For on the Floor: Infrared — Your Hotshot Companion

By Rick Carter, Executive Editor

Are there still maintenance pros out there who don’t use infrared (IR) thermal imaging cameras in predictive work? As it turns out, the answer is yes, but according to recent responses from our Maintenance Technology Reader Panelists, non-users are likely a minority across manufacturing. All but one of our reporting respondents this month say they use IR, and are pleased with the results. The same respondents also use ultrasonic equipment, though less widely.

The path of accelerated innovation that has marked IR technology since the 1990s now delivers high-quality cameras to industrial users for well under $10,000 and several good ones for less than $1000. It also benefits non-industrial users in medical, residential, maritime, security and aerospace sectors where the ability to easily detect, display and interpret temperature differentials is extremely valuable. Now, at least one large IR camera maker is poised to offer an attachment for the iPhone that brings basic IR technology to a new level of affordability and convenience. With this in mind, we thought it timely to see just how important IR and ultrasonic technologies are to our Panelists. Here’s what they had to say:

Q: How does your maintenance department currently use infrared technology? How does it use ultrasonic? 

“This equipment is usually used by our predictive maintenance staff. They are school-trained and certified. They use infrared to check for hot spots in motors, bearing temperature, electrical problems, greasing issues and alignment issues. It is even being used to find degraded valve operators and packing leaks. Ultrasonic is used to find leakage, but only rarely, as our equipment is outdated and we never had much luck with it.”

… Maintenance Coordinator, Mid-Atlantic

“We had a predictive technologies group that did vibration analysis along with infrared testing, but the key word is ‘had.’ When we went through our dark days, this was discontinued along with our PM program. The vibration group has started up again, but I haven’t seen any checks done yet.”

… Maintenance Leader, Midwest

“We use IR scanning for switchgear and all electrical panels in the plant. We are looking for hotspots. We also use it to look at bearings, heat exchangers and rollers for potential failures. This is currently done on a yearly basis. We use ultrasound technology for air-leak detection around the plant and equipment. We also use ultrasound greasing on our big motor applications.”

… Corporate Production Support Manager, Midwest

“We use infrared for our chemical process equipment, such as coolers, valves, steam traps and pipe-insulation inspection. We also have natural gas compression equipment where we use it for compressor valves, lubrication and coolant piping, heat exchangers and pumps. We use it to check roller bearings on auxiliary drives that are running hotter than normal. We use ultrasonic mainly for compressor valve diagnosis, to find air leaks and for engine-power cylinder analysis.”

… Reliability/Maintenance Engineer, South

“We have two basic-level infrared camera units that we use to check safety switches, power boxes and transformers. Only two people are certified: me and a maintenance mechanic. These systems are 10 years old, and we will use them until they die.”

… Senior Maintenance Engineer, West

Q: When did you begin using one or both of these technologies? How has your team’s use of them as maintenance tools progressed over the years?

“We have used ultrasonic instruments since the 1980s, but infrared for only about 15 years or less. We have had good success with infrared and have stayed up with it. We are finding more and more uses for it, and it’s really saving maintenance costs. Our use of ultrasonics has become less frequent.”

… Maintenance Coordinator, Mid-Atlantic

“We’ve had IR cameras since 2002 and ultrasound since 2010. We started with one technician trained on IR technology and now have three. Our ultrasound program has five technicians trained for use.”

… Maintenance & Facilities Team Coordinator,  New England 

“We have used IR scanning for about seven years, and ultrasound for about four. At first, we only used the IR camera to do a yearly scan for hotspots for insurance purposes. Now we use it for PdM rounds to identify potential failures to reduce reactive maintenance. As for ultrasound, we started using it only for air-leak detection and now we use it to grease large motors to get the right amount of grease in the bearings.”

… Corporate Production Support Manager, Midwest

“We have been using ultrasound for air leaks and to pinpoint leaking compressor valves for about 15 years. The power-cylinder analysis with ultrasonic and infrared has been more recent, about five years. We rely on them more every year, and with more use, your trust and understanding of these technologies grow exponentially.”

