AUTOMATION and INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONSFIXED THERMAL CAMERAS FOR CONDITION MONITORING and PROCESS CONTROL & QUALITY ASSURANCE

At Thermal Vision Industrial, we understand that thermal imaging projects can be as simple as data confirmation during the  production process to part of a complex condition monitoring alarm system. So, whether you have a single project specific requirement or you are looking to set up an array of sensors to protect your assets, we specialise in customising industrial thermal camera packages to meet your project requirements and budget.

We have been an authorised distributor of Teledyne FLIR Science cameras for over a decade, we deliver cutting-edge thermal imaging solutions for research, engineering activities, condition monitoring and automation (to mention just some of the many applications we can support).

What sets us apart is our access to exclusive cameras that are not widely available in the UK, supported by our tailored software and expert technical assistance.

If you are part of a large trial, a lab setup, looking for condition monitoring or just looking to enhance the quality of your temperature data collection and analysis we take pride in offering a personalised service, from equipment setup to comprehensive training and ongoing support, ensuring your project’s success.

T: 07946 620361
E: dave@thermalvisionresearch.co.uk

Get the Thermal Tools you Need for Safe, Efficient Manufacturing.

FLIR high-performance, fixed thermal cameras can be mission-critical to various automation and industrial safety applications. New applications emerge every year as more industries identify a need for thermal imaging.

Get the Data for Your Analytics, Your Way

With this new line of FLIR thermal imaging cameras, you can detect and identify thermal issues across manufacturing and industrial processes, collect accurate thermal data, and analyze it using your own proprietary software. Axxx-Series cameras configured for Standard or Advanced Image Streaming can solve your specific task through simplified integration with custom-developed software.

Continuous Monitoring

WHEN PRECISION AND CONTROL ARE MISSION-CRITICAL

A wide range of automation and industrial safety applications exist for FLIR high-performance thermal imaging solutions. New

applications emerge every year as more industries identify a need for thermal imaging to:

• Find temperature problems before they lead to failures.

• Prevent costly production stops.

• Spot process anomalies that can flag dangerous situations early, improving safety in the workplace.

Automated FLIR applications are prolific in condition monitoring, early fire detection, and process control monitoring/quality assurance. We created this primer to illustrate thermal imaging value in specific industry applications. If it’s been done before, then you have a template for implementation. If yours is a new application, perhaps one of these examples will give you an idea of what’s possible. Either way, if the value of thermal imaging intrigues you, then we want to help you determine if it’s the right fit.

If you’re new to thermal imaging technology, then the IR Automation Handbook details the science, technology, and capabilities of thermal or infrared imaging.

OTHER APPLICATIONS

• Anode processing (electroplating)

• Leaks in pipelines (gas, liquids)

• Truck brake inspection

• Asphalt quality inspection

• Paper moisture variation inspection

• PCB inspection

• Tank Levels

• Weld seam location

• Plastic film temperature profiling

• So many more…

PROCESS CONTROL & QUALITY ASSURANCE

Process control monitoring and quality assurance is all about measuring the temperature and/or determining

the shape of certain products on a production line. The acquired thermal imaging data is used to control and

improve the process so that the resulting products will meet specifications.

• 7 Things to know when selecting a thermal camera
• Meet the kit – ideally link or absorb into existing website imagery

In automation, Teledyne FLIR Smart Sensors and Teledyne FLIR Image Streamers serve distinct purposes, each offering unique benefits depending on your application.

1. Teledyne FLIR Smart Sensor:

   • Purpose: These are intelligent, self-contained thermal imaging devices designed for real-time decision-making and automation without needing external processing.
   • Key Features: Smart sensors can process data onboard, detect anomalies, and trigger actions like alarms or process adjustments. They often come with analytics and advanced algorithms built-in, enabling automated quality control, process monitoring, and safety applications.
   • Use Case: Ideal for applications where immediate, localized decisions are needed, such as identifying hotspots in manufacturing lines, monitoring equipment for overheating, or ensuring product quality in real-time.

2. Teledyne FLIR Image Streamer:

   • Purpose: Image streamers are thermal cameras that capture and continuously stream high-resolution thermal data to external systems for analysis, archiving, or integration into larger networks.
   • Key Features: Unlike smart sensors, image streamers focus on delivering large volumes of raw or minimally processed thermal data for real-time monitoring or post-processing. They require external software or systems to interpret the data, making them suitable for applications needing detailed analysis and long-term data storage.
   • Use Case: Ideal for applications where data needs to be analyzed offsite or in detail, such as for research, large-scale industrial monitoring, or environments where historical data and trends are critical for optimization.

