A Real-Time IR-Fusion Switchgear Contact Monitoring System (SCMS)

In this paper, a real-time monitoring system for switchgear contacts (switchgear contact monitoring system) with continuous thermal monitoring is presented instead of infrequent scanning with a handheld infrared (IR) camera or IR window. Attention is focused on mediumand low-voltage switchgear contacts due to the importance of their thermal behaviors in the power system. A binocular IR camera (BIRC), whose size is only 3 cm × 3 cm × 4 cm, is installed near switchgear contacts and collects both visible-light images and IR array data of switchgear contacts. The BIRC is powered by a remote Power over Ethernet switch connected to it using one cable. At the same time, all data transmitted from the BIRC to the remote-control unit are provided by the same cable. To detect localized thermal conditions or hotspots within switchgear contacts, the IR-fusion module fuses temperature array data and image data collected by the BIRC and produces an IR-fusion image. The system design and laboratory test results are presented.