Tomorrow, most of us will take some time to celebrate the Fourth of July, our nation's Independence Day. I like to reflect on our freedoms and all that makes our country a fantastic place live. We celebrate with barbecues, fireworks, and parades. If you're a true infrared enthusiast like me, you may even have your thermal imager handy to catch all of the fun! My love for infrared is not the kind of love story most folks think of, but still. It’s a love story nonetheless. As an instructor and consultant in thermography, one of the questions I hear most often is how I came to be involved in this field of endeavor. I like to share this story because it really is expressive of how remarkable infrared imaging is.
I started my professional life in the US Navy. My father was career Navy, and it was really all I knew. I wanted to go to college at the United States Naval Academy, but my application didn't make the cut. I didn't really have a Plan B, so I floundered for a bit. I attended college for a year while living at home with my parents before deciding to enlist in the Navy. I didn't even know what career field I wanted to try, so I randomly chose a job in avionics without even knowing what it entailed. As fortune would have it, I had a knack for electricity and electronics and excelled at it. I left after two enlistments, serving a tad over 8 years. I’d nearly completed my engineering education when I left active duty, and finished it shortly after.
So there I was, away from the military and not really sure what I wanted to do. I explored the world of electricity, I tried some traditional engineering work (not my favorite) worked in field service in a variety of industries, and tried my hand at controls and instrumentation. Then one day I met a gentleman who, along with his father, owned an electrical testing company. The company’s repertoire included thermography. I had seen thermal imaging in military applications so I had a rudimentary understanding of the theory of how it worked, but I’d never seen it used in an electrical reliability fashion.
My first time holding a camera, I was completely entranced. I understood how the electrical apparatus I was inspecting operated, so I knew basically how it should appear thermally. I was using an old PEV type imager, it had an aperture adjustment rather than a typical “span” control. The focus was manual, and we had to capture images on a video tape. Yes, I said tape. I remember it like it was yesterday; I was at an industrial facility that specialized in cold storage. I was inspecting an outdoor disconnect for an air compressor. The disconnect was under a sheltered area, so solar loading didn't come into play. There was an anomaly on one of the fuse clips. It jumped right out at me. I was hooked.
After that first time I was like a kid with a new toy. I wanted to learn everything I could about this magical new discovery (new to me, anyway). The company I was working for had been using Snell Infrared for training since day one, and I got to go to Level I. I attended every conference Snell hosted over my tenure at the company, and grew to respect and admire everyone I met. It turned out a few years later, when I was ready to make a change professionally that Snell had a need for someone like me, so I came over. The rest as they say is history.
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When I first came to Snell I came in a non-training capacity. I hoped someday to be able to help on this side of the business, and after I’d been here a bit over a year, I got my chance. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the magic of thermography. Even after all these years I still think it’s just the coolest thing going. My wife and kids get a kick out of me whipping out a camera to take images of all manner of stuff. Cats and dogs, brisket on my smoker, my motorcycle engine, whatever.
I still love thermal imaging, and I hope my passion for it is contagious. Thermography changed my life, and it can change yours too. Everyone have a happy and safe Fourth of July!