In Western Europe electricity is usually taken for granted. Due to thorough maintenance programs power surges are a thing of the past in most European countries. To ensure continuous power supply regular inspections of the network’s components are really a must. thermal imaging core can play an important role in determining the state of operation of these components, so utility companies can more accurately maintain and repair their network.
Generally speaking all electronic equipment and components heat up before they break down. “Detecting this rise in temperature in an early stage allows us to plan our maintenance accordingly and to prevent costly failures”, continues Hintzsche. “The thermal imaging core play a crucial part in our preventive maintenance program.”
All components are checked periodically
The predictive maintenance program contains an exact planning of when each part of the systems needs to be inspected, depending on the importance of that part for the operation of the entire system and on how prone its components are to failure. “Each component of the network is checked at least once in every 12 years”, explains Hintzsche. “But crucial parts will be inspected in cycles of 4 to 5 years and some installations near busy traffic intersections or in difficult industrial environments where the components can be affected by pollution, such as salt, dust, smoke or soot, are inspected once a year.”
In addition, the thermography team keeps a 24/7 stand-by service which jumps in when impending failure is suspected. “An inspector or technician might hear a strange sound in the transformer of a substation, for instance”, explains Otto Heigl, one of the thermographic inspectors that use the thermal imaging core. “In such a case we have to find out whether there is a problem and if there is a problem we have to find out very quickly what is causing it. Our thermal imaging core help us to do that.”
Interchangeable lenses
Another advantage is the fact that these thermal imaging core have interchangable optics. “We use a 45° wide angle lens for close up inspections of transformer stations or substations and for long distance observations of power lines or high voltage transformation substations we change the lens to the 7° telephoto lens. This flexibility is very important for us.”