2009/2/15

Infrared Thermography

Application Examples

What is Infrared?

Infrared light is not visible to the naked eye because

infrared wavelengths
g are too high
g on the electromagnetic
g
spectrum.

The wave lengths are longer than those of visible light and
shorter than those of radio waves. This part of the
electromagnetic spectrum is what we perceive as heat or
“heat radiation”.

Infrared is mostly associated with “hot spots”, but did you

know that ANYTHING above absolute zero emits infrared
heat?
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What is Thermography?

The term "Thermography"

"Thermograph " refers to the capturing
capt ring of
thermal patterns and data emitted by an object with the
use of an infrared imaging and measurement camera.

An image is then produced with the camera that can

give you data that is otherwise unattainable.

Energy costs are increasing at a substantially alarming rate.

Missing or low quality insulation, inadequate Heating,
Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, poor air
flow – all are typical problems that cause homes to waste
energy Homeowners are looking to contractors for help in
energy.
finding the sources of energy loss and how to make
improvements in order to achieve the highest level of savings
possible.With recent innovations, thermal imaging has found
its place in the building diagnostics arena. Infrared cameras
have quickly become a valued tool in identifying problems
related
e ed too energy
e e gy loss,
oss, HVAC
V C systems,
sys e s, radiant
d heating,
e g, w
water
e
damage to roofs, missing insulation and much more.

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Heater Tubes:
Radiant heatingg in the floor visible
only with an infrared camera

Mi i iinsulation:
Missing l ti
Find missing insulation and discover the
reason behind high energy costs.

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Homes Withstand Changing Weather Patterns

with Help from IR Imaging :
Changing weather conditions can reveal problems in
the building envelope which went undetected. For
Mid-western thermographers, unusual easterly winds
during Hurricane Katrina resulted in a number of
calls from customers who had never had moisture
intrusion problems before. With Infrared inspectors
can instantly visualize and verify thermal
performance, providing worried homeowners with
concrete information.
However, without proper training and certification,
interpreting inspection results can prove difficult. A
successful thermographer must pay attention to
weather conditions, emissivity and the conditions
inside the home they are inspecting. They must also
examine their results carefully to eliminate false
positives. FLIR’s Infrared Training Center (ITC),
offers Level I, II and III certification in locations all
over the world with expert instructors.
Courtesy of Kristin Szava, PhD and Stephen Verssen,
BSME, Safety Tech, Inc., in Inframation 2006
Proceedings
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Predictive Maintenance

Thermal imaging is a valuable tool in preventive

maintenance of electrical,, mechanical and structural systems,
y ,
able to help detect problems, prevent unscheduled downtime,
guide needed corrective action and increase plant safety.

FLIR infrared cameras have been proven for more than 30

years in industrial thermal imaging. They can save time and
money in a wide range of commercial and industrial
maintenance applications.

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The PM Series ThermaCAM infrared cameras are ideal for the

predictive maintenance (PM) and non-destructive (NDT)
professional. These cameras make it easy and cost-effective to
capture images in the field and to use those images in your final
i
inspection
i report.

The PM Series ThermaCAM infrared cameras include a range of

automated features--such as built-in digital visual cameras,
Wizard-guided reporting and intuitive database software--that
makes the cameras a pleasure to use and extremely powerful.

And,
d, ThermaCAM
e aC industrial-strength
dust a st e gt cameras
ca e as are
a e lightweight
g twe g t for
o
real portability, as well as rugged and durable for field use. No
wonder FLIR cameras are the most widely used predictive
maintenance thermal imaging cameras worldwide. ,

Heater tubes:
This thermal image of horizontal tubes inside a gas-fired
heater clearly reveals coke buildup in the center tubes.

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Injector:
High injector temperatures can
indicate plugging. A plugged
injector will show very hot on an
infrared scan. This allows
inspectors to pinpoint the problem
before it becomes a serious hazard.
It increases worker safety and
reduces the amount of down time,
saving the company thousands of
dollars every year.

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Mechanical and electrical

equipment:
The motor in the background is
revealed by IR thermography to be
much hotter than the one in the
foreground,which is operating
under similar load conditions. FLIR
IR cameras are ideal for inspecting
rotating equipment such as motors,
p p,
pumps,motors,bearings,compressor
, g, p
s, and mechanical drive gas
turbines.

