Josh White

Recent developments in cooled mercury cadmium telluride (MCT or HgCdTe) infrared detector technology have made possible the development of high performance infrared cameras for use in a wide variety of demanding thermal imaging applications. These infrared cameras are now available with spectral sensitivity in the shortwave, mid-wave and long-wave spectral bands or alternatively in two bands.

It's been remarkable to witness the evolution of the SLR camera, first as a film camera marveled by all for many years, and now as a maturing digital camera with many very impressive features. The evolution continues as new features are being introduced at a steady rate! For the military or law enforcement photographer, someof the newest features can be quite useful for portable observation and in-the-field news gathering, both at night and during the day.

The three primary technologies for night-time video surveillance are: low-light imaging, thermal imaging, and near-infrared illumination. Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each technology will assure that a surveillance system delivers the desired performance at night.

The structures we live and work in are susceptible to quality and performance problems during construction and maintenance that can impact performance and may, in some cases, render them dangerous. Regardless of the building type involved, infrared thermography can provide remarkable, nondestructive information about construction details and building performance.

Whether it's your first infrared inspection or you're a veteran with hundreds of surveys under your belt, it is important to realize that in order to successfully identify and analyze thermal anomalies, it is beneficial to understand the operation of the equipment under inspection. This paper will provide guidelines for inspecting the motor control center (MCC), identifying key components and potential problem areas, illustrating both common and not-so-common thermal anomalies.

More and more companies are investing in CMMS systems to organize the complex task of managing capital equipment and facility infrastructure whether it is process or production equipment or building systems like HVAC and computers. CMMS is a great organizational tool but cannot directly monitor equipment conditions.

There continues to be a great deal of activity surrounding the update to NFPA 70E scheduled to be published in October 2008. For the proposed 2008 edition of NFPA 70, National Electrical Code® (NEC®), the Technical Correlating Committee (TCC) received 3,668 proposals and 3,206 comments during the revision cycle. For those of us involved in working with energized electrical circuits the outcome of the new standards will likely impact how we do our job.

Estimates indicate that 10-15 serious arc-flash incidents; those that result in burn injuries requiring treatment in a burn center, occur each day in the U.S., so it is not surprising that awareness of the hazards associated with arc flash continues to grow. Concerns about operator safety are causing inspectors of high voltage switchgear to adopt new practices and new equipment. We will examine the impact of new safety practices.

Abstract Infrared thermographic inspection is an established PdM inspection modality. Recent advances in infrared camera platforms have created a new class of infrared imaging instrument which incorporates pen-based computing and application specific software into a powerful thermal inspection data logger with many traits similar to mature vibration data collection systems.

Instrumentation for locating levels in tanks and silos is often unreliable. The need for precise information about levels remains necessary, or even critical, in many instances. For example, in one situation a thermographer was employed to verify a liquid level in a large storage tank along the Gulf Coast prior to the arrival of a tanker ship.