Monitoring Voltage is Important to Electric Motor Testing

When performing energized electric motor testing, monitoring voltage is the most important parameter. If voltage is unbalanced it should be corrected as soon as practicable. A current unbalance will be a consistent symptom of unbalanced voltage. What if you have balanced voltage and unbalanced current? Depending upon the motor state and the level of unbalance it is possible to identify likely sources if a comparison to the impedance is conducted.

Building Inspections – Indoor and Outdoor Conditions

May 03, 2024
Buildings

Like many other types of inspections, conditions are among the factors that can make or break a successful endeavor. It’s my opinion that in Building inspections the conditions are more of a factor since there are so many elements to consider. The intent here is not to discourage inspections of buildings, but to educate, edify, and inform so that you can make the most of your efforts. Whether inspecting indoors or outdoors, there are many conditions to consider. Let’s take a look at them.

Jean-Loup Yale

Instructor & Consultant

Jean-Loup Yale is a licensed Professional Technologist in Quebec. He is Director – Building Science at Envelope Cubed and has over 25 years of experience in the building and architectural fields. He specializes in the study of building pathologies which affect the various components of the building enclosure – whether vertical or horizontal. He oversees and has technical input in the entire range of services delivered by the firm, whether it be reviews of plans and specs, hygrothermal modeling, in situ testing (non-destructive and destructive), including infrared thermal imaging (of course), forensic investigations, litigation, IAQ investigations, facade safety inspection or onsite quality assurance. He has led a multitude of mandates throughout Quebec, Ontario, and the arctic regions.

He is a Certified Roof Observer for the Quebec Roofer’s Association (AMCQ) and holds various certifications in IAQ and building restoration. Throughout the years, he has been an active participant in AMCQ committees. He is currently a consensus body voting member on the new ANSI/IICRC S530 standard on mold assessment. He is also a member of the IIBEC Quebec-Ontario Chapter board of directors and serves on the IIBEC Building Envelope Symposium Committee.

He is interested in eco-responsible construction making use of renewable materials and carbon footprint reduction with an optic for Net-Zero ready and passive construction and has a passion for historical and heritage buildings.

Jean-Loup instructs the Level I, Level II, and the building specialty courses.

Electrical Inspections can be Inherently Dangerous

Of the most common types of inspections conducted by thermographers, electrical inspections are the most prevalent type and also the most inherently dangerous. With quality training, and through taking the proper procedures and precautions, the danger level can be reduced. If the thermographers are going to be in the area, a pre-meeting should be held to discuss the operations and what production should be included. Create a checklist to ensure proper procedures and make sure every aspect is covered.

Jeremy's Journey -- New Reporting Software for Inspections

April 23, 2024
IR Talk

At the Snell Group we are improving our services for our customers. In April we started using a new Infrared Software for reporting to help us keep track of our customers assets. This new software gives us an advantage over our competitors, it helps us keep track of bad actors, keeps track of multiple sites under one location and speeds up our reporting time.

Sample equipment list.

Inspeccionando Trampas de Vapor con Termografía Infrarroja

La mayoría de personas podría pensar que inspeccionar trampas de vapor es algo tan sencillo como decir que únicamente debería estar más caliente en el lado del vapor y más frío en el lado del condensado, pero debido a que podrían existir diferentes métodos en los que las trampas de vapor podrían remover el condensado, la respuesta podría ser un poco más compleja.

Thermostatic trap

Problematic Voltage will Affect all other Data

Monitoring energized electric motors is becoming a common practice as part of reliability programs. Power quality and motor performance can be assessed in a matter of a few seconds of data acquisition. The most important parameter for assessing power quality and motor operation is by far analysis of voltage. If voltage is problematic all other data will reflect that.

Figure 1. Peak and RMS Voltage Time Domains

Figure 1. Peak and RMS Voltage Time Domains

Detecting Abnormal Heat Loss or Gain is only Part of the Equation

At first blush, inspecting buildings with thermography might appear to be a rather straightforward endeavor. While this is partially true, there are some points to consider. Heat transfer in buildings can be dynamic and understanding the thermal conditions and how they change during the inspection process is essential to interpreting the data collected.

Using External Memory Cards with IR Cameras

With the advent of inexpensive storage in the past few years, many cameras use external memory cards to record images, video, and in some cases, text or voice annotation. For the most part, this is a good thing. However, there can be a downside. Because memory cards are inexpensive, users may tend to be more careless with them than in the past. And it’s one more (tiny) thing to keep track of. As a thermographer, the images captured and stored during your inspections are critical to your job, so it pays to take care of your memory.