FAQS About Infrared Technology

Moisture can be a serious problem in building materials, damaging structural integrity and nurturing mold. That’s why infrared cameras are widely used in the building industry for moisture remediation.

With an infrared camera, you can instantly locate moisture wherever it may be – so you can take quick action to eliminate it. You can see moisture without physically disassembling structures or disturbing inhabitants. Infrared cameras are preferred by building experts for fast, reliable, accurate building diagnosis for a wide range of problems, from fire and flood investigations to chronic leaks and moisture issues.

Key advantages of the infrared inspection:

• Find moisture sources and water intrusion quickly
• Evaluate progress of drying jobs
• Verify if repairs are completed correctly or not
• Detailed report for your assurance
• Proof for your insurance company that your job is dry and done

The most common uses for thermal imaging are in the predictive maintenance, building anamoly and military fields but it is quickly finding many more areas of use as a wider understanding of what the technology can do comes to light.

Thermal images can now provide us with very useful information in a number of varied and creative applications, such as:

Seeing the uniform temperature of hot poured asphalt, which helps prevent potholes.

• Seeing the hull of ships for defects and previous work.
• On horses, to see muscle and tendon injuries before they cause major damage.
• Reading solar panel/tube efficiency.
• Seeing a clear sign of a foot injury, such as gout.
• Monitoring wind turbines for predictive maintenance of mechanical and electrical components.

Infrared energy is part of the electromagnetic spectrum and has similar behaviour to visible light. It can be reflected, refracted, absorbed and emitted.

All objects emit infrared radiation as a function of temperature. Infrared energy is generated by the vibration and rotation of atoms and molecules. The higher the temperature of an object, the more the motion and hence the more infrared energy is emitted. This is the energy detected by infrared cameras. The cameras do not see temperatures, they detect thermal radiation.

Thermography technology is the use of an infrared imaging and measurement camera to “see” and “measure” thermal energy emitted from an object.

Thermal, or infrared energy is light that is not visible because its wavelength is too long to be detected by the human eye; it’s the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that we perceive as heat.

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. The higher the object’s temperature, the greater the IR radiation emitted. Infrared allows us to see what our eyes cannot.

Infrared thermography cameras produce images of invisible infrared or “heat” radiation and provide precise non-contact temperature measurement capabilities. Nearly everything gets hot before it fails, making infrared cameras extremely cost-effective and valuable diagnostic tools in many diverse applications. And as industry strives to improve manufacturing efficiencies, manage energy, improve product quality, and enhance worker safety, new applications for infrared cameras continually emerge.

A picture says a thousand words. Infrared thermography is the only diagnostic technology that lets you instantly visualise and verify thermal performance. Infrared cameras show you thermal problems and then quantify them with precise non-contact temperature measurement.

Your inspection concludes with a report including simple classification of data and identification of potential problem areas.

Nearly everything that uses or transmits power gets hot before it fails. Cost effective power management is critical to maintaining the reliability of your electrical and mechanical systems. And today, no one would argue that infrared thermography is the most effective proven predictive maintenance (PM) technology available to quickly, accurately and safely locate problems prior to failure.

Finding and fixing a poor electrical connection before a component fails can save you the much greater costs associated with manufacturing downtime, production losses, power outages, fires and catastrophic failures.