Flir infrared cameras have come down in price recently, and have therefor become much more popular for many different people. It’s only been a relatively short time that IR cameras have been inexpensive enough and simple enough in design to appeal to a wider user base.
These days, the most inexpensive flir cameras cost only two or three thousand dollars. It’s not too surprising then that infrared cameras have become so popular for many different people and uses.
As interest in energy efficiency continues to rise, as do energy costs themselves, IR cameras are frequently used for home energy audits. In fact, most home energy auditors include an infrared camera as part of their standard tool set.
Infrared cameras are able to see the heat emitted from an object, and hence can see how heat moves through the walls of a house. During a home energy audit, users can see areas of missing insulation in a wall, leaky windows, and other gaps in the building envelop integrity.
Electrical system inspections are also a very popular use for IR cameras, and common faults that result in an increase in resistance. The camera can see the heat produced by the increased resistance. Infrared thermographers are able to detect bad fuses, circuit breakers, and faulty connections that both waste energy and are potentially very dangerous. For this reason, insurance companies often require regular infrared audits of electrical systems, or offer a large discount on premiums for doing so.
Infrared cameras are even becoming more and more popular in human medicine, particularly in early breast cancer detection.Breast cancer detection is another area of human medicine where infrared has made significant progress. Before breast cancer develops to the extent a tumor can be detected with a mammogram, small changes and increased blood flow can be detected in the infrared. Infrared is also completely passive. The infrared camera is also much less expensive than other breast cancer detection equipment.


