Thermal imaging camera heads off expensive problems

Offering a number of high-end features the thermal imager targets maintenance engineers, technicians and other engineers working in a wide cross-section of industries such as chemical processing, manufacturing, mineral and metallurgical processing, and the oil and gas sector.

Key potential applications include: motion control maintenance, such as checking the temperature of motors; electrical maintenance, looking for hot spots in components or wiring in control panels; or in fluid maintenance, spotting leakages under floors or within walls.

Features of the Ti480’s camera include: LaserSharp, which uses a built-in laser distance meter to calculate the distance to the designated target with pinpoint accuracy; MultiSharp, which delivers automatically focused images throughout the field of view, dramatically eliminating potential for misdiagnosis; IR Fusion, which enables the easy adjustment of blending visible and infrared images; and IR-PhotoNotes, which is an annotation system that captures digital images of the surrounding area to reference the actual location or local conditions, as well as allowing additional details such as voice annotations to be saved to a file.

Additional features include: a one-handed pistol-style grip for fast point-and-shoot troubleshooting; SuperResolution, which captures multiple images and combines them to create a 1280 x 960-pixel image; and the ability to highlight areas that are outside the pre-set normal temperature ranges with colour alarms.

The Ti480 also works as part of the Fluke Connect system, which wirelessly links the imager to the Fluke network of wireless test and measurement tools and allows the time-synced saving of images, enabling team members to instantly view the data.

The imager also comes with the Fluke Connect SmartView desktop software, which allows users to optimise thermal images, perform analytics, generate customisable reports, and export images in various formats.

Pre-calibrated lenses are also available for use with the Ti480 imager, including a wide-angle lens and two telephoto lenses to enable image capture from close-up or from larger distances. The Fluke Ti480 is shipping now from RS in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions.