MRO Today - A tool for tight spaces and dark places

A tool for tight spaces and dark places

Every plant has tight places — in, around and under machinery; in ceilings, walls and floors; inside ducts; in and around piping. These are places where your head doesn’t fit, no matter how hard you try.

So, how do you troubleshoot or check up on the health of these places without orchestrating a full-blown shutdown and taking the area apart?

Flashlights only get you so far.

Mirrors can help look into these spots, but only when there’s adequate lighting.

A cool solution is Tool-Vu, a portable, self-contained inspection system from Nature Vision Inc. of Brainerd, Minn.

Tool-Vu saves work time (as well as head and neckaches) by being able to get in and see in those tight places and dark spaces. Now you can perform more thorough pre-job inspections and closer scrutiny of completed work in cramped quarters.

OK, you ask, what is this tool, and how does it work?

Tool-Vu uses a miniature CCD (charged coupled device) camera that is positioned on the end of a 30-inch flexible gooseneck. The camera has a built-in on/off infrared light source. An adjustable-focus lens allows for 10x magnification and small-parts inspection.

The gooseneck is connected to a 4-inch display unit that allows you to see what the camera sees. The unit runs on a 12-volt battery.

If you wish, you can also run a cable from the unit to a video camera and record your findings. Play back the video and come up with the required maintenance plan for the machine, HVAC system, whatever.

A complete Tool-Vu system is around $400.

— Paul V. Arnold