Author Topic: THERMOGRAPHY...ANY HINTS?  (Read 7913 times)

Offline ieezitin

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THERMOGRAPHY...ANY HINTS?
« on: June 07, 2016, 08:23:47 PM »
Hello lads.

I am interested in Thermograhy .. I need to see solids in tanks, large tanks, 1'' thick steel tanks.. does anyone have experience in this field, software or technology?
all thoughts are welcome.

Thanks...

Anthony.
If you cant fix it, get another hobby.

Offline PK

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Re: THERMOGRAPHY...ANY HINTS?
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2016, 11:55:34 PM »
What sort of temperature differences are you expecting?
We have one of these http://www.thermal.com/ and it works well for our applications

PK

Offline ieezitin

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Re: THERMOGRAPHY...ANY HINTS?
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2016, 05:31:23 AM »
No more than 140 F..., what ever crude warms up too in the sun.

Anthony.,.....
If you cant fix it, get another hobby.

Offline Joules

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Re: THERMOGRAPHY...ANY HINTS?
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2016, 06:44:15 AM »
Take a look at the FLIR One, similar to above but over a lower temperature range, suitable for iOS or Android devices (not both)    Had a hands on with the FLIR, great toy.
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Offline ddmckee54

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Re: THERMOGRAPHY...ANY HINTS?
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2016, 12:42:23 PM »
Why do you need to see the levels in the tanks?  Are you just doing a periodic inventory check or are you planning to control the tank level using the thermography?  Since the tank walls are 1" thick and what you're looking at is only at 140 F, whatever you are able to see with the thermography won't be a very precise level.

I can also see this idea having issues as the ambient temperature gets closer to the product temperature, but is should work just dandy in cold weather.

Have you looked into the automated plumb-bob type level sensors?  We use them here to check the levels in our grain bins and they work fairly well.

Don
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Offline ieezitin

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Re: THERMOGRAPHY...ANY HINTS?
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2016, 08:29:21 PM »
ddmckee54..

I need to know how much solids are deposited in a tank for cleaning, my manways are 30'' give or take from the floor, if i have a 6' hockypuck of solids (Cat, Minerals, trash) i need to know how much i need to remove or salvage and how do i get access into the tank, which if it is higher than the manway we have to go to a different rout to attack the problem.

We too use the psychical plumb-bob gage but they are not accurate, it only gives you a height where the plum-bob lands, crude oil and oil distillates dont settle its solids uniformly they have peak and troughs. Its not an option to install an electrical sensor on top of a crude oil tank even if its electrically safe. We have a $40,000 FLUKE IR but its 6 years old and technology has certainly passed us by with the readings we get and the quality of the report on the screen display.

Anthony.
If you cant fix it, get another hobby.

Offline Joules

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Re: THERMOGRAPHY...ANY HINTS?
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2016, 01:49:48 AM »
I borrowed a FLIR One to inspect some central heating pipes buried in concrete below a tiled floor.  The camera costs around £200 and adds on to an iOS or Android device.  Is this the sort of thing you're  after.
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Offline ieezitin

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Re: THERMOGRAPHY...ANY HINTS?
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2016, 09:29:15 AM »
Joules

PK early in this thread mentioned the same thing, i take it that's the quality you get from this FLIR Device? if it is its well worth the money spent on it.

Thanks to everyone for there thoughts..

Anthony.
If you cant fix it, get another hobby.