Comparison of Portable Calibrator Produced in TUBITAK UME for the Calibration of Infrared Ear Thermometers with the Primary Calibration System

Infrared ear thermometers (IRETs) have been used extensively in recent years, especially both in health care facilities and increasingly at homes to measure body temperature in an easy, fast, simple, non-invasive and practical way. As the tympanic membrane or eardrum is very close to the hypothalamus in the brain that controls body temperature and shares blood, it reflects body temperature in the best way. Infrared thermometers are devices that measure body temperature by detecting thermal radiation from the tympanic membrane. In medical diagnostic and clinical applications, ear thermometers, which are commonly used nowadays, need to be monitored within the traceability chain to see if they work within the proper accuracy limits. For this reason, both the primary level calibration system and portable calibrator of IRETs have been developed in TÜBİTAK UME. In this study, the measurement results of the laboratory type ear thermometer reference system and portable calibrator developed for the calibration of infrared ear thermometers were compared with each other and it has been discussed whether these two systems meet the requirements of ASTM 1998 and EN 2003 standards.