Thermography Applications

Out Line
• Introduction
• Applications
– Building
– Electrical and Mechanical
– Industrial
– Firefighting
– Law Enforcement
– Veterinary and Wildlife
– Medical
• Thermal physics for industrial applications
• How to carry out thermal inspection
Introduction
 What is Infrared?

• Infrared radiation was discovered in

1800 by astronomer William Herschel,
who discovered a type of invisible
radiation in the light spectrum beyond
red light (infra Latin means "under"),
by means of its effect upon a
thermometer.
What is Infrared?
 What is Infrared?
• Herschel discovered infrared radiation
in sunlight by passing it through a prism
and holding a thermometer just beyond
the red end of the visible spectrum.
 What is Infrared?
Thermography and Infrared Light
• Infrared light or thermography is the
use of an infrared imaging and
measurement camera to "see" and
"measure" thermal energy emitted from
an object.
• Unlike visible light, in the infrared
world, everything with a temperature
above absolute zero emits heat. Even
very cold objects, like ice cubes, emit
infrared.
 How does an IR camera
work?
• An infrared camera is a non-contact device
that detects infrared energy (heat) and
converts it into an electronic signal, which
is then processed to produce a thermal
image on a video monitor and perform
temperature calculations.
 Infrared thermometers vs
thermal imaging cameras

• Infrared (IR) thermometers are

reliable and very useful for single-spot
temperature readings, but, for scanning
large areas, it’s easy to miss critical
parts like air leakages, areas with
insufficient insulation or water
intrusion.
 Infrared thermometers vs
thermal imaging cameras
• With an infrared thermometer you are
able to measure the temperature at one
single spot.
• Thermal imaging cameras can measure
temperatures on the entire image.
Applications
Application of Thermal cameras
• Building
• Electrical and Mechanical
• Industrial
• Medical
• Law Enforcement
• Firefighting
• Veterinary and Wildlife
Building
 Electrical / Mechanical
• In industrial environments thermal imaging is
being used for finding hot-spots that can lead
to failures in electrical and mechanical
installations.

• Electrical cabinets and motor control centers

are regularly scanned with a thermal imaging
camera.

• By detecting anomalies at an early stage

production breakdowns can be avoided and
money can be saved.
 Electrical / Mechanical

• A thermal imaging camera is a reliable

non contact instrument which is able to
scan and visualize the temperature
distribution of entire surfaces of
machinery and electrical equipment
quickly and accurately.
 Electrical / Mechanical
High voltage installation
• Example of failures in high voltage
installations that can be detected with
thermal imagine
– Oxidation of high voltage switches
– Overheated connections
– Incorrectly secured connections
– Insulator defects
 Electrical / Mechanical

• A bad connection on a transmission line

shows up as a clear hot spot in the infrared
image. A bad connection results in increased
resistance and the current flow generates
excessive temperature that can easily be
detected with infrared thermography.
 Electrical / Mechanical
Low voltage installation
• Example of failures in low voltage
equipment that can be detected with
thermal imagine
– High resistance connections
– Corroded connections
– Internal fuse damage
– Internal circuit breaker faults
– Poor connections and internal damage
Electrical / Mechanical
 Electrical / Mechanical
• Example of mechanical faults that can
be detected with thermal imagine
– Lubrication issues
– Misalignments
– Overheated motors
– Suspect rollers
– Overloaded pumps
– Overheated motor axles
– Hot bearings
 Electrical / Mechanical
• Mechanical systems will heat up if there
is a misalignment at some point in the
system.
Electrical / Mechanical
 Industrial
• Example of pipework faults that can be
detected with thermal imagine
– Leakage in pumps, pipes and valves
– Insulation breakdowns
– Pipe blockage
 Industrial
• Thermal imaging also gives valuable
information about the condition of pipe,
tube and valve insulations
 Industrial

