Practical Thermal Imaging

Applications
Understanding our Thermal World

Marcus Thomas NW Territory Sales Engineer

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 1

Fluke

• All IR cameras are made and

supported in the USA.
• IR Fusion®
• Free 1-800 Tech Support with
thermography team
• Lower total cost of ownership
– 2 year warranty
– Software and software upgrades
• Diverse product mix
– Products you know/trust
• Many training options available
• In business since 1948
Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 2
Overview of Thermography
Knowing a little about thermography helps!

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 3

What is Thermography?

• It is the science of “seeing”

temperatures by measuring the
radiation emitted from an objects
surface and converting this data
to a corresponding digital, or
visual image showing
temperature
• Infrared radiation is emitted by all
objects based on their
temperature
– The amount of radiation increases with
temperature
• We are only measuring the
surface temperature!

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 4

Why use Thermal Imaging?

• Hot or cold areas, or thermal anomalies, often

are a strong indicator of equipment health
• Thermal Imaging works well to inspect:
– Electrical Equipment
– Electrical Circuits
– Mechanical Equipment
– Heating/Cooling Equipment
– Building Envelope
– Electronic circuits and boards
– Other!

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Other!

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Temperature Measurements

• Fast, safe and accurate non-contact

measurements can be obtained from objects
even if the are:
– moving or very hot
– contaminated or altered if contacted
– difficult to reach
– expensive to shut-down
– dangerous to contact

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 7

Spot Size

• Spot Size is the area on target seen by

single detector similar to IFOV
– Expressed as a ratio, like 50:1 which means at 50 ft the
measurement spot on the target is 1ft square

1 ft.

50 feet 50:1

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 8

Advantages of Infrared
Inspection Programs
• 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
• Improved and less expensive
maintenance
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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 “the invisible” –
“visible” - and help
pinpoint potential
problem areas faster
than any other
measurement tool.

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 10

Benefits of Thermography

• One thermographer found a

wire that was warm and
determined it was loose due
to vibration
– they had a ton of vibration as a
result of their process - a 20 ton
press was just 25 feet away!
• This bank of relays had
many failures and they had
no way to predict when such
a failure would occur.

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 11

 Let’s see what we can do
with an Imager…

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Thermal Imaging helps find/solve
problems in electrical circuit
• 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

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 13

Thermal Imaging helps find/solve
problems in electric motor
• Over-heating due to:
- reduced cooling airflow
- under sized
- electrical insulation
degradation in
windings
• Bearing wear due to:
- poor lubrication
- miss alignment
- excess belt tension

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 14

Thermal Imaging helps find/solve
problems in process equipment

• Leaks in fluid and gas lines

• Defective valves/traps
• Tank levels
• Abnormal heat flow
• Over-heated pumps and
compressors
• Over-heated drives caused:
 worn parts
 over-stressed parts
 misalignment

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 15

Thermal Applications
Process Control

Building Envelope
and Roof

Electrical Transportation

Motors

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Thermography found loose
connections

Connections
hotter than
normal

Courtesy of Snell Infrared

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Thermography found hidden
overheated part

Heat from hidden

part produces
elevated
temperature on
outer surface via
heat conduction

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 18

Thermography works especially
well with multiple units

Far-right
compressor
is obviously
off

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 19

Thermography helped
distinguish between loose
connection and overloaded
circuit
Loose
connection,
fuse hot on
one end only

Overloaded
circuit fuse
hot on both
ends

Courtesy of Snell Infrared

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 20

Thermography helped
identify overheated pole
transformer

Transformer
problem easily
identified from a
distance

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 21

Thermography helped
identify a worn belt

Hot v-belt
stressed due
to wear and/or
misalignment

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Thermography helped
identify tank fill levels

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Thermography found loose
connections

Connections
hotter than
normal

Courtesy of Snell Infrared

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Poor Electrical Contact

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Breaker Panel

Two lighting breakers are 35°F above ambient

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Three Phase Fuse

Phase
imbalance

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Loose Fuse Socket

Extra
resistance at
one end of
fuse socket

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Transformer Cooling

Some cooling
tubes appear to
be plugged

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Cooling Systems

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Overheated transformer, P1 was 350F due
to cooling oil leak had exposed top of coil

Near catastrophic failure! Found and managed until

normal factory shut down
Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 31
 Motor control centers

Inspect lug connections and also look for subtle

patterns that may be caused by internal contacts
or connections to the bus

Courtesy of Snell Infrared

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 32
 Wrong washer used in 3 phase
connection on 150 HP motor

3-Phase connection with galvanized 3-Phase connection with

steel washer copper washer

3-phase
connection box

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 33

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!

