Infrared Everywhere: Hot Chicks

After I joined the ITC team this past fall, my family and I have been caught up in the process of relocating to southern New Hampshire. Now that we’re finally settled in, and the last of the moving boxes have been emptied, I guess it was time to take on another challenge, this one involving fresh eggs. My wife has always wanted to try raising chickens, and now that we live on a small farm, what better place to take the plunge!

The little ladies arrived in the mail about five weeks ago (yes, the Post Office delivers chicks) and have been growing rapidly ever since. Here’s a quick infrared video from their first week inside the house, captured with a FLIR T650 thermal imager:

A New Look at Air Infiltration in Buildings

We can’t see air with a thermal imager, right? Anyone who has completed Level I training knows this very well. A common follow-up question is always why, then, can thermographers still detect air leakage bypasses in buildings?

That’s possible because an infrared camera senses changes in thermal patterns created by air moving over a surface (given there’s a temperature difference) when either infiltrating into (example seen here, image above), or exfiltrating from, a building.

Thanks to a video that my fellow colleague, and ITC Instructor, Ron Lucier recently sent in it looked like, at least for a fleeting moment, that we might have to re-consider this question; can we see air with infrared?  In his video, available below, it certainly appeared that way when using a FLIR GF320 mid-wave infrared camera to view air leakage.  Was it actually detecting air?  How was this possible?  Well not exactly, as we’ll explain, but it was still interesting to watch:

Live Webinar Schedule Extended Through June 2014

After some very successful webcasts in January and February, ITC is pleased to announce that our series of free, live webinars, has now been extended through June thanks to the exceptionally strong turnout and positive feedback we’ve received.

For those of you who may not be familiar with these, ITC’s complimentary educational webinars are designed to provide a valuable overview of thermal imaging and its many applications. By attending these free, interactive, online sessions participants learn not only the basics of infrared thermography, but also where IR can reduce costs, save energy and increase safety for professionals across a variety of industries.

Registration is now available at www.infraredtraining.com/webinars where you’ll also find on-demand recordings from past live events that can be viewed at any time.

Infrared Everywhere, Even Where It’s Cold

During a recent visit to Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, I had the chance to capture some thermal video of snowmaking operations at their new tubing facility. The year-round resort, located about 90-minutes north of ITC’s Boston-Regional Training Center, is a popular ski and snowboarding destination in New England. It’s been a pretty good year for natural snow here in the northeast, but even then many resorts still rely on artificial snowmaking to help supplement what Mother Nature provides.

The air temperature was only about 10˚F (-12˚C) in this situation. Given the conditions, the water supply ends up looking quite a bit warmer relative to the surrounding environment.  This gives it the appearance of being warm when it’s really not.  That’s because the upper span limit of my imager was set to approximately 25˚F (-4˚C).  Anything near that threshold shows up as yellow or white “hot” on the color scale in the thermal video. 

Can the FLIR One™ Personal Thermal Imager Perform Real Work?

I have seen some buzz around the internet about the FLIR One’s ability to do serious infrared work.  While it is a low resolution thermal imager, the combination of its IR imaging and FLIR’s MSX technology makes it into a useful tool.

Take a look at the following FLIR One™ images of thermal anomalies found in a house, and see if you don’t agree.

Missing Insulation	Cold air leaking around outlet
Cold air leaking through a vent	Drain pipe in wall

InfraCanada/InfraQuebec 2014 - Call for papers

ITC and FLIR Canada are proud to re-institute the Infrared and Maintenance conferences that have been on hiatus for the last couple of years – InfraCanada and InfraQuebec. This year’s conferences will be held in September and October and the venues are: Banff (Alberta), Hockley Valley Resort (Ontario), Mount Tremblant (Quebec) and Moncton (New Brunswick). We are currently looking for presenters for each of the conferences.

Why Present? As a successful user of the Infrared technology, you can share your knowledge and findings with other infrared users or potential users. Educating other interested parties will certainly enhance the Infrared community. Interacting with colleagues and peers may generate possible additional consulting opportunities. Presenters also earn valuable ITC recertification credits to maintain their current ITC certification level. Registration cost for the day you present will be reduced.

Some examples of subject matter for presentations are but not limited to:

• Condition Monitoring
• Building Applications
• Automation
• Science
• Fugitive Emission Detection
• Animal/Veterinary
• Medical
• Infrared Complimentary Non-Destructive Testing Tools

Please forward your presentation overview to Paul.Frisk@flir.com by March 15th, 2014.

More details about the conferences to follow in future newsletters.

New to IR? ITC Webinars Can Help!

It’s likely that a number of you who frequent this blog are either new to the world of infrared or possibly just purchased your first thermal imager. Regardless, there is a lot of information that new thermographers need to digest, so where does one proceed? Well, we’ve got some good news for you!

The Infrared Training Center now offers a number of live, regularly scheduled, educational webinars that are designed to introduce participants to the technology and variety of IR applications available. By attending these free, interactive, online sessions you will learn not only the basics of infrared thermography, but also where thermal imaging can reduce costs, save energy and increase safety for professionals in a variety of industries.

If you’re in the electrical, maintenance, or home inspection business, infrared thermography can help you spot a number of issues that your eyes simply can’t see. Join us for as many of these upcoming webinars as you like and learn more about how using infrared can benefit both you and your company.

Sign up today at www.infraredtraining.com/webinars . Registration is free and now available for the following topics:

New Online Course: FLIR K Series Basics

A tutorial on the basic operation of FLIR K Series Infrared Cameras for Fire Fighters in English, French, and German. This course is offered at no charge.
Course Homepage

Emissivity Explained; In Plain English

This short video explains thermal emissivity in a simple to understand format using thermal imaging or thermography to illustrate the concepts.

MSX Explained - in Plain English

Have you ever wished you could have a high fidelity thermal image, but also be able to read labels and see discrete details not shown in the thermal image?

Well now you can, with a new technology called MSX.

MSX stands for Multi Spectral Dynamic Imaging, an exclusive image enhancement technology now available on several infrared cameras. This new technology is based on a unique onboard processor that provides extraordinary thermal image details in real time. MSX incorporates real-time thermal video augmented with visible spectrum definition. It produces exceptional thermal clarity to highlight exactly where the problem is. MSX ensures easier target identification without compromising radiometric data. The quality of the thermal images is excellent. There is almost no need any more for a separate digital image; MSX embosses digital camera detail onto thermal video and stills.

How does it work?

An onboard processor continually processes the visual channel and extracts only the visual detail from the visible channel. That visual detail is then added to the thermal image information. Unlike many thermal fusion technologies, the thermal information is not diluted at all, it is just augmented with visual detail not apparent in the thermal image. The result is an incredibly robust and fully radiometric thermal image displaying details and making it easy to know what is being viewed and where problems lie. See this video.

MSX Explained