Fluke Thermal Imaging
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 1
Agenda
• Thermography Definition and Benefits
• How a Thermal Imager Works
– Thermography Physics
– How Does an Imager Measure Temperature
– Imager Optics
• IR-Fusion Technology
• Imager Features
– Ti10/25/32, & Ti5X
• Thermography Examples
• PC Software
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 2
What is Thermography?
Measurement of temperature
remotely and assignment of
colors based on temperature.
Very effective to inspect:
 Electrical equipment
 Electrical circuits
 Mechanical equipment
 Heating/cooling equipment
 Building envelope
 Electronic
 Other
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 3
Thermal imaging
Is the science of seeing heat patterns using special
electronic cameras
Rather than seeing light, these remarkable instruments create
pictures of heat. They measure infrared (IR) radiation and convert
the data to images corresponding to the source temperatures.
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 4
Fast, safe and accurate non-contact
measurements
Can be obtained from
objects even if they are:
– moving or very hot
– difficult to reach
– expensive to shut-down
– dangerous to contact
– contaminated or altered
if contacted
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 5
Advantages of infrared inspection programs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Safety - Avoid catastrophic failure or injury
Greater asset reliability - Reduces unscheduled outages
Increased revenue - More uptime, revenue is maximized
Reduced outage costs Planned maintenance saves
More efficient inspections Just looking for heat
Improved and less expensive maintenance
Reduced spare parts inventory - Fewer spares
Reduced operational costs
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Company Confidential 6
Downtime is expensive
Industry Sector
– Chemicals
– Construction and Engineering
– Electronics
– Energy
– Food/beverage processing
– Manufacturing
– Metals/natural resources
– Pharmaceuticals
– Utilities
Revenue/Hour
$704,101
$389,601
$477,366
$2,817,846
$804,192
$1,610,654
$580,588
$1,082,252
$643,250
Source: Jacksonville Power Authority
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Company Confidential 7
Thermal imaging
• Applies to most types of
equipment and conditions
• Is obtained without
disturbing production
• Quickly identifies location
of problems
• Allows for detection of
problems before failure
• Can scan large areas
quickly to identify areas of
concern, a picture is
worth 1000 words
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Company Confidential 8
Proactive or reactive?
• Thermal Imaging can be used to both prevent
problems from occurring and to troubleshoot them
when they do.
• Thermal Imaging can make visible “the invisible” and
help pinpoint potential problem areas faster than any
other measurement tool.
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Company Confidential 9
Exam. Of an invisible problem
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Company Confidential 10
Thermal Imaging helps find/solve
problems in electrical circuits
Image shown here is Picture-InPicture (PIP) mode where center ¼
of image is IR surrounded by ¾
visible
Fluke Thermal Imaging
• Overloaded systems or
excessive current
• Loose or corroded connections
• Component failures
• Wiring mistakes
• Under-specified components
• Power quality problems like
phase unbalance, overload
or harmonic distortion
• Insulation failures
• The use of one technology does not
exclude the use of another.
Company Confidential 11
Thermal Imaging helps find/solve
problems in electric motors
• Over-heating due to:
- reduced cooling airflow
- under sized
- electrical insulation
degradation in windings
• Bearing ware due to:
- poor lubrication
- miss alignment
- excess belt tension
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Company Confidential 12
Thermal Imaging helps find/solve
problems of moisture in buildings
• Water entering building
structure through:
– leaks in building envelop
– failed and poorly installed plumbing
• Condensation caused by:
– improper construction
– poor building management
– air leakage
All of which can cause health, comfort, safety and financial issues
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Company Confidential 13
Thermal Imaging helps find/solve
problems of air leakage
• Poor construction
– Leaks around envelop penetrations like:
* Chimneys
* Plumbing vents
* HVAC lines
* Utility lines
– Leaks around window and doors
– Poorly installed siding and wraps
• Damaged and misfit heat ducts
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 14
Infrared Radiation Is Not Dangerous
Infrared radiation is electromagnetic radiation with
wavelengths longer than visible light but shorter than
microwaves
•
•
•
Infrared radiation is radiated heat that cannot be seen by
our eyes but can be sensed by our skin
All objects, whatever their temperature, emit infrared
radiation
The intensity of infrared radiation depends on the
temperature and a surface property termed “emissivity”
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Company Confidential 15
Temperature
• Temperature is a measure of hotness and/or
coldness
– It is a measure of the molecular vibration in an object relative
to the molecular vibration in other objects
