Infrared Thermography
Can-Technologies has a dedicated and knowledgeable team to assist in identifying any aged or malfunctioning equipment that can interrupt or shut down your operation. Our team has performed the Infrared Thermography and Arc Flash study for countless manufacturing plants across North America. This critical service can directly improve your workplace safety and minimize preventable interruptions to your production line. It will enable your team to improve the bottom line by reducing unscheduled downtime.
The process of ageing and malfunctioning equipment starts with excess heat generation. The excess heat cannot be observed with a naked eye. The human eye is only capable of capturing certain light ranges. The solution is infrared thermal imaging technology. Thermal energy has a much longer wavelength than visible light. Thermal imaging with infrared cameras expands the “visible” spectrum of the human eye. It perceives these longer wavelengths and captures them in a colour-coded world that the human eye can understand.
Rotating equipment and electrical systems usually emit excessive heat that is an indicator of a damaged or incorrect component. Infrared Thermography is a service that uses a specialized camera to capture the infrared energy emitted from the surface of an object and converts it to a temperature map.
The temperature data captured from the infrared camera is used to:
- Locate an overload circuit breaker
- Identify an unbalance load
- Detect any loose wire or loose connection
- Identify if any fuse is oversized or undersized
- Identify “hot spots” in electronic equipment
- Detect heat loss in a furnace
- Detect cold air leakage for a freezer room
- Identify leaks in sealed vessels
- Detect lack of air/oil to cool down motors/power transformers windings
- Detect any mechanical wear or mechanical unbalance load
- Monitor and measure bearing temperatures in large motors or other rotating equipment such as gearboxes.
Due to its benefits in both workplace safety and productivity of an operation, manufactures have started deploying Infrared Thermography as part of their preventive maintenance program. They use the findings from the Infrared Thermography reports and rectify potential issues in their scheduled shutdown.
The following table shows the recommended frequency for performing Infrared Thermography based on the equipment type.
By including Infrared Thermography in your preventive maintenance program, the possibility of fires caused by overheating components is minimized. It also reduces unscheduled downtime which improves productivity.
