Insurance Company Uses IR to Prevent Electrical Fires

CNA Insurance saves clients more than $105m in risks and losses using Infrared Thermography. Infrared Thermography is now a standard practice, estimated to save $9651 per survey

Electrical systems – for obvious reasons – are designed to be reliable. Like any complex system, electrical systems require periodic maintenance and inspection to ensure power is supplied to buildings and facilities in a safe and efficient manner. That's why CNA offers Infrared (IR) thermography tests to new and existing clients with total insured values (TIV) of $10 million or more per location. A thermal imaging scan increases confidence in equipment, decreases the potential for fire loss, reduces high-energy costs, and helps avoid business interruption.

NFPA 70B recommends that building owners complete IR surveys annually. CNA (and other sources) recommend every 3 to 5 years, depending on level of faults found. The cost of an infrared survey is estimated by CNA at $2,000 per day. CNA performs IR surveys with FLIR P65 infrared cameras. The surveys are conducted at no extra charge to clients who qualify for an offer of an IR survey, saving them at least $2,000 annually.

The risk of blackouts and brownouts are increasing on the US power distribution grid due to its aging infrastructure, and a lack of automation systems that monitor the condition of critical equipment at substations and elsewhere on the grid. For example, transformer fluid leaks or internal insulation breakdown cause overheating that leads to failures, but many utilities don't have automated thermal detection systems that reveal these problems. In addition, the remote locations of many substations make them vulnerable to security breaches, which can be detected with automated infrared imaging systems.

Whatever the cause, a critical substation failure may cascade into series of failures. Indeed, aging substation infrastructure exacerbated the Northeast blackout of 2003, the largest in US history. The result was a massive failure of regional banking facilities, security systems, manufacturing plants, food refrigeration, communication networks, and traffic control systems. Of course, the electric utilities involved lost huge amounts of revenue and incurred enormous costs in getting their systems up and running again. The economic impact is thought to have exceeded $6 billion in the region.

When thermal images are captured with a FLIR infrared camera, the "vital signs" of potential faults are instantly recorded with the IR image. Analysis and reports can be completed later using the radiometric information captured in the field. This makes for productive use of the client's – and the thermographer's time.

Analysis and Recommended Action

This represents an Intermediate fault. This fault should be corrected by a qualified electrician within 60 days. Correction of this fault also represents potential energy savings of $100 per year.

This represents an Intermediate fault. This fault should be corrected by a qualified electrician within 60 days. Correction of this fault also represents potential energy savings of $100 per year.