RealWear Navigator 520 + Thermal Camera
See the problem.
Diagnose it faster.
Prove the repair.
A hands-free inspection, diagnostic and support platform for refrigeration engineers — not just a headset. Thermal and visual inspection, technical information, digital workflow and live expert support, all voice-operated, all on one rugged wearable.
Live thermal readout · illustrative
Why it matters on a refrigeration job
Three reasons engineers keep it on
See heat patterns invisible to the naked eye
Scan compressors, motors, bearings, pipework and cold-room fabric for abnormal thermal behaviour before it becomes a breakdown. Thermal imaging is an established troubleshooting technique across HVAC/R — it helps an engineer narrow down where to look, and then prove the fix worked.
FLIR Lepton sensor · −20°C–400°C range · MSX image enhancement
No dropped tools, no removed gloves
Navigator 520 is voice-operated by design. Pull up manuals, checklists or a live video call while both hands stay on the compressor, the panel, or the ladder — in plant rooms, cold stores and loud mechanical spaces alike.
IP66 · MIL‑STD‑810H · hot-swap battery · 4-mic array to 100 dBA
Escalate without a second van on the road
An unfamiliar compressor or an intermittent control fault doesn't need a second site visit. The engineer streams their own view to a senior colleague or manufacturer contact and keeps both hands on the job while they talk it through.
First-person live video & two-way audio · works over existing 4G/Wi‑Fi
Where it earns its keep
Refrigeration use cases
This is where the case for refrigeration is stronger than a generic industrial-wearables pitch: every one of these is a job your engineers already do.
Compressor inspection
Heat patterns across housings, motors and bearings can point to abnormal operating conditions before they show up as a fault call.
Electrical inspection
Panels, contactors, terminals and connections scanned for hot spots that indicate a loose connection or an imbalance — a well-established thermography use case.
Condensers & evaporators
Compare temperature patterns across coils to spot fouling, airflow problems or icing without pulling the unit apart first.
Fans, motors & bearings
Rotating equipment often runs hot before it runs loud. Thermal patterns give an early read on developing mechanical or electrical wear.
Cold rooms & cabinets
Identify thermal bridges, damaged insulation and failing door seals — the same principle FLIR documents in commercial cold-storage inspections.
Preventative maintenance
Add thermal inspection to planned visits instead of waiting for a failure. Repeatable images build a real condition history per asset.
Remote diagnostics
Stream a first-person view to senior engineers, a manufacturer or technical support — no phone to hold, no camera to steady.
Service documentation
Visual and thermal evidence captured before, during and after a repair, tied to the customer, asset and visit.
Guided inspections
Checklists, manuals and step-by-step workflow presented in the engineer's display while their hands stay on the equipment.
Thermal Camera Module
See what the eye can't see
Many refrigeration faults reveal themselves through temperature, long before they show up as a breakdown. Instead of reaching for a separate camera, the engineer looks at the equipment, calls up the thermal view by voice, and captures the evidence on the spot.
- SensorFLIR thermal sensor with MSX — overlays visible detail onto the thermal image for sharper, easier-to-read scans.
- Range−20°C to 400°C measurement range, IP66-rated, paired with a 48MP visual camera.
- OutputRadiometric JPEG files — temperature data is retained in the image for later analysis, not just a flattened screenshot.
- RatingStandard module is not intrinsically safe. For classified hazardous areas, RealWear's Navigator Z1 with Thermal Camera is ATEX Zone 1 certified.
Every visit becomes a record
Capture the problem. Capture the repair. Capture the proof.
A service visit generates information worth keeping. Build a visual and thermal record around the work itself, not just a job sheet that says "all fine on leaving site."
Before
Capture the equipment's starting condition, visually and thermally.
Inspect
Scan compressor, panel, coil and pipework for abnormal readings.
Diagnose
Cross-reference against normal diagnostic instruments and history.
Repair
Work hands-free with manuals or a remote expert on-screen.
Verify
Re-scan to confirm the fault is actually resolved, not just quieter.
Report
Attach the evidence to customer, site, asset and visit automatically.
When the engineer needs a second opinion
Bring your most experienced engineer to every job
Experience is unevenly distributed across a refrigeration team. RealWear's value here isn't refrigeration-specific yet — it's proven in adjacent field-service sectors, and the mechanism transfers directly.
HARDI's technicians used Navigator 520 to support customers as far afield as Japan and South Africa remotely, resolving cases in roughly 90 minutes on average and avoiding an on-site dispatch that HARDI estimates at around €5,000 a trip.
RealWear press release, HARDI International — case study cited for illustrative context, not a refrigeration result.BMW deployed RealWear across 347 US centres and selected MINI dealers, with some repairs completed up to 75% faster once technicians could bring in remote support instead of waiting for a specialist to travel.
RealWear client case study, BMW of North America — automotive, shown for scale of deployment, not a refrigeration figure.Why we're not quoting a refrigeration case study
There isn't yet a large published body of RealWear customer evidence specific to refrigeration. We think that's an opportunity for an early Metro customer, not a reason to wait — the underlying mechanism (hands-free capture, remote escalation) is proven in comparable field-service settings.
What transfers directly
Voice-operated capture, live first-person video to a remote expert, and radiometric evidence attached to a job record are all generic to field service — they don't depend on the asset being a car, a tractor, or a compressor.
From reactive to condition-based
Build a thermal history of every asset
Regular thermal inspection helps an engineer learn what "normal" looks like for a specific compressor, panel or cold room — so a change stands out well before it becomes a callout.
FLIR's own cold-storage material documents this directly: a facility using scheduled thermal inspection identified insulation leakage and electrical hot spots early, catching problems before they escalated into major repairs.
Reference: FLIR cold-storage case study (Gubba Cold Storage) — a FLIR customer example, cited for the technique, not a Metro or RealWear result.
A repeatable planned-maintenance route
Compressor
Motor
Electrical panel
Condenser
Evaporator
Cold-room envelope
Same route, same order, every visit — so the images stack up into a comparison, not a one-off snapshot.
Technology is only useful if engineers use it
Why Metro, not just the box
Field feedback on RealWear devices is consistently strong on ruggedness and remote collaboration, and more mixed on day-to-day ease of use for engineers new to voice control. That's a deployment and training problem, not a hardware one — and it's exactly where a specialist reseller earns its margin.
Configuration around your workflow
We set the device up around the inspections your engineers already do, not a generic out-of-the-box demo.
Training that sticks
Voice commands and display positioning take a short adjustment period. We build that into rollout rather than leaving engineers to work it out alone.
Spares, batteries and support
Hot-swap batteries, chargers and device management handled as an ongoing service, not a one-off purchase.
A route into digital workflow
We can connect capture to a structured record — customer, site, asset, fault, corrective action — as your reporting needs grow.
The managed solution
Everything needed to put it to work, not just a headset
- RealWear Navigator 520
- Thermal Camera Module
- Spare battery & charging dock
- Workflow & software configuration
- Engineer training & onboarding
- Ongoing device management & support
Ready when you are
See it. Diagnose it.
Prove it. Fix it.
Discover what RealWear could do for your refrigeration engineers.
Book a Demonstration · www.metrocomms.co.uk