Rentals

Unplanned downtime rarely begins with a dramatic failure. It starts with subtle changes—slightly elevated temperatures, uneven load distribution, early bearing wear, or the faint signature of partial discharge. Thermal and acoustic imaging give maintenance teams the ability to detect these issues long before they escalate, making them essential tools for any predictive maintenance program.

How Thermal Imaging Reveals Problems Early

Electrical and mechanical assets generate heat as part of normal operation. When components begin to degrade, those temperature patterns shift. A thermal camera makes these changes visible in real time, allowing technicians to identify: 

• • Loose or corroded electrical connections
  • Overloaded circuits and unbalanced phases 
  • Failing bearings, misalignment, and lubrication issues 
  • Motor and drive problems under load 
  • Insulation breakdown and hotspots in switchgear 

High‑resolution imagers such as the FLIR T1020 excel in these scenarios. Its advanced optics and

Noise can be disruptive, preventing a message from being heard. For effective use of wired and wireless communications systems, such as cellular “smart phones” and satellite communications (satcom) systems, noise should be minimized if possible. But first it must be detected and identified so that it can be treated, which requires test-and-measurement equipment for that purpose. Noise measurement equipment comes in a variety of forms, as many as the types of noise that plague modern communications systems. 

Noise can originate from within or outside a system or component under test. Noise from a source outside the system can radiate through the air to a communications system and start within a noisy component, such as a switching power supply, a solar inverter, or the driver for a light-emitting diode (LED). Noise that is radiated travels through the air from a source to a receiver and is typically frequency dependent and diminishing in level with distance from the source. Noise can also

Leaks in industrial gas systems can range from almost unnoticeable to disruptive and dangerous disturbances. Locating a leak in compressed air, gas, and vacuum systems can be challenging and time-consuming but quite necessary if the leak is to be repaired. Several gas detectors are available, using stationery and mobile or hand-held equipment to search for escaping emissions. In extreme cases, leaking gases may be toxic, with pressurized gases that include ammonia, chlorine, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur oxide that must be detected and monitored. In less severe cases, escaping gases such as oxygen (O2) may be safe to an operating environment, but a leak or leaks represent an ongoing expense in the loss of a resource.

Gas leaks can be found in numerous ways, often by pressure testing a gas storage unit or interconnecting hose to enable gas sensors to measure beyond their minimum detection limits. Numerous types of gas detectors, such as electrochemical sensors, infrared (IR) sensors, semiconductor

Electrical safety testing is an essential part of quality control for almost all electronic products. Good grounding is needed to prevent costly damage to an electronic product as well as to avoid service interruptions and potentially dangerous operating conditions to a user. Effective grounding systems support the use of safety components such as protection relays and help protect sensitive electronic components from over-voltage conditions that can occur from manufacturing errors such as poor solder joints or even performance degradation that can occur from faulty insulation. Establishing a safe electrical environment involves ensuring that the resistance of the electrical ground path is suitably low to satisfy the requirements of applicable electrical safety standards, such as those set forth by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It also involves measurements capable of determining an electronic product’s behavior under adverse conditions, such as voltage surges,

Digital thermal imaging cameras have established themselves as invaluable tools for building safety inspections. Thermal imaging cameras such as forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras perform noncontact temperature measurements to detect anomalous heat patterns in buildings. They can be used, for example, to find energy-wasting leaks in construction or gaps in electrical insulation. They can also provide heat signatures that reveal the condition of a power generator or motor in factories and production plants. Since some building inspections are performed in potentially dangerous environments, a safe imaging camera can provide a sharp vision of a safe building. But choosing the right digital or thermal imaging camera for a job requires an understanding of how these instruments work and some insight into some of the more important performance specifications. The right camera can pack a great deal of safety inspection into a portable handheld instrument.

Thermal imaging cameras use infrared

A manufacturing environment contributes significantly to the ultimate quality of a product built within its boundaries. Skilled personnel are essential for a solid production process. But a clean environment clears the way for the best product quality possible, without performance-degrading contamination from the production line. For any manufacturing facility, environmental testing helps monitor and maintain a workplace that is healthy for employees and supports production of the highest-quality manufactured goods. By measuring and monitoring unseen invaders within a manufacturing environment, such as moisture and microminiature particles, contamination can be found and, hopefully, minimized to create the purest possible manufacturing environment conditions. Modern environmental test gear can probe the workplace with high sensitivity and accuracy while being compact enough to be carried where needed. With versatile digital interfaces, the environmental test equipment can be remotely operated

Power quality monitoring ensures continuous, error-free operation of data centers. Without clean, stable power, racks of computer servers cannot be counted on to provide data in a moment’s notice. Power quality analyzers provide the measurements needed to check the status of the power flowing to those servers. The measurements must be accurate and precise because even minor power disturbances to data center servers can result in loss of data and expensive errors for all relying upon the data. 

Modern data centers serve constantly growing numbers of customers, including network operators and cloud operators with many of the customers relying on continuous service. Data centers guard against power failures and degradation of power quality via multiple backup energy sources, often combining diverse power sources, including sustainable renewable-energy and solar-power sources. As demand for data and the power to back it grows, data center power density grows along with it, often requiring

Electric vehicles (EVs) are rapidly gaining in popularity for their independence from fossil fuels and their environmental efficiency. They offer many advantages compared to vehicles with internal combustion engines but require powerful rechargeable batteries for their electric motors and other electronic systems. These batteries must withstand thousands of cycles of being recharged after, for example, discharging their energy during a drive. Rechargeable batteries that power EV electric motors are based on several chemistries and employ a wide range of architectures depending upon the vehicles they power.

Developers of EVs, their rechargeable batteries, and their on-board charging systems can analyze their characteristics and make them better with the help of bidirectional DC power supplies from Transcat | Axiom Rentals. These versatile instruments can source and sink electrical power over wide voltage ranges and can help better understand the impact of many charge and discharge cycles

Providing power for testing complex electronic devices requires reliable, high-performance AC sources which often also deliver DC power. Fortunately, Transcat | Axiom Rentals offers a variety of versatile sources that can not only supply AC/DC power but also monitor its electrical parameters over widely changing environmental conditions. To support AC/DC power testing according to numerous industrial and military standards, these power sources are available with software to coordinate standards-based AC/DC power testing with single-, two-, and three-phase power supplies.

Industrial and military standards provide guidelines for evaluating a device under test (DUT) on AC or DC power. Industrial standards such as IEC 61000-4-11 and IEC 61000-4-13 from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and military standards such as MIL-STD-704 are just a few of the solid guidelines for AC power testing; they are typically programmed into the test software available for modern AC power sources.