The most common cause of electrical failures and arc flash incidents is poor busbar:busbar joints and cable terminations.
A compromised joint can only be identified by the excess heat it generates. Not to confuse ‘excess heat’ with ‘heat rise’, Exertherm sensors measure the Delta T (?T). Sensors are permanently installed inside energised electrical equipment to directly view and continuously monitor the condition of critical joints.
Exertherm 24x7 monitoring detects hotspots at an early stage of development preventing downtime caused by electrical failure and arc flash incidents.
What are the benefits of permanent Exertherm® IR sensor system over periodic?
| Periodic Thermal Imaging/Windows |
Permanent Exertherm® IR Sensor System |
|
|---|---|---|
| Inspection Frequency | Typically, 1 day out of 365 = <1% of time | 24x7/365 = 100% of time |
| % Chance of Problem Detection | 0.27% | 100% |
| Positioning | External | Internal |
| View | Limited | Unlimited - direct line of sight |
| Reliability | Dependent on luck/correllation | Continuous reliable data |
| Availability | Data is not integrated or real-time | Real-time data - integrated to BMS/EMS/SCADA |
| Safety | Places operator at risk | Increases facility/operator safety |
| Self-diagnostics | Operator dependent | Automatic |
| Low Load | Extremely difficult to detect faults | Load related alarm thresholds |
What does Exertherm® Thermal Monitoring provide?
- Increased operator & facility safety
- Increased operational uptime
- Reduced risk of fire/explosion resulting from Arc Flash
- Real-time data = improved critical asset integrity
- Reduced unplanned maintenance
- OEM vendor neutral
- Suitable for retrofit or new-build
- Enhanced protection for critical circuits operating at low load
