Advanced applications, analysis and reporting
Domain 3 - Advanced applications, analysis and reporting
This domain tests application judgment and defensible reporting: electrical and mechanical fault patterns, building envelope and moisture surveys, analysis tools, root-cause limits, and report content.
Core rules
- Electrical hot spots often reflect loose connections, overload, imbalance, or harmonics; mechanical hot spots can reflect lubrication loss, misalignment, belt tension, or bearing damage. Confirm with load, vibration, ultrasound, or resistance tests.
- Use level/span, isotherms, spot/box/line tools, ΔT, and trend. Correct ε, reflected temperature, distance, humidity, and transmission before quantitative claims.
- Building work requires steady indoor/outdoor ΔT, low solar load, and knowledge of thermal bridging, air leakage, and latent moisture. A cold patch alone does not prove moisture.
- Reports need scope, equipment ID, load, ambient, method, standards, ε and corrections, severity, images with temperature scale, limitations, and specific recommendations.
Worked example
A motor bearing housing reads 95 °C; a similar motor at the same load reads 70 °C; ambient is 25 °C. The ΔT is 25 K, but check painted-surface ε (about 0.95), distance, reflected heat from the coupling, and load first. If those are valid, report a probable lubrication or alignment issue and recommend vibration analysis - not a failed bearing. State the limitation and the verification step.
Traps
Overinterpreting one hot pixel; choosing a rainbow palette that hides subtle ΔT; omitting the temperature scale; claiming moisture without verification; reporting without load data; and failing to state limitations or recommended action.