Up Time Magazine- February/March 2008

infrared upload The Living, Breathing Facility Using Thermography as Preventive Therapy by Jeffrey Gadd W ith so much responsibility - coupled with shrinking budgets and a lack of qualified, motivated manpower - it’s easy for a maintenance professional to become overwhelmed at times (Figure 1). The old adage “do more with less” has never been more applicable than it is today for many maintenance managers. Since infrared surveys have proven time after time to save money by preventing electrical failures, having your building’s electrical system scanned once a year only makes good sense. To help you get the most out the infrared inspection, follow an ordered list of equipment and in an organized fashion. No need jumping all around the building and it is not efficient to look at every last piece of equipment. The following is a general outline for planning your next infrared inspection, common for most facilities. ment to that effect or your infrared thermographer Incoming power from your has handed you electric utility such as utila documented ity feeds, service poles, finding (with an switches & transformers and IR image) and you the plant’s main switchgear notified the utility (Figure 2) are absolutely company prior critical to your operation to the failure. for obvious reasons. So, I Now that you’ve am surprised by some of my avoided disaster, customers’ opinions that, pat yourself on the since it is owned by the back and don’t forutility company, the utility get to let the plant Figure 1 - Manufacturing plant full of electrical equipment is not a priority on manager know equipment that must be maintained. the schedule. This thought you’ve just saved is partially correct; it is the the company. Hopefully he/she will show you ample utility company’s responsibility to maintain this equipgratitude during your next review. ment. However, if it fails, the lights go out on your The Heart of the System operation. Although repercussions from an unplanned outage vary, they are all bad, ranging from total loss of power and production, to single-phasing all the VFD’s (variable frequency drives) in the plant and having them all end up in the dumpster. Your utility company will not pay you for your losses unless you have an agree- The Arteries The system of arteries of the electrical system is the main distribution system, including buss ducts (Figure 4) and main wiring which distributes the power to all the panels in the plant. This equipment absolutely must be surveyed thoroughly and, importantly, under a normal load. If half the plant is going to be off-line, schedule the survey for a different day. Distribution equipment, like the arteries that feed your critical organs, must be maintained since the distribution system feeds all your critical equipment and interruptions in power are not acceptable. The health of these systems is espeFigure 2 – Utility company-owned transformers and the main cially important to a facility when just switchgear are the heart of the electrical system. 30 february/march 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Up Time Magazine- February/March 2008

Up Time Magazine- February/March 2008 Contents Upfront Upclose: Lessons Learned from the Walter Reed Story Information Technology: Parenting and Asset Performance Infrared: It's Alive! Lubrication: A Sense of Change Maintenance Management: PdM, Standardized Motor Testing: Being Well Connected Precision Maintenance: How to be Marketable Reliability: The Voyage of Wells Dairy Ultrasound: Two is Better Than One Vibration: Diagnosing a Cracked Shaft Upgrade: A Different Kind of Journey

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