Industrial / Commercial Infrared PdM Programs

There are many regulatory requirements that define the scope of work and who is qualified to do this type of work. They have put in place it ensures that you actually get the quality of service that you are inspecting and that the work is done safely.

NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) the folks who write the NEC (National Electrical Code) have many documents that define what an EPM or (Electrical Preventative Maintenance) program is in NFPA 70 B.

ASTM International has published ASTM E1934 to define the joint responsibilities of the end-user and the Professionally Certified Thermographer and outlines the specific content required in the documentation of Thermographic inspections.

ASNT (American Society of Non-destructive Testing) defines who is qualified to conduct these inspections and the training and testing requirements for such work.

NFPA 70B – Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) regulation 70E provides a reference for facilities to meet the requirements of electrical workplace safety while regulation 70B outlines the best practices for setting up and maintaining an Electrical Preventive Maintenance (EPM) program.

For over 40 years Colbert Infrared has been working with our clients to establish world-class EPM programs that set the benchmarks in the utility industry. From Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution we have been involved in all the demanding aspects of setting up, conducting, managing and reviewing EPM programs.

Answer Frequency

As asked for by OSHA, that NFPA 70B – Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance Section 2.

Regularly scheduled inspection, testing, and servicing of equipment:

11.17.5 Inspection Frequency and Procedures. Routine infrared inspections of energized electrical systems should be performed annually prior to shut down.

More frequent infrared inspections, for example, quarterly or semiannually, should be performed where warranted by loss experience, installation of new electrical equipment, or changes in environmental, operational, or load conditions.

Colbert Infrared tracks the history of all your inspections using the “Thermal Trend” database that benchmarks and trends all your electrical equipment when it was tested and by whom.

• As stated above by the NFPA in publication 70B, the inspection frequency is every year.
• And for equipment that may be at more risk, it is suggested that you decrease the interval between testing when warranted by many other considerations.

We categorize your equipment into three classifications based on its “Criticality to Operation” – CTO and the “Consequences of Failure” – COF.

These classifications should also be compared to historical data on the equipment’s reliability to judge its correct classification for the frequency of inspection.

The inspection frequencies timeline can be set up to also reinspect base problem conditions at the same time in the Thermal Trend database to maximize the effort more efficiently when performing an inspection.

The three CTO classifications of equipment are:

1. Critical to operation “C”
2. Essential to operation “E”
3. Non-essential to operation “N-E”

If we base the timeline on a requirement that all equipment must be tested annually then we can establish a testing schedule based on the CTO of the equipment:

For example

1. Critical every 3 months
2. Essential every 6 months
3. Non-essential every year as follows:

On an annual based you would be testing everything, and then on a quarterly based you would only test the Critical equipment and follow up on any past open problems that were found in the past. Essential equipment would only be tested every 6 months.

The decision of what is Critical, Essential, and Non-essential, as well as the frequency of inspection, is the ultimate responsibility of the client, but it at least advisable to make sure that you are doing your testing on an annual based. Since it is addressed in NFPA 70B as annually, then if something was to fail and you were not doing the inspections as per NFPA 70B, then possible litigation problems could arise from having to explain why you did not choose to do the inspections in a timely manner. Budget is always a concern, but if someone is hurt, then using the budget as an excuse over the safety of the work environment is not a good line of defense.

Better management of Resources and time!

Next if we add the equipment counts to the CTO and Frequency, we can better manage the Inspection Budget and the amount of time that is required to do the inspection.

In this example we use the total number of pieces of equipment as a basis for the amount of time that will be needed to manage the inspection program.

We can see that more time is needed to do a complete inspection of all equipment Annually, but very little on a Quarterly or Semiannually frequency.  This also includes follow up inspections Quarterly for all past documented problems to make sure that they have been fixed correctly.

NFPA 70B – Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance
Companies that have the electrical equipment, are to have in place an “Effective” EPM (Electrical Preventive Maintenance) Program. Elements of which are:

An EPM program should consist of the following essential elements:

1. Responsible and qualified personnel
Where in-plant personnel is not qualified; a technically competent maintenance contractor should be employed.