… Reliability/Maintenance Engineer, South

Q: How old is the infrared and ultrasonic equipment you currently use, and how many of your team members use it? How many have been trained and certified? 

“Most of our infrared equipment is under five years old, with our newest under a year. Our ultrasonic equipment is at least 10 years old, but we have no plans to replace it. At any one time we have at least 12 trained and certified technicians on infrared devices. As this equipment comes down in price, we are considering training our regular technicians’ in its various applications.”

… Maintenance Coordinator,
Mid-Atlantic

“We have three IR cameras that range from high-end scientific (2002) to low-end basic (2006). The middle-of-the-road camera is the newest (2009) and is arguably the best of the three for our maintenance techs because of resolution, ease of use and functions. Three of our team members use IR and five use ultrasound. Three are certified.”

… Maintenance & Facilities Team Coordinator,  New England

“We use two IR cameras: one for yearly rounds and one for day-to-day use. The yearly camera is a high-end model that cost $30,000 and is about five years old. The day-to-day model cost $4,000 and is about two years old. One person is certified and uses the IR camera; three people use the ultrasonic gun and they are not certified.”

… Corporate Production Support Manager, Midwest

“All but a hand-held ultrasonic tester are less than 5 years old. I would like to update it as well, but it still works well enough that I can’t justify buying a new one yet. Only two workers use infrared or ultrasound on a regular basis at our location. They have been trained in-house and have had some Web-based training, but are not certified.” 

… Reliability/Maintenance Engineer, South

“We have four thermography cameras and four ultrasonic units used by operations and our PPM team. The current age of the equipment ranges from six months to 10 years. Our PPM team consists of eight professionally trained and certified individuals.”

… Mechanical Maintenance Supervisor, Midwest 

Q: What is your perspective on the benefit of using infrared and ultrasonic in your maintenance efforts? 

“Infrared has turned out to be an amazing technology for us. We use it to find bearings before they fail, hot spots, motor and breaker troubles, identify lubrication issues, pretty much the whole maintenance gambit. One find alone enabled us to identify a failing bearing and prevent a catastrophic breakdown.”

… Maintenance Coordinator, Mid-Atlantic

“The benefit of using IR is that you can catch potential failures early, and have the ability to correct it. This saves time and money for the company. I also believe that ultrasonic technology can contribute in the same way as the IR equipment with the extra benefit of saving energy costs when air leaks are detected and repaired.”

… Corporate Production Support Manager, Midwest

“As you gain confidence in the equipment and your own abilities, you begin to really see the long-term benefits. You can understand why a machine is using more energy than you know it should and why certain repairs have become more routine than they used to be.”

… Reliability/Maintenance Engineer, South

“If we were not using these two technologies as part of our asset-management program, our O&M budget would be impacted annually by millions of dollars. For example, by performing air tests on our boilers after a cleaning outage to find boiler tube leaks, we are able to discover pin-hole-size leaks that are undetected by the human eye or ear. These would eventually lead to a tube leak that would force the plant off-line.”

… Mechanical Maintenance Supervisor, Midwest

“Many times, we have prevented impending failures by using IR in electrical systems and mechanical systems. Ultrasound has given us awareness of compressed air leakage throughout our facility and an electrical issue in one of our medium-voltage transformers. Our first big save with our IR camera was when our first trained technician came back from IR Level 1 training and needed to send in a field report of a finding with the IR camera. This tech was scanning our high-pressure pumps and noticed one was at a higher temperature. Typical running temperature was 140 F and one showed 404 F. The pump wasn’t any louder than the one running next to it, although it was over 250 degrees F hotter. By taking this pump out of service when this was found we could rebuild it rather than replace it after failure. We had another find in one of our air compressor electrical cabinets that found one phase feeding a contactor that was burning up. We were able to start another compressor and take down the problem compressor for repair prior to failure. We believe we have more than paid for these predictive tools just by taking the time and encouraging their use.”

… Maintenance & Facilities Team Coordinator, New England