Infrared Thermal Imaging Infrared Thermal Imaging

Introduction.
Why temperature? Temperature is one of the most measured quantities in our daily lives, whether at home or at work. We cook our foods to a certain temperature, we dress ourselves by knowing outside temperatures, doctors use temperature as a starting point for disease diagnosis. In industry, temperature is one of the first observable parameters that will indicate the condition of operating processes and equipment. heat, or thermal energy, is a byproduct of all work whether electrical, mechanical or chemical. Heat is generated either intentionally or unintentionally, it is transferred, contained and otherwise attempted to be controlled or expelled to suit our process needs. The resulting thermal behaviour of electrical, mechanical or process equipment can be a powerful clue to diagnose problems or predict reliability of industrial equipment. Infrared Thermography is an electronic technique that quite literally allows us to see thermal energy. With this new capability, plant maintenance personnel have recognised Infrared Thermography as one of the most versatile and effective condition monitoring tools available today. Infrared Thermal Imaging enhances a companies ability to predict equipment failure and plan corrective action before a costly shutdown, equipment damage or personal injury occurs. What is Infrared Radiation? Lets start with defining heat. In physics, heat is a form of energy associated with the motion of atoms or molecules and is capable of being transmitted through solid and fluid media by Conduction, through fluid media by Convection and through empty space by Radiation. Infrared radiation is heat that is transferred by electro-magnetic waves through empty space (or a little less effectively through air). If you ever sat in front of a fireplace, you have experienced heat transfer through radiation. An infrared image or thermogram is produced by an infrared camera. It depicts the thermal radiation in a scene as emitted and reflected by the objects in the scene based on their temperatures. The weather satellite image you see on the television is an infrared image, the cold areas (tops of clouds) are shaded white and the warm areas (ground) are depicted as black. In industrial Thermography we usually reverse this and show hot objects as white and

colder objects as black. When appropriate, we can colorize the image. Usually reds and yellow depict hotter items and blues and violet shades show cooler items.

Analysing mechanical systems using Infrared Thermography Introduction Infrared thermography is an excellent condition monitoring tool to assist in the reduction of maintenance costs on mechanical equipment. The technique allows for the monitoring of temperatures and thermal patterns while the equipment is online and running under full load. Most mechanical equipment has allowable operating temperature limits that can be used as guidelines. Unlike many other test methods, infrared can be used on a wide variety of equipment including pumps, motors, bearings, pulleys, fans, drives, conveyors etc. This section will explain the benefits of Infrared Thermography as a condition monitoring tool for plant mechanical systems. We will highlight a few uses of infrared thermography when applied to analysis of mechanical equipment. Infrared thermography is an electronic technique that quite literally allows us to see thermal energy. With this new capability plant maintenance personnel have recognized infrared thermography as one of the most versatile and effective condition monitoring tools available today. Thermal imaging enhances a company's ability to predict equipment failure and plan corrective action before a costly shutdown, equipment damage, or personal injury occurs Why does Infrared work? All mechanical systems generate thermal energy during normal operation which allows infrared thermography to evaluate their operating condition. One of the biggest problems in mechanical systems is excessive temperatures. This excessive heat can be generated by friction, cooling degradation, material loss or blockages. An excessive amount of friction can be caused by wear, misalignment, over or under lubrication and misuse. Since most equipment or processes are designed to eliminate thermal energy under normal operation, simply identifying a thermal pattern does not mean a problem has been located. The thermographer must be familiar with the mechanical components being evaluated. Once a normal thermal signature is obtained and understood, any

deviation from this normal signature will then provide evidence of a suspect problem developing. In mechanical applications, thermography is more useful for locating a problem area than for indicating the root cause of the overheating. The heat is usually produced within a component that is not visible directly to the camera. That heat must conduct up through the material and present itself as a pattern on the surface of the object in order for the infrared camera to sense it. Other equipment such as vibration analysis, oil analysis, and ultrasound can be employed to further determine where the problem actually lies. Let's take a look at some of the applications and the benefits derived from finding these with thermography. Aplication
Drives/Conveyors, Pillow Blocks, Couplings, Gears, Power Transmission Belts, Pulleys, Shafts. Motors Pumps/Compressors/Fans/Blowers Internal Combustion Engines Heavy Duty Equipment - Tires, Bearings, Brakes, Hydraulics, Kilns, Ball Mills, Paper Machines Mechanical DriveTurbines and Small TurbineGenerator Units, Gas Turbine, Exhaust Ducts Ovens, Furnaces, Kilns, Pipes Valves: Shutoff Valves, Relief valves, steam traps

Conditions Detected
Overheated bearings or rollers, misalignment of shaft, pulley or coupling, lubrication failure uneven pressure. Overheating of windings and bearings, blockages in cooling passages, friction, damping, material deformations, brush contact problems, rotors Overheated bearings, high compressor discharges temperature, high oil temperature, and broken or defective valve. Valve or injector malfunction, blocked radiator tubes and oil coolers. Thermal distribution, high radiator inlet or outlet temperature. Overheating brakes, tires, bearings, pulleys, gears, gear or pulley misalignment, and blockages in hydraulics. High lube oil temperature, high bearing temperatures, faulty stop/control valve operation, uneven metal temperature, leaking shaft seals, gas turbine firing conditions, including deterioration in firing chambers, cross firing tubes. Location and severity of damaged insulation, location of steam leaks in buried steam lines. Leakage, Blockage.