– Molecules vibrate faster in warmer objects and slower in
cooler objects
• Fahrenheit and Celsius are the most commonly
used temperature scales
– They use the freezing and boiling points of water as
reference points
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Company Confidential 16
Temperature Scales
Kelvin Celsius Fahrenheit Rankin
373
100
212
672
273
0
32
492
0
-273
-460
0
Water Boiling Point
Water Freezing Point
Absolute Zero
Thermal radiation from objects depends on the 4th power of the absolute
temperature, thus boiling water radiates 3.5 times as much as ice
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Company Confidential 17
Heat Transfer
• Heat always transfers from hotter to colder
• Steady state heat transfer is when the heat flow
is constant with time
– Example: A electric motor that has been operating
continuously for a period of time
• Transient heat transfer is when the temperature
is constantly and significantly changing
– Example: An engine starting up or cooling down
– Heat capacity of material must be considered in
transient heat transfer
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Company Confidential 18
Three Modes of Heat Transfer
Conduction
Convection
Radiation
Ts
SURFACE
Temperature
of heated
surface
Solids
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Fluids & Gasses
Electromagnetic
Waves
Company Confidential 19
Conduction Heat Transfer
• Conduction is the transfer of heat from one
molecule to another in a solid, sometimes in a fluid
– Higher temperature molecules vibrate faster and
transfer their energy to adjacent cooler molecules
that are vibrating slower
– If an object is totally isolated all the molecules will
eventually come to thermal equilibrium and vibrate
at the same rate
• Metals are good conductors of heat; they conduct
heat by electron flow as well as molecule to
molecule
• Nonmetals are generally poor conductors of heat
– Materials that entrap small pockets of dead air are
very poor conductors and are called insulators
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 20
Conduction examples
Heat is conducted away from a corroded and
high resistance connection showing a
temperature gradient along the fuse
Extruded rebar shows a lower
temperature exiting the die
because heat is conducted from
the surface of the bar to the die
And the bar surface temperature
reheats down stream from
internal heat conducted from the
center of the bar to the surface
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Company Confidential 21
Conduction examples
Heat conducted through the ceiling
shows missing insulation and joist
pattern
Heat is conducted along
copper bus bar away
from resistive connection
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Company Confidential 22
Combined Conduction and
Convection Examples
Heat from outside is conducted through
siding, convected inside empty wall cavity,
conducted through inside wall board and
convected into air conditioned room
Heat is convected onto inside wall and
ceiling, conducted through insulation and
stud structure and convected to the outside
air
Convection air currents don’t flow in corners
very well causing cold spot at ceiling
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Company Confidential 23
Convection mixing
Warm water discharge from Power Plant is mixed with cooler river water
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Company Confidential 24
Radiation Heat Transfer
• Radiation is different from convection and conduction
– Radiation does not require a medium
– Conduction and Convection are linearly proportional to
temperature difference
– Radiation from a surface is proportional to the four power of
absolute temperature
– Heat exchange between two objects involves complex
relationships of geometry, emissivity and surrounding objects
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Company Confidential 25
Be aware wind can effect temperature
85F
15 mph wind
Fluke Thermal Imaging
76F
72F
T = 13F
117F
T = 36F
95F
81F
No wind
Company Confidential 26
Thermal Capacitance
• Heat capacitance can both confuse or aid an
inspection because it affects the rate of
temperature change
– Water heats and cools slowly because of its high heat capacity
– Air heats and cools rapidly because of its low heat capacity
• Which has the highest thermal capacitance?
- Copper
- Steel
- Brick
- Wood
- Water
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 27
Heat Capacity
Thermal capacitance can help
find the liquid level in a tank
Also leaks in a flat roof, Sun
heats roof and after Sun goes
down dry insulation cools
faster than higher heat
capacity wet insulation
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Company Confidential 28
Phase Change
• Material can exist in three states -- Solid, Liquid and Gas
• To change state, energy must be added or removed
• Energy required to heat one pound of water at different states
is shown below
970
BTU
212F
32F
143
BTU
Steam
(0.489
BTU/F)
Liquid Water (1BTU/F)
Ice (0.465 BTU/F)
Thermography takes advantage of water to vapor phase change
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Company Confidential 29
Phase Change Provides Moisture
Detection
• Evaporation of the water into
vapor draws heat from wall
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Company Confidential 30
How do we get the picture?
