IR – Rotating Equipment

Overview

With both rotating equipment and machinery, infrared thermography is often used to find immediate failures and critical problems. Perhaps an even greater benefit, however, is in trending equipment in conjunction with other maintenance technologies such as vibration analysis, acoustics, and oil analysis. All of these monitoring methods should work together in a comprehensive predictive maintenance program. If the data is gathered and correlated consistently, the cost benefits are phenomenal.

As with all infrared inspections it is also important to understand the theories involved in how infrared radiation works and how heat transfer is affecting the objects in a thermal image. Concepts such as emissivity, thermal reflections, thermal conductivity, and indirect temperature measurement are crucial to the identification and diagnosis of mechanical problems.