Infrared thermography surveys for electrical and mechanical plant

A loose or corroded electrical connection heats up long before it fails. Infrared thermography finds those connections while the plant is running, without opening a process or taking a shutdown, and gives a maintenance team the evidence to correct them at the next planned window instead of after an outage.

Surveys are conducted with a radiometric camera, with the equipment carrying a representative load — a survey taken at low load will understate a fault or miss it entirely. Emissivity and reflected temperature are set for each target, and every anomaly is recorded with a thermal image, a visible-light reference image, the measured delta against a reference phase or similar component, and the load at the time of measurement.

Findings are graded by temperature rise and by what the component feeds, so an 8 °C delta on a critical incomer is not buried beneath a 30 °C delta on a redundant lighting circuit. Anything judged an imminent failure risk is raised verbally before leaving site.

Conditions commonly identified

• Loose, corroded or under-torqued electrical connections
• Phase imbalance and overloaded circuits
• Failing contactors, breakers, fuses and isolators
• Transformer cooling and winding temperature anomalies
• Overheating bearings, couplings and drive belts
• Failed steam traps and blocked heat exchanger passes
• Refractory, insulation and building envelope losses

What you receive

• Thermal image paired with a visible-light reference for every anomaly
• Measured delta against reference phase or comparable component
• Load conditions recorded at the time of measurement
• Severity classification with a recommended timescale for correction
• Verbal notification on site for imminent failure risks
• Retest recommendation to confirm the repair after correction