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HiGhVoLtAgEgUrU

infraed camera

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Any one here in the Electrical Testing business? We have thermal imaging camera in-house. But every year we call someone from outside to inspect our electrical system. They do good job, they go through most of our panels, motor starters, etc. Just wondering how big is this business? Can one survive on it, or what other testing services along with this are necasary to stay afloat. The guy came to do our plant said they stay busy all year long. So just curious to see if anyone here does it.

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Most of the ones I know also get a CSI (now Emerson) vibration analyzer and an ultrasonic meter and do vibrations, machine alignments, IR, and ultrasound. Those are the basic NDT PM tests. You could also consider circuit breaker testing, Dobles testing on transformers, hi potting, and other distribution tests. I supppose another directin could be ground compaction, surveying, and other civil work, or ultrasonic/X-ray weld testing. All of these areas are similar in nature...very expensive test equipment that people normally rent/contract out. Some of these guys are also into technical surveying work, such as doing a compressed air survey, load studies, or arc flash analysis.

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Never seen a plant where someone came in and reviewed electrical panels, motor starters, etc. Most of what I've seen plants do is preventive maintenance and analysis on motors. Such as vibration analysis, alignment, and thermal evaluation of large AC motors. That and many places will do testing on their main circuit breakers. I would venture to guess many plants would not bother having someone inspecting electrical panels. In fact, I can say with certainty that many of the plants I have been in have never even opened some control panels since they were installed. I had one who didn't know the PLC had a battery until the battery exploded and dripped acid on the circuit board and stopped functioning. 16 years after installation.

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We do Infrared testing on our panels once per year. All Mod-5 and Mod-6 boxes and any control panel with sizable starters or fuse holders. In our environment a lot of that stuff gets corrosion on it and causes bad connections. After a while it heats up and then we have all kinds of fuse blowing problems and motor overload tripping problems. We used to have a company come in an do it for us, but the cost of a Infrared camera came down in recent years so we bought one (for $7000) and now we do it ourselves. Actually, it comes in very handy for troubleshooting too. I recently used it on a refridgeration control panel to find a bad fuse holder that was heating up to over 250 degrees (the fuse would blow randomly during the day). We changed the fuse holder and after that no more problems It also is good for checking sealing heads and other heating heads on our machines. Well worth the money if you can afford one.

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Makes sense. Though as I said, I'ev never seen it done. But that doesn't mean it can't be or isn't being done.

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