• Thermal Fusion image of steam leaking

from a pipe due to insufficient
insulation.
• Inspections are done with the
production process in full operation.
 Firefighting
• Thermal technology used in firefighting
saves lives.
• A firefighter armed with a thermal camera
can see through darkness, detect the
hottest parts of a fire and even detect the
body heat of trapped individuals.
• Many of these units are helmet-mountable
as well, allowing the firefighter to see in
thermal without using their hands.
 Firefighting
• This technology enables a firefighter to
see through such things as heavy smoke
and can even be used to detect the body
heat of trapped people
• Detect thermal hotspots and make
informed decisions on the progress of a
fire. This enables the fire professionals
to actively predict.
 Firefighting
• Early Course-of-Action Plotting
• Ventilating a Fire
• Seeing Through Smoke
• Reignition Control
Firefighting
Firefighting
 Law Enforcement
• Thermal cameras used in law
enforcement allow police officers and
security professionals to track, locate
and capture criminals more efficiently in
adverse weather conditions, dense
foliage, woodland or various other
factors that can contribute towards a
criminal remaining hidden, leaving on-
foot patrolmen unable to detect
criminals who might be hiding.
 Law Enforcement
• Criminals Can Hide, But Their Heat
Can't
• Thermal From The Air
• Significantly Better Than Night vision
• The Security Professional's New Best
Friend
Law Enforcement
Law Enforcement
 Veterinary and Wildlife
• Thermal imaging systems adapted for use
in veterinary testing enable animals to be
tested without the need to carry out
exploratory surgery or other procedures.
• The thermal camera can detect hot/cold
spots in the animal's joints, veins and skin
to detect problems and can be used to
make quick diagnosis on such things as
arthritis. They are also commonly deployed
in testing horses for injuries.
 Veterinary and Wildlife
• Equine Thermography
– Perhaps the most common veterinary-based
application for thermal imaging systems is
in detecting problems with horses.
• Detection of Inflammation
– remain hidden for up to two weeks before
the horse shows any sign of the damage
visibly.
– A thermal camera is able to pick up on the
inflammation long before
Muscle Injury Diagnosis & Nerve
Damage
Veterinary and Wildlife
Veterinary and Wildlife
 Medical
• Thermal technology used in the medical
industry can spot problems with humans
without the need to carry out invasive
testing
• The devices enable doctors and medical
professionals to put patients at ease
and find problems such as arthritis,
abnormal skin complaints and other
problems by detecting hot/cold spots
which may indicate problems in the
person being tested.
Medical
 Medical
• Medical Research and Thermography
– Thermography is rapidly being adopted as
an extremely useful tool in carrying out
research into the effects of drugs,
charting the effects of pain on the body
and can even be used to determine how
diseases affect the patient's core body
temperature and heat emissivity levels.
 Medical
• A thermal camera is used to detect
victims of the S.A.R.S virus
 Medical
• Thermal Camera Usage in Anaesthetics
Medical
Medical
Medical
Other Applications
Thermal physics for industrial
applications
 Thermal physics for industrial
applications
• In order to interpret the thermal
images correctly the operator needs to
know how deferent materials and
circumstances influence the
temperature readings from the thermal
imagine camera.
 Thermal physics for industrial
applications
• Some of the most important factors
influencing the temperature readings
are:
Thermal conductivity
Emissivity
Reflections
Weather conditions
Heat and ventilation systems
 Thermal physics for industrial
applications
• Thermal conductivity
– Deferent materials have different thermal
properties
– Insulation tends worm up slowly, while
metal tend to worm up quickly
 Thermal physics for industrial
applications
• Emissivity
– Efficiency which an object emits infrared
radiation and depend on material properties
Thermal physics for industrial
applications
 Thermal physics for industrial
applications
• Reflection
– Some materials reflect thermal radiation
much like a mirror reflects visible light.
 Thermal physics for industrial
applications
• Weather conditions
– High ambient temperature – mask hot spot
– Low ambient temperature – cool down the
hot spot
How to carry out thermal
inspection
 How to carry out thermal
inspection
• Define the task
• Perform a base line inspection
• Start inspection
• Analysis and reporting
 How to carry out thermal
inspection
• Define the task
– List all equipment to monitor
– Prioritize the list
– Based on this information – setting up
schedule for thermal inspection
 How to carry out thermal
inspection
• Perform a base line inspection
– Before actually stars, need reference
material
– Take a thermal image of all the equipment
to be inspected (normal operation).
Sometimes it will be multiple thermal
imagers including key component and
subsystem that are prone to failure.
– These images will be saved as baseline
reference.
 How to carry out thermal
inspection
• Perform a base line inspection
– The report of baseline inspection should be
included the method used, such as
emissivity and reflection settings for each
piece of equipment
– The exact location description of each
thermal image.
– Using the baseline image data base,
temperature threshold alarm can be
introduced
 How to carry out thermal
inspection
• Start inspection
– After documented all data inspection can
be started.
– Thermal imaging camera operator needs to
have an in depth understanding of both the
physics of thermal imaging technology and
of workings of the equipment that is
inspected.
– Familiarize yourself with all of the
equipment failure related heat signatures.
 How to carry out thermal
inspection
• Analysis and reporting
– When all of the equipment has been
inspected it is time to return to the office
to do the analysis of the images and to
summarize the finding in the report.
 Choosing the right thermal
imaging camera supplier
• Hardware
• Software
• Accessories
• Service
• Training
 Requirement for Investment
• Camera Resolution
– 60x60 to 640x480 pixels
 Requirement for Investment
• Thermal Sensitivity
– 0.030C
• Accuracy
– 1%
Requirement for Investment
• Camera functions
– Emissivity and reflection
– Manual span and level correction
Requirement for Investment
– Digital Camera

– LED lights
Requirement for Investment
– Picture in picture

– Thermal fusion
Requirement for Investment
– Laser pointer
– Interchangeable lenses

– Thumbnail Image Gallery

– Speech and text comments
Requirement for Investment
– GPS location
– Compatibility with external test &
measurement tools
– Wireless connectivity
• Software
• Training Demands
Thank You