Ther­mo­graphy in Aerospace Industry

Geological field research on Earth provides easily accessible material, but this has been significantly altered by the Earth's history. Unadulterated samples from the early days of the solar system can therefore only be obtained in space, where minor planets have preserved them for billions of years. Japanese researchers have been able to use microscopic active thermography to prove that the minor planet Ryugu contains such original material.

As part of the 3dStahl collaborative project, a 6-axis robot, equipped with a welding machine, was attached upside down to a wall-to-wall wire rope hoist kinematics system in order to automate joining processes involving small quantities or even individual parts such as large-scale objects (lock gates, bridges).

The combination of measuring results from the digital image correlation (ARAMIS, DIC) and temperature measuring data from infrared cameras enables the simultaneous analysis of the thermal and mechanical behavior of test specimens in the materials and components testing field.

Contactless measurement of temperature distributions and profiles with industrial thermographic cameras permits efficient monitoring and control of temperature-dependent processes and procedures within a system-integrated quality assurance programme in industry.

Using pulse thermography, WELD-CHECK enables you a quantitative assessment of the inspected welds.

Check for long-life fatigue strength of mechanical components in load tests, using high-end infrared cameras.

Detect inhomogeneous temperature distribution and local power loss during the production using the Lock-in Thermography.

Calibrated measuring cameras offer the option of a completely automated site surveillance by utilising temperature alarms – an approach well beyond the simple and susceptible motion detection systems used elsewhere. With IROD InfraTec offers a scaleable, powerful system solution.

Infrared cameras allow the non-destructive and process-synchronous monitoring of coating processes to ensure that the coatings are free of defects as soon as they are applied.

Monitor assembly halls and storage facilities fully automatically 24/7 and detect critical heat sources reliably.

Get advantages in costing and quality by non-contact thermographic testing of your solar cells and PV-modules.

The High Dynamic Range (HDR) function of the Infrared ImageIR® camera series enables measurement scenarios with extremely different temperatures to be recorded continuously. When recording in HDR mode, multiple thermograms with different integration times and different filters are recorded quickly in succession and compiled into an overall image with a high dynamic range. The measuring range can span up to 1,500 K. Users obtain high-contrast images in a wide temperature range characterized by high measurement accuracy.

Due to the binning technology, infrared cameras have two speed modes – the standard mode and the high-speed mode, in which the frame rate increases more than three times. The field of view remains constant in both modes, so the scene captured by the camera does not change. In high-speed mode, the thermal resolution also increases by a factor of two.

Thanks to HighSense, ImageIR® users have the option of setting up individual measuring ranges based on the factory calibration that best suit the respective task. Depending on the measuring task, the required temperature range can be selected and the optimum integration time for this purpose is calculated – or one decides to proceed in reverse order. Thus, the calibration can be retained even in the case of changed integration times.

The multispectral feature makes it possible to record sequences with constantly changing spectral filters. Images are recorded synchronously with a rapidly rotating filter wheel equipped with the filters. It may be possible to switch between up to seven filters, depending on the version. Due to this the multispectral measurement can be optimised to suit the measuring task if the preset ranges are unsuitable. The integration times can be adapted within the limits calibrated for this filter.

The 10 Gigabit Ethernet interface of the high-end camera series ImageIR® opens this extremely fast transmission standard with a NIC specially developed by InfraTec. This works with optical or electrical transceiver modules that are easy to change and are called SFP+.

Stationary camera systems are usually used PC-controlled. Alternatively, InfraTec offers a solution that makes the operation of the camera system even more versatile. An additional tablet PC is attached to the camera housing, which enables wireless control of all camera functions. The display solution allows access to all functions of the IRBIS® online control and acquisition software, delivered together with the camera.

The combination of a separate filter and aperture wheel, allowing a total of 35 freely selectable combinations, is prerequisite for a universal application in measurement tasks with high object temperatures and in the field of spectral thermography. The neutral density filters used for signal attenuation or the combination of spectral filters and apertures reliably prevent interference effects.

The Auto Calibration option expands the HighSense function to include automatic, dynamic adaptation of the integration time. This ensures the utmost temperature measuring accuracy and an optimised signal-to-noise ratio throughout the process. The wellfill of a detector is usually optimal in certain areas of the dynamic range. If the measured object signal is outside theses or user-specified limits, the integration time is readjusted.

All interchangeable standard lens systems of the ImageIR® series can be combined with a motor focus unit, which is controlled by the camera operating software. It enables precise, remote and fast focusing. In addition, an autofocus function is available which operates reliably even with low image contrasts.

The thermal imaging camera can be operated in full, half, quarter and sub mode. With the camera control software, it is possible to use the extended subwindowing function. Using click-and-drag, freely definable sections can be set up quickly and conveniently. A defined sub-frame of the detector is picked out to achieve these extremely high refresh rates.

High quality precision lenses allow the adaptation of the image geometry to almost every measuring situation. Its performance parameters are calibrated with respect to functionality, quality and flexible application. Due to proper IR-transparent lens materials and high-precision antireflexion coating, the lenses are optimised for different spectral ranges.

InfraTec's infrared cameras with cooled and uncooled detectors have native resolutions up to (2,560 × 2,048) IR pixels. Spatially high-resolution thermograms ensure that components and assemblies are imaged down to the smallest detail and thus defects can be reliably detected and precisely localised.

For detection of small temperature changes InfraTec's infrared cameras offer thermal resolutions up to < 15 mK in real-time operation. By using the Lock-in Thermography method it is possible to further increase this resolution significantly. For this purpose test objects are periodically excited and non-destructively examined for defects and irregularities.