WYANDOTTE -- Detecting heat patterns has turned into a colorful career for Process Technologies Inc., specialists in using infrared thermography for commercial applications.

Thermography is photography using infrared cameras to detect heat patterns. While it is used widely in military and medical applications, Process Technologies Inc. has made it applicable on the commercial level, said Dennis Walker, founder and president.

"We got into the infrared photography and that's what we ended up specializing in," says Walker. "We believe the industry, in Michigan, is not completely developed yet, there's a lot of potential there."

While large companies such as General Motors may have staff trained in thermography, Walker says most companies can't afford to purchase equipment and hire trained employees, so they look to a contractor such as himself.

G. Raymond Peacock, a physicist and consultant on temperature measurement devices in Southampton, Pa., says thermography is an important tool because it makes heat patterns visible. "You can determine where heat is being wasted or where it's being generated where it shouldn't. It can detect internal flaws in materials."

Peacock says without using thermography many flaws aren't detected easily in advance of a major breakdown. "You can't see a hot spot of a 100 degreesbut thermography can pick it up."

Historically, electrical utilities and manufacturing companies that use heat intensive processes such as in the metal, paper or plastic industries, have used the technology.

But Peacock says the applications have grown beyond that. "It's growing very rapidly in the commercial arena, particularly in the commercial building areas, such as for inspections.

Advance in technology have fueled the growth. Walker says 10 years ago infrared technology would have been prohibitive for him to provide to customers due to cost and cumbersomeness. Breakthroughs made the equipment much more compact and cheaper. Early devices -- which used liquid nitrogen to cool the equipment --were bulky and required a cart.

"In the 80s we had what we call self-cooling cameras where they were as big as a movie camera that held a VHS tape. That changed everything."

Christine Snyder is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.