Building Infrared Thermography for Environmental, Energy Conservation and Predictive Maintenance
Building and Facility Maintenance
A reliable, safe and efficient building operation is an ever-increasing concern for building occupants and owners. A poorly maintained building is one that will have a higher level of customer discomfort, excessive energy use, high operational costs, health and safety issues and overall dissatisfaction.
To attain a high level of operational reliability, lower maintenance costs and reduced energy use, more and more building owners have turned to predictive inspection technologies that have the capabilities to monitor the condition of the building envelope, roof, electrical /mechanical equipment and the HVAC system.
Of the many predictive maintenance and inspection instruments available for building inspection one stands out as being the most diversified of all technologies. This technology is Infrared Thermography! Today it is the fastest growing application technique for building inspections. When used to its full potential, the investment in and Infrared Thermography inspection will provide significant rewards in customer satisfaction and reduced maintenance costs as long as the technology is being used.
Infrared Inspection and Testing
Inspections and assessment of the building by visual means is very difficult, and these inspections chiefly relate to obvious faults and cosmetic defects. It is possible for example, to visually conceal extensive defects in workmanship, with serious consequences for the user. Often the problems, their causes and consequences—simply cannot be seen until after costly damage has been done. At that point the only recourse may be extensive, costly reconstruction.
For example, misapplied and missing thermal insulation, thermal bridges, air leakages, in the external envelope of a building cause nuisance such as low surface temperatures, moisture and condensation damage. It causes discomfort to the inhabitants of the building, excessive consumption of energy and health risks. The main difficulty, however, is to find suitable methods and equipment for evaluating the condition.
Infrared thermography is a solution that is predictive, cost effective & least intrusive of all building diagnostic procedures. Regardless of the building type involved, infrared thermography can provide remarkable information about construction details and building performance. Infrared building inspections focus on three separate building systems.
It includes:
• Building Envelope
• Roof thermography
• Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning System
• Electrical/Mechanical System
Utilizing Infrared Thermography within a predictive maintenance program will provide information that will effectively reduce energy consumption, increase equipment reliability, decrease overall maintenance costs, minimize interruption to customer traffic, increase safety and eliminate most surprise equipment failures.
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