Electricity + Control April 2019

round up

ELECTRICAL PROTECTION + SAFETY

Polymer based IR inspection windows for safety

hazard of live work by enabling hot spots to be identified through the IR windows. The retrofitting with the IR windows also allowed for more frequent inspections of energised equipment, including electri- cal equipment that had previously been considered ‘uninspectable’ due to high levels of arc flash incident energy. In ad- dition, with the windows in place, closed panel inspections did not require the high levels of personal protective equipment (PPE) mandated in NFPA 70E, thus reduc- ing maintenance time and costs. Thermal imaging was not new to the maintenance and reliability team as it had previously retrofitted some equipment with traditional, round, calcium fluoride windows. However, the transparent poly- mer IR windows, available in various large format sizes, provide for both visual and thermal inspection with fewer units need- ing to be installed.

which leads to temperature reading errors. The IRISS industrial grade IR windows meet mandatory impact and load testing requirements of UL, CSA, IEEE and IEC. With this retrofit, the bottled water company realised substantial savings in its condition monitoring programme. The quicker, safer and more frequent inspec- tions facilitated by the transparent poly- mer IR windows allow for potential prob- lems to be identified and fixed well before they turn into unexpected outages. Based on the results at the first sites, the com- pany is now implementing the IRISS IR window solutions at 29 of its sites around North America. R&C Instrumentation is the sole repre- sentative for IRISS in South Africa. Enquiries: R&C Instrumentation,Tel. +27 (0)11 608 1551, info@randci.co.za, www.randci.co.za

Riaan de Leeuw, Vice President for IT Di- vision - Anglophone Africa at Schneider Electric, says it’s important to protect our homes and businesses against sudden loss of power and power surges. “While many people turn to generators to get through load shedding, rising fuel prices mean this is expensive, and it’s not an eco-friendly way to go. However, an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) can protect homes and businesses against downtime,” he says. UPS solutions protect and save elec- tronic equipment from the impact of abrupt changes in power supply and are scalable according to different needs. “For small businesses, for example, the UPS can be scaled to support es- sential equipment at 1 000 to 3 000 or 5 000 watts. Runtime is then dependent The inspection programme The company had developed a reliability and maintenance policy, including a three to five year improvement plan and this was communicated to all employees. Having researched its options, it decided that it would implement a retrofit using the IRISS transparent, patented polymer infrared windows, as a safer method of conduct- ing standards-compliant inspections. The large format infrared polymer windows were designated for main switchgear Bus connections, main breaker connections and fused switches, to help eliminate the One of North America‘s leading bottled water companies approached IRISS for assistance in optimising its maintenance programme and asset life cycles. The main goal was to define cost-effective, consis- tent maintenance processes, adopting the technologies to support and sustain these processes across its plants throughout the USA and Canada. As part of this multisite initiative, one of IRISS‘ distributor partners, Scott Thornton of DTM Consulting Servic- es, was engaged to provide recommen- dations for placement, sizing and type of IR windows to be installed at the Ontario, Canada facility. After an initial site survey, DTM recommended the CAP-CT series in various sizes to complete this project.

UPS solutions protect equipment on additional external batteries and actual physical load. There are solutions that will allow between one and five PCs to run, with monitors and the router or switch to allow connectivity. There are also solutions to cover up to 20 PCs with monitors, the server, router or switch, and lights if connected to the DB board. This would constitute 5 000 to 20 000 watts and runtime again is depend- ent on batteries and the actual load.” According to de Leeuw, uninterrupted power supply offers guaranteed power pro- tection for connected electronics, which enables businesses to stay open and stay connected with partners and customers. “Should power be interrupted, or fluctu- ate outside safe levels, a UPS instantly pro- vides clean battery backup power and surge protection for sensitive equipment, allowing The IRISS patented polymer-based infrared windows are unaffected by envi- ronmental and mechanical stresses, even when fitted to electrical distribution equip- ment, ensuring that the temperature data collected through the window is accurate and reliable for the whole life of the instal- lation. Crystal-based IR windows, by con- trast, are fragile and hygroscopic, causing degradation of the transmission over time

The patented polymer infrared inspection win- dows facilitate safer and quicker maintenance inspections on electrical equipment.

enough time to safely power down non-es- sential devices and keep critical business operations running. It also provides battery backup power and protection for specific equipment, including mobile devices.” When selecting the right UPS solution for specific equipment needs, de Leeuw suggests that it should have an output watt capacity 20 to 25% higher than the total power drawn by the equipment to be attached. Runtime is also important, giv- ing an indication of how long a UPS will be able to power the attached equipment in the event of a power disruption. He also advises that the UPS be un- plugged periodically to check that all the attached equipment stays powered and is in good working order. Enquiries: Schneider Electric.Tel: +27 (0)11 254 6400, or visit: www.se.co/za

16 Electricity + Control

APRIL 2019