Thermal Imaging in Preventive Maintenance Programs

INTEGRATING THERMOGRAPHY INTO PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE

Thermal cameras are often the first inspection tool a technician thinks to use as part of their preventive maintenance program. They can swiftly measure and compare heat signatures for all equipment on the inspection route, all without interrupting operations.

If the temperature is noticeably different from previous readings, facilities can then use other maintenance technologies—vibration, motor circuit analysis, airborne ultrasound, and lube analysis—to investigate the source of the problem and determine the next course of action.

For best results, integrate all your maintenance technologies into the same computer system, so that they share the same equipment lists, histories, reports and work orders. Once the infrared data is correlated with data from other technologies, the actual operating condition of all assets can be reported in an integrated format.

Applications

• Monitor and measure bearing temperatures in large motors or other rotating equipment. Identify “hot spots” in electronic equipment.
• Identify leaks in sealed vessels.
• Find faulty insulation in process pipes or other insulated processes.
• Find faulty terminations in high power electrical circuits.
• Locate overloaded circuit breakers in a power panel.
• Identify fuses at or near their current rated capacity.
• Identify problems in electrical switch gear.
• Capture process temperature readings.

Inspection process

1. Use existing lists of equipment from a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) or another inventory tool.
2. Eliminate items that aren’t well suited for infrared measurement.
3. Review maintenance and production records. Prioritise key equipment that is prone to failure or often causes production bottlenecks.
4. Use a database or spreadsheet to group the critical equipment together, either by area or function, into roughly 2- to 3-hour inspection blocks.
5. Use your thermal camera to capture baseline images of each piece of critical equipment. Note: on some pieces of equipment, you may want to regularly capture multiple thermal images of key components or subsystems.
6. Download the baseline images into software and document your route with location descriptions, inspection notes, emissivity and RTC levels and alarm levels if appropriate.
7. When the next inspection is due, if your imager supports uploading, simply load the previous inspection images onto the camera and follow the onscreen prompts.