Atlas thermal imaging cameras found a new use when Uniglo Heattech rented units for a huge marketing campaign to show the performance of their clothing line. Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFwox0BmOck.  Thermal imaging works by “reading” heat emitted from an object or person,  and turning it into an image that can be viewed called a thermogram. The hottest areas show up as reds and the coolest areas as paler colors.  Thermal cameras, also known as infrared cameras or IR cameras, are available at Atlas for rent or purchase.

I’m excited to be attending the 2008 Alberta Trenchless Conference, sponsored by the Alberta chapter of the North American Society for Trenchless Technology.  The event will be held at the Mayfield Inn, November 13th, in Edmonton. 

Back in June I gave a presentation on Panoramo 3D Optical Scanning of Pipelines to some fellows at Stantec Engineering, and they were excited by this new method of pipe assesment and analysis.  I got them in touch with the first Canadian users of Panoramo, the City of Saskatoon, who will be sending Tom Dehod to give his own presentation on this technology and what led them to adopt it. 

Myself and Andy Melton, of RapidView-IBAK North America (www.rapidview.com) will have a booth at the trade show and we’ll be showing off both versions of the Panoramo technology (for pipelines and for manhole inspections).  In addition, I will have an InsightVision push camera system for small diameter pipe inspection, with an integrated “Digital Express” recording package (USB, CF card, SD card, and Ethernet). 

We’re looking forward to meeting new friends and visiting with old ones!

I am pleased to announce the opening of our California office with the addition of Curt Harke.  Curt is an industry veteran who spent many year in various capacities with Everest VIT.  Curt has excellent practical knowledge of nearly all aspects of remote visual inspection in power plants, refineries, and process facilities.  Curt additionally has managed applications development in a wide range of industrial facilities.  Curt’s new responsibilities at Atlas will primarily be Business Development in the South West Region of the US.  You can reach Curt at curt@atlas-inspection.com (760) 814-5544 or via the Seattle office at 206 -774-8704 or Toll Free at 800-281-0650.

Many of you have been installing infrared windows over the last few years to help mitigate Arc Flash dangers inherent when opening electrical panels to complete Thermographic surveys.  Many more managers of electrical systems have been sitting evaluating and trying to determine exactly how to do this and comply with NFPA70e which sets out guidlines for working more safely with low, medium and high voltage electrical equipment.  In many cases it has not been overly clear exactly how to comply with NFPA 70e and exactly how infrared windows relate.  For those who have invested the time and money to install windows they have found that overall it is quicker, easier and safer to conduct IR Surveys through an infrared window and keep the electrical cabinet sealed and closed.

Tim Rohr, IRISS Inc. has written a white paper that offers clarity to the NFPA.  Email me and I can send you a copy or you can down load it at http://www.iriss.com/PDF/NFPA%20and%20Standards%20Implications%20on%20Thermography.pdf.  I have found that this white paper helps uncomplicate a fairly confusing issue.  NFPA is publishing a revised version of 70E in 2009 which we understand will offer more specifics on the use of IR windows.  Until then please call me at 206 774 8704 or email d.billings@atlas-inspection.com and we can discuss your situation.

We are pleased to announce a new rental offering!  The NITON Hand Held XRF Analyzers for Positive Material Identification (PMI), Environmental Analysis, and Mining and Exploration is now available from Atlas!    The system is available now! 

Handheld Thermo Scientific NITON^® XRF analyzers are well suited for demands of portable, nondestructive elemental analysis in the field.  These units are well suited for Metal and Alloy Analysis, Environmental Analysis, and Mining and Exploration.  Each unit offers:

• an environmentally sealed housing for real world use – dust, dirt and moisture don’t impact reliability
• lab-quality precision (actual performance correlates with sample homogeneity and preparation)

• at least 8 hours of battery life, with a free spare – we know your day doesn’t always end after 8 hours
• complete data encryption: your data is never vulnerable to accidental or malicious tampering
• fast, secure data downloads, with the spectral fingerprinting that today’s juries have come to expect from legally defensible data

This new system is not yet on our web site, but will be soon.  For more information on the specific unit applicable to your application please call 800 281 0650 or email info@atlas-inspection.com.  Until our web site modifications are ready you can visit http://www.niton.com/NITON-Analyzers-Products/default.aspx.

