More than four in five manufacturing companies experienced unplanned downtime over the last three years.
Part of this is due to service engineers taking on a “reactionary” role. Too much of their job is centered on fixing broken equipment to minimize downtime.
The reality is that service engineers are at their best when they’re proactively solving problems. By preventing damage to electrical systems and machines before they become an issue, service engineers maximize uptime and minimize repair costs.
A thermal camera is one of the best tools in a service engineer’s arsenal.
The Challenge
Consider the following unplanned downtime statistics:
46% of manufacturing companies failed to deliver their product to customers
37% suffered delays on crucial manufacturers
29% experienced damages so severe they couldn’t service the assets
Fixing manufacturing equipment takes time, and even the best engineers can’t solve everything. That’s why they are most effective when they can identify equipment problems before they happen.
Unpredictable issues can arise in a variety of forms, ranging from damaged cables to machine fires to leaky valves. The repercussions aren’t just financial, either—damaged equipment can pose a threat to employee safety. Dangerous working conditions mean lower employee morale and retention as well as increased liability insurance. However, these issues have a common denominator: they create temperature anomalies in comparison with their vicinity, usually long before the condition turns critical.
That’s why the application of thermography can be so transformational. The right thermal camera allows service engineers to detect risks at higher efficiency and create compelling reports, all while keeping employees safe.
The Perfect Solution
With a proper thermal camera, service engineers can view potential issues without dismantling the equipment and interrupting workflow. However, it takes an excellent thermal camera to boost the inspector’s efficiency.
The Fotric 320 series cameras were designed in perfect compliance with electrical inspection standards. Both the resolution and thermal sensitivity far exceed the industry standard, being up to 384x288 and 40 mK respectively. Alternative 49’’ and 25’’ lenses are available to fulfill the inspector’s idiosyncrasy as well as regional preference.
During electrical equipment inspections, two of the key parameters are the ‘temperature difference’ between similar components under similar power loads and the ‘temperature rise’ from the ambient environment. Recording these temperatures separately and doing comparisons repeatedly could be gnawing, especially for extended inspections. The Fotric’s 320 series have these features built in the user-editable measurement tools, allowing instant risk assessment.
Occasionally, inspectors would need to conduct infrared inspections through IR windows, which are installed on high-voltage equipment. However, the bias introduced by the IR window could lead to considerable error, especially for quantitative measurements. Fotric took this into consideration and added an adjustable IR window compensation factor into the 320 series to achieve the highest level of accuracy.
In addition, the 320 series cameras come with free AnalyzIR report-generating software. Users can easily generate hundreds of highly customizable, comprehensive reports with a click of their finger, reducing tedious paperwork.
Occasionally, inspectors would need to conduct infrared inspections through IR windows, which are installed on high-voltage equipment. However, the bias introduced by the IR window could lead to considerable error, especially for quantitative measurements. Fotric took this into consideration and added an adjustable IR window compensation factor into the 320 series to achieve the highest level of accuracy.
In addition, the 320 series cameras come with free AnalyzIR report-generating software. Users can easily generate hundreds of highly customizable, comprehensive reports with a click of their finger, reducing tedious paperwork.
