- Predictive monitoring is designed to identify an event about to happen - sensors can give you a way to see things coming in a more truly predictive way
- Even if an event occurs suddenly, or unexpectedly, sensor-based predictive monitoring and resources allow support teams to isolate the root causes faster than they would with other approaches
- Predictive monitoring reduces your worker's exposure to risk
- Annual thermography represents an inspection of less than 1% of operational time leaving 99% dependent on luck
- Unlike thermographic inspection, sensors can be used to continuously monitor the most critical operating electrical loads
- Periodic inspection means data collected remains stand-alone & not integrated to create dynamically integrated information and actionable insight
- Sensor monitoring provides accuracy; Periodic inspection & measurement is reliant on both equipment & operator skills to correlate the true internal temperature (thus never be of uniform quality)
- Transmission rates of IR through a “thermal window” can deteriorate significantly over time - this impacts the accuracy of temperature readings
- Manufacturers of thermal imaging cameras state that an essential requirement to obtain precise temperature data is that the camera must have direct line of sight to the conductor being inspected (accuracy is compromised by possible obstructions & the fact that thermal windows have variable and deteriorating levels of IR transmission)
- A second requirement of thermal imaging camera manufacturers is that the conductor being thermally imaged must be operating at a minimum load of 40% of design load e.g. if circuit is designed for 3kA, then it must be operating at minimum 1.5kA at time of inspection. This is rarely observed by those carrying out thermal inspections of electrical equipment and is not known by the majority of owner / operators of the equipment.
Read our blog Preventive vs Predictive Maintenance - The Performance Gap to learn more.
