INVITATION TO BID

 

The Western Coventry Fire District is soliciting bids for the purchase of a new Thermal Imaging Camera.  Bid specifications may be viewed on our website at www.wcfd.net or picked up at the station located at 1110 Victory Highway in Greene, RI  02827.  Sealed bids should be sent to the WCFD District Clerk at the above address and received no later than 4:00 pm on June 29, 2012.  The District reserves the right to reject any or all bids and to accept the bid deemed most favorable to the interest of the district.

 

 

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THERMAL IMAGING CAMERA SPECIFICATIONS

Intent of Specifications:

 

This specification covers a commercially produced high resolution Thermal Imaging Camera specifically manufactured for firefighting operations.  Included is the associated hardware required for day to day use.

 The Thermal Imaging Camera system delivered to these specifications shall be a standard commercial product, with up to a 3 year warranty as an available option, heavy duty NFPA compliant “smart” charging system, desktop charger and a total of two rechargeable batteries included.

 Quality Assurance:

 The company manufacturing the Thermal Imaging Camera may be required to furnish proof of current certification to the ISO9001-2008 quality standard.

 Compliance Guarantee:

 Vendors must guarantee that equipment tendered comply with all parts of this specification.

 The purchasing entity reserves the right to require the proposer to submit a sample of the equipment being tendered to the purchasing entity for validation and verification that all items claimed to be in compliance are in fact true and correct.  Inability to supply a camera of the same make and model proposed shall disqualify the bidder.

 

Warranty:

  1. The camera shall be warranted by the manufacturer to be free of defects for a period of 1 year from the date of delivery by the manufacturer.  (Options for up to three years shall be available.)

 

  1. The manufacturer shall provide 48-hour turn-around on warranty service work to the camera and batteries in such a manner to return the Camera to the purchasing entity, in normal usable condition, within 72 hours.  The purchaser shall have a manufacturer direct relationship to initiate warranty or repair service.

 

Physical and Performance Specifications:

  1. The Camera shall be capable of sensing, imaging, and displaying infrared radiation in the 8 to 14 micron spectral wavelengths and shall have been designed specifically for use within a firefighting environment.

 

  1. The Camera shall be hand-held and portable allowing it to be passed from one firefighter to another within a firefighting environment without removing any articles of personal protective equipment.

 

  1. In typical ambient temperature environments, when the Camera’s on/off switch is activated to apply power to the Camera, the Camera shall render a usable thermal image in five seconds or less.

 

  1. The Camera shall be equipped with a Vanadium Oxide infrared imaging sensor in the 320 x 240 resolution format.

 

  1. To facilitate imaging in extreme temperatures in excess of 2000°F, the camera shall have three operating sensitivities.  High Sense or “Normal” mode, Medium Sense, and Low Sense or “Thousand Plus” mode.  Each operating sensitivity shall be automatically selected by the camera’s operating software with no firefighter intervention.

 

  1. To facilitate high quality image representation, the camera shall refresh at a minimum of 60 times per second by employing a 60Hz update rate to the sensor itself.

 

  1. The Camera’s infrared imaging engine technology shall be specifically designed for firefighting and shall be designed, developed, and manufactured by the same company who manufactures the finished camera product.  The Camera shall be manufactured in the United States.

 

  1. The warranty shall be a single source warranty.

 

  1. The internal video shall be displayed on minimum of a backlit 3 ˝  inch LCD.  The aspect radio consistent with the camera’s sensor.

 

  1. The Camera shall withstand multiple drops from a distance of 6 feet on to a concrete surface without sustaining any measurable degradation in performance.

 

  1. The Camera shall conform to the IP67 standard, ability to withstand short-term immersion in water to a depth of three feet.

 

  1. The freeze-frame associated with NUC and mode switching shall last no longer than 0.08 seconds.

 

  1. The camera shall not incorporate a “sleep” mode.

 

  1. The Camera shall incorporate an on-screen battery level indicator consisting of 10 battery level increments.  The battery level indicator shall also incorporate a low battery warning.

 

  1. The Camera shall have an upgradeable option so as to be operational using disposable AA type alkaline batteries.

 

  1. The Camera’s rechargeable batteries shall be capable of fully and continuously operating the camera for 2-3 hours.  Less than 2 hr operation is unacceptable.  Note use of any standby or sleep mode is unacceptable.

 

  1. The camera shall incorporate an automatic temperature stabilization system that uses the Peltier Effect.  When the camera’s electronics heat-up to a predetermined critical temperature, the temperature stabilization system automatically activates to dissipate heat from the electronics and move the heat in to a heat synch.

 

  1. The Camera shall incorporate a standard video output utilizing a BNC type connector to enable wired transmission to a remote location.

 

  1. The Camera shall approximately be of the following dimensions:  5.4 x 6.5 x 4.5 inches.

 

  1. The Camera, excluding battery, shall weight under 3 pounds.

 

  1. The camera will not require a pistol grip for operation.  Any pistol grip shall be easily removable in order to adapt to various firefighting applications.

 

  1. The Camera shall incorporate through-the-lens direct temperature measurement capability that measures relative surface temperature readings at the point of the on screen crosshairs.  The direct temperature measurement readings shall be displayed, in numerical form.

 

  1. The camera shall have a colored temperature reference bar in three ranges/ modes with numerical reference values displayed next to the color reference bar.

 

  1. The camera must have see through colorization that begins at approximately 150 degrees F and continues to no less than 2000 degrees F.  Colorization shall be in three automatic and incremental modes.

 

  1. Camera start up time shall be 5 seconds or less.

 

  1. The camera will automatically switch between three sense modes without use of firefighter operated manual switching or adjusting.  Mode switching will be driven by temperature sensing at the crosshairs in the center of the camera display.

 

  1. Batteries shall be capable of refurbishment.