maxbot:
I tried the mirror version but however, it's not working with my infrared sensor at all... Otherwise it would have been a good idea.
I was going to tell you to avoid this, because it wouldn't work; ordinary glass mirrors don't reflect heat (long IR). The infrared sensor you are using is a heat sensor, not a light sensor (short IR - otherwise you could use an ordinary digital camera with an IR filter - but this won't work, because it doesn't see into long IR - and is also why a real thermal imaging camera is so darn expensive).
Ah, well.
I've been trying to think how you could speed up the scan rate, and I thought about the scanning mirror idea, but because you can't find such mirrors (ok, they do exist, but they're not very cheap), that idea was out the door...