Infrared Report Preparation
Infrared reports, what should be in them and what should not? If there was a one size fits all answer, life would certainly be easier! But, each type of inspection requires different information to be...
View ArticleElectrical Switching Devices: Making Thermal Sense
Switches are pretty widely utilized in electrical applications. They can go by any number of names, depending on the particular application. In utility applications we hear terms like “air breaker” or...
View ArticleProgram Development 101: The Magic Ingredient
Program Development 101: The Magic Ingredient As we wind down the calendar year and prepare for 2014 many of us find ourselves setting goals and making resolutions. What are your professional goals as...
View ArticleThe Power of Infrared
I have been an on-site thermographer and currently work as traveling service thermographer. These working methods at first seem to be very different, and in many ways they are. There are also quite a...
View ArticleA Look Back at Infrared - What I Wish I had Learned Earlier
Someone recently asked me, after my 15 years in this technology, what would I have liked to know in the beginning?Infrared was in a sense a novelty in the beginning, a way to do something other bending...
View ArticleWhat the “Bleep” caused that?
Few things are more exciting for me than finding a thermal anomaly I have never seen before or one I cannot quickly figure out its cause. Well, there may be a couple other things I find exciting, but...
View ArticleHappy Thermographer Feet
Happy Feet. What a cute movie with singing and tap dancing penguins (my little niece loves the movie). However, I’m not going to be talking about penguins in this blog. Instead, I’m talking about the...
View ArticleReflectivity and Emissivity - Peas and Carrots
One of the most difficult concepts for most new thermographers to grasp is the relationship between emissivity and reflectivity. Of the many technical inquiries posed to us at The Snell Group, I would...
View ArticleTrailing with Infrared
During deer season a couple of years ago, a good friend of mine was out in the woods with his longbow and self-made arrows. All of his stuff was self-made; the bow, the arrows, the quiver, the tree...
View ArticleImage Format
Man, I love how technology is progressing. My first cell phone was so big that my arm got tired toting it around – a dinosaur only Zack Morris could make look fashionable. The one I have now is tiny...
View ArticleHeat Transfer in 3D
You don’t need special glasses to read this blog. Also, I’m not talking about the kind of 3D you see in a theater. What I’d like to discuss is heat transfer, one of my favorite topics. In our Level I –...
View ArticleCold and Flu Season
Nothing is worse than being a traveling contractor and having a cold or the flu. Sick days are typically not an option when the job is scheduled, flight plans have been made, the hotel reservation...
View ArticleWhat do Thermographers and Vampires Have in Common?
No, this isn’t the first line of a bad joke. Thermographers, like vampires, have a serious aversion to the sun. Thermographers won’t burst in to flame and become a pile of ash, but the effects of the...
View ArticleThinking Thermally® at Breakfast; Part II
Last time we tackled breakfast beverages and how they can illustrate thermal topics. Breakfast time is one opportunity to find examples of thermal magic in our everyday lives. Once you start down the...
View ArticleHeat Related Injuries & The Thermographer
Heat injuries such as heat cramps, heat stress, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and dehydration are very serious and can often sneak up on thermographers. Often the victim is not aware of how bad of...
View ArticleAlphabet Soup & Safety
I was in the military for the better part of a decade. Hence, acronyms are something I’ve grown accustomed to, but sometimes their overuse gets downright ridiculous. I had an e-mail from a former...
View ArticleInfrared Cameras and Digital Images - The Good, Bad, and Ugly
The majority of thermal imaging systems have an on-board digital camera. Personally, I think it’s a great addition to IR cameras and many other people do, also. Although this feature is very handy,...
View ArticleVision Tests and Thermography
Do you wear eyeglasses? Maybe you are used to going to the eye doctor annually and occasionally needing to update your prescription. What you may not know is that, regardless if you wear eye glasses...
View ArticleIs your PPE keeping you safe?
If you’re wearing the correct PPE and taking care of it properly, then yes. We wear PPE to keep us safe from the possibility of a life threatening injury due to an electrical explosion. In most cases a...
View ArticleMechanical Routes Not Just Infrared
As a beginner infrared tech, one is often very fixated on the thermal side of the mechanical route. Which is great, but as an “outsider,” someone of a different department, you have the ability to see...
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