When Do Infrared and Acoustic Imaging Inspections Improve Equipment Life?

You might be surprised to learn that when experts perform infrared and acoustic imaging inspections, it isn’t technology alone that adds value to your organization, it is timing too. The greatest opportunity to protect and extend, the lifespan of your critical equipment exists when inspections are performed on a consistent basis, before small problems become costly failures.

Also, learn what benefits you’ll see when you combine thermal with acoustic information and that the two data sets in tandem provide a much more complete picture than either technology can on their own.

Understand Infrared and Acoustic Imaging Inspection

An infrared inspection detects non-uniform temperature in electrical closets, mechanical rooms, cable trays, conduit runs, HVAC systems, duct envelopes and more, using infrared cameras. An acoustic inspection uses very high frequency sound waves generated by ultrasonic sensors to listen for very small compressed air leaks, electrical arcing, bearing faults and other mechanical system defects that infrared can’t always discover.  In effect, assembled together, the two inspections create a powerful non-invasive diagnostic toolbox. Because neither requires your equipment be shut down, the pair is naturally suited to continuous monitoring and regular checking without disrupting your processes.

Thermal imaging is best suited to detecting problems that produce heat, such as overloaded circuits and the heat produced by moving parts rubbing against each other. Acoustic tools, in turn, detect high-frequency sounds the human ear cannot hear and often before any significant change in temperature occurs. Once both are employed, the gaps in detection are much smaller.

When is timing the biggest differentiator?

Time is most often the biggest differentiator when inspections are performed during routine preventive maintenance cycles, just after equipment vacuums are installed or repaired and just before change in seasonal load.

In Routine Preventive Maintenance

A scheduled Infrared inspection is useful in that it can identify faults in software or lightning bugs when they’re still in their beginning. We’re talking about a connection that is a little hot compared to the rest, or a motor that is beginning to emit an ultrasonic signature. Such tools can give the maintenance organization weeks, maybe even months, to replace the component instead of a few hours you get with a routine inspection.

New or recently repaired equipment may feature loose or misaligned connections, improperly torqued fittings or other defects that cause premature failure once normal use begins. An early inspection makes sure everything is functioning as it should before the normal effect of a few weeks of use causes early-life failures.

Before Periodic Load Shifts

Summer cooling loads and winter heating loads can cause electrical and mechanical components to exhibit different variations in stress than usual. Inspections following installation give teams an edge in predicting difficult equipment before the stress of the next season comes along.

What Role Does Early Inspection Play in Extending Equipment Life?

Early inspection extends the life of equipment because it identifies areas of stress before the damage cascades through neighboring equipment, which means you can plan repairs well in advance, rather than having to experience the cost of unplanned downtime.

Fixed running costs can also be reduced. Connections that are not properly tightened or components that experience excess friction consume more power, meaning that by fixing the source of the defect early, you can often lower the current consumption just as well as the repair cost.

What to Look for in an Inspection Partner?

For facilities it's important to look for a provider with certified thermographers, documented reporting and a methodology that utilizes multiple diagnostics rather than relying on one single technology. As infrared thermography requires interpretation, trained thermographers can identify when a temperature difference is obvious versus when it's a small variance with little practical impact.

When a facility uses a combination of infrared thermography services and acoustic imaging inspection services, they tend to discover a wider range of equipment problems than with one method alone. This layered approach is becoming more and more common in teams that are working to create formalized predictive maintenance program, because it significantly reduces blind spots without adding too much cost or downtime.

In Conclusion

In fact, consistency is much more important than a single inspection. One thermal inspection is a time snapshot, while a documented record of scans over time will detect temperature drift and acoustic patterns of recurring problems that a single inspection simply can’t. Infrared inspections are most useful as part of an ongoing maintenance program rather than via a single ad hoc service call.

So, if your facility is ready to take this kind of routine posture, contact us to negotiate a scanning schedule based on your equipment and operating environment. Facilities that make these inspections into routine maintenance tend to reap the most benefit of increased equipment life, as well as fewer surprise equipment failures.