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Monday, March 17, 2014

Understanding The Importance Of Electrical Infrared Inspection

By Lisa Williamson


Proper management of an electrical system is a basic requirement considering just how a small mistake can turn out to be the cause of a disaster. Malfunctions can be caused by human errors during installation, vandalism or damages from physical elements. The only way out is periodic inspection with the aim or reveling flaws, points of weaknesses and other potential disasters well in advance for early repair. This process does not have to be time consuming and labor intensive as is normally the case when physical testing is done, instead it is prudent to resort to electrical infrared inspection that is highly effective and a significantly cheaper alternative.

Through this method of inspection, it is much easier to locate the underlying problem reducing downtime and equipment damage. It also come with additional benefits such as prevention of catastrophic failures well in advance, help establish repair priorities, improves preventive and maintenance efficiency and provides for testing under load hence avoiding costly shutdowns.

In normal distribution, infrared surveys should be conducted on annual basis and is considered part of a regular preventive and maintenance program. This form of testing makes it possible to inspect a large number of components within the shortest time possible locating the faulty items in the system that could not be located through the physical survey or testing.

The most common system components that are subject to periodic surveys include the bus ducts, the distribution panels, distribution centers, receptacle panels, the sub-feed panels, transformers, the switchgears, the lighting system, uninterruptible power supplies, the disconnects and several other related components. With infrared surveys, the faults, loose connections and any potential hazards in these components can easily be detected with the minimal time and cost.

Using the state of the art equipment deployed for scanning, thousands of components get inspected in a matter of hours with very accurate results. With very high rate of efficiency and effectiveness, most of engineers are now using this form of inspection. It cut down on staff needed for the job and increases profitability by a big margin. In fact, it has one to four returns on investment and as such, companies that hope to survive into the future have to adopt this technology.

Given that thousands of devices can be tested within hours, it has proven to be more convenient, highly effective and very efficient method of maintaining electrical system replacing the physical inspection. It is also endorsed by the National Fire Protection Association and the InterNational Electrical Testing Association among other bodies that now advocates for its use.

Among several benefits you stand to benefit from, there is the precise pinpointing of hotspots, reduced down time, elimination of unscheduled outages, reduced cost of energy due to efficiency and predictive or proactive approach to electrical maintenance program. The general reduction of resource deployed (human resources and finances) also translates to lower cost of energy.

It is important to trust the surveying services to a company that has expert engineers, the necessary machinery for the job and well proven track record in order to enjoy the full benefits of this new technology.




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