Summary:

• Smart Sensors are ideal for local, real-time decision-making with integrated analytics.
• Image Streamers focus on high-volume data capture for detailed analysis, requiring external systems for processing.

For automation customers, choosing between them depends on whether immediate on-site action or detailed data analysis is the priority.

WAREHOUSES Thermal Imaging Value

Even though warehouses are equipped with fire alarms and firefighting systems, asset damage is almost inevitable once a fire starts. FLIR thermal imaging cameras can identify hot spots before they ignite and provide an early warning response to avoid full-on conflagration before assets are harmed or safety is compromised.

An enclosed chemical waste storage facility used stand-alone thermal imaging cameras to detect temperature changes among its stockpiles. Waste exposed to air or water could become unstable and possibly explosive. So, the company brought in FLIR thermal imaging cameras to monitor the entire storage warehouse 24/7. Now, these cameras broadcast images on a control room monitor that can direct personnel to the exact location of a hot spot.

Preconfigured temperature alarms can be adjusted to compensate for temporary changes, such as the presence of a forklift or worker. Thermal imaging cameras can also integrate with automated fire alarms and extinguishing systems to minimize the footprint of fire damage if it ignites before preventative measures can be imposed.

Maintaining Gas Plant and Flare Stack Safety

Flare stacks are used in many industries to burn off unwanted waste gas byproducts or flammable gases released by pressure relief valves during unplanned over-pressuring of plant equipment. Thermal imaging cameras are ideal monitoring tools for full-time remote monitoring in virtually any weather. In addition, thermal imaging cameras avoid many technical and cost-related problems associated with other technologies, such as ultraviolet (UV) flame detectors, flame ionization spectrometers, thermocouples, and pyrometers.

Customers use FLIR thermal imaging cameras such as the FLIR A700f to monitor flare stack flames and actively regulate and assist gas control programs. If a flame is not burning within preset parameters, the camera-based automated system will alarm, prompting immediate air or steam volume adjustments to maintain proper combustion. As a bonus, automated assist gas injection control can help prevent excessive steam consumption and provide significant cost savings.

Ensuring Substation Uptime

Electric power utilities today are faced with an aging infrastructure, an increasing risk of blackouts and brownouts, and security threats. Unplanned maintenance can be expensive in the best-case scenarios and catastrophic in the worst. With FLIR thermal imaging cameras and condition monitoring software, impending equipment failures and security breaches can be detected anytime, day or night, from a remote monitoring location.

ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS – Thermal Imaging Value

Cutting down failure rates of electronic components is essential for companies that want to supply a flawless product to their customers. The only way to ensure this is by checking each component to provide 100% quality control. Thermal imaging enables electronic component manufacturers to detect hot spots indicative of defective products.

Isabellenhütte manufactures electronic components used by the automotive industry in fuel injection systems and other control units. With a reputation for high-quality workmanship, Isabellenhütte prioritizes quality control throughout its manufacturing process. They use a FLIR A-Series Smart Sensor thermal camera in their automated process to observe a component’s thermal cycle within only 20 milliseconds. “Our initial investment in the thermal imaging camera repaid itself within an extremely short period. More importantly, every resistor is checked, allowing us to deliver a perfect product to our customers,” said the Isabellenhütte production manager.

FOOD PROCESSING – Thermal Imaging Value

In the food industry, it’s essential to carefully control the temperature and shape of perishable goods throughout production, transportation, storage, and sales. Food processors need tools that automate crucial operations, helping to minimize human error while holding down costs.

Food processing companies use thermal imaging cameras to make automated non-contact temperature measurements of cooked foods, ovens, refrigeration, and packaging. FLIR customers have used thermal imaging cameras for quality control, monitoring temperature uniformity across the width of a conveyor oven cooking belt and confirming cellophane seals on finished microwave meals.

IR WELDING – Thermal Imaging Value

Infrared welding is a heat-based joining technique that creates a powerful bond. However, inconsistencies in heating, subsurface defects, and other anomalies can cause an incomplete or lousy weld pattern. Because thermal imaging cameras can visualize the IR weld as it’s applied, manufacturers can monitor the welding process and verify the weld quality without pulling pieces apart for spot-checks.