Each of the thousands of elements, or pixels, contain an accurate
temperature value. The Imager, through the use of a complex set of
algorithms, assign specific colors that correspond exactly with the
temperature value found at the specific X Y coordinate.
XXX Elements
Some cameras save a simple
picture which does not actually
contain any measurements.
Fully radiometric cameras store the
actual temperature measurements
which can be brought into a PC
later for analysis.
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential
XXX Elements
31
Radiometric Imagers
It’s like having
Thousands of
infrared
thermometers in
one instrument
When a Fluke thermal imager captures an image, all the
background data is also saved along with the picture allowing indepth post processing analysis.
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Company Confidential 32
InsideIR PC Software
Image Analysis and Sharing
Input location name from your keyboard
Change emissivity in post processing
Adjust for background temperature
Turn on a temperature
grid
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Insert accurate point
measurements or
Min/Max/Average area
measurements
Company Confidential 33
Array Sizes
• Most Imager manufacturers provide imagers with
either 320 by 240 or 160 by 120 arrays
• Advantages
– 320 by 240 arrays have four times as many pixels and if they
have the same overall array dimensions and all other things
being equal the imager will have four times finer detail
– Imagers made with 160 by 120 arrays are less expensive but
adequate for the majority of users/applications
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Company Confidential 34
How does it work?
• Every object emits infrared energy / heat
• 12,280 / 19,200 / 76,800 sensors measure the energy
emitted by the object and produce a digital thermal image
• Sensors can detect temperature changes as slight as
1/7th degree Fahrenheit
– The minimum temperature difference that a Thermal Imager can
measure is called Thermal Sensitivity or Noise Equivalent
Temperature Difference (NETD)
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Company Confidential 35
Comparison of Detector Type
160 x 120
Fluke Thermal Imaging
320 x 240
Company Confidential 36
Important temperature measurement variables
• Surface Emissivity
• Surface thermal reflectivity
• Background temperature
• Thermal capacitance
• Angle of view
• System load
• Target distance
• Camera settings
• Heat transfer
• Solar and wind conditions
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Company Confidential 37
Reflection, Absorption and
Transmission
•
When IR radiation strikes an object surface
only three things can happen

– Some can be reflected ()
– Some can be absorbed as heat ()
– Some can pass through the object
•
()

ρ
From 1st Law of Themodynamics
++=1
•
From Kirchhoff’s Law: emissivity () = absorptivity ()
Therefore  +  +  = 1
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Company Confidential 38
Transmission
• Most materials are opaque (not transparent)
• Some materials are partially transparent:
– Atmosphere
– IR Lens materials
– Thin film plastics
• For opaque materials  = 0,  = 1 - 

ρ
=0
– This relationship is fundamental to the
operation of a thermal imager
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Company Confidential 39
Imager Temperature Measurement
TB
W
TT
W
W
Single detector element is focused on target spot receiving radiation
emitted from target W, background radiation reflected off target W
and transmitted radiation from behind target W
Only emitted radiation tells us surface temperature and
the imager must eliminate reflected and transmitted
radiation to measure it
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 40
Selecting the Correct Emissivity Value
• Only emitted radiation tells us surface temperature and the imager
must eliminate reflected and transmitted radiation to measure it
• Rules of thumb
– Use 0.95 for all painted target surface independent of color
– If unpainted or un-corroded metal use 0.2 or lower
• Values for common materials are found in the imager owners
manual, in the PC software, internet sources and on some Imagers
• If the target emissivity is unknown use the Imager to measure it
– Use the tape method
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Company Confidential 42
Background Temperature
Ways of estimating the background temperature
– Use room temperature
– Take images of the background
– Use an aluminum foil curtain
Camera
Crumpled
Aluminum
Foil Curtain
Target
– Crumpled kitchen foil smoothed to act like a diffuse reflector
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Company Confidential 43
Selecting Background Temperature
• Background temperature is the temperature of the
surround behind and to the sides of the camera where
reflected radiation emanates from
• Often the background temperature has little effect on
the target temperature measurement
– Target emissivity is high
– Target temperature is higher than the background
WTotal = T TT4 + (1 - T) TB4
>
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 44
Selecting Background Temperature
(cont’d)
• For Example: TT = 70F, TB = 65F, and T = 0.95
WTotal =
T TT4
+ (1 - T) TB4
>
100
5
• But if the target temperature and emissivity are low,
background temperature is very important
• For Example: TT = 20F, TB = 70F, and T = 0.10
2.1
<
32.4
• What to do? Use tape making the emissivity 0.95
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 45