Improve Troubleshooting Thermography definitely should be one of the tools that are selected for motor and rotating equipment inspection. Thermographic examination can help technicians use the other tools, such as vibration analysis, more effectively. If a thermal anomaly is found, then the other tools can be employed to help isolate the cause of the problem.

Glossary of Terms for Infrared Thermal Imaging A B C P D Q E R F S G T H U I V J W K X L Y M Z

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A
ABSORBANCE (A) Ratio of radiant energy absorbed by a body to the corresponding absorption of a blackbody at the same temperature. Absorbance equals emittance on bodies whose temperature is not changing. (A = 1 - R - T, where R is the reflectance and T is the transmittance.).

B
BAND PASS FILTER An optical or detector filter which permits the passage of a narrow band of the total Spectrum. It excludes or is opaque to all other wavelengths. BLACKBODY The perfect absorber of all radiant energy that strikes it. The

blackbody is also a perfect emitter Therefore, both its absorbance (A) and emissivity (E) are unity. The blackbody radiates energy in predictable spectral distributions and intensities which are a function of the blackbody's absolute temperature. BOLOMETER Thermal detector which changes its electrical resistance as a function

of the radiant energy striking it. BRIGHTNESS PYROMETER Uses the radiant energy on each side of a fixed

wavelength of die spectrum. This band is quite narrow and usually centered at 0.65 microns in the orange-red area of the visible spectrum.

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(DETECTOR A device that measures the amount of energy radiated by an object. Can be a thermal detector or a photodetector. Thermal detectors respond to radiation by changing their volume, capacitance, or generation of millivoltages; they can be thermocouples, thermopiles, pneumatic detectors, or bolometers. Their common feature is their relatively slow response. Photodetectors are Semiconductors which produce a signal in proportion to the photon flux which strikes them.

E
EMISSIVITY OR EMITTANCE (E) The emissivity of an object is the ratio of radiant energy emitted by that object divided by the radiant energy which a b lackbody would emit at that same temperature. If the emittance is the same at all wavelengths, the object is called a gray body. Some industrial materials change their emissivity with temperature and sometimes with other variables also. Emissivity always equals absorption and it also equals 1 minus the sum of reflectance and transmittance (E = A= 1 - T - R).

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GRAY BODY This is an object having an emittance, of less than unity, but this emittance is constant at all wavelengths (over that part of the spectrum where the measurement takes place). This means that gray body radiation curves are identical to the ones

shown in the graph, except that they are dropped down on the radiated power density scale.

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INFRARED That portion of the Spectrum whose wavelength is longer than that of red light, Only the portion between 0.7 and 20 microns gives usable energy for radiation detectors.

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MECHANICAL EMISSIVITY ENHANCEMENT Mechanically increasing the emissivity of a surface to near-blackbody conditions (using multiple reflection). MICRON .001 millimeters. 10,000 Angstrom units. A unit used to measure wavelengths of radiant energy.

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NARROW BAND PYROMETER A radiation pyrometer that is sensitive to only a narrow Segment of wavelengths within the total radiation spectrum. Optical pyrometers are one of the devices in this category.

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OPTICAL PYROMETER Also called brightness pyrometer it uses a narrow band of radiation within the visible range (0.4 to 0.7 microns) to measure temperature by color matching and other techniques. .

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PHOTODETECTOR Measures thermal radiation by producing an output through release of electrical changes within its body. They are small flakes of crystalline materials such as US or InSb which respond to different portions of the Spectrum, consequently showing great selectivity in the wavelengths at which they operate.

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RATIO PYROMETER See two-color pyrometer The percentage of the total radiation REFLECTANCE OR REFLECTIVITY (R) falling on a body which is directly reflected without entry. Reflectance is zero for a

blackbody, and nearly 100 percent for a highly polished surface. (R = 1 - A - T, where A is the absorbance and T is the transmissivity.)

S
SPECTRAL EMISSIVITY The ratio of emittance at a specific wavelength or very narrow band to that of a blackbody at same temperature.

T
THERMOPILE Measures thermal radiation by absorption to become hotter than its surroundings. It is a number of small thermocouples arranged like the spokes of a wheel with the hot junction at the hub. The thermocouples are connected in series and the output is based on the difference between the hot and cold junctions. TOTAL EMISSIVITY that of a blackbody. TRANSMITTANCE OR TRANSMISSIVTTY (T) The percentage of the total radiant energy falling on a body, which passes directly through it without being absorbed. Transmittance is zero for a blackbody and nearly 100 percent for a material like glass in the visible spectrum region. (T = 1 - A - R, where A is the absorbance and R is the reflectance.) TWO-COLOR PYROMETER Measures temperature as a function of the radiation The ratio of the integrated value of all spectral emittances to

ratio emitted around two narrow wavelength bands. Also called ratio pyrometer.

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WIDE-BAND (TOTAL) PYROMETER A radiation thermometer that measures the total power density emitted by the material of interest over a wide range of wavelengths.

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