FLIR Systems has announced that its thermal imaging cameras have proved useful for measuring when a beer cask is nearing empty.
As summer festival season gets underway, for many, a pint of real ale is the drink of choice to quench the thirst. But when demand is high it’s especially important for a bartender to know when the gravity fed cask is nearing empty.
The traditional prevention methods are to manually record the number of units dispensed from the cask coupled with dipstick testing to double-check the level, which is said to be laborious and time consuming.
One solution that is reported as becoming increasingly popular is thermal imaging. This technology is said to be used throughout multiple industries in all manner of fault finding applications as well as for inspecting vessels and monitoring their content level.
FLIR Systems has been aiming to roll out its thermal imaging technology to a much wider audience, with the development of its Lepton micro-detector which is the size of a SIM card. This has enabled the thermal imaging to be incorporated into meters for the trades as well as smartphones.
The technology was recently put to the test at the Cambridge Beer Festival where thermal imaging expert, Allister Pirrie from Stanburys Limited, was invited to demonstrate the scope of the technology at the event.
Allister explained: “I met one of the organisers at a completely unrelated trade show where I was using thermal imaging to confirm the energy efficiency of a new pipe lagging system. A guy in the audience then asked if the camera would be able to detect fluid level in beer casks and I ended up putting the camera through its paces at the festival. The images show how clearly the beer level can be seen in the cask and there is a range of FLIR cameras available from Stanburys suitable for the job including the entry level FLIR C2 and FLIR C3 fully-featured, pocket sized thermal imaging cameras.
“Another big benefit of thermal imaging is that it is not restricted to a single application. It can also, for example, be used to take a temperature measurement of the beer from the face of the cask or the gas cylinder level on a barbecue.”
