Does anyone use night vision to inspect power distribtion equipment ? 1

[fala]

Hello i was told that there was some usefull inspections that can be done on electrical distribtion lines and outside sub-stations with night vision camera. Does anyone use it or has heard of it ? Things that was very hard to see with thermal imaging ! Can anybody help me ?

 

[Zogzog]

Never heard of it, what is the point?

 

[powerjunx]

fala,

Never heard of that specifically. But i think your reffering to Thermal imaging/scanner camera which we used for its purpose.

 

[fala]

No it is different from thermography, it was used at Dofasco steel mill, they were able to see problems that was not detectable with IR camera.
Thanks

 

[powerjunx]

fala,

This camera is capable of detecting and recording the equipments thermal radiation where it uses the radiation as the light source even with ambient dim light (on site/substation, etc). The equipment will then categorized as per color distinction with corresponding heat equivalent.

 

[fala]

Thanks

I know what a thermal camera can do, we have one at the mill and we use it in both mechanical and electrical inspections. We have used it for years, and we bought a new model last year. We own our own hydro generating company ( generate roughly 300 MW) and we want to improve our predictive mtce and detect problems on isolators and other problems.

 

[Zogzog]

Sounds like you need partial discharge testing

 

[stevenal]

http://science.howstuffworks.com/nightvision.htm

So you're got thermal imaging while enhancing visible light. I would think that any discharge in the visible part of the spectrum would be accompanied by infra-red, making the visible enhancement useless. If you want to see the bus better at night, turn on a light. It won't run away.

 

[jghrist]

I think Zogzog has it right. The camera must be being used to detect corona by using a camera that can record low visible light. This might work to some extent, but partial discharge testing would be far better.

 

[electricpete]

From shortest wavelength to longest wavelength:
shortest
arcing and corona = ultraviolaet
visual
near infrared = nightvision
medium and long wave infrared

If you are looking for corona, your best bet is ultraviolet. In absense of ultraviolet camera, visual is better than near infrared since it is closer to the right wavelength.

If you are looking for heat, medium and long-wave infrared are better than near infrared. To emit substantial radiation in the near infrared band, the object would have to be somewhere in the range 1000F+

I think you are mistaken in choosing this technology.

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