Key takeaways
Short answer: Infrared thermography images the heat signatures of equipment to detect electrical and mechanical failures before they cause breakdowns. It catches loose connections, overloaded circuits, bearing degradation, refractory damage, and insulation failures cheaply. Handheld cameras cost a few thousand euros; trained operators interpret images and create the value. Best deployed alongside vibration analysis for rotating equipment. See also Vibration Analysis Basics.
Electrical:
Mechanical:
Thermal insulation:
All objects emit infrared radiation proportional to their temperature. A thermographic camera images this radiation as a temperature map.
Healthy equipment has expected thermal patterns. Failures change the pattern — hot spots, temperature differences between phases, abnormal gradients.
Pair with other methods: vibration for rotating, ultrasonic for leaks.
Consumer cameras are usually inadequate; industrial cameras start in the few-thousand-euro range.
Loose connection: single hot terminal vs adjacent normal ones.
Phase imbalance: one phase consistently hotter than the other two.
Overload: entire breaker hotter than peers.
Bearing failure: bearing hotter than housing average.
Insulation failure: cold spot on hot pipe or hot spot on cold storage.
Common five-level system:
Based on temperature delta vs reference and consequences of failure.
1. Reading the wrong emissivity. Different materials emit differently; misinterpretation produces wrong conclusions.
2. Inspecting under no load. Electrical issues only appear under load.
3. Untrained operator. Camera is easy; interpretation is hard.
4. No baseline. Comparing to historical thermal images catches degradation early.
5. No follow-up. Findings logged; nobody acts.
ROI is typically fast on electrical inspection alone.
1. Treating thermography as the whole condition monitoring program. Pair with vibration and ultrasonic.
2. One-time inspection. Periodic sweeps catch degradation; one-time misses development.
3. No CMMS integration. Findings disconnected from work order workflow.
Catches electrical issues before they produce unplanned downtime. Plants with mature thermography programs see Availability move up as electrical issues become planned response.
A modern CMMS integrates thermography findings into asset history, generates WOs on severity-3+ findings, and tracks recurring issues across assets.
Fabrico's CMMS integrates thermography findings into asset history and generates condition-based WOs.
See how Fabrico captures this automatically — explore OEE for manufacturing or book a demo.
Electrical annually or semi-annually; rotating equipment as a vibration supplement.
No. Industrial inspection needs resolution and sensitivity that consumer cameras lack.
Level 1 thermographer certification is common practice; some industries require it.
No. They catch different failures. Use both.
Loose electrical connections. Common, cheap to fix, high consequence if missed.
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