Viewing the Invisible

Since no one can see through objects, the x-ray machine was invented. It helped to revolutionize diagnostics. Not just medicine, which is what most people probably would associate with x-rays, but what is known now as NDT, non destructive testing.

There are many forms of NDT one of which is infrared thermal imaging. One of the more common and I believe well known uses of IR thermal imaging is heat loss detection in buildings. Certainly this use of IR has become more wide spread in the last few years as utility costs have increased.

Another and well suited application for infrared thermal imaging is scanning electrical equipment for potential problems. For anyone who is not familiar with infrared, it is a spectrum of light that would be simply termed heat. Every object emits IR waves, ice cubes to the sun. The infrared camera sees in this light spectrum, displaying the world in infrared for the thermographer to view and most importantly interpret.

With electricity when things get hot, it can mean there is a problem. For example loose connections, old failing switches and over loaded circuits get hot. During a recent electrical inspection of an assisted living facility, infrared showed a wire in a switch box to be significantly hotter that the other two wires in the circuit indicating a load imbalance. This problem up until that time was invisible. You can look at the wires and see nothing unusual, that is until infrared was used to check the equipment. Checking electrical equipment can be a bit tricky. Problems may only show when the circuit is in use, so inspections are preferred to be done when the facility is in normal operation.

While we humans are still mere mortals without super powers, we have invented cool gadgets that lessen the Superman envy. After all Superman didn’t have infrared vision.