An Overview of Thermography for Mechanical Applications

Infrared thermography is an accepted and applied technology for the non-contact inspection of a variety of industrial assets. This technology allows the user to easily see abnormal thermal patterns which may indicate potential faults, defects, or other system inefficiencies. Although the potential number of thermography applications is nearly endless, many users have the idea that thermography is mostly applicable to electrical applications only, and so miss the many other uses that present themselves in an industrial setting. 

This brief 20-30 minute webinar with FLIR Strategic Business Development Manager, Rob Raymer, will review the technology of infrared thermography and discuss a variety of lesser known mechanical applications that are well suited for thermographic inspection.

Will we be able to download the power point presentation?

You will receive a follow-up email with a link to a landing page which will contain a recorded version of this webinar. Alternately, please reach out to me to obtain a PDF version of the PowerPoint slides used for this webinar ([email protected])

My company is need of help in selecting the optimal focal length in the Duo Pro series, for a special IR application. A short field test with a sample is best, but we've had no luck with FLIR to arrange a trial before purchase. Can you suggest a solution?

Support for the Duo Pro camera can be found by submitting a ticket here or by calling 1-866-667-7732

Is it possible to get a sample of an IR window?

Please reach out to our FLIR inside sales team for guidance on who in your area may be able to let you demo a FLIR Infrared window (603-324-7600, Option 1, then Option 2)

Where can I get the best form for collecting information (data collection). We do this on some of our equipment but no one is happy about the form.

FLIR offers software to help you quickly analyse and create reports. Please check out FLIR Tools. We have also recently released an asset management software called Insite: Watch the webinar 

Some of the images indicated problems on rotating machines - motors. Is that a potential for introduction of vibration analysis to better determine the problem?

Absolutely. As mentioned, the heat signature alone is usually not enough to diagnose the root cause of a motor issue. Vibrational and/or alignment analysis are typically required as part of the overall trouble shooting technique.

If you were using a IR camera to quickly look at 120/240 volt electrical panel is there a rule of thumb of when a circuit breaker might have an issue based only on temperature. This would be without taking panel off. Just a rule of thumb.

The answer is dependent on many factors including the applied load at any given time. It is always best to have that data available from a different piece of test equipment such as a FLIR multimeter of FLIR Clamp meter that can “MeterLink” that data directly into your infrared image. NETA also publishes a guideline for “suggested actions” based on temperature rise above a reference or the ambient temperature. Please refer to ANSI/NETA-ATS 2013, Table 100.18.