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 34

Thermal Imaging helps find/solve
problems in electric motor
• Over-heating due to:
- reduced cooling
airflow
- under sized
- electrical insulation
degradation in
windings
• Bearing wear due to:
- poor lubrication
- miss alignment
- excess belt tension

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 35

Natural Gas Compressor
This image cannot currently be display ed.

Uneven
temperatures on
cover of lower left
cylinder alerted
maintenance to
investigate and
find faulty valve in
natural gas
compressor

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 36

Small bearings

• No other method is as
effective or fast for small
bearings
• Small bearing failures can
result in fire, mechanical
117.8°F
stress, belt wear, and
increased electrical loads 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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Monitoring welding process to
maintain drill head strength

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Steam Traps

Determine
valve on/off
and leakage

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Steam Traps

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Process monitoring

Example of
spray cooling

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How does it work?

• 19,200 detectors or more can

be fabricated into a two-
dimensional array called a
Focal Plane Array (FPA)
• Each individual detector
measures the incoming
radiation and converts this
data to a thermo-gram, or
visual image, which we use
for detailed temperature
analysis and documentation

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 43

Selecting the Detector Array Size
Depends on the Application

• Target size needed in a single

image
• Target distance
• Spatial resolution (spot size)
• Temperature measurement
accuracy
• Budget

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 44

Heat Energy

• Energy exists in many forms

– Mechanical
– Electrical
– Chemical
– Nuclear
– Thermal (heat)
• It is energy that is absorbed or released as an
object changes temperature
– always moves from warmer to colder areas
• A pail of water contains more heat energy than
a cup and as a result will take longer to cool
under equal conditions

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Heat Transfer

• Heat transfer can be:

– Transient: temperature is constantly and significantly changing
– Steady state: heat flow is constant with time

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Three Modes of Heat Transfer

• Radiation is the transmission of

electromagnetic rays through space
– Each material that has a temperature above
absolute zero (-460°F) emits infrared radiation,
• Conduction is direct heat flow through
matter
– Fun fact: Notice how metal feels cold? It is not –
that is only the metal taking energy away from
your hand and we perceive this as “cold”!
• Convection is the transport of heat within
a gas or liquid
– Cold air drops so A/C vents are high
– Warm air rises so heating vents are on floor

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 47

Conduction Examples

Heat is conducted
away from a
corroded and high
resistance
connection
showing a
temperature
gradient along the
fuse

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 48

 Experiment # 1

Examine the wire and notice one end

is much hotter than the other; also note
the difference in temperature between
the insulation and the bare copper wire

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Convection mixing

Warm water discharge from Power Plant is mixed with cooler river water

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Be aware: wind can effect
temperature
85F 76F 72F 117F 95F 81F

15T
mph= wind
13F T = 36F No wind
Fluke Thermal Imaging Photo courtesy of Snell Infrared Company Confidential 51
Wind Effects

• Wind can significantly

reduce temperature of
hot spot
• Rule of thumb
– 10 mph can reduce T by up
to 1/2
– 15 mph can reduce T by up
to 2/3
• Roof moisture inspection
is very difficult in wind

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 52

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

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Thermal Capacitance
• The amount of energy an object
needs to absorb or release in
order to change temperature
– Water heats and cools slowly
because of its high heat capacity
– Air heats and cools rapidly because
of its low heat capacity
• How quickly this change take
place depends on thermal
capacitance and thermal
conductivity – not time.
• Which has the highest thermal
capacitance?
– Copper
– Steel
– Brick
– Wood
– Water

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 54

Understanding Thermography

• The camera sensors detect

infrared radiation from the surface
• Only the emitted radiation tells us
about surface temperature.
• Different surfaces absorb and emit
radiation differently – this is called
“emissivity”
• Operator must tell the camera the
emissivity value and background
temperature (reflective) to obtain
accurate results

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 55

1st Law of Thermodynamics

• Radiation can be transmitted through a

Absorbed
surface
– Our IR camera lens, for example
– Does not change the temperature of the surface!
• Radiation can be reflected off a surface
Re-emitted
– Remember our glass window example?
– Does not change the temperature of the surface!
• Radiation can be absorbed and re-emitted Transmitted
– Amount of energy absorbed = re-emitted
– This is what we measure with our IR camera!
• Reflected + Absorbed + Transmitted = 1
– Known as the RAT law
– Can also say R+E+T=1 Reflected

