Color Thermal Images Make It Easy to Understand Infrared Building Inspections
12th October 2009
Roof leaks, energy loss and building envelope moisture are all now visible with current color infrared camera technology. Decisions about costly building restoration and maintenance needs can now be made with little doubt by building owners and managers based on the color images these cameras generate. There is no longer any need to base decisions on gray scale infrared cameras.
According to the Institute of Infrared Thermography, infrared thermography is a technology that allows thermal or infrared radiation and light to be transformed into a visible image. Invisible infrared energy is given off by all objects. Infrared thermography uses infrared imaging and measurement cameras to portray and measure this energy.
How do infrared cameras detect building moisture? They do so because the temperature of building materials changes when they become wet, or even damp. In a commercial roofing system with a leak, for example, not all of the insulation is wet. The infrared camera picks up the contrast between the wet area(s) and the dry area(s) of the insulation. Imaging the difference in temperature between two adjacent areas is the basic principle behind infrared moisture detection, according to infrared specialists, Infrared Building Diagnostics, LLC.
The warm areas on a commercial buildings exterior wall where heat is escaping in the winter contrast in temperature with the rest of the exterior surface. Building envelopes often contain numerous highly heat-conductive elements called thermal bridges. An un-insulated metal window frame is a good example of a thermal bridge. These thermal bridges can lose heating or cooling energy depending on the season.
Today good infrared cameras can image temperatures from -20 to 500C. These cameras can also make temperature measurements, with accuracies to around 2% at 30C. The camera stores this data and images on removable digital media. The images and data are easily downloadable and readable with desktop and laptop computer operating systems.