A rigorous thermal monitoring regimen is considered standard practice by those responsible for maintaining critical electrical infrastructure. As thermal imaging technologies mature and infrared cameras become increasingly common, it becomes necessary to understand any limitations that may be imposed by methods that capture data infrequently. This paper will frame the benefits of implementing continuous, real time, thermal monitoring instead of performing infrequent scanning with hand-held infrared cameras, in an industrial process environment. Attention is focused on medium and low voltage switchgear due to the importance of their thermal behavior in these industrial settings. Specifically, continuous thermal sensing utilizing fiber-optic based sensors will be reviewed, along with installation considerations and methods for analyzing data.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.