Looking for suggestions for training aides to give a "crash" course in Thermography. Industrial (mechanical, electrical, Pdm related) applications only. I've been offered and have accepted a position with a coal fired power plant and need to "crash train" some people and pass along what I have been doing at my present place of employment. I'm sure formal training will be offered to these individuals as soon as the sale of our facility is finalized. At least I hope so because I only have 4 weeks to pass on as much of my 8 yrs. experience in vibe and IR as possible (anyone got an asprin). Any links, suggestions, etc. would be deeply appreciated. I have a level I manual from when I took a course to get me started.

Dear Mr. Gariepy:

Although we never bill our training courses as "crash courses", Infraspection does have a number of training options that may be of interest to you. In particular, our Distance Learning courses for Thermography enable students to train from their home or office whenever it is convenient for them.

Students completing 32 hours of training are eligible to take the Infraspection Institute Certified Infrared Thermographer exam. Courses can begin at any time. All courses are compliant with training requirements for NDT personnel in accordance with SNT-TC-1A.

For more info, please call us at 609-239-4788 or log on to www.infraspection.com

We look forward to hearing from you and wish you the best of luck.

Vwry truly yours,

Jim Seffrin, Director
Infraspection Institute
425 Ellis Street
Burlington, NJ 08016
609-239-4788

www.infraspection.com

Dear Ron:

While we never bill our training as "crash courses", Infraspection Institute does have a number of trainng options that might be of interest to you.

Our Distance Learning Courses for Thermography allow students to take their infrared training from their home or office whenever it is convenient. Classes may begin at anytime.

Student sho successfully complete 32 hours of Distance Learning are eigible to take the Infraspection Institute Certified Infrared Thermographer exam. All courses meet training requirements as specified by ASNT document, SNT-TC-1A.

For more info call us at 609-239-4788 or visit us online at: www.infraspection.com. We wish you the best of luck and look forward to hearing from you.

Jim Seffrin, Director
Infraspection Institute

Roy, could you email me about this?
Vibeguy2004@yahoo.com

Thanks for the info Jim,
The training is actually not for me. I will say though,we sent 2 of our techs to the institutes training course and they brought back a wealth of knowledge. I received my level 1 from another well known and respected training facility. Between the two training manuals and the field experience the tree of us share, I should be able to pass along enough to keep things going after I leave the company. Your organization and the one that I attended are on the list for formal training of these guys when budget issues are straightened out.

One thing that strikes me is these guys can get training from others but there are a few things that you are uniquely qualified to teach them that would be hard for them to get elsewhere after you leave:

1 - the basic operation of your particular camera

2 - the fndings that you have made and how have they been corrected.

They will continue learning from training and other sources long after you leave, but the pecularities of your particular camera may not come out through training. Additionally they are likely to see some of the same types of problems on the monitored equipment that you have seen, so any history you have will be invaluable.

To reinforce 1 and 2 a walkthrough survey of some of the equipment you monitor would of course be great.

Also probably during the course of these discussions you naturally need to touch on more complex issues such as emissivity, reflection, evaluation of severity etc. I would give them bare bones explanation of that with a focus on WHAT you do in your routine (instead of WHY you do it... they can get that later during training and as they gain confidence judge for themselves if they want to change your routine). For example survey outdoor equipment early in the morning before sun becomes a problem, generally set emissivity to 0.95 and pay attention to non-metal, non-shiny surfaces and cavities for most accurate indication of temperatures, etc.

I would say that one aspect that cannot go with a casual training would be electrical safety. That needs to be a thorough training and they shouldn't attempt to do anything unsupervised until that part is complete.

Also, by all means, introduce them to the forum here.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: electricpete,

I am interested in working with Infrared Thermography technicians who are frustrated with methodologies to correct a problem as indicated by their technology on operating machinery. I am a novice in that field but have much experiential knowledge in filtration and lubricants.Does a thermographer make suggestions on an immediate basis if required, and what kind of reports does he file ,as a staff member ,to correct continuing repetitions of faults and maintenance protocols to assist in his daily responsibilities? Does he approach his effort to achieve recognition as a problem solver and resultant cost improver? Or is it just a job? Thank you Al Bianco "Mr Filter"

Al - it sounds to me as this belongs in a new thread since it doesn't relate to the original question.. you will get more responses that way.
Pete