Diffuse versus Specular Targets
• If the target reflects diffusely the
background radiation measured by the
camera comes from all around
• If the target is specular (mirror-like) the
background radiation comes from specific
point
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Company Confidential 46
Example of a Specular Target
Image of window shows
high specular reflection
Two hot spots are not in the
window pane, they are
reflections from hanging
light fixtures
To identify reflections from real hot or cold spots
move camera; if spots move they are refections
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 47
Measuring Emissivity Example
White tape
Black tape
Hole with
emissivity
of 1.00
•Place electricians tape (any color) on
surface and take image
•Record tape temperature using 0.95
emissivity
•In same image place cursor on target
surface next to tape
•Adjust camera emissivity until the
temperature reading equals that of the
tape
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Label
E
Ave T
A1
0.95
90.24
A2
0.95
90.39
A3
1.00
90.23
A4
0.28
90.41
Company Confidential 48
Controlling “Level & Span”
Span = 20.1F
Level = 80.55F
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Company Confidential 49
Level and Span
• Level and Span can be adjusted
– to fixed span temperatures or
– to automatically rescale based on the maximum
and minimum temperature in image
• Narrow span produces more thermal detail
• Wider span produces less thermal detail
• Saturation colors will appear when the image
temperatures are above or below the
manually set span
For example: When viewing a face, the image will
show much more detail if the span is held to 10°F with
the level at 92°F to 94°F
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Company Confidential 50
Building - “Level & Span”
Manually scaled with
hottest spot saturated
Auto Scaled
including hot spot
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Company Confidential 51
Level and Span
(cont’d)
Manual scaling
shows more IR
colors on
transformer and
small saturated point
Auto Scaled
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Company Confidential 52
FOV, IFOV & IFOVm
• Field of View (FOV) is total target area seen by imager,
usually expressed in degrees

d
Focal
Length
Detector
Array
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Lens
Distance to target
Target
Company Confidential 53
FOV, IFOV & IFOVm
(cont’d)
• Instantaneous Field of Viewmeasured (IFOVm) is
the target area required by a single detector to
accurately measure the temperature of a
target area, usually expressed in milli-radians
• IFOVm is usually 2 to 5 times larger than IFOV
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 54
Interchangeable lenses
• Standard (20mm)
– Suited for most applications
– Ideal for general purposes
• Wide angle (10.5mm)
– Sees a larger surface at shorter distances
– Ideal for cramped spaces
• Long distance (54mm)
– Sees more detail at longer distances
– Ideal for power line insulators/transformers
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Company Confidential 55
Lens Options
Wide Angle
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Standard
Telephoto
Company Confidential 56
Horz Vert
40
30
3.0
33.3 25
2.5
26.7 20
2.0
20
15
1.5
13.3 10
1.0
6.7
5
0.5
0
0
Fluke Thermal Imaging
20
0
100
30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Distance to Target (feet)
For example, an imager with 20mm lens at 20 ft has a FOV of 8 ft
horizontally and 6 ft vertically and an IFOV of 0.06 inches square
0
10
Pixel Size (inches)-- IFOVm
Target Size (feet) -- FOV
FOV, IFOV for 160 by 120 Imagers
Company Confidential 57
320 by 240 versus 160 by 120
320 by 240
76,800 pixels shows
additional small
feature details
Fluke Thermal Imaging
160 by 120
19,200 pixels
Company Confidential 58
Spot Size
• Spot Size is the area on target seen by single
detector similar to IFOV
– Usually used to spec point radiometers
– Expressed as a ratio, like 60:1 which means at 60 ft the
measurement spot on the target is 1ft square or at 30 inches the
spot is ½ inch square
Spot Size
Target
Spot Size > Target Area
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Spot Size < Target Area
Company Confidential 59
IFOVm example
Hot spot is seen but temperature
may not be best accuracy because
spot size includes surrounding area
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Move closer to measure it!
Company Confidential 60
Focus is CRITICAL
• Focusing an IR imager is less sharp than a visible camera
– far more elements in a visible detector array
– Infrared images are naturally less sharp
* IR wave lengths are more than an order of magnitude longer
* visible light cameras generally measure reflected radiation not
emitted; IR imagers must measure emitted radiation to determine
temperature
* sharp edges can exist between a black line and a white line but
sharp edges can not exist between a hot line and a cold line
• Best focus is critical for accurate temperature
measurements
• Anything but focus can be modified/optimized later with
PC software
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 61
Best Focus Practices
 Look for edges
 Use IR-Fusion
 Hold imager still
 Some people find best results with gray scale -human eye most often can focus best in black and
white
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential 62
Checking your imager calibration
• As with any sophisticated piece of equipment, having the
calibration check is a good habit.
