Here are some of the best uses for heat vision cameras on UAVs. The list is growing all the time. Drones with on-board thermal cameras save time, money and are also a very safe method for inspecting dangerous equipment. Fire Departments along with Search and Rescue teams really see the value of thermal vision cameras
Utility Inspections – Drones with thermal heat vision cameras allow companies to gather calibrated radiometric temperature data quickly and easily covering large substations, as well as transmission and distribution lines in a fraction of the time it would take with a handheld imager.
Utility inspections cover power lines, chimney stacks, water works, telecoms masts and much more.
Solar Farm Inspections – Drones with thermal cameras can scan large solar panel installations in a few minutes allowing the operator to isolate and measure potential problem areas with a single aerial view. Solar farm inspections are almost impossible from the ground.
Construction Site And Roofing Inspections – Before drones, building and roofing inspections took a long time and has been a major source of workplace accidents over the years. Roof inspections and other building surveys with a thermal camera equipped drone will take just minutes saving time and lives.
One of the leading providers of drones for roofing inspections is Kespry.
Kespry’s thermal inspection solution is based on radiometric temperature analysis, providing actionable data to people inspecting roofs. Radiometric analysis means that a specific temperature is displayed for a specific point on a roof. In contrast, non-radiometric thermal drone data simply shows general temperature differences and changes in an area, making it hard to determine whether there is a specific point of damage or concern.
Fire Fighting – Particularly valuable for firefighting, drones with heat vision cameras give Incident Commanders the ability to see through smoke and keep track of their personnel in large fire scenes. Fire crews will know exactly where the fire is hottest and when the fire looks to be out, a thermal equipped drone will be able to give definite confirmation of the heat been dissipated from the scene.
Search And Rescue – A drone with thermal camera is a must have piece of equipment for rescuers. The thermal camera can be used both in day and night rescue missions. Drones can view and cover hundreds of acres in minutes.
In daytime, the thermal radiation from a missing person on a mountain will stand out much more than the image from an ordinary standard video camera. A person may be wearing the same color clothing as their surrounding making it difficult for a standard video camera to detect the missing person.
Mining – In the case of coal mining, often coal is stored in vast quantities in large storage containers. This can lead to high risk of a fire. It is very important to carrying out temperature monitoring of these coal containers as self-ignition can easily take place.
Other mining operations have large conveyor belts, a drone with thermal camera is the quickest way to monitor the health of the equipment. When equipment is stressed, it will show up hotter on a thermal image than previous.
Thermal imaging can help detect equipment which is under stress and at some point will break.