Product category:
Temperature sensors
News Release from: QHi Group | Subject: Exertherm system
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 03 May 2007
IR sensors fit inside enclosures
Exertherm IR sensors can be placed inside electrical enclosures to monitor key problem areas such as circuit breakers (ACB, MCB, MCCB) and critical busbar joints.
Periodic thermal imaging has been accepted as "best practice" for live inspection of mission-critical assets for many years It is based on the fact that increased heat is a common symptom of impending failure in both electrical and mechanical equipment
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 15 Aug 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Thermal monitor keeps check on switchgear
The ExerTherm system protects electrical supplies by thermally monitoring all key switchgear components on a continuous and noncontact basis using sensors inside the switchgear enclosure.
Non-contact temperature sensor offers advantages
Quayhead Industries are the distributors for a small, non-contact sensor from Exergen which is said to provide significant advantages over traditional or conventional IR temperature measuring methods
Until recently it was the best available technology.
However, thermal imaging fails to address two key issues.
First, inspections are generally made once per year leaving 364 days completely unmonitored.
Further reading
"World's smallest" claim for infra-red sensor
IRt/cs are small, accurate, noncontact infra-red sensors which require no outside power and connect directly to temperature measurement and control instrumentation.
Thermal monitor checks switchgear onboard
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines needed a reliable system to continuously thermally monitor key 11kV electrical switchgear on the propulsion systems of its Voyager Class liners.
Second, where the equipment is within an enclosure as with electrical switchgear and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), the measurement is taken on the external panel surface, not the actual equipment.
In today's high-downtime-cost environment, the first point leaves far too much time to detect the problem accurately prior to failure.
The second point requires the operator to rely on a "fudge factor" to correlate the results.
For many organisations these issues are not too important, but for those with potentially high downtime costs, such as data centres and continuous manufacturing processes, they are absolutely vital.
QHi group has developed the Exertherm system, based on infra-red sensors.
These small, plastic bodied, low cost devices require no external power source and work just like a standard thermocouple but are noncontact.
The sensor signals are fed back via 8-input channel data acquisition cards which linearise, condition and convert the output signal into industry standard Modbus protocol.
This enables fast and easy integration with virtually all SBMS/Scada systems.
There is also an optional Modbus TCP/IP (Ethernet) output to enable real-time on-line remote access to data.
Bad connections are the single greatest source of electrical failure or arc flash and the Exertherm sensors can be placed inside electrical enclosures to monitor key problem areas such as circuit breakers (ACB, MCB, MCCB) and critical busbar joints.
Now for the first time, high-downtime-cost organisations can continuously thermally monitor their mission critical electrical power and mechanical assets such as bearings, pumps, gearboxes, compressors, motors and the like.
The sensors are not affected by high vibration levels as they are noncontact and being placed inside electrical enclosures means they are monitoring the actual equipment.
No compromise and no operator dependence allow consistent, reliable data to detect potential problems before failure and avoid the associated high downtime costs.
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