Streamlined Asset Condition Assessment

The MentorLens app running on iXX-Series thermal imaging cameras brings AI-driven asset condition assessment directly into the equipment monitoring process.

FLIR announced the worldwide availability of the MentorLens® app by MentorAPM on its professional-grade iXX-Series thermal imaging cameras, bringing AI-driven asset condition assessment directly onto the camera. Developed by MentorAPM, a provider of asset performance-management software for critical infrastructure, the app allows maintenance and reliability teams to capture nameplate, condition and thermal imagery on a single device and send it straight to the asset record, without the file transfers and manual data entry that have long slowed condition monitoring programs.

In industrial operations, the value of a thermal inspection is determined less by the image itself than by what happens to it afterward. Files are moved from an SD card to a laptop, thermal metadata is altered or lost along the way, and findings end up in a folder rather than in the system where maintenance work is actually planned.

Running natively on the iXX-Series, the MentorLens app removes that handoff: Images upload from the camera directly to the asset record with their thermal data intact, and technicians can create new assets or update existing ones without leaving the camera. All Flir imaging and hardware controls remain available, including MSX, palette selection, lamp and laser, so the same device that captures the thermogram also captures the nameplate photo and the condition photo.

Once the images are synced, MentorLens processes them automatically. Nameplate and tag data is transcribed into standard asset attributes, visual imagery is scored for condition, and thermal imagery is measured against operating baselines taken from the asset's own nameplate data or from manufacturer manuals. Reports return observed anomalies, temperature readings and recommended actions, and because previous assessments for the same asset are carried into the analysis, degradation is tracked across inspections rather than judged one image at a time.

“Customers don't need more inspection data. They need actionable information that helps them prevent downtime and make better maintenance decisions," stated Flir’s John Gould, senior director of Strategic Business Development. "With MentorAPM integrated into the iXX-Series workflow, thermal findings become part of a broader asset health picture. Data is automatically evaluated against previous conditions and delivered to the teams responsible for maintenance planning, enabling earlier intervention and more effective predictive maintenance programs.”

The benefits go beyond the inspection itself. Condition and thermal results feed the MentorLens platform, where rules can automatically trigger preventive work orders and where condition history, work history and SCADA events are held against the same asset record. Reports are exported as standardized PDFs, and the underlying data can be pushed by API into an existing CMMS or EAM system, so operators are not obliged to change their system of record in order to benefit. Every AI-assisted workflow keeps a human in the loop, with a person confirming what is committed against the asset.

“For most operators the hardest part of asset management is still the most basic one, which is knowing what you own and what condition it is in,” according to MentorAPM CEO Tacoma Zach. “Putting our app on the iXX-Series means high-quality thermal data now enters that picture at the point of capture, from the same technician and the same device. In plants where downtime is measured in millions of dollars an hour, the payback on that is very quick.”

First proven in water and wastewater utilities, the combination is now being adopted in manufacturing, metals, and oil and gas, where thermographic inspection has typically been outsourced to specialist contractors at considerable expense. MentorAPM reports that customers using MentorLens achieve up to 10x faster field data collection and cost savings of more than 75 percent against conventional condition assessment methods.

The MentorLens app is available worldwide now for Flir iXX-Series users with a MentorAPM subscription.

Learn more at www.mentorapm.com