There is a camera for virtually any task that needs doing. In the case of industries that operate out of hard-to-reach places and work with small components, a special type of eye is required. Remote inspection equipment allows researchers and investigators to displace their vision closer to their target using a remote camera.
The first versions were created in a lab in the 1960s and were coined borescopes. Borescopes feature a tiny camera at the end of a length of pie or cord. Unsurprisingly, this technology has been in use every decade since its invention and has applications across many industries. There are three different types of remote inspection equipment that are most common: rigid borescopes, flexible borescopes, and videoscopes.
Rigid Borescopes
The earliest form of borescopes was rigid. This device places a camera at the end of a barrel of metal. Different diameters of camera and barrel exist to service the many needs of the industries that utilize this type. Rigid types are most used to probe the interior of shafts and pipes.
This allows manufacturers to inspect for any flaws not apparent on the exterior. More advanced models exist today, which include a viewing screen mounted into the handle. Typically, this type of borescope requires an external light source and a viewing screen.
Flexible Borescopes
Of the different types of remote inspection equipment, the flexible variant is the more famous. There are even hobbyist models available for curious people. The main highlight of this invention is the revolutionary application of fiberoptics as the means to transfer the data of observed images. This allows the camera to be mounted at the end of a length of fiber optic cord.
What makes this so useful is the camera can be fed down twisting pathways inside machinery. This allows workers to check for flaws and diagnose issues without having to disassemble what they are observing.
Videoscopes
The final type of borescope is the videoscope. This device boasts a much more advanced camera setup up. Like flexible borescopes, the camera is also positioned at the end of a cord. The lens is focusable and often the tip of the cord can be rotated. Furthermore, the video quality of this type is much improved over its counterparts. It is more comparable to a basic end-user camera, which is ideal for observing in detail.
The complexity of this device means the better models tend to consist of independent parts that connect up to a high-resolution external model, such as a computer screen. However, handheld models still do exist which feature quality mini-screens.
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