Some maintenance and testing operations require specialized skills and special equipment. It might be impractical to develop the skills and acquire the equipment needed for this type of work. Advisable to contract the work to firms that specialize in providing such services.

Infrared surveys can be accomplished either by in-house teams or by a qualified outside contractor. The economics and effectiveness of the two alternatives should be carefully weighed. Many organizations find it preferable to obtain these surveys from qualified outside contractors. Because of outside contractors’ more extensive experience, their findings and recommendations are likely to be more accurate, practical, and economical than those of a part-time in-house team.

In the U.S. Thermographic testing falls under The American Society of Nondestructive Testing (ASNT). They have established guidelines for the qualifications of Infrared Thermographers in ASNT-TC-1A.

Section 3. Survey and analysis of electrical equipment and systems to determine maintenance requirements and priorities:

Survey and analysis should cover equipment and systems that have been in accordance with a priority plan.

Equipment (electric or otherwise) should be considered critical if its failure to operate normally and under complete control will cause a serious threat to people, property, or the product. Those pieces of equipment found to be critical should require the most frequent inspections and tests. Depending on the degree of reliability required, other items can be inspected and tested much less frequently.

Electric power, like process steam, water, and so forth, might be essential to the operation of a machine, but unless the loss of one or more of these supplies causes the machine to become hazardous to people, property, or production, that machine might not be critical

It is very important to have vital information available when making critical decisions. There are many questions that may be asked, and you had better be able to answer them, or you have no business doing Infrared Thermography.

• What was tested, and when?
• What is still left to be tested?
• What was not able to be tested, and why?
• How many problems have you found so far?
• Are these new problems or are old problems that have not been fixed? And what is the ratio?
• How hot are they, and if they are chronic problems how much change has there been.
• How many of the past problems have been fixed “Closed”?

Colbert Infrared has been facing these questions for over 40 years, and our solution has been to develop a SQL database application called “Thermal Trend PdM database” that tracks all of your asset’s condition.

Colbert Infrared has been delivering solutions for Infrared PdM / EPM programs that have set the benchmark for best practices worldwide. Our staff is the highest trained and certified professional thermographers in the industry. Coupled with the most advanced asset tracking and data management solutions for in the field data collection and report generation that ensures that nothing gets missed. And our advanced image analysis capabilities ensure that we can provide you with the image quality and measurement that yours exceed your requirements.

Based on Colbert Infrared’s 40+ years of expertise working with the U.S Navy onboard their ships, we developed proven professional accountability methods for the inspection of electrical equipment that tracks all equipment history over its lifetime. The software solution that is used it called Thermal Trend and it builds the solid foundation of an EPM program as defined by NFPA 70E and the best practices of 70B.

Using in the field data collection and reconciliation of equipment testing history, based on an MS SQL database where each piece of equipment is barcoded for quick identification in the field. Equipment testing history can be logged and all problems conditions can be documented or reconciled during the inspection in real-time. This way there are no errors in the data because of the necessity of having to type up a report later when you are no longer in the field.

To learn more:

Call us today and let’s talk about your needs. (206) 568-4431

TEMPERATURE INFORMATION, DELTA-T AND PERCENTAGE  OF LOAD:

DISCLAIMER:

Colbert Infrared Services, Inc., its principals and employees, assume no liability directly or indirectly as a result of this inspection or the data contained in this report. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information on the conditions that were documented in this report. Colbert Infrared Services, Inc., shall not be liable for any errors or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this report. It is up to the customers; discretion as to which repairs to make and in which order to make them. It should be noted, that the measured temperature rises and severity classification must be viewed along with type of equipment, and the process that the equipment operates under to truly assess the severity of the problem. It is important to understand that a piece of equipment may fail at any stage, not just at the critical level. For this reason no accurate timeline can be created to predict when an electrical failure will occur.

