What is Electrical Thermography?
Electrical Thermography is the detection of heat within electrical components, terminations and wiring of electrical infrastructure such as switchboards. The detection of the heat is completed with the use of an infrared scanner which is a specialised camera. The camera creates an image that can be interpreted by a trained operator to quickly identify problem areas, components or connections.
Electrical Thermography is utilised to examine the health of the electrical systems through a non-invasive and non-destructive testing method that is completed whilst the power is active. It helps to identify hotspots that can indicate potential problem areas where dangerous failures such as fires may occur. As Electrical Thermography is a non-contact method of fault finding, there is no interruption to the power supply or shutdowns required to complete the work.
What causes the problems in electrical systems?
- Underrated cables/equipment
- Rust and degradation
- Unbalanced loads
- Loose terminations
- Malfunctioning equipment
In this example, a three-pole circuit breaker was found to be operating at close to its maximum temperature limit. This was most likely due to the use of an underrated component for the amount of load required within the circuit. If this problem had not been identified there was a very real risk of having this fail during the operation of the warehouse causing a costly shutdown while the problem was identified and rectified.
What are some of the benefits of Electrical Thermography?
- Planning downtime for repairs during non-peak times to avoid interruption
- Identify overloaded circuits or underrated cables
- Reduce the cost of repairs by only replacing faulty components
- Minimise the risk of fire and damage due to failure of components
- Ensure the longevity of components through balanced loads
- Obtain insurance and reduce the premiums
Now that we understand some of the benefits of having Electrical Thermography completed on our electrical systems, we need to also understand what infrastructure and boards should be scanned.
What Boards need to be scanned?
- Switchboards
- Fuse boxes
- Control panels
- Mechanical services boards
- Power factor correction units
- Main Switch Boards (including all panels and sections)
- Sub-boards
What happens once the Electrical Thermography is completed?
When Thermal Scanners complete the Electrical Thermography work, the on-site technician will inform the site contact/manager of any major problems identified during the scan. From here insurance compliant report is completed that will detail all thermal anomalies on site and provide an overall picture of the health of your electrical infrastructure by providing at least 10% of all boards captured and analysed. The report is then checked for accuracy and quality by our head office before being sent off within a one-day turnaround window.