Other Infrared Services

• Veterinary Applications
• Tank Level Detection
• Medical Applications
• Automotive Applications
• Marine Applications
• Aircraft Applications
• Pipeline Inspection
• Electronic Equipment
• Pulp and Paper
• Steam Turbine & Hydroelectric Generators
• Miscellaneous Applications
   

Veterinary Applications

Veterinary applications are becoming more popular, the most popular is equine thermography and that is the detection of problems that arise with horses. Infrared Cameras can be used for injury examination, find stress fractures and lameness that can be invisible to the human eye. This horse was later found to have a stone imbedded in her left front hoof that had previously been undetectable until the heat shown by the Infrared Image showed as a hot spot giving an indication of the problem area.

Thermal Imaging May Have Saved Cats Life

Left-hand Infrared photo above showing my cat with a sore rear foot showing in red. The right-hand photos above taken with the Infrared camera enabled us to locate a missing cat that was trapped in a flat roof area of a garage. The cat had been missing for three days and could be heard meowing, the cat owners were of the opinion the cat was trapped in a wall somewhere as they could hear it but the exact location could not be pinpointed until viewed in Infrared. The heat from the cat was clearly visible in infrared on the garage ceiling. As time was of importance I unscrewed the roof directly above and was able to extract the cat unharmed and replace the roof without causing any damage.

Elephant

This Elephant was restless, the thermal image (not taken by us) revealed a sore right front foot. That was also causing his left shoulder to heat up and become inflamed as a result of him putting extra weight onto his left leg.

Tank Level Detection

Liquid and sludge levels in storage tanks can be seen in infrared. Leaks can be detected early and sludge levels monitored, avoiding costly failures and downtime during peak periods. The heat from the hot coffee makes it easy to establish the level within the mug. The level of water in the cistern is clearly visible, this is handy as sometimes they are not set right or become stuck resulting in the cistern overflowing continuously, which can go undetected and waste a lot of water.

Medical Thermal Imaging Applications

We don't do Medical injury examinations but these photos show how thermal imaging can be a useful tool to aid diagnosis. My friend had a sore finger and asked me to identify using infrared which finger was sore and was impressed by how clearly his pinkie showed up as being hot in the image compared to his other fingers.

Automotive Applications

Infrared has a wide range of uses in the motor racing world such as suspension and tyre contact diagnostics, brake and engine systems evaluation for performance and cooling efficiencies.

Marine Applications with Thermal Imaging

Infrared can be used to locate moisture issues and delamination problems in building panels, boats, launches and ships. The right-hand infrared image enabled the tracking of a leak back to a fitting on the upper level deck on this launch.

Aircraft Applications Utilising Infrared Technology

Composite aircraft materials are extremely sturdy and lightweight. However, the honeycomb structure of these materials presents a potentially dangerous problem, water ingress. It has been discovered that certain control surfaces absorb water into the honeycomb structure. The problem is aggravated by the effects of lightning and hail, which cause barely visible impact damage. The water enters the honeycomb and freezes when the aircraft is at high altitude. Thermography can be an indispensable tool for inspecting planes for this problem. After the plane has landed, the ice remains at 0°C while it is melting. This provides an ideal opportunity to search for the ice pockets with our Infrared Camera while the plane is being serviced. To date we have not inspected any aircraft and these are just sample images but this does show additional benefits of Thermal Imaging.

Pipeline and Hydraulic Pipe Infrared Inspections

Leak detection, stress cracks, insulation problems, sludge build up. The left-hand infrared photo above revealed a blocked hydraulic cooling pipe causing heat to build up due to it not circulating on a large generator.

There are many more instances when thermography can be utilised. Here are a few more:

Electronic

Detect-a-Leak was once able to discover a faulty chip on a circuit board destined for a satellite as shown above the chip was heating up and running hotter when compared to the other chips temperatures on the circuit board and once replaced rectified the fault. The right-hand image shows a high voltage fuse was overheating at 250°.

Pulp and Paper