Using a camera designed to capture heat energy in the infra-red (IR) spectrum, abnormal temperature conditions in machines and electric device can be identified. It is common for insurance companies to require 6-12 monthly external audits of all electrical panels. In mechanical systems, an IR image can detect things like bearings running at high temperatures that will then require further investigation as it can be due to a lack of lubrication, misalignment, etc.

In electrical systems, issues like overheating electric motors, loose or faulty connectors, excess current draw, overloaded circuits, etc can be identified.

In the example at left, we can see that the connection for the main cable of one of the phases is operating at temperatures much higher than the other two. This indicates an excessive current draw and on investigation, the company discovered additional equipment had been connected to the circuit without the electrical circuit’s limitations being considered.

IR technology provides thermal images of temperature differentials within the detection field. It is then reliant on human understanding of the image to determine the presence of faults or otherwise.