Many, often harmful, industrial gases and chemical compounds are invisible to the naked eye. Still, companies around the globe transport and transform these substances every day.

What happens when leaks occur in the process? Can they be found before they impact personnel safety and the environment? FLIR Systems says "yes."

According to the company, optical imaging with its FLIR GF-Series thermal cameras has a number of advantages over the use of traditional gas "sniffers." These cameras safely scan a broader area much more rapidly, and do so in areas that can be extremely difficult to reach with contact measurement tools. Infrared displays a leak as a plume of vapor in the thermal image. Once a leak is identified, a TVA can be used to quantify the concentration.

The company offers a number of GF-Series products for a range of inspection tasks:

For electric utilities, the GF306 detects and visualizes SF6 (Sulfur Hexafluoride) and 25 other harmful gases quickly, from a safe distance and without the need to interrupt a plant's production process. SF6 has a global-warming potential 24,000 times higher than CO2 emissions; that's more than any other greenhouse gas. Early detection and repair of such leaks is an important way that power plants can help protect the environment.

The GF309 is designed for high-temperature industrial furnace applications. It's well-suited for monitoring all types of furnaces, heaters and boilers, particularly in the chemical, petrochemical and utility industries. Custom-built to see through flames, the GF309 features a detachable heat shield to reflect heat away from the camera and operator, thus providing enhanced protection.

FLIR's GF320 is a preventive maintenance solution to spot leaks in piping, flanges and connections in petrochemical operations. Literally thousands of components can be scanned per shift without the need to interrupt the process. Exceptionally safe, the GF320 lets users monitor potentially dangerous leaks from several meters away.
Images from all FLIR GF-Series cameras are recordable to any off-the-shelf video recorder for easy archiving and documentation.

FLIR Systems, Inc.
Billerica, MA

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