Product category:
Thermal Imaging and Aerial Surveys
News Release from: Flir Systems | Subject: Thermal Imaging
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 28 May 2003
An Introduction To Thermography
The quick and easy way to detect heat loss.
'Uncontrolled heat loss and gain through the walls and roof of a building is no longer acceptable It leads to excessive use of fuel, causes pollution and increases CO2 emissions
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 28 May 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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So how can you ensure you are complying with these new rules? The ideal method of detecting heat loss through a building structure is infrared thermography.
But how does it work? What are its benefits? And what training do you need? Any object that is not transmitting, generating or absorbing heat will take on the surrounding air temperature.
Further reading
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So cold air leaking into a building - or missing insulation on a heated building - will cause cold patches on the wall, floor or ceiling.
Conversely, warm air leaking from a building will cause warm patches on the outside of a wall or roof.
Thermal imaging cameras are designed to enable you to see these temperature differences through a viewfinder or on an LCD display.
The sensing medium they use is infrared - a name given to the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that occurs just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum.
IR radiation is emitted by all objects warmer than -273EC and the camera can measure this heat emission very precisely via many thousands of temperature measurement points.
The measurement results are shown instantly and on some cameras you have the facility to take both a thermal and a visual image of the problem area, making evaluation even easier.
It is also possible to record voice and text comments.
Some infrared camera systems are more suitable for building surveys than others.
So what should you be looking for? - The infrared system should be designated longwave.
This will ensure it is immune to solar reflection - an important point many surveys are conducted outdoors.
The system must be fully radiometric.
In other words, it must have a calibrated detector or focal plane array to facilitate measurement of surface temperatures.
It must display the temperature span setting to the operator during the infrared survey.
The minimum detectable temperature resolutions must be 0.1C at an ambient temperature of 20C.
The system must be capable of recording thermal images to digital memory.
There are three key elements in carrying out infrared surveys to assess the heat loss characteristics of a building envelope.
Some may sound complicated but they become second-nature in practice.
Firstly the camera operator will need good knowledge of the construction being surveyed.
By studying construction drawings prior to the survey procedure the operator will be better equipped to predict the thermal patterns likely to be induced when an air leakage or thermal insulation weakness occurs.
It will also help determine whether an internal or external survey is most appropriate.
Ensuring the survey is conducted in suitable environmental conditions is critical to the success of the survey.
Ideally the survey should be performed at night or with little direct solar radiation.
It is preferable that internal surveys be undertaken under similar conditions, particularly where lightweight constructions are involved.
Sufficient time must elapse to allow heat previously built-up from solar gain to be emitted from the building.
The time for this to occur varies with the construction but normally at least three hours is required.
Temperature differences across the building enclosure, ambient temperatures and wind speed all need to be monitored and all building surfaces being inspected must be dry.
And the final element is recording the acquired survey data.
Documenting results is easy with high quality thermal imaging cameras.
These allow the user to download information straight onto their PC.
Files containing field inspection data can easily be incorporated into any word processing package - comprehensive report generation can be quickly produced in just a few key strokes.
Guidance on all these aspects as well as setting and operating the camera is naturally given within the training programmes offered by the top manufacturers.
Certification to an appropriate standard by an accredited body provides assurance that the operator has the necessary skill, knowledge and experience to perform the job.
The set up of the new International Standard, ISO providing three levels of certification from basic to advanced is now in process.
When thermal imaging cameras first came into industry, having served their apprenticeship in military applications, they bore no resemblance to the powerful camcorder lookalikes with which we became familiar in the '90s.
They were cumbersome and training as a weight lifter would certainly have been an advantage to the operator! And now technology has again moved on.
Just introduced is a thermal imaging camera no bigger than a powerful torch proving that thermal imaging can now be a standard component of any engineering toolkit. Request a free brochure from Flir Systems ...
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