Thermal Scanning System

Proof of Concept
Sam Hanie
July 2008
 Long-term Goal
 Reasonably priced thermal imager
 Intelligent data collection & analysis
 Move away from expensive temperature related
breakdown maintenance
 Predict equipment life and failures
 Move to pro-active maintenance philosophy
(eVisioning Asset Management)
 Typical first year productivity improvement of
~15%
 Customer Wishes
 What
 Save money
 Reduce schedule
 Use fewer resources
 How
 Fewer failures
 Predictive maintenance
 Effective spares inventory
 Identify deteriorating components
 Our Solution
 Temperature measurement and collection
system that is
 Intelligent
 Economic
 Convienient
 Reliable
 Easy to use
 Delivers consistent results
 Allows comparisons to baseline
 Provides trend analysis/alerts
 Current Techniques
 Wait for failure
 Establish thermal trends using:
 Experience
 Contact thermometers
 Temperature labels
 Wired sensors
 Wireless sensors
 Handheld non-contact IR thermometers
 Thermographic devices
 Our Technique
 Thermal Scanner
 Non-Contact
 Processor controlled
 Programmable area of interest
 Mobile or fixed installation
 Discrete measurements (not color
interpretation)
 Data stored for future analysis
 Less expensive but more robust
 The Future
 Establish thermal trends using non-contact
temperature scanning system
 Establish a baseline using discrete results of
scanned area
 Data can be used for
 Immediate use
 Trend analysis
 Failure prediction
 Inventory (spares) optimization
Thermographic Devices
 Thermographic Devices
 PROs
 Shows a visual picture so that can help compare
temperatures over a large area
 Capable of catching moving targets in real time
 Able to find deteriorating components prior to failure
 Measurement in areas inaccessible or hazardous for
other methods
 It is a non-destructive test method
 Make easier to find defects in shafts and other metal
parts
 Thermographic Devices
 CONs
 Due to the low volume of thermal cameras, quality
cameras have a high price range ($8,000 and up) and
are easily damaged
 Images can be hard to interpret accurately even with
experience
 Accurate temperature measurements are very hard to
make because of emissivities
 Most cameras have ±2% or worse accuracy (not as
accurate as contact)
 Training and staying proficient in IR scanning is time
consuming and expensive
 Ability to only measure surface areas
 Thermal Scanner
 PROs
 Shows a visual picture so that can help compare
temperatures over a large area
 Able to find deteriorating components prior to failure
 Measurement in areas inaccessible or hazardous for
other methods
 It is a non-destructive test method
 Make easier to find defects in shafts and other metal
parts
 Training and staying proficient requires minimal effort
 Images easily interpreted and consistent
 Affordable (estimated ~$1500 for hardware)
 Thermal Scanner
 CONs
 Accurate temperature measurements are very hard to
make because of emissivities
 Most non-contact temperature sensors have ±2% or
worse accuracy (not as accurate as contact sensors)
 Ability to only measure surface areas
 Case Study
 A piece of industrial equipment has a motor that has
historically failed and needed replacement every 14
months.
 The company had 5 of these machines.
 They kept motors on hand in inventory for the inevitable
failures
 The motors were about $10,000 each and the lost
production time for the replacement was estimated at
close to $100,000
 Case Study (cont'd)
 Company cotracted a well know TPM company to asses
the situation
 They employed a Thermography Camera to capture the
temperatures of the thermal profile of the motor every few
weeks
 There was a notable trend of temperature increase of the
motor over time
 A review of failed motors show a significant build up of
particulats inside the armature and windings
 Case Study (cont'd)
 Observation of the environment confirmed the source of
the foreign material
 A filtering system was developed and installed that had
minimal impact on air flow yet blocked the particulates
 At last report there were motors that had been in service
for over 5 years
 That is over half a million in savings per machine!

Hooray for thermal scanning!

Prototypes – Thermal Scanner
 Prototype Thermal Scanner
 Sensor from handheld non-contact infrared
thermometer
 Sensor mounted on servors for azimuth and
elevation control
 Servos controlled by PIC processor
 Firmware controls scanning, data collection, and
transmission
 USB camera gives visual reference
 Sensor data transmitted via USB
 Prototype Thermal Scanner
Sensor

AMP AtoD
Servos

Camera

PIC
PC

RS232 to USB RS232

 Prototype Thermal Scanner
 PC software
 Visual Basic
 Franson Serial tools
 Video CapX
 GXUSB-200 RS232 to USB port
 Logitech Quickcam drivers
 Thermal Scanner Output
 USB camera captures reference image
 Image is overlayed with time, date, and
threshhold
 Thermal Scanner Output
 Threshold is reduced to zero
 All 196 temperatures displayed


Room temperature is around
78 degrees

Iron reaches 262 degrees

Reset threshold to 100 to
eliminate background

See next slide
 Thermal Scanner Output
 Threshold is set to 100
 Only temperatures above 100 are captured


Temperatures are overlaid
on image as a reference

Data stream is also stored
for later use

Monitoring over time shows
trends

Store data can be used for
analysis, reports, predictive
maintenance, spares
planning, alarms, alerts, and
much more
Thermal Scanner

Ready for prime time!