I want to call your attention to a really neat innovation from Rapidview IBAK.  They recently introduced a new product called Panoramo SI which is a 3 dimensional digital inspection system for inspecting manholes, stacks, tanks and large pressure vessels.  The system uses two digital cameras and flash digital photography to enable total inspection of the inside of the confined space.  You can see the panaramo pipe line system footage on our web site at http://www.atlas-inspection.com/panoramo_video.html or on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r1DPAV9JFI.  The Panoramo SI images will be posted shortly.  Call or email me if you want to know more.

Atlas Inspection Technologies in Seattle is now an authorized service center for RapidView IBAK and Insight Vision cameras.  Atlas is the only authorized repair center for either of these product lines on the entire west coast! This is in addition to Atlas’ third party repair service for many other brands of pipeline inspection equipment including push cameras and robotic tractor crawlers. Atlas also repairs videoscopes, borescopes, fiberscopes, and light sources. So if you own inspection equipment needing repair manufactured by Olympus, Everest VIT/GE IT, Pearpoint, Rigid, Machida or any of the rest, call us at 800.281.0650 or email us at info@atlas-inspection.com. 

We have added the Pearpoint P571 EX system to our rental pool.  This is a 500’ push camera system that works great for 4”-24” pipe lines.  It comes with brushes for centering and an extra light head for larger pipe diameters.  The camera carries an EX rating but it is only in effect when you have an EX trained operator.  If you have an EX application and you don’t have an EX trained operator, contact us and we will arrange for one of our EX trained inspectors to go with the shipment.

I recently returned from the 2008 Aviation Industry Expo in Dallas Texas.  Phil Bedard, Darren Billings and I manned booth 331 March 18 – 20, 2008. This annual event is directed toward aviation line services and along with the hundreds of exhibitors, there were training seminars, a “Maintenance Summit”, numerous speakers, a maintenance skills competition, and a golf tournament that raised funds for AMT scholarships. Interestingly, of the equipment we brought to exhibit, the new 4mm Itools and SnakeEye III  captured the most excitement;  the 4mm Itool mainly for small GT inspection and the SnakeEyeIII for just about everything else including airframes, trucks, ground support equipment maintenance.  These are two great scopes to help meet inspection needs for two different markets and two different price points. The SnakeEye III starts at about $3500.  These units are bright yellow, water proof, can handle temps between 14̊ F and140̊ F and weigh less than 2 lbs! It is a really easy unit to use. Needless to say lots of people were interested in buying them. Aqua, the manufacturer of SnakeEye IIIs and IIs, said they have sold more than 10,000 units. The other scope we brought was the recently released IT Concepts 4mm. It looks exactly like their 6mm and 8mm units, but can enter even smaller diameters than their current models. IT Concepts is quickly making a name for itself as a provider of videoscopes with superb image quality, ease of use, and portability. This one has amazing resolution: 77K pixels and video integration for optimal light capture. It was so new that there weren’t any brochures or press releases out on it at the time we took it to the tradeshow.  We were excited to be able to get one of the first ones and to show it to the AS3 crowd. The 4mm is going to make the competition very uncomfortable – it does it all – and does it for a lot less money than any comparable unit.  Even though this unit was just unveiled the beginning of March there are several standing orders for it as IT Concepts ramps up production. Just about everyone that saw these units were interested in buying one or the other. It always feels good to bring new products that do so well at the shows

I want to let you all know we have recently perfected a new technique to repair failed LED lights on Olympus MX videoscopes.  The MX is a nice video borescope system from Olympus that uses LED lights.  The LED lights enable the videoscope to be very portable and to operate for an extended period on batteries.  The problem with these particular MX scopes is that sometimes half of the LED lights burn out.  One Olympus MX owner got an estimate from Olympus Repair in the $8,000-$10,000 range; with the recommendation to replace the entire scope portion of the system.  Then the owner of the scope called us. We were able to repair and or restore 3 of the 4 burned out lights. Now we’ve perfected the technique and are able to get all lights working for a total cost of around $2,000.