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A/C Unit Problem:

A/C unit overheated and shut down after
running for aproximately 30 min. After visual
inspection from ground level maintenance was
unable to pin-point trouble.

A decision was made to use infrared

thermography to determine the reason for
overheating.

After taking a thermal image of the A¥C unit, it

was determined that there was excessive heat
build-up at the connection of the HI pressure
line to the condenser. This in turn created
excessive pressure in the compressor causing
the overtemp switch to kick off. Visual
inspection verified there was a crushed HI
pressure tube at the condenser.

Repair: Evacuated A¥C system and replaced HI

pressure line from Condenser to Compressor,
recharged system with 6.50 LBS of Freon 22.
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Total Parts & Labor: $890

Air leakage:
A pattern of air leakage is present
in this photo. It was discovered that
g
when snow would “drift” against
this wall, a water leak would
develop. Further examination of the
base flashing detail revealed a
significant crack at the bottom of
the EIFS (exterior insulation finish
system) through which melted
snow was leaking into the building.

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Augusta Newsprint Saves Thousands with

Predictive Maintenance Program:
Augusta Newsprint Company has been in operation
since 1966, and uses pine logs and recycled paper as
their main fiber furnishes. Two paper machines
produce 12,000 tonnes of newsprint every day and
approximately 400,000
400 000 tonnes of newsprint each year
for distribution all over the world.
A vibration program has been in place since 1993,
and the plant embraced emerging IR technology
when thermography became a part of its predictive
maintenance program in 2001. The plant loses $60
for every minute one of the paper mills is down, so
every second counts. Detecting a loose connection is
a symformer exhaust fan saved the company at least
$7,000–
, in the p
past the repair
p had taken between two
and six hours, depending on the extent of the failure.
Augusta’s program, with help from FLIR instructors,
has developed into an efficient, cost effective way to
prevent equipment failures and pin-point process
problems. With regular surveys of equipment the
company is able to keep their newsprint running hot
off the presses, and their customers content.
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Belt Drive:
Note high temperatures present in
the left thermogram. Second
thermogram presumably after
repair or alignment.

First Thermogram - 8/28/97

Second Thermogram - 9/18/97

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Buss Assembly:
Here is a furnace buss assembly in
the main transformer vault where it
connects to the transformer.
transformer
The thermal image shows a hot
spot on the third bar from the
where the buss bars connect to the
transformer. If you notice there is a
discoloration of this bar compared
to the others ppossiblyy caused byy the
higher temperatures

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Cable to Busbar Connection:

This cable to busbar connection
feeding a pump is excessively hot
and needs attention.

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Connection in a substation:
This thermal image shows a hot
connection—measuring 437°F
when viewed with a telescope lens
— in a substation that supplied
power to a hospital and nearby
residential neighborhood. The
infrared camera pinpointed the
anomaly immediately. An electrical
connection had 'blown off' during a
lightening storm and had re-welded
itself to the support bracket of the
insulator.

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Connection
C i or BBushing
hi P Problem?:
bl ?
Is this a connection or a bushing
problem, or both?

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Contactor:
Left image shows heating from a
loose contactor connection. The
right image shows the system after
repair.

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Coupling Misalignment:
This is a double pump hydraulic
system.
t Image
I 1 shows
h the
th
coupling between the motor and 1st
pump. Image 2 shows the coupling
between 1st pump and 2nd pump.
These images appear to confirm the
suspected angular misalignment of
coupling #1 that the vibration
signatures display.

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Drain Valve:
Extraction Steam to High
g Pressure
Heater Drain Valve

The higher temperature on the

bypass valve indicates it may be
leaking through. The valve was
tightened, but still appeared to be
leaking

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Duct Seal Pot:

Infrared inspection shows a 650°F
hot spot on the west side elevation
lower duct to seal pot crotch weld
area. External steam cooling is
recommended at this time.

