What factors affect the emissivity of an object? Material Non-metals, usually have a high emissivity, and are usually fairly constant over time. Metals on the other hand can have a very low emissivity, and as they usually oxidise, their emissivity tends to vary drastically over time. Surface Polished and shiny surfaces tend to have lower … Read More
Author: Bob Berry
Why thermocouple readings don’t compare with camera results
Why thermocouple readings don’t compare with camera results Question received by email, slightly edited; We are busy working with a foundry that mainly does High chrome white irons. The problem that we are encountering is that there seems to be a variance of about 80°C between our thermal camera and the thermocouple that they … Read More
RIR Max profile plots
I was asked about this earlier this week, so I dug up this video that I put together some time ago. It shows how to display two profile plots in the same window/tab when using Flir ResearchIR max.
ITC User Conference
Thanks to all for the positive feedback on my presentation at the ITC user conference held in Coventry on September 27th & 28th 2017. ITC did an amazing job at organising this years event, with attendance from over 30 countries. The event was a successful mix of presentations and practical workshops.
Reliability Ireland
Thanks to all we met at Reliability Ireland 2017. It was good to catch up with so many in the industry, and to meet so many new people. A special thanks to the organisers (Tellabs) for organising such a great event, and to all those that attended our presentation.
Can infrared thermography measure gas temperatures?
All gases have different properties. Some gases certainly do emit infrared energy. However, they normally only emit in a very narrow spectral band. Thus seeing a gas is certainly possibly by using a camera adapted with a suitable spectral filter. Seeing the gases is not the same as measuring its temperature, and there are additional … Read More
Why does an infrared remote control not affect thermographic measurement, while the reflection of a person can?
Why does an infrared remote control not affect thermographic measurements, while the reflection of a person can? This is a question of wavelength. Infrared remote controls operate in the near infrared range (e.g. 0.85 µm or 1.55 µm), while thermographic cameras usually work within MWIR (3-5) µm, or LWIR (8-14) µm. The remote controls simply do not emit … Read More
How does wind affect thermography?
This is a regular question, and to be often it is often not understood. There are several thermography companies that do thermography and ignore wind totally. Several others only take it into account by woking below a preset limit, like 10 m/s. This limit of 10 m/s is to some extent the fault of trainers, that often … Read More
What is the cold temperature limit for infrared thermography?
This depends on the capability of the thermographic camera used. Standard uncooled cameras fitted with a microbolometer detector allow non-contact temperature measurement as low as -40°C. Below this temperature, they are still emitting in the infrared region, however due to Planck’s Law the infrared intensity emitted by objects is very low indeed. To measure below this limit … Read More
At what depth can thermography measure temperature?
I get asked this from time to time. For most materials we cannot see below the surface at all, never mind measure a temperature below the surface. The vast majority of common materials are thermally opaque, this means that the camera can only detect radiation emitted from the surface. For this reason we cannot normally … Read More