Our report contains the actual temperatures of the problem component in question along with a similar reference component that is running under similar environmental and load conditions. The delta-T (temperature difference between component and reference) is also provided for assessing the severity of the problem in question. When possible the measured load, and the rated load for the equipment is also provided so as to help determine the percentage of load on the circuit at the time of the test. If the equipment is lightly loaded you must consider how a potential increases in load will affect your evaluation of the severity and your timeline on repairs. As you double the load on a problem you must consider that the temperature rise will be quadrupled. Note: The magnitude of the problem may be seriously understated if the piece of equipment is minimally loaded and the load is going to increases later on.

AMBIENT ENVIRONMENTAL TEMPERATURE

Note: The ambient environmental temperature at the time of the test (which is also included in this report) is not used as a reference for the Delta-T measurement because this will not accurately provide a correct reference temperature difference to determine the severity of the problem. The use of ambient room temperature as a reference to measure the temperature rise is extremely inaccurate and falsely distorts the severity of the problem. The ambient environmental temperature provides a reference for one of the variables that has an influence over the operation of the equipment that should be taken into consideration along with many other considerations like the percentage of load on the circuit, how critical the equipment is to operation and the consequences of a failure.

Indirectly measured temperature on the surface of overheated internal components.

Note: If indirect temperature measurements are made at the time of the inspection, the documentation will note that there were indirect measurements made and that you need to take this into consideration when evaluating the severity of the problem and your repair actions. There are no rules for the assessment of excess temperatures that are measured indirectly off the overheated surface of components with internal problems. This overheating can be caused by hidden faults, e.g. faulty contacts or internal connections inside of a breaker, contractor, relay, fuse block or switch, where the temperature measurements are only able to be taken from the outside surface of the equipment. You l need to take this into consideration when assessing the severity and repair actions because the internal temperature of the components may be much greater than the external surface measurements that were made at the time of the inspection.

Determining the severity of the documented items in this report

At the time of the inspection each item is documented showing the temperature of the component in question along with a reference component under similar load to determine the temperature rise / Delta-T of the problem.

A severity code ascending from 4 to 1 is assigned by the Thermographer based on the Delta-T and any additional information that is able to be gathered at the time of the inspection.

The Clients Responsibility to re-assess the severity rating of all findings.

Since the Thermographer does not have the inside information as to the overall operation of the equipment or it impact on the facility if the equipment fails, the client is responsible to evaluate and re-asses the severity rating of each item based on the suggested criteria:

What the equipment operates, and what will be the consequences of failure? For example, is the equipment critical to the operation of the facility, essential, or no-essential? If it fails what will be the consequences, as in will there be a loss of revenue, down time, or extreme loss of the equipment or to the facility from a potential fire?

The loads that the equipment will be subjected to as compared to the load condition at the time of the test. Are the loads going to increase? It is important to remember that if you double the load you will increase the temperature rise by a factor of 4. For this reason a component that has a small temperature rise and is lightly loaded may not seem like a serious problem, but if the equipment is going to have a greater load placed on it then you may have a catastrophic failure. The likely hood of an increase in load is one of the considerations that you will need to take into consideration when re-evaluating the severity of the problem.

The table below is only a guide to help you determine the order to schedule your electrical repairs. You must take into consideration that a piece of equipment may fail at any stage, not just at the critical level. The final decision as to the priority of the repair criticality for each problem and the scheduling of maintenance and repair actions rests solely with the client/owner of the equipment. An infrared inspection should also be made after a problem has been fixed, to insure that it has been corrected properly.

Severity Table Guide

Required frequencies for infrared inspections of properly maintained electrical / mechanical systems

A solid Infrared Predictive Maintenance Program is based on have a consistence schedule for the routine inspections of your equipment. NFPA 70B states that electrical equipment should be tested annually.

NFPA 70B – The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70B Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance provides useful guidance on the maintenance of electrical systems, including the use of infrared examinations (18-17) for the maintenance process.

18-17.5 defines the frequency of inspection

Inspection Frequency and Procedures. Routine infrared inspections of energized electrical systems should be performed annually prior to shutdown. More frequent infra red inspections, for example, quarterly or semiannually, should be performed where warranted by loss experience, installation of new electrical equipment, or changes in environmental, operational, or load conditions.