Case Study: Inspecting and Fixing a Circuit Breaker

Overview:

A Sydney-based company asked Thermal Scanners to check their electrical equipment due to occasional power outages. They wanted to prevent any electrical issues causing downtime or expensive repairs. Our expert came to the site and thoroughly examined the business’s electrical systems using electrical thermal inspection technology.

Finding the Issue:

The expert found a heat-related problem with a circuit breaker in an electrical panel during the inspection (see image below). Using a thermal imager, they discovered an unusually high temperature, which showed the circuit breaker’s cable connection was getting too hot. The expert informed the maintenance manager and suggested an immediate fix to prevent further damage or safety risks.

Sub-board electrical panel showing thermal fault at circuit breaker cable connection

Repairing the Problem:

The business manager approved the repair, and an on-site electrician quickly addressed the issue. After examining the circuit breaker, the electrician found a loose connection causing the heat problem. They tightened the connection and tested the circuit breaker to ensure it worked properly.

Verifying the Fix:

The expert performed another thermal inspection 20 minutes later and confirmed that the issue was resolved. The thermal imager showed a normal temperature, meaning the circuit breaker was no longer overheating. Thermal Scanners gave the business owner a detailed report of the repair, including before and after thermal images, and suggestions for maintaining the system to prevent future issues.

Sub-board electrical panel showing thermal fault at circuit breaker cable connection

Conclusion:

This case study highlights the value of regular electrical thermal inspections to find potential problems and avoid costly downtime or safety risks. Detecting and quickly fixing the heat issue in the circuit breaker prevented more damage and safety hazards. The business owner was pleased with the inspection and repair process and now knows their electrical systems are working well and efficiently. Thermal Scanners serves many clients across different industries in the Greater Sydney area.

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Case Study Electrical – Industrial sites

During a recent annual routine electrical thermal scan of a major industrial worksite, Thermal Scanners helped to locate and identify multiple major faults within the existing electrical infrastructure.  Some of these included excessive temperature located on Isolators, Circuit Breakers, Overload / Contactor setup and relays.  Thermal Scanners’ completes scanning of this site yearly, and due to the high level of power demands and usage, different components experience problems every year.  The previous year six faults were identified whereas during this year of scanning 13 faults were found.

High level fault on 250 Amp Isolator identified during Thermal Scanning

One of the major faults found on site was on an overloader / contactor setup which controls the fans for a crucial cooling stack.  If this cooling stack had broken, it would have caused a complete site shutdown while the fault was found, identified and rectified.  Further as the fault was at such a high range, the potential for an electrical fire was very real, which could have caused millions of dollars in damage.

High level fault on a overloader / contactor setup found during Thermal Scanning

The temperature of the above overloader / contactor setup was causing excessive temperature in both of the adjacent components, which will reduce their lifespan and cause additional costs for maintenance and replacement.  Pictured below is the contactor which shows the inside of the component beginning to burn and melt the casing.

Inside of the contactor identified in the thermal scan above

Thermal Scanners were still on site after replacement of the component, as such we completed another scan on the affected electrical board. It was found that the problem had been resolved and the adjacent components were running at normal operating temperature. Due to the company utilising thermal scanning they were able to replace a faulty component that was going to experience imminent failure before causing a site wide shutdown.

Case study Solar Panel

Thermal Scanning is able to detect faults with photovoltaic solar systems that can’t be picked up by the naked eye.  During adverse weather events such as hail or large winds, solar panels can become damaged causing damage to either individual solar cells, strings of cells or entire panels. Thermal Scanners were contracted to find faults on a small residential solar system as previous tradespeople had been unable to determine which panels were the problem.  When on site multiple panels had been marked due to minor cracking from the hail, these are shown by the coloured circles in the thermal images below.

Solar Panels Without Faults

Thermal Imaging Of solar panels without any faults detected
Thermal Imaging Of solar panels without any faults detected

These thermograms show that during scanning there were no thermal faults detected on either of these panels even though a previous tradesperson had recommended replacement of both of these.  Problems appear on solar panels as either individual cells or a string of cells showing abnormal temperature compared to the rest.

Faulted Solar Panel

Thermal Imaging Of solar panels with a single faulty cell

The above image shows where a fault was identified on the residential solar system with an elevated temperature on a single cell.  In total Thermal Scanners identified two panels that had thermal faults whilst the tradesperson identified 8 – 10 panels.  This allowed the client to replace only the fault panels and have there solar system working at peak performance with the lowest cost to fix.

If you require scanning of your solar panels then please contact us for a no obligation quote today