Yanfeng Automotive Interiors uses infrared welding to assemble plastic automotive parts in their Kentucky plant. They use this relatively new technology to join large plastic parts with high strength requirements, such as defroster grills. Ensuring a proper weld requires halting production for visual quality checks and disassembling some pieces for more in-depth inspections.

So Yanfeng consulted with Emitted Energy of Ohio, which brought in a monitoring system consisting of four FLIR thermal imaging cameras and analytical software. With this setup, Yanfeng can monitor production, map heat trends, and provide continuous non-contact evaluation of the infrared welds without interrupting production.

Avoiding Catastrophic Failure

Steel mill ladles have limited lives. As their refractory linings wear or break due to shock, the outer part of a ladle can be exposed to excessive temperatures. If not caught in time, the result can be ladle disintegration and a molten metal breakout, threatening workers’ lives and destroying equipment. FLIR thermal imaging camera systems monitor ladles in real time and warn of a breakout before it happens.

Customers place FLIR A50/A70 Smart Sensor Cameras in a robust housing or employ FLIR A500f/A700f cameras—with their protective housing—in fixed positions where they have a clear view of a filled ladle as it passes by on a gantry crane.

Those cameras capture video images of the ladle in real-time and calculate temperatures over the ladle’s surface. A few cameras can cover the entire ladle surface, but some regions of interest are typically predefined for closer scrutiny and analysis. An alarm is triggered if a temperature exceeds the ladle’s predefined parameters. The exact alarm temperature parameters can be adjusted quickly based on mill experience.

24/7 Electrical Installation Monitoring

Some critical electrical and mechanical installations in manufacturing companies and utilities are monitored 24/7 with a thermal imaging camera. Heat buildup indicates poor equipment health and possible impending failure. A fixed-mounted thermal imaging camera gives you the advantage, so you don’t need to rely on periodic inspections. Alarms can be set to go off once a temperature threshold is exceeded.

ADE Technology Inc., in Taiwan, developed an affordable condition monitoring solution for electrical and mechanical installations that is compact enough to fit inside a cabinet with the installation. T-Guard, ADE’s solution, can manage up to nine FLIR AX8 cameras to monitor enterprise-wide electricity management, solar PV management, Environment Control Systems (ECS), and more. Jeffrey Chow, ADE’s general manager, said, “The AX8 is definitely a game changer for traditional condition monitoring.”

METAL MANUFACTURING – Thermal Imaging Value

Heat treatment is used in metal manufacturing to alter the chemical and physical properties of the resulting metal parts. Careful application of a specific sequence of heating and cooling cycles for predetermined intervals enables metallurgists to control the parts’ hardness or softness. Thermal imaging can monitor the temperature of metal parts after leaving a cooling bath or “quench pit.”

Thermography specialist MoviTHERM developed a dedicated thermal inspection system with cameras from FLIR Systems to inspect parts immediately following a critical quenching process. A FLIR thermal imaging camera identifies hot spots on parts in a cooling chamber to see if additional cooling cycles will be necessary.

ADHESION – Thermal Imaging Value

Clear or black glue applied to a black background is difficult for a visible light camera to see and measure. FLIR automation infrared cameras, however, can quickly determine whether the glue bead has been appropriately applied, has gaps and is even within the allowable temperature limits. FLIR thermal imaging is also integral to adhesive bonding using induction, a trending process in the automotive industry.

Modern car panels are made of a combination of a metal layer on top and a structural adhesive layer underneath. These layers are glued together using induction. The temperature must be precisely right for the adhesion to work correctly. To ensure the adhesion goes smoothly, FIAT uses FLIR thermal imaging cameras to provide automatic feedback. According to Marco Simoli, technical manager at KGR (the induction equipment manufacturer), “With the FLIR thermal camera, we can reach the optimum performance of the production line. The thermal data allows us to evaluate and optimize the heating process.”

PACKAGING – Thermal Imaging Value

Thermal imaging cameras clearly distinguish between what is hot and what is not. This, combined with emissivity effects, sometimes allows thermal imaging cameras to “see through” plastic or other material to confirm adhesive placement for packaging.

Recochem, a Canadian manufacturer and distributor of chemical products and fluids, uses infrared imaging to monitor the quality of its packaging continuously. Recochem uses a FLIR AX8 to inspect the glue spots on their boxes. Thanks to its compact size, the AX8 fits in a tight area and can examine the bottom of boxes. “If you look at the AX8 thermal images, then you see the hotter spots where the glue has been applied,” said Adam Wolszczan, plant engineering manager at Recochem.

Lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries monitored under thermal imaging.

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