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Application Notes:

Why Thermography is Good for Your Business

 

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Thermography used to be expensive, difficult, and primarily used by large industrial facilities and the military.

 

These days, it's become much more affordable, easier to use, and more broadly applied. That means your customers have heard of it.

Typical applications

Electrical contractors typically use thermal imagers for predictive maintenance and troubleshooting, and sometimes during installation.

How it works

Today's entry-level thermal imagers are compact and easy to use with minimal training. The camera automatically scans the unit in range and produces a constantly updating thermal image on screen.

Emissivity

When you measure surface temperature, you're actually reading the infrared energy emitted by that object. Emissivity tracks how thoroughly the surface emits energy.

Level and gain

When the image field includes a wide range of temperatures, level and gain help you focus on the most important temperatures. Most users work in automatic mode, where the thermal imager automatically assigns a temperature range based on the thermal scene it sees.

Choosing an imager

Obviously, there are many kinds of thermal imagers to choose from. Here are some factors to consider when deciding what kind of imager best fits your business model

Radiometric

When you look at an image on a digital screen, you're really looking at thousands of individual little points of color. In the same way, radiometric thermal imagers capture temperature data for each of the thousands of points in a thermal image.

Thermal (temperature) sensitivity

Unless your customers produce very complicated, small components or have very heat sensitive applications, you very likely do not need the top models on the market.

Pixel resolution

A high resolution screen and image looks nicer and is more impressive. However, those pixels cost money-the higher resolution your image output, the more the thermal imager is going to cost.

Other basic features

Any imager you buy should offer the following:
  • Adjustable emissivity
  • Selectable temperature (C or F),
  • Level and gain control

Training

Most entry level imagers come with a user manual and some form of interactive training, and that's usually all you'll need to get started on an entry-level imager. Medium to high end imagers are more complicated and should therefore include at least two days of in-person training from a reputable training firm.

Software

You're going to need software with any thermal imager you buy, so here are the key points to consider. Is the software included in the price? Are future updates free of charge as well? Do you have to buy licenses for multiple team members to load it?

Summary

Really, there's nothing holding you back. Contractors can readily purchase affordable thermal imagers, quickly train on the basics, and immediately start using the tool to...

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