AlpineViews |
October 2009 |
Arc-flash white paper
The dangers associated with arc-flash incidents are well documented, so while I certainly don't need to talk about any of this today, we do have an in-depth guide that should be of interest to almost any thermographer.
This guide covers the hazards, legislation and safety issues relating to electrical inspections, as well as techniques and equipment that can help to minimise the risks when working in these environments.
Please send me an e-mail if you'd like to receive a copy of this guide.
Spectralyzer software video tutorials
While we really enjoy supporting our customers over the phone, they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so a video must be worth even more.
With that in mind, we have a couple of helpful video tutorials on the latest version of the UE Spectralyzer software, which is included with the Ultraprobe 10000.
These videos walk you through pretty much all of the main features (and even a few small ones) and are available to watch on our website: part 1 and part 2.
No special video codec is needed to watch these, but if you do experience any problems, then please let me know and we'll send you a CD.
Contribution from a chemical company
This case study, which was very kindly put together by a customer at a large chemical manufacturing site in the midlands, highlights the potential benefits of regularly using an infrared camera on-site.
"On a routine thermal image inspection, both myself and an electrician went into a switchroom. On entry, we could smell that something was hot. We opened up a switch cabinet and used our Flir E-45 and digital camera to take images of the fuses."
"The report - prepared using the Flir Reporter 8 software with its image fusion capability - shows our findings. As per the report, action was taken straight away, and the photograph shows what was found."
"The isolator had actually burnt away, so it was impossible to turn off the power. The worst case scenario was that the fuse had failed, the electrician isolates and deadlines only one of the outside fuses and, as that reads as dead, they assume that all is safe. As soon as they touch the centre fuse, well... 440 volts can really upset your day."
"If the centre leg had failed, then the fan it feeds would have stopped. This would cause the shutdown of 8 production lines, each at a cost of £1,000 per hour. You can't just turn these lines back on, either - each one takes an hour to start up and then another hour to settle down before it is producing saleable-quality goods. It also takes a team of 5 people to start a line up, so it could cost in excess of £50,000."
"If the contactor had caught fire or had gotten hot enough to cause a fire elsewhere, then we would have had to isolate the switchroom. This would have resulted in a total of 14 production lines being lost at an even more substantial cost. The infrared camera paid for itself with just this one find."
Contact us
It is always good to receive feedback on any products that we have sold or rented. If you have a success story or tip that you would like to share with other readers in a future newsletter, then please get in touch using the contact details below...
Telephone: 01424 437000
Fax: 01424 722502
E-mail: info@alpine-components.co.uk
Website: www.alpine-components.co.uk