Preventative Maintenance for Utilities | Thermo Fisher Scientific

Electric utilities are among the most asset-intensive industries and one of the most critically essential, where failure can mean catastrophe. Maintaining those assets has, therefore, always been a priority. Failure of most assets could mean outages or reductions of power, and failure of certain critical assets could have a domino effect, causing failure of assets down the line. Any failure could result in loss of revenue and regulatory censure; massive failure could mean extremely costly replacement costs. The goal of any maintenance system is the prevention of both total failure as well as any deterioration of performance.

Typically, preventative maintenance is designed to help assure that an asset will not reach failure or serious performance deterioration. Preventative maintenance uses real world data from the equipment to determine when and what to perform maintenance on. It applies algorithms to that data to find trends in key indicators, such as temperature, vibration, electrical, pressure, and other measurements that can indicate when a failure is likely to happen.

Much of the data used in these calculations is collected in real time with infrared technology and wireless or wired condition monitoring sensors while the equipment is running. This helps create a more accurate and comprehensive picture of both individual assets and the health of the operation.

Tools to consider for utilities

Partial discharge detector

Partial Discharge monitoring identifies risks of failure in the stator windings of motors and generators as well as switch gear and isolated phase. The reason it is called a “partial” discharge is simply because it's not a complete discharge (breakdown). We offer solutions to locate partial discharge, corona discharge as well as gas and vacuum leaks, with acoustic imaging camera's groundbreaking technology is a cost efficient, safe, effective, and comfortable tool for teams who inspect and maintain power distribution and industrial high voltage equipment.

Our recommendation - Fluke ii910 Partial Discharge Detector

Power quality logger

Power quality loggers can provide you with the data you need to quickly and easily troubleshoot power distribution systems, this can also include energy analyser which help create detailed reports to focus in on the problem areas.

Our recommendation: Fluke 1736 Three Phase Power Quality Logger

Thermal condition monitoring

24x7 condition monitoring will predict 70% more failures in advance than periodic inspections. Therefore, protecting your critical electrical infrastructure from expensive failure, saving costly repairs / downtime, while reducing Opex costs and increasing safety. The acceleration of IIOT means condition monitoring sensors are vital for future proofing your equipment.

We supply solutions from Exertherm^® is the global number one provider of 24x7 thermal condition monitoring for electrical infrastructure, successfully installed worldwide by all major OEMs. Exertherm deliver complete solutions for LV/MV switchgear, MCC drawers, dry transformers and offer a zero-maintenance lifetime guarantee.

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