As the awareness of climate change rises globally, countries around the world are actively searching for a solution to cut carbon emissions in every direction, including improving building energy efficiency. Just recently, China released the <Technical standards for on-site inspection of the building envelope and energy efficiency> DG/TJ 08-2038-2021, which included a thermal imager as a standard tool for detecting thermal irregularities, such as thermal bridges, moisture accumulation, and air leakage.
Thermal bridging occurs when an area of building construction has significantly higher thermal conduction than its surroundings, which leads to rapid energy dissipation in the area. It can compromise the integral thermal insulation of the whole building and drives up energy bills for real estate owners. While locating thermal bridging is a nuance for even trained engineers, it is easily detectable under a thermal imager due to its abnormal thermal conductivity.
In addition, thermal imagers can also spot structural issues like tile buckling. Tile buckling on a building exterior can have devastating consequences and is very difficult to identify in the early stage. It is caused by the formation of a thin layer of air between the tile and the building body. If neglected, the air layer will likely expand and degrade the entire wall surface, leading to fracture or even peeling of the wall covering. Thermal imagers can pick up the temperature difference caused by the insulating air layer at an early stage of the problem and prevent further deterioration.
The thermal imager is not only useful for building exterior inspection but great for interior inspection as well. Common household problems like mold, mildew, and rotting typically stem from water damage. Mold and mildew are not only detrimental to the building structure but are responsible for causing long-term health issues like respiratory disease, heart problems, joint pain, and migraines in people as well. Thermal imagers can easily spot subtle moisture accumulation in the house and help prevent the occurrence of more serious problems.
The Fotric 347/348A-L25 handheld thermal cameras with less than 1 MRAD IFOV can help inspectors accurately identify thermal bridging and tile buckling issues on hard-to-access tall buildings. What’s more, the touch scale mode in the camera can conform the temperature span to magnify the color gradient on suspected water damage areas, making moisture detection as easy as it gets.