by Emily Newton
Industrial thermography has become an important tool to minimize downtime. It is a nondestructive, noninvasive testing method that identifies excessive heat output. Since abnormal temperatures often precede asset failures, this diagnostic method supports proactiveness and quick responses.
How can today’s decision-makers apply thermal diagnostics to improve maintenance and inspections? Here are the best ways companies can use this technology to the fullest.
Enabling Quick Visual Confirmations
Thermal imaging cameras come in handheld and continuous-monitoring types. Both use infrared technology to detect an object’s heat output. Although humans cannot see in infrared, this inspection process converts it into a visual display showing the energy emitted by anything with temperatures above absolute zero. The resulting image shows the varying levels of thermal energy across an object, allowing technicians to efficiently find excessively warm areas that could indicate impending failures.
They read the output by comparing it to a color palette, with bluer shades indicating cooler temperatures than areas showing in red or orange. Potential industrial applications equip people to spot everything from leaks to overheated components. This method is especially convenient for examining concealed parts that are difficult or impossible to check without partially or fully disassembling an asset.
Taking equipment apart to inspect it increases downtime. This option is particularly counterintuitive when a technician does it to check that everything is operational rather than address a known problem.
Some industrial leaders also use thermal imaging cameras with artificial intelligence features. Such options are ideal for gas pipelines since traditional monitoring methods are frequently inaccurate. They also may not provide data at adequate intervals that let people quickly learn about and assess problem severity.
Consider how a global energy company installed AI-powered thermal imaging cameras at its on- and offshore sites to detect leaks. That resulted in a 50% reduction in the fares and wages associated with physical site visits. It also decreased manual video monitoring by 90%. These results show how thermal diagnostics can minimize industrial downtime while giving workers more time to complete other duties.
Increasing Uptime While Promoting Safety
Thermal imaging allows industrial leaders to run operations smoothly and keep workers safe. Unaddressed problems can quickly escalate into emergencies, resulting in injuries, property damage and other unwanted circumstances.
All inspections can be dangerous, mainly when they involve live electrical equipment. However, some thermal imaging cameras perform automated analyses by tilting and panning without ongoing human intervention. Such setups allow for detecting problems sooner, and people can install many of them at significant distances from equipment, giving them more flexibility over positioning.
Some technology vendors also have data analysis solutions that allow people to see how temperatures on specific days compare to those over time. Additionally, authorized users can get notifications about temperature anomalies. Such features keep inspectors safer by reducing or eliminating manual checks.
Other best practices, such as following design for safety and reliability (DSFR) principles, can keep maintenance professionals safer when taking a closer look at electrical equipment. Applying DSFR in electrical inspections involves implementing ways to clearly see the components without removing panels.
Eliminating the exposed components significantly reduces the likelihood of accidents caused by human error and arc flash. One possibility is to design live electrical parts with infrared inspection windows. They do not require people to power equipment down or remove panels before performing checks. The materials — typically transparent polymers — allow the inspector to clearly see the item and use handheld infrared scanners.
Shortening Diagnostic Time Frames
Identifying suspected root causes and using thermal diagnostics tools to confirm or rule them out may be key to resolving industrial downtime. This process can be tricky, especially when there are potentially multiple causes.
Consider an example where the parts on a company truck are wearing out faster than anticipated. Statistics suggest that aggressive driving can add up to 20% to vehicle costs because of its links to increased maintenance and shorter component life spans. Thermal imaging tools allow for checking drivetrains, catalytic converters and other parts for temperature abnormalities. They save time by helping people diagnose problems faster and removing unnecessary steps.
Industrial thermography can verify what is wrong with a vehicle, enabling maintenance professionals to pinpoint the suspected cause. Managers who believe aggressive driving behaviors are partially responsible can engage with operators to discuss the matter and suggest improvement strategies.
Assessing Larger Assets With Ease
Downtime is incredibly costly, whether related to a vehicle fleet or a critical manufacturing machine. Fortunately, the efficiency of industrial thermography can substantially reduce it. Some approaches involve attaching thermal cameras to drones, equipping them to fly around large or hard-to-reach assets and check for temperature-related problems.
One company uses an active thermography method with a 1,000-watt heat source to check composite pieces for defects. Inspectors use this method to find problems in components such as wind turbine blades. Trials of this technology showed it could reveal issues below the surface, allowing users to intervene to prevent minor faults from becoming critical failures that could cause downtime or risk lives.
Although these asset inspections usually happen manually, drones are faster, providing better accuracy and technician safety. Additionally, an artificial intelligence component finds hidden defects and automatically locates them. People can use that information to make important decisions about how to extend the life span of their critical equipment.
Investigations are also underway to navigate drones with motion-capture technology. They currently use GPS, which does not always retain a strong enough signal indoors. Additionally, applying this product to offshore wind turbines eliminates the travel time needed to send humans for the initial inspections. Drones can handle those, meaning people only go to those harder-to-reach sites after the captured footage shows problems to address.
Industrial Thermography Can Minimize Industrial Downtime and More
These examples illustrate why many leaders find industrial thermography a compelling option for conducting critical inspections. Besides reducing costly and disruptive downtime, this technology can increase efficiency and accuracy while keeping people safer. Company officials who become aware of problems sooner can react promptly to minimize delays and keep operations running smoothly.
