What Does Infrared Mean?

Infrared means “beyond red.” Thermography then pertains to a “thermal picture.” Put together, infrared thermography then means beyond a red temperature picture, which is taken by thermal cameras. This explains why in thermal imaging, we can see a gradient of red and purple captured in a photo.

Infrared, just like visible light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Infrared just has a longer wavelength and lower frequency compared to visible light. Infrared thermography is the science of detecting infrared energy emitted from an object, which is then converted into apparent temperature, then displayed as an infrared image. This is what the thermal camera takes.

Any presence of anomalies is often an indicator of potential problems.

This is very helpful in detecting things not otherwise visible to the naked eye such as heat patterns and the infrared wave spectrum. It aids in identifying components that are going bad before they get even worse.

How does thermal camera work? Instead of giving a numerical test result with various test meters, a thermal camera (also known as a thermal imager) captures the image that you can enhance using different color palettes and highlighting tools in order to point out a problem. An advantage of the thermal camera is that you can capture an object when it is under load and is used as it allows you to take a picture without making direct contact.

Most of these thermal cameras are able to capture “radiometric” data which means you can see the temperate for each pixel within the range. Very useful in detecting an anomaly, you can drill down and see the temperature of the exact points in question and see if it is in the normal range or not.

Infrared thermography can be useful in seeing beyond what is visible the data that is found all around us. Get to see in infrared with Fluke’s Thermal cameras, the world leader in the manufacturing and distribution of electronic test tools.

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