INNOVATION
IN
UTILITY POWER LINE INFRARED IMAGING
By Harley Denio,
President
Oregon Infrared has been performing quality
thermographic services in the Pacific
Northwest region since 1997. The
organization has been on a constant
upward climb since its beginnings,
and its reputation for safety, reliability,
and accuracy is well known. As sales
and marketing efforts continue to
create opportunities, new applications
for the service arise and are capitalized
upon.
During the year 2000 a contract was let
for utility power line Infrared imaging
for one of the local public utility
districts. Being a competitive business
and knowledgeable of the electrical
industry, I was very conscious of
expense outlays to satisfy the needs
of the job. Yet I was still striving
to provide the highest quality and
value product to the customers. I
therefore created a tool that allows
maximum speed and accuracy for report
gathering at minimal expense. The
following information shows how I
gathered data for utility power lines
and substations with this tool.
Early in 2000, I was approached by a
public utility district to look at
some pedestal mount 12.5 kV switchgear.
We were doing basic infrared imaging
for loose connections and overloads.
They were impressed with my product
and asked me to do some additional
Infrared imaging on some power poles.
There were some suspect areas that
they were aware of and wanted to
confirm the problem spots (of course
I said, "that'll be extra").
We scanned several pole-mounted switches
from a bucket truck and several anomalies
were located and recorded. As a result
of the information gathered, a new
contract was offered to do a drive-by
scan of all the 115kv transmission
lines in the PUD district later in
the year.
This equated into about 170 miles of
line and 42 substations to be done
in 6 days in December. It is pretty
much guaranteed to be raining at
this time of year and the prospect
of hanging our infrared camera out
of the door of a truck for 6 days
in inclement weather was not very
appealing. All kinds of damage to
the equipment were imaginable. It
became important to devise a way
to provide the service while lowering
the risk to the camera. It was time
to put on the thinking cap and find
a solution. Some of the criteria
had to be:
1) Protect IR camera from environment
2) Protect IR camera from physical damage
3) Ease of use
4) Low cost to produce
The result was an acrylic box with a
camera tripod head mounted to a platform.
These two pieces would be then attached
together and mounted and secured
to a truck door.
The idea of the box is to provide a safe
environment for the IR camera as
it travels outside the vehicle, while
allowing the data to be gathered
safely and in relative comfort inside
the cab. One of the criteria for
construction was that the box have
doors to provide access to the buttons
that operate the camera functions.
This particular box was designed to accommodate
a Flir (Inframetrics) model PM 280.
Vibration control was also incorporated
at as many points as possible. The
tool needed to be flexible enough
in design to accommodate the shapes
of various different vehicle doors.
Ease of setup was also considered.
Another important piece of criteria
was the protection of the lens from
the elements and protection of the
IR detector from random exposure
to sunlight.
These ideas were brought to a plastics
fabrication shop: Spectrum Plastics,
Portland Or.
503-626-8284. The owner and I spent several
hours exploring ideas, functions and
material selection. We discussed different
approaches to solve and provide for all
of the needs of this enterprise. After
much brainstorming, a design was settled
on, rough drafts were drawn, and production
commenced.
It is understood that the window of the
cab will be open while Infrared imaging
with this design. As it turned out,
the size and shape of the box acted
as a windbreak, and the interior
of the cab stayed relatively warm
and rain free.
The complete system for Infrared imaging
consists of the box and platform
that attaches to the outside of a
vehicle door and a tripod mounted
8mm camcorder located in front of
the thermographers seat. The video
signal from the IR camera dumps into
the camcorder via a video cable.
This allows for viewing images either
at the eyepiece or the fold out screen
on the 8mm camcorder. This also allows
for videotaping the thermal images.
Visual images can be taped through
the front windshield.
The main benefit of this whole idea was
the reduced cost of Infrared imaging
utility power lines and substations
as opposed to purchasing and outfitting
a van dedicated to Infrared imaging.
This allows an infrared service company
like Oregon Infrared to provide a
high quality product for a reasonable
price.
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