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Emissivity

Thermal emissivity is the ability of a material to emit thermal radiation. It is a measure of how well a material absorbs and re-emits heat. Materials with high emissivity absorb more heat and emit more thermal radiation than materials with low emissivity.

WHAT?

If you have ever seen glow in the dark paint, you have seen emissivity at work. in the thermal spectrum, the amount of energy something can give off is related to how hot it is. Kind of like exposing glow in the dark paint to a bright light. 

How does this help? 

Emissivity is a factor in idenfiying what is happening at the surface of a subject. Hot parts of images give off heat, but emissive surfaces give off heat faster.  So a hot surface looks hotter, and a cooler but highly emissive surface will look warmer, longer than a cooler low emissive surface.

In Thermography class, we are taught how to adjust for emissivity to obtain a good estimate for temperature based on our own equipment. Without going into details, it involves a LOT of electrical tape, and a 5 gallon bucket of ice water!

How is emissivity used?

Thermographers use this concept to help identify temperatures in many different ways. 

Some examples: 

• Search and rescue: Thermal camera drones can be used to detect people and objects in low-light conditions or through smoke and fog. This can be useful for search and rescue missions in areas where visibility is poor, especially at night.
• Inspection: Thermal camera drones can be used to inspect structures or equipment. This can be useful for inspecting power lines, pipelines, or buildings. Solar panels!
• Agriculture: Thermal cameras can be used to monitor crops for heat stress or pests. This can help farmers to improve crop yields as well as look for nusance wildlife.
• Wildfire monitoring: Thermal cameras can be used to detect hot spots and track the spread of wildfires. This can help firefighters to fight wildfires more effectively. 
• Building inspection: Thermal cameras can be used to inspect buildings for energy leaks. This can help building owners to save money on energy costs.
• Environmental science: Monitoring envnronments where any two temperatures mix
• Process monitoring: Thermal drones can determine the volume, relative or exact temperature, and thermal conditions of large scale processes, such as cemement or asphault processes. 
• So much more 
  What uses do you want to see for thermal images?

Looking at this image of the USS Slater, the coolest and least emissive parts of the image are visible. Those are the sky and water. 

If you look at the hull of the ship, you can see that even the different paint colors have differnt emissive values.  

Of course, the highest heat items are fully exposed to the sun, and warmed cement will be visible for hours even after the sun has set. 

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Aerial Inspections

"Able to leap tall buildings" is rarely a job requirement, but being able to identify issues at the top, bottom, or sides of a structure is very common. Buildings and land are assets that require regular care, and of course condition documentation. Sky Photos Aerial inspection services can help to ensure the smooth operation and maintenance of any commercial site. 

Inspection basics

Commercial sites usually need a significant amount of documentation to be prepared for either the expected maintenance or the unexpected incident. Photography (visual or thermal) can provide current condition documentation or create a basis for add on 3d modeling. 

Inspection documentation also provides mission critical documentation for incident response. This creates situations that can help mitigate risk. 

The biggest way that aerial inspection by drones saves you money and time is by mitigating risk. Instead of sending a person up a ladder or on to a roof, sending a remote sensor into the situation is a well known and acceptable mitigation risk. All of you who speak in OSHA language know of what I speak. 

Detailed images save money

Documentation of a site helps establish conditions before or after an incident. Having both reinforces a claim significantly, highlighting the focus your company has on maintenance and operational safety.  

Conversely, having outdated site imagery can cost you money, identifying outdated equipment or labeling on your site.

Taking stock of what you have

Project management is busy. in fact, everyone had BETTER be busy when working, right? That's the point. Working more effectively means increasing the amount of information available to everyone involved. A simple way of doing this is to give everyone the same photo.  

Do you think that the photo below helps the site manager and project manager to understand what supplies are on hand?