• Routinely check basic calibration before each scan. Here are a few
simple test you can perform
– Check the tear duct of a work partner (recommend the same person)
– Check an ice bath to verify camera performance at 0º C
– Check boiling water to verify camera performance at 100º C
– Acquire a blackbody reference in one of your common temp ranges
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Company Confidential 63
IR Fusion®
IR Only
Visible Only
50/50 Blend
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Company Confidential 64
What is IR-Fusion® ?
• IR-Fusion only is available on Fluke
Thermal Imagers
– Be aware of imitations !
• IR-Fusion links the Thermal Image with
the Visual Image
– Easier to understand what you are looking at
* See the context
* Read any markers/labels/text
* No laser pointer needed
– Easier to report findings to others
* No need to also take a picture with a normal
camera
– Helps you focus the Thermal Imager better
* The Thermal Imager is focused correctly
when the Thermal and Visual images are
completely aligned
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Company Confidential 65
IR Fusion® view modes
• Traditional full IR
-full display is 100% infrared
• Blended full
-full display is IR blended with visible
• Full Visible
-full display is 100% visible
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Company Confidential 66
Fluke Ti series
For everyday troubleshooting and maintenance
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Company Confidential 67
Ti features
• IR-Fusion® Technology
• Large crisp images
• Made for rough environments
• Easy-to-use
• Flexible data storage
• Voice annotation
• Free of charge, unlicensed PC software
• 2 year warranty
• The complete package
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Company Confidential 68
IR-Fusion Imager viewing modes
Max IR
(traditional Thermal Imaging)
PIP Max IR
Ti25 and Ti10
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Min IR
Mid IR
PIP Mid IR
PIP Min IR
Ti25 Only
Company Confidential 69
IR-Fusion Software Viewing Modes
Traditional Full IR
Blended IR/Visual
PIP Full IR
PIP Blended IR/Visual
Color Alarms
Full Visual
Infinite blend from 100% IR to 100% visible
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Company Confidential 71
For rough environments
• Engineered and tested to
withstand a 6.5 ft drop
• Withstands dust and water: IP 54
rating
• Integrated protective lens cover
– No string to get in the way or cause
dangerous situations close to rotating
equipment
• Works in ambient temperatures
from 14ºF to 122ºF and measures
up to 662ºF
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Company Confidential 74
Easy to use
• Intuitive, three button menu
– Easy to use with gloved hand
• Single handed operation
– Important when standing on heights
– Improved safety
• Adjustable (left or right) handstrap makes imager convenient
to hold
• Supports 16 different languages
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Company Confidential 75
Voice annotation
(Ti25/TiR1 only)
• Record and save
commentary with
stored images
– Up to 1 minute with every
image
– No need to write down
comments
• Playback (review) on
Imager or with the
software
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Company Confidential 77
Powerful software
• Fluke Software is included at no additional charge,
with no license agreement and no costly upgrades
• The Fluke Thermal Imager stores all radiometric data
to allow full analysis capability
– All parameters can be adjusted except focus if image is
saved as an is2 file
• The report wizard makes it easy to create
professional reports quickly
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Company Confidential 79
Color Palettes
• Choose from 6 different palettes
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Company Confidential 83
Extra large display
• >40% larger than other
Imagers
• 320x240 pixel resolution
• Crystal clear images
• Sunlight readable
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Company Confidential 91
180º articulating lens
• For areas with poor accessibility
• Easy to scan floors and ceilings
without looking down or up
• Select any angle that works for you
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Company Confidential 92
Easy to use
• Single hand focus and image
capture
• Windows CE based interface
• Mouse “on screen” operation
• Programmable function
buttons
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Company Confidential 93
Thermal sensitivity and range
•Flexcam can be used in most
applications:
– Measure temperature differences as low as 0.05ºC
(depending on the model)
– Measure temperatures as low as -4ºF and high as
1200ºF (depending on the model)
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Company Confidential 94
Example Thermograms
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Company Confidential 97
Thermography found loose connections
Connections
hotter than
normal
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Company Confidential 98
Thermography found hidden overheated part
Heat from hidden
part produces
elevated
temperature on
outer surface via
heat conduction
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Company Confidential 99
Thermography works especially well
with multiple units
Far-right
compressor
is obviously
off
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Company Confidential 100
Thermography helped make
house greener
Large air leak
causes cold
spot on ceiling
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Company Confidential 101
Thermography helped plumbers find
water leak in church heating system
Plumbing
leak in
cement floor
caused hot
spot
