Power & Electricity World Africa 2022

Built on 25 years of history, Power & Electricity World Africa is about innovation, investment and infrastructure – accelerating Africa’s cleaner sustainable energy future.

Locating carbon dioxide (CO2) leaks on turbine generators can be time consuming when using traditional methods. A small leak left unnoticed can become a big, costly problem — as well as a serious safety concern. But these problems are not always visible to the naked eye, making you more vulnerable to undetected leaks and unexpected downtime. Using a combination of inspection tools such as optical gas imaging, thermal cameras, and electrical test equipment can help you visualize gas in real time to localize small leaks, verify repairs, and avoid outages

Rushing failures can cost your company millions of dollars in lost revenue from downtime, repairs, and overtime pay for workers. Through regular inspections, you can detect bushing failures before they occur. Traditional inspection methods, including Micro-ohm tests or power factor measurement, can be labor-intensive and require you to take the system out of service. Incorporating thermal imaging technology into your inspection routine allows you to collect temperature data in real time, pinpoint hotspots on bushings before a failure occurs, and avoid unnecessary downtime.

Routine solar panel inspections are an essential part of operational efficiency. They are critical to prevent larger breakdowns, manage warranty claims with equipment suppliers, and operate within contracted performance and yield guarantees. A UAS solution with onboard thermal imaging makes it easy to quickly inspect a large target area and pinpoint solar panel problems from the air. Once the problem is identified with infrared, a digital multimeter or clamp meter can help you diagnose electrical issues at the point of failure and determine the proper course of action. Incorporating thermal inspections into your routine maintenance plan will reduce your inspection times, help you work more safely, and improve your overall efficiency.

Wind turbine components are susceptible to wear and can break down. When this happens, the end-result may be costly downtime or a bad accident. That’s why preventive maintenance and periodic inspections are so important. Thermal imaging is the only technology that allows you to inspect all electrical and mechanical components of the wind turbine and the surrounding electrical system to detect a problem before a breakdown occurs. Adding a thermal imager to your preventive maintenance routine will help you improve workplace safety, giving field technicians the ability to see problems before they turn into potentially lifethreatening situations.

When an insulator fails, it may cause a widespread outage. There’s a good chance it will affect multiple components in the transmission system – creating a larger, more unmanageable problem. It isn’t always easy to inspect for potential failures as insulators are often located up high and out of reach. Regular temperature monitoring using a combination of thermal imaging cameras can help you both inspect and diagnose impending failures before they occur. Using a thermal camera, you can easily scan for temperature differences and hot spots to locate the problem area and diagnose the issue. You’ll establish a safer work environment, increase product efficiency across the system, and improve customer satisfaction by ensuring no loss of electricity.

When an insulator fails, it may cause a widespread outage. There’s a good chance it will affect multiple components in the transmission system – creating a larger, more unmanageable problem. It isn’t always easy to inspect for potential failures as insulators are often located up high and out of reach. Regular temperature monitoring using a combination of thermal imaging cameras can help you both inspect and diagnose impending failures before they occur. Using a thermal camera, you can easily scan for temperature differences and hot spots to locate the problem area and diagnose the issue. You’ll establish a safer work environment, increase product efficiency across the system, and improve customer satisfaction by ensuring no loss of electricity.

If an electrical connection isn’t working properly, your transmission system may not operate efficiently or safely. It’s important to regularly inspect every connection to ensure that they are in working order, but this can be a challenge. Every system has a lot of small connections, and they are often located high up out of reach. Connections get hot before they
fail. Conducting regular surveys of substations and transmission lines using thermal imaging devices can give you a full picture of potential problems. You can measure temperature from a safe distance and diagnose problems before outages occur – minimizing the cost of repairs, maximizing equipment life, and keeping the power on for customers.

When you suspect that there’s a gas leak in a SF6 breaker, it’s crucial to locate and fix it immediately to minimize downtime and revenue loss. This isn’t always easy to do using traditional gas-detection methods such as sniffers or soap bubbles. The longer a leak is left unrepaired, the more revenue lost, and the greater the carbon footprint on the environment. By using a portable, non-contact optical gas imaging camera you can visualize SF6 and other gas emissions without the need to shut down operations. You can also quickly scan substations for leaks while maintaining a safe distance from high-voltage equipment. Catch leaks early, reducing revenue lost from breakdowns and repairs. Doing so will also help reduce emissions so your company can meet environmental regulations and avoid potential fines.

If a transformer overheats and fails, it can be devastating to the utility. A widespread outage might disrupt power to thousands of customers, and the cost to repair or replace equipment is expensive. Regular temperature monitoring using advanced diagnostic thermal imaging cameras can help you easily inspect and monitor the temperature distribution on the outside surface of each transformer to catch impending failures before they occur. It will show you what the naked eye can’t see – hot spots that indicate overheating parts – so you know where to investigate further. Find hidden signs of electrical resistance and mechanical wear so you can begin repairs immediately.

If you don’t catch distribution powerline problems early, you may end up dealing with a costly outage that disrupts power to thousands of customers. That’s why regular inspections are necessary. But there’s a lot the naked eye can miss, especially when you can’t get close enough to what you need to inspect. Equipment gets hot before it fails – regular thermal imaging surveys on distribution powerlines can give you a full picture of potential problems. Since the components you need to inspect
are small and likely located out of reach, a high-resolution thermal imager or drone with a combination of infrared and visual payloads can help you detect potential problems quickly and accurately from a distance. Identify hot spots early so you can prevent failures before they occur, reducing the cost of maintenance and repairs.

Without power, factory operations cannot continue. That’s why regular scheduled maintenance is important to ensure your electrical distribution system is in working order. A thermal imager can help you detect hot spots in your distribution system before an outage occurs. Once the source of the problem is identified, a clamp meter can help you diagnose electrical issues at the point of failure and determine the proper course of action. You’ll avoid downtime, unnecessary maintenance or repair costs, and
lost profit.

As an electrician or service provider, it’s crucial that you find and fix electrical problems before they turn critical. You rely on pocket-portable thermal imagers and test instruments to investigate failing power inlets, transfer switches, and fuses. Inexpensive thermal imaging cameras can help you locate problems, point them out to customers, and prove they’ve
been repaired. Clamp and digital multimeters enhanced with thermal imaging offer a two-in-one advantage by helping you find the source of a problem and collect the data you need to fix it.

Drone data can be used to create accurate 2D and 3D models in aerial site surveys to streamline planning and inform design.

Drone solutions help manage every step of the construction process to monitor progress, reduce risks, and keep personnel safe.

Drone solutions deliver detailed and accurate data on all parts of the grid, automating inspection, enabling timely repairs, and reducing downtime.

Drone solutions provide critical visual and thermal data on the condition of power stations, so personnel can identify risks and address them quickly without shutting down operations.

Quickly clear powerlines of debris using drones outfitted with specialized tools, keeping personnel safe on the ground and avoiding shutdowns.