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 56

Putting it all together…

• Our IR camera detects infrared

radiation from the surface of the
target:
– Absorbed and emitted
– Transmitted, or passed through
– Reflected Transmitted
T=0
• Most materials are opaque (not
transparent)
– Some are partially transparent:
* Atmosphere
* Lens materials Reflected
* Thin film plastics
• Therefore we now have R+E=1

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 57

Emissivity (ε )

• Pronunciation: "Em`is*siv"i*ty ”
• Definition: scientific measurement of the ability
for absorbed heat energy to radiate (leave) an
object as compared to a black body at the
same temperature
– a true black body radiates 100% of its absorbed energy
(nothing is reflected or transmitted) so the ε = 1
– A perfect reflector would have an ε = 0
• Materials that are not black bodies only radiate
a fraction of the radiation as a black body at
the same temperature and wave length so the
ε is <1

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 58

This is a Key Relationship

• R+E=1
– Emitters don’t make good
reflectors
– Reflectors don’t make good
emitters
• Difficult to make
accurate measurements
on highly reflective
surfaces
– If emissivity is below 0.6
measurement is unreliable

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 59

Emissivity of Target Surfaces

• Primary characteristic of targets other than temperature

and size is emissivity
– Emissivity is the ratio of energy emitted by a real surface to that of a
perfect emitter (blackbody) and can vary from 0 to 1.0
– It is a measure of the material's ability to absorb and radiate energy
– Emissivity can vary with temp, wavelength, viewing angle, surface
roughness and cleanliness
• Example IR  values:
– Paints 0.95
– Glazed Brick 0.85
– Cement 0.54
– Galvanized Steel 0.28
– Polished Aluminum 0.10

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 60

Simple guidelines

• All objects of organic

origin have emissivity of
approx. 0.95
– Soil, lime, stone, paper,
textile
– Non-metallic paint, plastic,
rubber
– Oil, grease, dust
• Apply tape or paint to
increase emissivity
• Whenever possible,
increase emissivity!

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 61

Emissivity of Target Surfaces

Aluminum, polished 0.05 Platinum 0.08

Brick 0.85 Rubber 0.95
Bronze, polished 0.10 Snow 0.80
Bronze, porous 0.55 Steel, galvanized 0.28
Copper, oxidized 0.65 Steel, rolled 0.24
Copper, oxidized to black 0.88 Steel, rough 0.96
Skin 0.98 Tin 0.05
Nickel 0.05 Tungsten 0.05
Paint 0.94 Water 0.98
Paint, silver finish 0.31 Zinc, sheet 0.20

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 62

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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IR Fusion® view modes

• Traditional full IR
– full display is 100% infrared

• Full visible
– full display is 100% visible

• Blended full
– full display is IR blended with
visible
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IR Fusion® view modes

• Full IR (PIP)
– center ¼ of image is IR only and
remainder is 100% visible

• Blended PIP
– center ¼ of image is blended IR and
visible and remainder is 100%
visible

• Color alarm
– full display is 100% visible except
where IR is either above a set
temperature or below a set
temperature

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 65

Hawk-IR - Sightglasses

• Also called
– Infrared Sightglass (Windows)
– Infrared Viewing Ports
– Infrared Viewing Panes

• WHAT is their function?

– Allow safer inspection of live equipment
– Provide a barrier to protect against electrocution
– Provide a degree of protection against electric arcs

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 66

Fluke-IR - Windows

• WHAT is their function?

– Allow safer inspection of live equipment
– Provide a barrier to protect against electrocution
– Provides time saving and visible and IR inspection

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 67

Hawk-IR - Sightglasses

• WHERE can you use them?

– LV, MV, HV Switchgear
– MV Starters
– MV Motors
– Transformers
– Bus-Duct

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 68

Hawk-IR - Sightglasses

C-Range Quadraband™ Sightglass

50kA Arc-Resistant Design

Multispectral optic (IR & UV)

Impervious to moisture

Fusion compatible

AutoGround design

Visually transparent

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 69

 Fluke Ti series

For everyday troubleshooting and maintenance

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Ti Imager features

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 71

IR-Fusion ® Imager viewing
modes

Max IR Min IR
Mid IR
(traditional Thermal Imaging)

PIP Max IR PIP Mid IR PIP Min IR

Ti25 and Ti10 Ti25 Only

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 72

On-camera display and operation

Ti25/TiR1 Ti10/TiR

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Qualitative vs. Quantitative

