Thermal cameras enable outdoor early fire detection and reliable condition monitoring

Teledyne FLIR recently introduced a pair of highly rugged thermal cameras. The A500f and A700f Advanced Smart Sensor thermal cameras offer the solution for refinery or plant managers who need reliable fire detection or condition monitoring data in the harshest conditions the oil and petrochemical industries have to offer. These cameras feature the latest and greatest that technology has to offer in terms of spot, area, polygon and polyline analytic functions that enable a sharper definition in areas of interest and object curvatures. These robust thermal cameras will be an invaluable tool for plant and refinery management in terms of protecting their assets and achieving the best possible results in terms of safety, uptime and maintenance costs.

Early fire detection and accurate condition monitoring  - great news for plants and refinery operators
The A500f and A700f thermal cameras will rapidly detect higher temperatures caused by potentially hazardous conditions.

If smoke is present, these thermal cameras offer decision makers a far better understanding of situations in which people and assets are in danger. The A500f and A700f thermal cameras have Flexible Scene Enhancement (FSX) technology, which have helped make Teledyne FLIR’s K-Series handheld firefighting devices so widely respected by firefighters across the globe. Including such precise technology have resulted in an extremely sharp, fine textured image making it far easier to identify people and different objects, and literally have a better picture of the situation at hand.

These thermal cameras also allow petrochemical/chemical plants and refineries, that operate using the most widely used communications and control language, to reduce maintenance costs. The A500f and A700f detect heat anomalies caused by mechanical problems early; this helps to lengthen the lifespan of the parts and components used at the plant and to maximize uptime.

What makes the perfect tools for outdoor industrial fire detection and condition monitoring?
Housed in a rugged IP67-rated case, and capable of withstanding a temperature range of -30° to 50°C (-22° to 112° F), these thermal cameras are made for the harshest conditions. The cameras are also discreet enough to deter from theft and vandalism. In addition, they operate with a single power-over-Ethernet (PoE) cable combining power and communication, thus further minimizing possible points of failure.

Teledyne FLIRS’ new thermal cameras offer an enhanced thermal imaging capability with resolutions of 464 x 348 (161,472) for the A500f and 640 x 480 (307,200) thermal pixel resolution for the A700f. The cameras’ temperature measurement accuracy is ±2° C (±â€Â3.6° F).

The A500f and A700f feature thermal lens options ranging from 14° to 42° as well as their embedded HD visible cameras.  The A500f model features a temperature detection range spanning -20° to 1500°C (-4° to 2732° F), while the A700f has a range of 20° to 2000°C (68° to 3632°F) for identifying chemical fires and monitoring for the type of conditions that lead to industrial fires. In short: these thermal cameras meet every requirement you would want for a vast majority of outdoor fire detection and condition monitoring applications.  

Simple and seamless integration and set up of your fire detection and condition monitoring system
Installation of the FLIR A500f/A700f cameras is both simple and seamless. The thermal cameras are ONVIF compliant and integrate with ease into standard security VMS and NVR solutions, which includes the control of pan/tilts.

For VMS integration, thermal and visible streams can be viewed both independently and simultaneously. These units are simple to add, set up, and operate in HMI and SCADA systems, giving automation system solution providers a kickstart. These thermal cameras support IIoT protocols such as MQTT and RESTful API along with a system unique token key for added security.