Equipment monitoring for temperature related failures using thermography cameras

The requirement of protecting critical infrastructure such as electrical, oil and gas to prevent catastrophic failure is imperative for maintaining the functions of today's society. The U.S. government is putting in place programs and laws such as NERC [12] and FERC [13] to ensure that these critical infrastructures have monitoring solutions. Traditional monitoring methods require measurements of preselected points and sometimes can only be done once a while. The proposed method is to use a thermography camera to remotely measure temperatures. A camera can provide 24/7 monitoring and understanding of equipment performance over time. This information allows for scheduled maintenance and shut down. A temperature failure point can also be spotted and measured remotely without someone on site. This paper describes the thermal characterization and calibration process developed to turn a standard long wave infrared (LWIR) camera into a thermography camera. Thermography camera is capable of reading absolute temperatures remotely from the image. The factors which can affect temperature accuracy and methods developed to mitigate these factors are also described in this paper. The lab and field test results showed temperature accuracy was achieved by customer requirements. This solution has been chosen by Norwegian electrical substations, and its case study is included.