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nicsin02

Hi guys another wee question, this morning when i was in the yard i was given a fluke thermal imaging tester and my boss quickly showed me how to use it and sent me on my way to inspect 12 boards and ive to give him my notes and pictures tomorow, ive never done this before so didnt really know what to look for, in most of the boards the earth & neural bars were the warmest things in the board at around 35 C, there was a few contactors that were glowing red with around 50C figured it was the coil inside, but there was 2 breakers out of about 150 that were glowing red along with the cable for the circuit with a temp of between 35-40C, tried tightening connections etc... is this due to a high load on the cable at that point or is the mcb needing replaced as other mcbs were a cool blue on full load aswell, thanks guys
 
Your boss is out of order if he wants you doing thermal image testing get him to send you on a course proper training is required for this

agreed but think it was only a 1 off, it was only a rented machine, any idea on any my points? cheers
 
I would say that there is a problem with a loose connection or a corroded cable for the two MCBs if they are all taking the same load and two are different.
However it is unlikely that all the circuits are taking the same load.
However 35-40 is not really a problem it is only if they are getting worse.
Highest temperature point should be the point of highest resistance, very likely at the cable termination.
 
fluke do a free book called principles of thermography imaging,however I would agree that you should be trained to use a T I,there are three levels of competence for using a T I and they cover various things depending on your needs.Have used one myself and without a proper understanding of how they work etc the results are useless,your boss should,nt have asked you to do the job as imo it,s a waste of time if you don,t know how to interpret the readings.Do visit the fluke website and get a free copy of the book though,I can thoroughly recommend it,I was given mine when we were thinking of purchasing a T I and had a fluke tech down,it really helps understand T I and will help if you use one in future.
 
Question, did your boss instruct you on emissivity?

If not then put it away..

I asked someone that very same question once,never again.I received a puzzled look then spent 30 minutes explaining how different materials have different emissivity values and how they ultimately affect your readings.
 
Question, did your boss instruct you on emissivity?

If not then put it away..

Completely agree with you Widdler.... Thermal imaging cameras are an absolute god send, and worth there weight in gold for diagnostics and periodic testing on working systems. But only in the hands of an operator, that knows what the images are actually telling him.

Now if his boss just sent him to this job to take thermal images of set points on this installation, and not to touch anything else, that's fine. He then takes the images back to his boss, that we hope is competent to assess the images taken, and ultimately make the appropriate judgments and recommendations to the client/customer.
 

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