A cold and frosty morning in Doncaster at Blyton Park Driving Centre – out with the drones and the BBC One Show team filming an article about potholes!
The One Show’s presenter Iwan Thomas presents the piece and overseas the competition judged by some eminent people in their field, Victoria Hazael (Cycling UK), Vince Crain (The AA), Keith Jones (Institution of Civil Engineers). The filming took place on Blyton Race Track in Lincolnshire, where three large potholes were repaired and reviewed. They will be testing out pothole repair technologies on the racing circuit itself and we will be providing supporting cinematography from an aerial perspective!
Watch the One Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPqk2OEMYpU
Bird Droppings, Lichen or a Cell Fault? How a Drone Solar Survey Tells Them Apart
Bird droppings and lichen both make solar cells run warm, and on a thermal image either can look like a genuine module defect. This article explains how each deposit presents, why a dropping can resemble a single cell anomaly and lichen at the frame can resemble an electrical edge pattern, and how a Level III thermographer separates surface growth from faults using the visual image, distribution and symmetry, so every finding reaches the right person.
Missing Insulation, Thermal Bridge or Air Leak: How a Drone Heat Loss Survey Tells Them Apart
A warmer patch on a heat loss thermogram can mean missing insulation, a thermal bridge or an air leak, and each sends the owner to a different specialist. This post explains how a Level III thermographer tells them apart, reading the shape and edges of each pattern against the construction of the building rather than the colour alone, why glass and metal can mislead, and why classification, not the picture, is the real value of a drone heat loss survey.
Why a Building Has to Settle Before a Heat Loss Survey: Thermal Mass Explained
A heat loss survey needs more than a cold night. It also needs a building heated steadily for long enough that heat is flowing through the walls at a settled rate. Thermal mass delays and dampens any change, so a building imaged while it is still warming up shows patterns that look like defects and are not. This post explains what thermal mass does to a thermogram and why the heating regime is agreed before a date is set.
