Flir Infrared Cameras Perform Wireless Inspection

Flir thermal imaging cameras are playing an important part in the predictive maintenance programme at Medite Europe, the manufacturer of medium-density fibreboard (MDF). Medite offers seven ranges of MDF products including many variants, with more than 400 possible specifications. All are manufactured at the company's Clonmel factory in Ireland. A key element of this is ensuring that any electrical or mechanical fault is spotted and repaired before it becomes a production-disrupting failure.

Infrared measuring technology is suitable for this detection application. The regular infrared maintenance surveys are conducted by thermographic consultant Bob Berry and help to ensure the factory's smooth running. Recently, however, Berry has been able to add even greater value to his thermographic inspections at Medite Europe thanks to an introduction by Flir. This is a Bluetooth wireless solution between the infrared camera and a measuring instrument called Meterlink. It allows measurement data from meters to be embedded in an infrared image for greater accuracy and intelligence.

The correlation between temperature and electrical load is well established and thermographers have included load ratings where relevant. Bob Berry of Thermal Vision, is a certified Level 3 thermographer and, in common with other consultants, he performs more than a hundred inspections per year. This creates a lot of data and readings from different instruments can get lost or mixed up. 'The more time it takes me to assimilate the information, the longer the report generation process becomes,' said Berry. Berry has now adopted the Flir Meterlink facility, which is available on a variety of Flir infrared cameras including the Flir T425 mid-range model, used at this inspection. It is suitable for a wide range of electro-mechanical inspection tasks that are common at larger industrial plants such as Medite Europe. 'The menu system of the Flir T425 camera has many analysis tools that can be set up according to the needs of the job,' said Berry.

'Its Meterlink feature allows the camera to receive data automatically from an Extech EX845 clamp meter,' he added. Berry also said that the straightforwardness of Meterlink means he is much more likely to take time to stop and use the clamp meter than when he is taking independent readings and making notes. He explains: 'The clamp meter is fitted to the first phase and the infrared image frozen complete with embedded current reading. 'The camera then prompts you to add more current readings, one at a time, each being stored in the appropriate image,' he added. On this basis three phases require three readings.

No notes need to be taken and there's no danger of the readings being attributed to the wrong job or lost. It may require slight changes to the inspection routine but, in Berry's opinion, this is not at all inconvenient. The saved measurements are fully accessible in the Flir analysis and reporting software Reporter 8.5 and easily added in the results tables. This means thermographers can be certain that the current readings tally with the thermal image. It eliminates all possibility of any mix up.

The title and location of individual faults can be saved directly in the image as voice or text comments and annotations. 'This combination of a Flir infrared camera and Extech clamp meter completely rules out the possibility of confusing the location, the equipment or load data from individual faults,' said Berry. For Berry's customers, such as Medite Europe, companies can have the assurance that the infrared inspection survey is being conducted more thoroughly so that maintenance resources can be more effectively targeted.

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