Thermal anomalies are not always as obvious as one might expect. Often, subtle thermal differences can be indicative of major problems. Because infrared thermography is a visual inspection technique, its effectiveness relies on the observation skills of the thermographer. Like any visual inspection technique, a thermographer must actively concentrate on the imagery displayed by their thermal imager.
Contrary to popular belief, humans are not inherently effective observers. Because humans tend to be casual in their observations, they frequently overlook subtleties. Whenever imaging, a thermographer’s eyes should always visually scan the monitor left to right and up and down while asking him/herself the following three questions:
What am I seeing?
Why am I seeing this?
Is this normal/reportable?
While this approach may sound cumbersome at first, this practice will soon become instinctive and can help prevent you from overlooking the subtle thermal patterns that can be indicative of serious problems.
IBEW Local 269 Holds First Level I CIT Course
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 269 recently held their first Level I Certified Infrared Thermographer® training class through Infraspection Institute’s course materials licensing program. Fifteen apprentice electricians attended the five day class which was sponsored through the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee. The course was taught by Local 269 member and Journeyman electrician, Joe Blauth.
Jim Stover, Training Director for the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, had this to say: “Thermography has become an essential tool for electrical system maintenance. We want to ensure that our apprentices have the knowledge and skills necessary to properly conduct thermal imaging and interpret the results.”
At the conclusion of the course, Infraspection Institute’s Director, Jim Seffrin, had this to say: “We are very pleased to be working with IBEW Local 269. This is a perfect example of how our Course Materials Licensing Program can be used to cost effectively train several people within a large organization. We look forward to supporting Local 269 and would encourage other professional organizations to follow their lead in training their thermographers.”
RSS feeds have become a means for automatically receiving information from web publishers on a wide variety of topics. RSS feeds can provide thermographers with up-to-the minute news and information on thermography and related PdM and NDT topics.
Thermographers who have a website can benefit from an RSS feed by having industry news and information automatically delivered to their website. This is accomplished via software programs called “News Readers” or “RSS Aggregators”. By running your aggregator in automatic mode, it will periodically check the internet to see if selected feeds have been updated. If the aggregator finds an update, it will download the updated information to your website. Visitors to your website can then click on headlines of interest to read the full story.
In addition to automatically providing content to your website, hosting an RSS feed can increase both your site traffic and its visibility. By using an RSS feed to update your website with timely, relevant information, your site can serve as a resource to your clients and is more likely to be favorably ranked by search engines.
Both infraspection.com and irinfo.org offer free news feeds. URLs for both feeds may be found by clicking on the “More Information” link below.
Infraspection Institute is pleased to announce that its annual Advanced Training Conference, Technical Symposium and Technology Expo, IR/INFO 2016, will be held January 17 – 20, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Now in its 27th year, IR/INFO features four days of networking, learning, and fun in a relaxed, yet professional, family atmosphere.
Infraspection Institute is presently seeking papers and presenters for IR/INFO 2016. Invited topics include but are not limited to: safety, emerging applications, building sciences, related NDT, case histories, as well as tips and tricks. Presentations are typically 25 minutes with 5 minutes for Q & A time with the audience. All papers and presentations will be published in the IR/INFO Proceedings. The deadline for abstract submissions is July 31.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 
Thermographers who have a website can benefit from an RSS feed by having industry news and information automatically delivered to their website. This is accomplished via software programs called “News Readers” or “RSS Aggregators”. By running your aggregator in automatic mode, it will periodically check the internet to see if selected feeds have been updated. If the aggregator finds an update, it will download the updated information to your website. Visitors to your website can then click on headlines of interest to read the full story.
Infraspection Institute is pleased to announce that its annual Advanced Training Conference, Technical Symposium and Technology Expo, IR/INFO 2016, will be held January 17 – 20, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Now in its 27th year, IR/INFO features four days of networking, learning, and fun in a relaxed, yet professional, family atmosphere.
