Home/Thermal Imaging
Petrochemical Applications
Refractory and Petrochemical Installations
A wide variety of industries rely on furnaces and boilers for
manufacturing processes, but the refractory linings for furnaces,
boilers, kilns, incinerators, crackers and reactors are prone to
degeneration and loss of performance. With a thermal imaging
camera damaged refractory material and the corresponding heat
loss can be easily located, as the heat transmission will show up
clearly on a thermal image.
Thermal imaging cameras are widely used in the petrochemical
sector. They provide rapid, accurate diagnosis for furnace
maintenance, refractory loss management and condenser fin
diagnosis. Heat exchangers can be checked to detect blocked
pipes.
Furnace and boiler equipment is also prone to failures from
a variety of other mechanisms. These include coking that plugs
the inside of tubes and impedes product flow, slag build-up on
the outside of tubes, under and overheating, flame impingement
on tubes due to burner misalignment, and product leaks that
ignite and cause serious damage to the equipment.
To ensure refractory quality of boiler and furnace installations
it is not enough to just perform inspections from the outside.
The refractory on the inside of the boiler or furnace has to be
inspected as well. With conventional methods it is necessary to
shut down the installation to be able to inspect the inside. This
is extremely costly due to a loss of production during downtime.
These losses are not necessary, however, for FLIR Systems also
has special thermal imaging cameras that can be used to inspect
the inside of the installation during operation.
This is possible due to the flame filter FLIR has included in the
design of these thermal imaging cameras. Flames emit infrared
radiation at different intensities at different wavelengths and at
certain wavelengths in the infrared spectrum flames emit hardly
any thermal radiation at all. A flame filter uses that fact to enable
the thermal imaging camera to ‘see’ through the flames.
References: Flir Systems
Related Products
Other applications
Apart from the applications already mentioned there are
numerous other applications where thermal imaging technology
is being used.
Flare detection
During certain production processes gasses are generated
which are burned off in flares. The flames generated can be
invisible to the human eye. It is important to be sure that the
flare is burning. Otherwise, harmful gasses might enter the
atmosphere. Thermal imaging can easily see if the flare is
burning or not.
A thermal imaging camera can monitor flames that are invisible to the naked eye. Note
that the flare is invisible on the visual image.
Tank level detection
Thermal imaging can also easily be used for tank-level detection.
Thanks to emissivity effects or to temperature differences the
thermal image clearly shows the level of the liquid.
These thermal images clearly show the level of liquids in the storage tanks.
Other applications include:
• Finding hot spots in welding robots
• Inspection of aeronautical material
• Mould inspection
• Checking temperature distribution in asphalt pavements
• Inspections in paper mills
Whether you are interested in inspecting electrical installations,
mechanical equipment, tank levels, installations with refractory
material, pipe-work, flare burners and many, many more, thermal
imaging is the perfect tool for all industrial applications.
References: Flir Systems
Why use thermal imaging?
Producing faster, better, more efficiently and at a lower cost.
In order to reach these goals, industrial plants need to be
running continuously: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
No costly breakdowns, no waste of time.
So, when you are in charge of plant predictive maintenance
you really have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders.
If you could only see when components are about to fail, you
could accurately decide the best time to take corrective action.
Unfortunately the worst problems remain hidden until it is too
late.
Thermal imaging cameras are the perfect tool for predicting
failures because they make the invisible visible. On a thermal
image problems seem to jump right out at you.
To keep plants operational at all times many industries have
combined their predictive maintenance programs with the
most valuable diagnostic tools for industrial applications on the
market: thermal imaging cameras.
Inspection of high voltage Incorrectly secured connection
Overheated motor Suspected roller power lines
Poor connection and internal Internal fuse damage Damaged insulation Steam trap
damage
Whether you’re monitoring high voltage equipment, low voltage
cabinets, motors, pumps, high temperature equipment, looking
for insulation losses… A thermal imaging camera is the one tool
that really lets you SEE it all.
But what if you don’t do thermal inspections on a regular basis?
Is it really that bad if a low voltage connection breaks down?
Aside from the production loss there is a greater danger.
Fire
A small electrical problem can have extremely far-reaching
consequences. The efficiency of the electrical grid becomes low,
and so the energy is spent generating heat. If left unchecked,
heat can rise to the point where connections start to melt. Not
only that, but sparks can fly that might start a fire.
The effects of a fire are often underestimated. Besides the
destruction of goods and machinery, the immense costs in
production time, water damage, and even the loss of human life,
are impossible to estimate.
About 35% of all industrial fires are created by electrical
problems, resulting in losses of 300,000,000,000 Euros per year.
Many of these problems can be avoided with the use of a
thermal imaging camera. It can help you to detect anomalies
that would normally be invisible to the naked eye and to solve
problems before production goes down or a fire occurs. This is
just one reason why FLIR thermal imaging camera users report
ultra fast payback on their investment.
A small electrical problem can have far-reaching consequences.
Why use thermal imaging cameras?
Why would you choose a FLIR thermal imaging camera?
There are other technologies available to help you measure
temperatures in a non-contact mode. Infrared thermometers for
example.
Infrared thermometers – thermal imaging cameras
Infrared (IR) thermometers are reliable and very useful for single
spot temperature readings, but, for scanning large areas or
components, it’s easy to miss critical components that may be
near failure and need repair.
A FLIR thermal imaging camera can scan entire motors,
components, or panels at once – never missing any overheating
hazards, no matter how small.
It’s easy to miss critical problems with a spot IR thermometer.
A FLIR thermal imaging camera scans entire components
giving you instant diagnostic insights showing the full extent of
problems.
With an infrared thermometer you are able to measure the
temperature at one single spot. FLIR thermal imaging cameras
can measure temperatures on the entire image. The FLIR i3 has
an image resolution of 60 x 60 pixels. This means that it is equal
to using 3,600 IR thermometers at the same time. If we look at
the FLIR P660, our top model, which has an image resolution
of 640 x 480 pixels, this means 307,200 pixels or using 307,200
infrared thermometers at the same time.
References: Flir Systems