In industrial production, temperature is related to whether a process is accurate, whether a product is qualified, whether a piece of equipment is operating normally, etc. It has extremely important guidance and reference value. As a special kind of machine vision, infrared thermal imager can measure the temperature of each point in the observation range in real time and output visual infrared thermal map, which has been paid more and more attention by more and more non-destructive testing practitioners.
The work of the infrared thermal imager is based on the above theory. The core components of the infrared thermal imager include infrared camera lens, infrared detector and post-processing circuit. The infrared radiation of the target under test is received by the infrared lens, reflected on the photosensitive original of the infrared detector, and then analyzed by the post-processing circuit, and finally the invisible infrared radiation energy is output by converting into visible infrared heat image. The thermal image uses different colors to represent different temperatures to visualize the temperature distribution of the measured objects. The infrared thermal imager passively receives infrared radiation, and uses the difference in infrared energy radiated from the target and the background to identify the target and measure the temperature.
Compared with visible light machine vision, the infrared thermal imager has the following advantages:
1) With real-time display of temperature at each point within the detection range, it tracks temperature anomalies and conducts fault diagnosis and automatic alarm.
2) The image can be clearly imaged in a dark environment without any lighting.
3) Free from visible light interference.
4) It can penetrate haze with high visibility.
In view of its unique advantages, the thermal imager is widely used in many fields as non-destructive testing methods. The power industry is one of the earlier and more mature areas of infrared non-destructive testing applications with thermal imaging camera electrical application, and currently has a series of industry infrared testing standards. Most of the equipment in this industry is in electrified operation state, failure or overload operation which may cause serious consequences such as equipment damage and electrical fires. It is of great significance to carry out real-time monitoring on all kinds of live equipment, transmission lines and electrical interfaces. Either electrical faults or mechanical faults will cause temperature changes in the corresponding parts of the electrical equipment, and the infrared thermal imager can find all these faults in real time.
The infrared thermal imager is a non-destructive testing method, which can detect the temperature distribution of the target at a long distance and of the situation and obtain the temperature information of each point in the target range in time. With the background software temperature threshold setting, automatic alarm and other functions, it can realize automatic monitoring. In addition, the thermal imager can perform live detection, and the tested equipment does not need to be shut down for inspection, which does not affect production efficiency. Combined with big data technology, it is even possible to predict the future heating trend of equipment based on historical data, prevent failures in advance, and take precautions. The thermal imager is equipped with a fixed-point pan/tilt, which can carry out 24-hour uninterrupted automatic monitoring of key equipment and areas to ensure the safety of equipment and production. When the thermal imager is mounted on the drone, it can perform a wider range of monitoring tasks.
As a new type of green energy, photovoltaic power generation has attracted much attention in recent years and has gradually developed and grown. Solar panels are composed of many photovoltaic modules, which convert solar energy into electrical energy for output through photoelectric effect. When a certain module works abnormally, the temperature will change greatly compared with the surrounding normal working modules. For laboratories or small solar systems, the requirements of judging whether it is working normally according to the temperature and heating conditions of various points on the battery panel are usually met by fixed-point online or handhold thermal imager. Unmanned aerial vehicle thermal imager can be used for a large number of detection tasks in large photovoltaic power stations.
Future development trends
In the future market, thermal imager hardware devices will develop towards high resolution, high sensitivity, small size and low cost. The software will focus on the research and development of big data processing and intelligent recognition. Besides, the exchanges and cooperation of thermal imaging technology and technologies such as automation, big data, and industrial Internet of Things will become deeper and more frequent. It can be concluded that the infrared thermal imager will gradually penetrate into all areas of the civilian market on a large scale and will have a huge impact on traditional production and lifestyles.