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Fluid Cooler:
This is a heat exchanger that is used
to cool fire resistant hydraulic oil.
oil
The oil is used to control a large
governor valve position on a 660
MWatt steam turbine. The spot
values indicated show that the
cooler is operating correctly with
baseline values obtained from
historical static readings.

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Ford Saves Millions with Streamlined IR Program:

At Ford Motor Company, streamlining operations and cutting
costs translates into a larger profit margin. In the automotive
assembly room, interruptions to the flow of production prove
costly and frustrating. In fact, with a body shop that produces
sixty vehicles an hour at a profit of nearly $10,000 dollars a
vehicle any production time lost is a large dent in revenue.
vehicle, revenue
At Ford’s St. Louis Assembly Plant, trained thermographers
inspect weld guns and shunts, control cables, cooling
systems, motors and bushings. Potential failures are detected
long before they become critical, allowing Ford to schedule
maintenance when it is most convenient. Transformer failure
has been completely eliminated since they began an infrared
program.
Thermal imaging reduced down time and helped to avert
costly failures in robotic welders and other equipment.
During the first two years of their IR program, Ford saved
over $1,000,000 dollars, making their IR purchase an
investment worth its weight in gold.
Courtesy of Frank Calmes, Ford Motor Company, in
Inframation Proceedings 2001

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Line blockage:
Steam was introduced at 150 psi
into this plugged transfer line at the
draw-off nozzle to locate the
blockage.Note that the steam does
not contact the bottom 3/4 of the
line. The analysis and finding was
that the bottom of the line and the
connecting draw-off pan were
badly fouled with coke.
coke

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Main power transformer:

Overheating contacts inside this
load tap changer on a main power
transformer has caused a dramatic
increase in the temperature of the
oil inside, posing a potentially
dangerous situation. A normal load
tap changer is usually cooler then
the main tank.

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Microcircuit:
ThermaCAM image of a
microcircuit showing 7 micron
leads. Faults even smaller than 7
microns
i can be
b detected.
d t t d
ThermaCAM systems can measure
very small targets. Even if you
knew where a hot spot was on
something this small, you couldn’t
measure it with a thermocouple,
since the heat would sink away
away.

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Motor Shaft End Bearing:

Motor shaft end bearing failure
detected by thermography and
vibration analysis.

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Piping:
p g
IR camera assess the condition of
dozens of vessels and miles of
piping, all of which operate under
extreme heat and pressure.

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Process equipment condition:

This thermal image details a 499º F
hot spot on this heat exchanger.The
IR camera can also provide early
warning of problems or incipient
failures in safety/ pressure and
other valves, steam or gas lines,
external piping insulation, boilers
and steam turbines.

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Process lines:
The cool areas where liquid has
condensed inside this uninsulated
vapor line are clearly shown in this
thermal image (see second story on
next page). Pooling of condensate
led to thinning of the wall by
corrosion.

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Pump Circuit Breaker:

The heating on the C phase of this
circuit breaker indicates a loose or
bad connection.

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Refractory lined equipment:

Furnace refractory breakdown a
crude heater stack is clearly shown
in this thermal image. unchecked,
the condition can to accelerated
metal degradation and catastrophic
failure.

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Substation:
A wide view of a substation can
quickly show areas where
unwanted high resistance
connections exist.
exist Electrical current
passing through a resistive
connection produces heat; electrical
systems get hot when connections
loosen or corrode and power is not
properly transmitted — no other
ppredictive
ed c ve maintenance
e ce technology
ec o ogy
is as effective for electrical
inspections as IR thermography.

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Transformer:
Excess heat on this distribution
transformer was attributed to
internal damage plus low oil level.

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Transformer Radiators:
This infrared image shows a cold
radiator
ad ato ((lower
owe left)
e t) possibly
poss b y due to
a bad pump. This could be a serious
problem as the capacity of the
transformer is reduced.

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Water Pump Starter:

The heater portion of the starter had a
reading of 188.7°F. The pump was also
very hot, indicating that it is in need of
servicing.

RECOMMENDATIONS: The load on the

starter should be checked to determine if it
is within acceptable limits. If the load is
not excessive then the starter is not
functioning properly and should be
replaced The pump bearings and pump
replaced.
motor should also be serviced to reduce
the load drawn by the motor.

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