The police regularly use thermal imagers to spot the distinctive heat patterns given off by cannabis factories, otherwise hidden within everyday houses or garden sheds. Then again, in recent years the introduction of affordable, user-friendly technology has seen thermal imaging rolled out across a much wider and perhaps surprising range of industries. As per Mike Berrie's opinion, easy-to-use thermal imaging technology can be advantageous in measuring, tracking and pinpointing trouble spots that have previously been difficult to find, all at a reasonable cost.

The cabability to spot diverse places of heat has security uses more than merely catching bad guys. Banks and other organizations can use thermal images to measure where heat is being lost around security doors - a useful indicator of exactly how strongly covered that area is. In the same manner, shops and grocery stores can verify the gasket seals on cold storage areas (e.g. freezer and chiller cabinets), making sure their produce remains fresh and they are not using unnecessarily high quantities of electric power to maintain it so. Until recently, companies would have had to hire professional contractors to conduct these investigations as the cost of temperature measurement apparatus - between $40,000 and $60,000 - rendered ownership of the technology really high-priced.

The advent of cheaper thermal imagers, such as Irisys’s IR16DS, mean not only that these contractors can work more easily, more cheaply and more quickly, but also that non-specialists can purchase their own equipment. The main advantages of cheaper thermal imagers, like Irisys’s IR16DS are they can work more effectively at low costs and very quickly,on top of that that non-specialistscan buy their own equipment. The long term savings are not only clear, but preventative maintenance is a more practical consideration as one does not risk spending large amounts of money only to find out that nothing is wrong.

Thermal imaging can even find uses in your own home. We’re a cost conscious lot these days. Every body is looking for some ways to save money - of course, if it can benefit us go green simultaneously, all the better. Thermal imaging can tell you where your house is getting rid of the most heat; peer through the viewfinder and identify those houses with poor loft insulation lit up like a Christmas tree. If there is a a blockage in your central heating system that will lead to lack of heat to large areas of your house. Again, thermal imagers can show you the exact location of the blockage and cut down on call out times.

They’re also useful in spotting potentially hazardous electrical faults - always encouraging - and can pick out areas of excess moisture, helping you catch damp before it sets in. Spotting electrical faults is also useful in the (literally) high flying world of aerospace engineering. The electrical units of aeroplanes are generally securely packed into narrow cavities in the fuselage and standard maintenance can involve the taking apart of large portions in the search for a problem. Again, thermal imagers reduce time and cost. There are also another advantages like the capacity to spot air leakages quickly and the power to measure the heat generated by moving components.

In already heated environments such as a ship’s engine room or a busy factory, one cannot always rely on one’s own senses to spot when individual components may be overheating: with thermal imaging, that is not a problem. That is only a beginning. The applications of temperature measurement equipment manage some other industries as diverse as water treatment, research and development, transport, biotechnology, ceramics as well as brewing. Definitely not the stuff of science fiction any longer; thermal imagers are hot.