Electrical anomaly / failure symptom will become catastrophic if left unattended. Electrical failure symptom will causes electrical short circuit (phase to phase, phase to ground) power tripping / interruption, discoloration / burn mark / sting smell at the electrical component, high electrical billing and production disturbance; more over a catastrophic electrical power failure will lead to, fire, damage to equipment and property, or loss of life.
The introduction of the predictive maintenance via NDT technologies (infrared thermography, acoustic ultrasound, EMF partial discharge locating, power quality measurement, high & low frequency vibration monitoring, power solution and etc) are able to detect, monitor and trigger for an appropriate time to repair / countermeasure on a specific equipment to reduce the total system failure and loss, maximize the usage and economic value of the equipment, provide sufficient time management for proper schedule shut down / repair, as well as, to reduce the repair and resuming cost of the related equipment.
A. High Voltage Electrical Equipment (over 1000V AC)
- a. Type of Equipment:
i. |
Circuit breaker – Vacuum (VCB), SF6 Gas (GIS), Oil (OCB) |
ii. |
Ring Main Unit – SF6 Gas, Oil |
iii. |
Power Transformer – 6.6kV, 11kV, 22kV, 33kV, 132kV, etc |
iv. |
High voltage cable – 11kV, 33kV, 132kV, etc |
v. |
Overhead line and pole, etc |
- b. Failure mode
i. |
Corona partial discharge |
ii. |
Tracking partial discharge |
iii. |
Arcing partial discharge |
iv. |
Partial discharge causes by high moisture / acidic environment |
v. |
Insulation component damage / crack / aging |
vi. |
Overloading / under rating |
vii. |
Mechanical vibration due to looseness |
viii. |
Power quality issue – harmonics / swell & sag, flicker |
ix. |
Poor workmanship / improper material |
x. |
Etc. |
B. Low Voltage Electrical Equipment (50V~1000V AC)
- a. Type of Equipment
i. |
Main switch board (MSB), Sub-switch board (SSB), distribution board (DB), sub-distribution board (Sub-DB) |
ii. |
Circuit breaker – Air circuit breaker (ACB), molded circuit breaker (MCCB), mini circuit breaker (MCB), ELCB, RCCB, etc. |
iii. |
Thermal overload relay / timer control |
iv. |
Contact switch / control |
v. |
Capacitor bank / reactor |
vi. |
Low voltage transformer / Auto Transformer |
vii. |
Cable and wiring |
viii. |
Etc. |
- b. Failure mode
i. |
Bad connection / contact |
ii. |
Overloading / under rating |
iii. |
Malfunction / crack / damage due to aging |
iv. |
Oxidization due to high moisture condition / low quality component |
v. |
Power quality issue – harmonics / swell & sag, flicker |
vi. |
Poor workmanship |
vii. |
Etc. |
C. Extra Low Voltage Electrical Equipment (< 50V AC)
- a. Type of Equipment:
i. |
Electronic Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCB) |
ii. |
Battery Bank |
iii. |
Integrated Circuit Board (IC) |
iv. |
Resistor |
v. |
Jumper & wiring |
vi. |
Etc. |
- b. Failure mode
i. |
Defective component |
ii. |
Bad connection |
iii. |
Low voltage battery |
iv. |
Overloading / under rating |
v. |
Poor workmanship |
vi. |
Etc. |
Samples of Electrical Failure – Infrared Thermography
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Faulty at breaker cast resin potential transformer |
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Bad connection at transformer bushing connection |
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Bad cable bushing connection at switchgear |
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Bad cable connection at breaker’s cable compartment |
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Burn control cable connection |
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Burn cable at the air-cond panel thermal overload relay |
Samples of Electrical Failure – Ultrasound
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Partial discharge due to insulation deterioration |
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Partial discharge due to high moisture environment |
Samples of Electrical Failure – Partial Discharge Locating
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Partial discharge mapping |