In today's commercial environment the continued operation of mission critical facilities now has the objective of zero unscheduled downtime and minimal scheduled downtime.
The most common cause of electrical failures & Arc Flash incidents are a result of bad connections on copper / busbar joints and cable connections. These cannot be detected via metering or load measurements / power quality analysis.
However, the thermal increase can be detected and measured using thermally sensitive devices such as the IRt/c.EM™ sensor for monitoring busbar terminations, and for cable connections the EM Cable Sensor within electrical switchgear.

 
Periodic thermal imaging using infrared cameras / windows, has over the last two decades become the accepted 'Best Practice' for mission critical facilities. However, 24x7 Continuous Thermal Monitoring is now increasingly being adopted as the new 'Best Practice' solution due its significant and tangible benefits over existing thermal imaging solutions.

Problems with current Technoglogy:

• Periodic thermal imaging inspections, normally carried out once or twice a year - data collected is not real-time and cannot be integrated to BMS/SCADA
• Inspections are performed OUTSIDE the enclosure where temperature must be correlated
• Thermal windows - this technology improves the view from camera to target, but still means that targets with no direct line of sight cannot be inspected, inspections remain periodic and windows / inspections can become costly.

Product Overview

Exertherm™ is a new and totally unique form of Infrared (IR) inspection, providing the Next Technology Step onwards from thermal imaging:

• The IRt/c.EM™ sensor is a patented, small, plastic housed, non-contact IR sensor which requires no external power & delivers a Delta T (rise over ambient) reading. 
  In addition, Exertherm™ IR sensors have a lifetime calibration due to the sensor being non-powered; no other IR sensor can provide this as all other IR sensors require power.
• IRt/c.EM™ sensors are CE approved and UL recognized & are hermetically sealed to IP67 intrinsically safe apparatus.

• Exertherm™ delivers real-time data (which can be viewed locally and/or remotely, single or multi-site) providing historical data enabling ongoing trend analysis to detect & indentify problems at an early stage of development.
• The Exertherm™ system can also increase device reliability/uptime and conventional maintenance peiods can be extended due to increased knowledge about your electrical switchgear. This can aid in mitigating the risks associated with opening live panels and arc flash, increasing both facility & operator safety.

Application

Thermal inspection is internationally recognized as the best method of detecting poor termination, the most common cause of power outages. Therefore, if it's mission critical and within the enclosure, it should be considered. Generally, IR sensors are utilized to monitor key busbar terminations within electrical switchgear (ACB's, switches, busbars etc).

Sensors connect back to Exertherm™ Datacards, which linearize, condition and convert the signal to Modbus Protocol

Visit our Resources area to find out more about  Exertherm™ 24x7 Thermal Monitoring technology...