Infrared Thermography Predictive and preventive maintenance

Introduction
In the past two decades electronic and information technologies have made dramatic progress in the diagnosis, location of failures and setting of alarms on the instrumented safety loop components that show operating errors. However there are still circumstances where this technology might be powerless or may report sporadic and fugitive diagnosis errors or alarms that are difficult to capture and explain. Any unintentional interruption in a continuous process plant can cause significantly adverse effects to production. Any unwanted shutdown and subsequent start up has an immediate impact on operation and productivity and places stress on the installation. In addition, these circumstances may have a further impact on the environment and human lives. Evidence of the cause of these circumstances may be a simple abnormal temperature change or variation on a device. Infrared Thermography campaigns on installed instrumentation, safety loops, (including electric cabinets, powering systems, as well as on sensitive equipment) can very easily predict and prevent costly failure scenarios from occurring.

Typical Situations
All installed equipment and instrumented safety loops are part of an evolving environment and during their life-cycle the following will occur: Upgrades Maintenance Extension Wear Renovation Miscellaneous actions*

* Human errors, third party actions, lightning strike damages, etc.

All these listed events can have an effect on the electric wiring cabinets, marshalling systems and powering systems. Given that corroded cables, loose connections and overloaded wires are all heat producers, Infrared Thermography technology is particularly effective for identifying and locating electrical problems, as all defective electrical connections and overloaded conductors produce excess heat in proportion to the current flow.

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DI / DO ESD system
Possible Causes - Loose connection - Corroded wire - Overloaded conductor

V2= Input Value

Marshalling Termination V1 Power Supply V V2 Actuator

Possible Consequences Erroneous measured value Accidental shutdown condition Under estimated power supply size Under estimated circuit breaker size Under estimated ventilation size

Figure1. Examples of electrical problem conditions

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IR Thermography Technology
Originally Infrared Thermography technology came from military research and its application was reserved for military purposes only. Industry discovered its value for plant maintenance in the late 70s and early 80s, when Infrared cameras became smaller and more affordable. Infrared Thermography technology principle is straightforward: all objects emit infrared energy. Only a portion under certain conditions is visible to the naked eye; for example when the temperature on the surface of an object is very high, like molten metals in ambient air. Using an infrared Camera / Imager it is possible to visualize the thermal map of the object and measure the temperature without contact., also on component under 0 C.

Figure2. Examples of Infrared Pictures indicating electrical problems.

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Advantages
Infrared Thermography technology offers many advantages, such as being: Non-intrusive, no disturbances to the plant process Non-destructive, no action on the devices/equipment Free from schedule, survey can be conducted at any time Safe, picture records can be made from a distance, away from hazards Multi-talented, capture transient or permanent temperature differences Universal*, any plant device or circuit can be surveyed Priority, timely repair action based on the temperature level on the part surface
* Infrared sensors cannot detect radiating energy waves through glass or Plexiglas. In most cases, this constraint is easily manageable.

Solutions
Qualified and trained personnel with high quality Infrared imager or camera equipment and software application can easily and promptly survey an electric installation. Experienced personnel evaluate thermal images to always give the correct interpretation of the results. Infrared inspections can be part of predictive and preventive maintenance programs or take place for locating electrical faults in the early stages that may not otherwise be clearly diagnosed and identified by information systems or traditional troubleshooting methods. AT99, as a maintenance specialist company, has developed survey and maintenance programs that can meet your requirements for detecting the sources of a problem or simply verify the integrity of your installation. AT99 operates various maintenance contracts including predictive and preventive Infrared Termography inspections with the following references: Polimeri Europa Isab Energy Saras Sarlux

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Other Applications:

Continuity of electrical systems Corrosion on steam pipelines Integrity of bearings in rotating equipment Integrity of insulation of boilers, furnaces and ovens Integrity of pipelines Integrity of refractory of furnaces and ovens Regularity of process flow Check any normal or abnormal conditions that can be revealed by symptomatic temperature levels.

Figure3. Examples of Infrared Pictures in other applications.

For further details please contact us at: Via Galvani, 2 Nova Milanese 20054 (MI) Italy Tel +39 0362 364 547 Fax +39 0362 364 544 E-mail info@at99.it

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