Taking Condition Monitoring Thermography into Forbidden Territory

On site at a pharmaceutical customer’s premises for a regular thermographic survey, the technician found himself passing a compound secured by an 8’ feet-high wire fence. Inside, an area the size of a basketball court contained the HV power lines bringing power onto the site. “Don’t worry about surveying that,” said the customer. “It’s the power company’s responsibility.”

That was true. But if the power lines failed, it would be the customer’s business that suffered. A quick calculation showed that a third of the plant would lose power, production would be severely affected, and hospitals could even be left short of essential treatment drugs. 

The customer realised that a thermographic survey, at no extra cost, was well worth 45 minutes of the technician’s time. And that was before they knew what they would find.

Failure’s in the air

Using his camera’s zoom lens, the ERIKS technician thermographically swept the whole area from outside the fence. What he saw made it clear that the survey wasn’t wasted. The camera revealed a suspicious hotspot, indicating a loose connection. 

The site is situated close to the Scottish west coast, exposed to a prevailing south-westerly wind. There is enough salt in the air to allow ionisation at the loose connection, leading to electrolysis forming copper chloride. As this is washed off by rain, the connection would become more corroded, until eventually it would catastrophically fail, and power to the site would be lost. 

Armed with the images and report from the ERIKS’ survey, the customer quickly contacted their energy provider, who sent out a team within days to repair the connection. But the story doesn’t end there. 

One month on…

The customer in question takes thermography seriously as a valuable condition monitoring tool. 

ERIKS spend around 80 thermography days a year at the site: not only surveying for condition monitoring purposes, but also benchmarking for future surveys, and training and mentoring the customer’s staff in the effective use of thermographic equipment. 

A thermographic camera – however sophisticated – does not make a thermographer. Knowing where to point it and what the results mean are just as important as the equipment itself. ERIKS’ broad experience of industrial assets, and understanding of how products fail, informs carefully targeted and highly effective thermographic surveys, and accurate interpretation of the images produced. 

As part of the service, the ERIKS technician was back at the site a month later, to re-survey areas where issues had previously been identified, and to confirm that any actions taken had been successful. That included checking the HV power line connection. 

Second time lucky

Despite the repair, thermography revealed there was still a fault. 

Once again the customer contacted their energy provider, and a team arrived next day. ERIKS’ technician returned the day after and this time confirmed the problem was fixed. 

The customer operates a “no-blame culture”. Their concern was only to establish the root cause so the fault could be avoided in future. The important point was that both faults were identified and resolved, and the customer’s site avoided any power loss or costly downtime. 

Looking and seeing

Thermographically surveying an out-of-the-ordinary area proved highly effective for this particular customer. However ERIKS have many examples of technicians pointing the camera in the right direction at the right time to deliver unexpected benefits.  

A leak of caustic soda from a large storage vessel, for example, was recently identified by thermography. The customer knew liquid was being lost, but not where, and had never considered a thermographic survey. An ERIKS technician passing the silo switched on his camera, and the leak was revealed.

A thermography technician who knows where to look, and knows what they’re seeing, can help customers to save money, avoid downtime, and achieve the greatest efficiency from condition monitored assets. Even from some you might never have thought to thermographically survey.