What is infrared thermography?

Infrared is an invisible portion of the light spectrum extending from 0.75 to 1000 microns.  All objects warmer than absolute zero (0 Kelvin or -275.15°C) emit energy somewhere within that range.  The warmer the object, the brighter we see it in our thermal camera. White is hotter, black is colder.

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What is a thermographer?

A thermographer is a thermal evaluator and imaging expert. He or she will have a solid understanding of heat transfer laws, thermal dynamics and properties of why objects are hot or not or appear to be hot or not.

A thermographer is a person who uses an Infrared Camera and his or her knowledge of the subjects they look at in combination with other non-destructive testing tools to evaluate the condition, (good or bad) of any object, subject or body in the world at large today... as long as there is a thermal difference to be detected. Otherwise objects with the same thermal radiant pattern or temperature will be invisible to each other.

Like when old Arnold Swartzenegger "fooled" the "Predator" covering himself with mud, he changed his thermal pattern to match the surrounding "temperature" of his surroundings and turned himself "thermally invisible". Eventually the mud would warm up and his "stealth" would disappear. The old movies where the "Star" looked though the wall to "see" the bad guy plotting to kill the good guy is not true. Infrared can only "see" the surface of anything. We see the effect of conduction transfer of heat from within the object to the surface and make assessment from there.

People choose to be thermographers to be in the lead of exciting new careers and challenges every day. Thermography is not a 9 to 5 job. Thermography is evolving daily into new and unusual applications... There are so many areas the same thermal expert can be involved in, with the exact same thermal camera it offers diversification like no other career...

• Electrical inspections in buildings, plants, facilities, refineries.
• Thermal heat loss inspections for buildings, plants, facilities, refineries.
• Moisture contamination evaluations in buildings, condo's, plants facilities
• Concrete integrity inspections
• Concrete Water Heated floor inspections for leaks and temperature distribution
• Flat roof leak detection for buildings, plants, facilities
• Power generation generator inspections.
• Power Plant boiler flue gas leak detection
• Substation Electrical inspections, tranformers and capacitor evaluation
• Overhead urban and rural distribution electrical inspections
• Electrical motor inspections, mechanical bearing inspections
• Heat ventilation air conditioning equipment evaluation
• Cold Storage cooling losses.
• Refinery process line insulation loss or leak detection
• Refinery process evaluation
• Heat exchanger Quality and efficiency evaluation
• Furnace refractory (insulation) inspections
• Furnace Internal flame evaluation and tube inspections
• Flame propogation explosion analysis.
• Research and development applications
• Design proto typing evaluation
• Motor racing suspension and tire contact diagnostics
• Brake and engine systems evaluation for perfomance and cooling efficiencies
• Printed circuit board evaluation and trouble shooting.
• Medical injury examinations for whiplash, back injuries, Carpal Tunnel
• Diseases evaluation, breast cancer, arthritis and many more
• Dentistry, tempromandibular jaw disfunction and more
• Sports injuries and evaluation, and therapy progress
• Equine (horse) injury examination, stress fractures, lameness
• Airborne applications
• Pipeline inspection, leak detection, stress corrosion cracking areas
• Environmental inspections, pollution dumping, thermal dumping of waste water
• Fire Mapping, hold over fires, fireline and mop-up inspections
• High Voltage Aerial Electrical inspections for transmission lines
• Search and rescue
• Covert surveillance