What is Thermal Imaging or Infrared thermography?
Originally developed for military purposes, infrared thermography has been used for commercial and industrial purposes for the past 30 years, primarily as a maintenance inspection tool. Since the mid-1980’s the use of thermography has expanded rapidly and shows few signs of slowing. The technology utilizes electronic equipment that senses invisible infrared (IR) radiation given off by all objects on earth. The information is converted into an electronic signal that is used to build a visual image (or thermogram) of the thermal patterns. The thermogram can best be thought of as a sort of topographical map of the surface temperatures. Typically, the warmer the object, the more IR radiation it emits. What are the advantages of infrared thermography? There are many advantages to using thermography. Temperatures can be measured from minus 200F to 25000F. Because measurements are made of emitted radiation, they can be made without contacting the surface. This is an advantage where surfaces a