• Qualitative (most common)

– Utilize the thermal differences
(∆T) to locate anomalies
– Temperature differences
between like components under
similar load conditions, or
differences between
components and ambient
temperature, are usually
sufficient to indicate most
abnormalities

Action Navy¹ ² NMAC³

Advisory 10-24 °C 1-3 °C 0.5-8 °C
Intermediate 25-39 °C 4-15 °C 9-28 °C
Serious 40-69 °C N/A 29-56 °C
Immediate 70 °C+ 16 °C+ 56 °C+

¹ Rise over (unspecified) reference. Normal operation load

² Load at 10-40%. Three categories only.
³ Rise over (unspecified) reference.
: International Electrical Testing Association
NMAC: Nuclear
Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 74
Qualitative vs. Quantitative

• Quantitative
– Precise temperature
measurement
– Caution: slight differences in
emissivity, background and
other conditions will distort
findings
– Can also be effected by spot
size, or IFOVmeas

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 75

Measurement Accuracy

• Field of View (FOV) is total target

area seen by imager
• Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV)
is the smallest area which can be
seen by the imager (Spatial 115.9°
Resolution or spot size)
• Measurement Instantaneous Field
of View (IFOVmeas) is the smallest
area an imager can measure and is
usually 2-3 times smaller than IFOV
– Determined by number of system
properties, not just the pixel resolution 120.2°

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 76

FOV, IFOV, IFOVmeas

Fluke
IR

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 77

Level and Span

• Span: Size of the thermal

window
– 30°F in both images
• Level: Height of the thermal
window
– 95°F in top image
– 66°F in bottom image
• Saturation colors will be
displayed when the
temperature in the field of
view is above or below the
thermal window defined on
the camera

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 78

Adjusting Span
AUTO
• Cameras can be set for
“auto” or “manual”
rescaling
• Auto rescaling adjusts
image to highest and
lowest temp in FOV
• Taking advantage of
MANUAL
the manual level and
scale adjustment can
give you better thermal Level = 80.55F
resolution within the
FOV

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 79

Building - “Level & Span”

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Palette Selection

Iron Bow Grey Scale

Blue-Red Hot Metal

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Focus is CRITICAL

• Focusing an IR imager is different than a

visible camera
– Visible detector array has far more elements
– Infrared images are naturally less sharp
* IR wavelengths are more than an order of
magnitude longer
* visible light cameras measure reflected 283.8°
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 362.2°
later with PC software

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 82

Best Focus Practices

• Look for edges

• Use IR-Fusion
• Hold imager still
• Some people find
best results with
the gray scale
palette

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 83

Checking your imager
calibration
• 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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Large widescreen display

• 3.5 inch

• 640 x 480 pixels resolution

• Crystal clear images

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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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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)
hand-strap makes imager
convenient to hold
• Supports 16 different
languages

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Flexible data storage

• SD Memory card stores images:

– >1000 images as *.is2 with all temperature data
and visual image included in one image file
* With the included software you can modify
anything but the focus
– >3000 images as *bmp

Upload *is2 images into

PC with included card reader
and Smartview software

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 88

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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Range, Level and Span
adjustment

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Color Palettes

• Choose from 6 different palettes

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Imager settings

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On-board analysis

• Spot temperature indicators

– Center point
– High and low marker (Ti25/TiR1 only)
* Max and min temperature on
image

• Emissivity correction
– Select from table or enter manually

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One Complete Package

• Included with every Ti:

– Rugged hard case
– Portable soft case
– Adjustable handstrap
– 2 GB SD memory card
– SD memory card reader
– Internal rechargeable battery
– AC charger/power supply
– Smartview analysis and
reporting
software

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 94

Selecting the right Imager

• There are 12 Fluke Thermal Imagers to

choose from
• Go to the Selector Tool on www.Fluke.com to
select the Fluke Imager that best fits your
needs

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 95

The reality
You can do this
1. Fluke Thermal Imagers are easy to use, point/focus/capture
2. They will make you more effective
3. This means more in-sourcing instead of outsourcing
You WILL find problems
1. You will solve problems faster
2. You will save money
IF….
1. Initiate a PdM program at some level
2. Create a “Trophy Board”
3. Pay attention to your “cost avoidance”

Your investment is minimal, the payback( ROI) potential is huge

You can verify that the problem has really been solved!

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 96

 Fluke Thermal Imaging

THANKS FOR COMING!

Marcus Thomas NW Territory Sales Engineer

Fluke Thermal Imaging Company Confidential 97