Fire departments have it, security forces have it, building inspectors have it, Zollner has it!
What we mean here is a temperature measurement system that provides imagery and contactless measurement to localize undesired temperature differences.
The image information is then portrayed as thermal images made by an infrared camera. We all know these applications: Fire departments use this technology to look for hotspots in buildings, the police to look for missing persons and building inspectors to look for leaky windows. The application potential of thermography is very diverse.
Which applications are used by Zollner?
Potential applications can be found throughout all divisions: For example, the infrared camera can search for excessive temperatures in components and thus detect errors, or to locate sub-optimal fuses in switch boxes. Further applications can also be found in mechanics in injection molding, e.g. in the inspection of heat distribution in tools.
On the basis of the imagery, increased local temperature differences can be revealed quickly.
What is infrared and why infrared?
Infrared radiation, colloquially known as heat radiation, is radiation that is not visible to the human eye [infrared means below the color red]. Infrared radiation is always emitted wherever heat is generated, e.g. fires, bad contacts or excessively charged electrical components. An infrared camera therefore makes heat visible.
The color spectrum illustrated here exemplifies the spectral range from infrared light to the visible range and to ultraviolet light. The figures expressed in nanometers are calculated on the basis of the wave character of the radiation.
An infrared camera however does not capture the entire infrared spectrum, but just a small range, e.g. 5,000 to 10,000 nanometers. Other cameras start at 2,000 nanometers. The ranges are beneficial depending on the respective area of application.
User knowledge is required
In order to achieve usable results with an infrared camera, one needs a sound amount of user knowledge. An infrared camera only measures the temperature that is reflected by the surface of a body. The intensity of the surface radiation is decisive for the coloring on the infrared image. Different surfaces have different intensities despite identical temperatures. A black surface, for example, has an entirely different radiation intensity [higher] than a colorless metal surface.
This is why, depending on the surface, a correction factor is required, the so-called emission factor “Epsilon”, which has to be determined prior to measurement and reported to the camera. There are also further things that need to be taken into consideration when working with thermography.
Thermal flow thermography
A further method of infrared measurement is thermal flow thermography. Here a strong flash lamp exerts a brief stream of warmth to the exterior of a specimen. A very fast infrared camera takes an image of the heat flow that follows in a fraction of a second. In the case of a faulty area, such as a damaged or missing weld, heat builds up that is reflected in a hundredths of a second and a hundredths of a degree of temperature difference. Zollner does not have any measuring equipment for thermal flow thermography. This service can however be provided by an external laboratory.
Who provides the internal service thermography?
This service is provided by the Analysis Technology division AT. Here you can also receive further help on using the infrared camera. |
