only radiation from other objects.
2. According to the method of processing the received signal:
   1. With amplification.
   2. No gain.
3. Based on the presence of a drive:
   1. Registrants.
   2. Not registering.

Well, that’s all we need to know to assemble a night vision device with our own hands.

The ability of each physical body to reflect IR lies. This action is possible due to the internal photoelectric effect, which appears under certain conditions.

Knowing this feature, you can make a night vision device with your own hands. To do this, you should stock up on certain chemical elements.

How to make a night vision device at home?

You need to take two small glass plates, as well as the compound SnCl2, silver, ZnS and copper. It is necessary to heat the glass in a solution of sulfuric acid and dichromate for about four hours. After this they should be dried thoroughly.

Then you need to put tin chloride in a porcelain cup and place it above it at a distance of 10 centimeters, you need to attach pieces of glass, cover the container with a metal plate and turn on the heating device.

As soon as the oven warms up to 450 degrees, you need to take the plate and make sure that a conductive thin coating has formed on it. The glasses should be placed on the table to cool.

We continue to create a night vision device with our own hands. Next, you need to apply a photosemiconductor to one of the plates. To do this you will need a certain solution. You can make it as follows: take three percent thiocarbamide and six percent lead acetate. These solutions should be placed in a glass vessel. Using tweezers, dip a glass plate into the mixture, holding it vertically. But, before doing this, you need to apply varnish to the side not covered with a conductive coating. Next, after putting it on, pour the alkali solution into the container with the plates to the very top and carefully stir the contents of the container with a glass rod. In this case, it is advisable not to touch the glass. After 10 minutes, the plate must be removed and washed in distilled water.

To further create a night vision device with your own hands, you need to thoroughly dry the pieces of glass. To do this, turn on the oven, place Ag (silver) in a clean porcelain cup and repeat the above process, but at a temperature of 900 degrees. After this, the wafer with the semiconductor should be coated so that a mirror film is formed.

We prepare the phosphor. Again you need to turn on the oven and place copper and zinc acetate in a proportion of 10 * 100 into a porcelain bowl. It is very important that the crystals of the elements are as small as possible.

Under the influence of heat, copper vapor will circulate, which will then be able to penetrate into the spaces between the zinc crystals. The resulting substance should not be broken under any circumstances. The result should be a white powder. Next, you need to mix the varnish with the crystals, pour the solution onto the plate (on the silver layer) and wait until the mixture spreads evenly, forming a smooth surface. Then a second plate with a conductive coating should be placed on the varnish. When everything is dry, the practical ready-made night vision device with your own hands needs to be sealed. After this, it is necessary to apply a conductive coating and solder along the edges of the wiring plates for the leads.

How to make a night vision device? Assembly

All that remains is to purchase a generator and place all the components in one housing. Its shape can be arbitrary.

The lens for the device can be borrowed from any camera, but it is better to use a short-focus lens (they can be found in Smena-8M and FED cameras). Any lens is suitable for the eyepiece, but it must be biconvex.

Having put everything together, you need to check all connections for strength. When the device is turned on, a thin squeak should be heard. It is also necessary to adjust the voltage level, generator frequency and sensitivity.