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Company Confidential 102
Thermography helps inspect power
plant equipment
Baseline for feed
water pump
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Company Confidential 103
Thermography helped distinguish between
loose connection and overloaded circuit
Loose
connection,
fuse hot on
one end only
Overloaded
circuit fuse
hot on both
ends
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Company Confidential 104
Thermography helped identify
overheated pole transformer
Transformer
problem easily
identified from a
distance
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Company Confidential 105
Thermography helped identify a worn belt
2
Hot v-belt
stressed due
to wear and/or
misalignment
6
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Company Confidential 106
Thermography helped identify tank
fill levels
Subject to
warming from
the Sun the high
heat capacity of
oil keeps tank
wall lower
temperature
than the lower
heat capacity of
air above the oil
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Company Confidential 107
Poor Electrical
ContactPower Plug Near Failure
Calibration
Chamber
Before Repair
After Repair
o:
mage Path
C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\ROGER\MY DOCUMENTS\IMAGES\CAL
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Company Confidential
CONNECTOR\IR00038.ISI
108
Three Phase Fuse
Phase
imbalance
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Company Confidential 109
Loose Fuse Socket
Extra
resistance at
one end of
fuse socket
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Company Confidential 110
Transformer Cooling
Some cooling
tubes appear to
be plugged
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Company Confidential 111
Overheated transformer, P1 was 350F due
to cooling oil leak had exposed top of coil
Fluke Thermal Imaging
Near catastrophic failure! Found and
Company
Confidential
112
managed until normal factory
shut
down
Most likely caused by high resistance
or corrosion on the connector
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Company Confidential 113
Motor control centers
Inspect lug connections and also look for subtle patterns
that may be caused by internal contacts or connections
to the bus
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Company Confidential 114
Wrong washer used in 3 phase
connection on 150 HP motor
3-Phase connection with galvanized
steel washer
3-Phase connection with
copper washer
3-phase
connection box
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Company Confidential 115
Motors
Uneven heating in an electrical motor will reduce the life
and efficiency of the motor if not properly addressed
For each 10ºC (18ºF) rise over maximum
rated temperature, approximately ½ the life
of a motor is lost due to insulation failure!
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Natural Gas Compressor
Uneven
temperatures on
cover of lower left
cylinder alerted
maintenance to
investigate and
find faulty valve in
natural gas
compressor
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Small bearings
• No other method is as
effective or fast for small
bearings
• Small bearing failures can
result in fire, mechanical
stress, belt wear, and
increased electrical loads
117.8°F
115
110
105
100
95
93.7°F
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Bearings/couplings
• May be difficult to see if
guard is in place
• Temperature varies
depending on type
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Rotating cement kilns
3
3
2
2
1
1
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Steam Traps
Determine
valve on/off
and leakage
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Process monitoring
Example of
spray cooling
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Liquid Tank Levels
Sludge buildup
found at bottom
of tank
4
4
2
Fill level clearly
identified
0
L
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I
0
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Solid Tank Levels
Dry grain fill levels
can be seen in
elevator storage
Location of wet and
possibly spoiled grain
can also be seen
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Roof inspection
Wet spots under roof membrane
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Typical patterns
• Patterns vary with:
–
–
–
–
Roof type
Insulation type
Deck
Conditions
• Non-absorbent insulation
types are more difficult to
inspect
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Air infiltration
Air Infiltration
Clearly shows air
infiltration through
poor door seal
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Bridge Deck / In-Floor Heating
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Subsurface Anomalies
• Locate lines and utilities in walls, floors or underground
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Building Envelope
Moisture remaining in
wall after 2 days of
extensive drying
Missing
insulation
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Located missing cement fill in
block wall
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Fluke Smartview Software
• Free of charge
• Unlicensed
• Free upgrades
• Easy to use
• Extends the Thermal Imager’s functionality
• Makes reporting easy
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Powerful software
• Fluke Software is included at no additional charge,
with no license agreement and no costly upgrades
• The Fluke Thermal Imager stores all radiometric data
to allow full analysis capability
– All parameters can be adjusted except focus if image is
saved as an is2 file
• The report wizard makes it easy to create
professional reports quickly
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