Thermographic testing uses infrared detection and mapping to identify temperature changes in operations, heat flows through equipment, and temperature comparisons for various components and areas. Infrared thermographic testing detects thermal waves that are invisible to the naked eye. When electrical resistance occurs, heat is produced. Thermography analysis can help pinpoint heat sources and helps to evaluate critical power systems for possible points of failure. This predictive maintenance service is crucial to uncovering issues that cause excessive heat buildup, heat leakage from individual components and heat loss within cooling systems.

Infrared thermography is a test that can be utilised to identify unbalanced loads, poor connections, deteriorated insulation or any other issues in energized electrical panels or components without dismantling the components. These problems may lead to excess power use, increased maintenance costs, or catastrophic equipment failure resulting in unscheduled service interruptions, equipment damage, or other problems.

Thermography Testing of Electrical Panel Important….Why ?

The National Fire Protection Association ( NFPA)assesses that 10% of the fires happening are associated with electrical system failures, like failure of electrical insulation, terminals and related Parts. Electricity at Work Regulations Act 1989, Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and BS 7671 (IEE Wiring Regulations 17th Edition as amended) suggest that electrical infrastructure be regularly maintained and tested to ensure compliance with safety guidelines.

Performing an infrared testing will highlight problems with electrical infrastructure under load during the testing process as these areas will manifest as anomalous temperatures shown in the live image on the thermal imaging camera. Moreover, failures can result in employees to be bared to live electrical circuits, making them prone to severe injury or death from electrocution. By detecting high-resistance connections and repairing them, the likelihood of a breakdown of the electrical wires and related components will be reduced.

Other benefits of finding and fixing these faults are the cost effectiveness that comes from energy conservation and reduction in shutdown and repair charge. High resistance in circuits causes an increase in current flow. When current flow is increased, the resulting power consumption will increase. Additionally, large current draw can lead to severe electrical circuit components, like circuit breakers, fuses and transformers, to collapse prematurely. These failures result in higher maintenance and repair costs, and resultant business interruptions.