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Thread: infrared thermal inspections

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    infrared thermal inspections

    i am thinking of offering a service to smaller companies...at a affordable rate...if anyone is interested send me a pm.

    i will check hotspots in DBs, motors, control panels etc.

    here is an example.
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    Email problem daveob's Avatar
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    Hi Murdock

    Might be an idea to tell us what areas you cover -- don't fancy your call-out charge from Jhb to look at a db in Durbs.
    Watching the ships passing by.

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    durban at the moment...i do work all over south africa...cape town...east london...PE...but only for my local customers who have interests in other parts of the country.

    my intention is to start off in Durban and surrounding areas and as it grows i will do other areas.

    as it stands to get someone to do a thermal inspection rates start at around R 2000.

    for my regular customers who have supported me over the past 17 years there is no additional charges it is just part of my normal hourly rate...they benefit from all the services we offer ie power quality ananlysing...thermal inspections...classification of areas...etc etc.

    my intention is to offer a service to smaller companies...who have for eg only 3 DBs and a handful of machines...where getting a thermal inspection would have broken the bank.

    the advantage of getting us to do the inspection...we can also advise them on their electrical installation...with more than 25 years of hands on experience and the assitance of one of the most knowlegable enigineers in the industry...my biggest problem is keeping up with the demand.

    at the moment we are already travelling around the country and to neighbouring countries to carry out specialist inspections as master electricians/engineers.

    the reason i have decided to do this is because there is a demad from the insurance companies to check certain installations...even the smaller factories.

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    this is an example of why it helps when the person doing the inspection understands the electrical system...this image not only has a bad connection on the blue phase...but has 2 double pole circuit breakers feeding a 3 phase circuit...if this circuit feeds a 2 phase motor for eg...if one of the circuit breakers trip and not the other you will cause single phasing then your problems really start because the motor will overheat and burn out...
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    this is one of my favourite images...it indicates how emmissivity affects the temperature displayed...the pot is at over 200 degrees but in the image it only indictes 55 degrees.
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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Out of curiosity, what liquid is in the pot?

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    boiling water...the pot is indicating 55 degrees in the image but once the emmissivity is adjusted it goes up to over 200 degrees...as it is stated in almost every document i have read... even though i have emmissivity tables from fluke, flir and others i have found...the stranage thing is they have slightly different values but they are a good as a guideline...when an object has low emmissivity it is extremely difficult to determine the exact temperature...you also have to take a whole lot of other factors into account like reflective temperature...ambient temperature...type of material...which is why i am sticking to electrical installations for now...because of my vast electrical knowledge it is just another handy tool added to the collection of fault find equipment.
    just to mention a few of testers we use:

    fluke 435 "class A" power quality analyser (3000 amp flex clamps and 200 amp clamps full set of 4 )
    fluke ti20 thermal imager. (fully radiometric longwave infrared camera with ir4 and smartview software)
    fluke 1653 multifunction tester (with zeroing capabilities for accurate recorded readings)
    fluke 76,87 DMMs without recording capabilities
    fluke 189,289 with recording capabilies
    metrel 2192 power quality annalyser with (1000 amp clamps and 5 amps clamps for HT applications)

    and the most important tool of all is the knowledge of one of the most experienced engineeers who has set the standards for the electrical industry both normal and specialised.

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    And I'm guessing the pot is a polished steel...
    Quote Originally Posted by murdock View Post
    you also have to take a whole lot of other factors into account like reflective temperature...
    That was what I was thinking - that picture is a study in reflected temperature as well. You can see the reflection of the whole stove top on the side of the pot.

    Actually, given the water is boiling which puts it at a pretty specific temperature too, that picture is quite a study full stop.

    For difficult surfaces, maybe there is nothing quite like hauling out the old thermometer for benchmarking rather than relying totally on emissivity tables

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    yip polished stainless steel...problem with the type of equipment i have be testing you cant put a normal probe onto it being loaded 400volts and sometimes as high as almost 3000 amps shiney copper.even when you take the camera close it starts distorting the screen from the current fields.

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