n TECHNOLOGY 22 September 2026 www.drivesncontrols.com FLIR HAS COLLABORATED with a German thermography specialist, edevis, to develop an automated inspection system that will allow manufacturers to identify structural defects in real time that traditional point‑based methods or standard sensors often miss. The automated non‑destructive testing (NDT) technology, based on a cooled MWIR (mid-wave infrared) camera, is said to offer is a reliable, contactless, and repeatable inspection process that works at modern production speeds. It provides manufacturers with a powerful tool to ensure product integrity and reduce scrap. In a variety of industries, hidden flaws such as grinding burn, coating delamination, adhesion failures, and subsurface irregularities can compromise product integrity. Conventional inspection techniques typically examine only small areas, leaving critical defects undetected. The Flir–edevis approach offers full‑surface, high‑speed thermal inspection delivers results “within seconds”. At the heart of the system is Flir’s A6450 MWIR camera, designed for continuous operation in demanding industrial environments. Its long‑life cooler, rated for 27,000 hours, combined with its high‑speed imaging capabilities, allow precise temperature measurements and rapid capturing of thermal responses – key to identifying subsurface defects. When paired with edevis’laser‑based excitation and thermography software, the system reveals structural anomalies invisible to the human eye and difficult to detect using conventional sensors. “Manufacturers are under increasing pressure to automate more of their quality assurance processes, while maintaining absolute reliability,” explains Flir’s global vertical director, Mathew Hasty. “The A6450 is designed for exactly these environments. Combined with edevis’ active thermography, it delivers real‑time insight into structural behaviour that helps customers catch defects earlier and keep production moving.” “Our mission is to make high‑precision NDT fully automated, fast, and easy to integrate,” adds edevis’ managing director, Alexander Dillenz. “Flir’s A6450 gives us the thermal performance and long‑term stability required for continuous industrial use. Together, we’re enabling manufacturers to detect defects that would otherwise remain hidden and to do so at the speed their production lines demand.” High-speed thermal camera reveals hidden defects on production lines THE GREEK IOT CONTROLLER SPECIALIST ERQOS has launched a CE-certified MicroPLC designed to tackle an automation pain point – connecting machine-level control and industrial I/O directly to modern IP and MQTT-based systems. It says that conventional micro-PLCs were created for an era when control systems lived entirely inside panels and usually need gateways, protocol converters, or polling servers to join connected architectures. The EQSP32CE controller brings Internet-xera communications into the controller, eliminating much of this complexity. The DIN-rail controller’s native wired Ethernet and Wi‑Fi provide direct IP connections for Modbus TCP, MQTT, cloud storage, AI analytics, remote diagnostics, OTA firmware updates, and supervisory integration. It includes protected RS-485, RS-232, and CANbus interfaces, supporting Modbus RTU, DMX512, custom serial protocols, and CAN‑based comms. Each of the controller’s 16 I/O terminals can be assigned in software, rather than being fixed at the factory. All terminals can operate as digital inputs or solid-state outputs, while the first eight also support analogue modes, including 0–10V, 4–20mA, relative analogue inputs, and thermistor temperature sensing. The controller has one of the widest realworld I/O capabilities available for a microPLC, allowing it to drive and monitor relays, valves, pumps, actuators, sensors, counters, meters and other field devices, directly. “The shift in automation has been unmistakable,” says Erqos CTO, Cosma Pabouctsidis. “Early adopters showed us that systems requiring cloud connectivity, MQTT integration, remote diagnostics, and AI-driven analytics are moving faster than traditional PLC architectures can technically and economically support. We built the EQSP32CE to deliver the rugged reliability of a micro-PLC with the native Internet-era capabilities that automation engineers and system integrators now consider essential.” The EQSP32CE addresses another common pain point: field commissioning. Using its Bluetooth capability, a smartphone app establishes a connection to the micro-PLC, allowing installers to provide Wi-Fi credentials, set timezones, configure MQTT broker credentials, and monitor I/O states and operating modes in real time. In many installations, these commissioning and diagnostic tasks can be performed without having to open the panel or connect a programming cable. The controller is available from Erqos online at €155 in single-unit quantities. Volume pricing is available for OEMs. https://erqos.com Micro-PLC connects to IP and MQTT, thus ‘solving an automation pain point’ The cooled MWIR camera detects structural anomalies in real time Erqos’ micro-PLC has been designed for modern automation applications
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