Surveys of electrical systems can expose faults such as poor connections, overloaded circuits and imbalanced load. Alternating current often loosens connections which in turn causes breakdowns. In today’s industry, downtime is expensive, in terms of plant downtime, idle workforce and customer service. There is a further cost of repairs to be factored-in and potential damage caused by electrical fires which may result of electrical faults. The reason that Thermal Imaging is so applicable to the inspection and monitoring of electrical installations is that new electrical components begin to deteriorate as soon as they are installed.
Whatever the loading of a circuit, vibration, fatigue and age cause the loosening of electrical connections, while environmental conditions can hasten their corroding. Briefly stated all electrical connections will, over time, follow a path towards failure. If not found and repaired, then these failing connections will lead to faults. Fortunately a loose or corroded connection increases resistance at the connection and this increased resistance causes an increase in heat. Electrical Thermal Imaging will detect this developing fault before it fails.