Energy loss, roof leaks and other problems like building envelope moisture can now be viewed by the laymans eye with color infrared camera technology. Building owners and managers can now with a great deal of confidence make building restoration and maintenance of decisions based on these images.
According to the Institute of Infrared Thermography, infrared thermography is the technique that uses an infrared imaging and measurement camera to “see” and “measure” invisible infrared energy being emitted from an object. Simply, infrared thermography is a technology that allows thermal or infrared radiation and light to be transformed into a visible image.
When the elements of a building envelope or roofing system become wet or moist, their temperature changes. Infrared cameras detect the temperature differences between wet and dry areas. This is the basic principle behind infrared moisture detection. An infrared camera, for example, sees through a leaking roof membrane to find the warmer wet insulation areas beneath the surface, according to infrared building maintenance specialists, Infrared Building Diagnostics, LLC.
The warm areas on a commercial buildings exterior wall where heat is escaping in the winter contrast in an infrared image 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.
Infrared cameras can capture and measure temperatures from -20 to 500C with accuracies to around 2% at 30C. The latest generation cameras store this data and images on removable digital media. From there the images and data are easily downloadable and readable with desktop or laptop computers.
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