I am somewhat interested in adding thermography to supplement vibration readings on motors and related equipment, not for electrical equipment. I am a long time user of CSI's product line and we are running AMS Machinery Health Manager (actually upgrading from RBMware this month, or early next). I am really after finding motors that have poor ventilation, are being overloaded, or have various electical faults. It may also be utilized for more typical reasons in the future, but is not the main consideration yet.

I am looking for opinions on CSI's thermo equipment, but if it is too expensive, or time consuming to generate reports I would consider an inexpensive set up just to get a better handle on problems not directly related to lube and vibration, sort of a step up from a temperature probe. I have no idea at what products to look at on the low cost end. Or if this low cost method will produce worthwhile results.

Regards,

Alan

CSI isn't a manufacturer I've come across before. The camera seems reasonable but the resolution is a bit low. 160x120 is probably all you need for this sort of application, but it means you'll have to be quite close to your target to get a good level of detail. I'd call round some of the other manufacturers to get the best comparison.

The biggest player in the market is FLIR (I'd take a look at their InfraCAM or newer T Series), and the next biggest probably Fluke.

Alan,

The camera being sold by Emerson (CSI) is manufactured by Electrophysics. It is an excellent product that should give you good results for the kinds of work you describe. There are, of course, other options as well as Stephen suggests.

One issue that separates others from the CSI system is their software. I've not used it recently but if integrated management of data from various techonolgies is truly important to you, this may be one of the only options open; I would urge you to look at the features and price and make decisions based on your history with CSI and your present needs. It may be a great fit for you.

I'd also be happy to share with you a paper I wrote on how to select an infared camera. We don't sell cameras and I saw a need to help folks cut through some of the marketing hype and unreadable specs that seem to abound. Give me a call or drop me a note and I'd be happy to send you, or anyone else, a copy.

ALAN,

CSI's database allows you to attach a picture to the record keeping what used to be COMPILE. Use any camera and it's software as long as you can save the picture as a PNG or JPG file then import it into the CSI Compile for ease of followups. Here is a JPG/BMP file. Try importing it into the CSI database.

Alan, Take a look at my photo album in "photo alley" All the images were taken with a infrared solutions (now Fluke) Flex cam pro with the fusion integration. Very good imager for my money.
noisemakr..

if you are interested in motor reliability testing then you should go for hand held but very powerfull tool ALL TEST PRO IV 2000. a 5 min test can show you a windig health of motor. you can also trend the reading and plan the downtime. also it is cheap sooo it will not affect your pocket too much.
feel free for any more info