Partial Discharge Monitoring For All Of Your High Voltage Equipment

Most operations managers who have been in their chosen industry for an extended part of their careers will have had at least one type of high voltage equipment fail or break down on their watch. Often, this is enough to galvanize them into action and convince them that some form of monitoring system is necessary. Many operations thus have partial discharge monitoring systems in place for a particular class of their high voltage machinery. The problem, however, is that few operations managers see the bigger picture right away – that it is not only that particular type of equipment that failed that requires monitoring, but everything else too including motors generators cables switchgear and transformers.

 

Even for those who already know what partial discharge means and what partial discharge monitoring entails, many do not fully understand the need for a fully comprehensive partial discharge monitoring system. You cannot simply install a monitoring system only on those pieces of equipment that you suspect might fail, because it is impossible to tell with certainty what might or might not fall prey to insulation failure. That is the whole point of having a partial discharge monitoring system – the fact that uncertainty will always be present and the monitoring system is a way to keep that uncertainty in check by always being alert for trouble.

 

Of course, the cost of installing such a fully comprehensive system of partial discharge monitoring systems often causes operations managers to balk and most are extremely reluctant to even suggest to higher management that such drastic measures are necessary. When you stop to consider the statistics and figures that are easily available concerning the cost of a major equipment breakdown or failure and also the loss in revenue due to the interruption of work processes, most executives would quickly be convinced of the need for these measures.

 

The fact of the matter is that partial discharge monitoring systems are true early warning systems and not merely systems that are designed to make you feel better – they actually work. Once partial discharge occurs on any piece of machinery, be it motors generators cables switchgear or transformers, a full-blown failure is probably not far behind. With the sheer number of motors generators cables switchgear and transformers that a single industrial building houses, it would be impossible to conduct proper periodic checks on every single piece of equipment – signs would go unnoticed.

 

The only foolproof method to keep track of all the motors generators cables switchgear and transformers at the same time is through the use of monitoring systems. By installing sensors on all of the large high voltage machinery and at key junctures in the electrical wiring and cabling systems, the risk of a problem developing outside of your notice becomes that much lower. Just as so many countries in earthquake-prone areas of the world have invested enormous amounts of money to install tsunami early-warning systems just so that they have advance notice of impending disaster, partial discharge monitoring systems serve the same sort of purpose, with the only difference being that you can actually do something about the problem once it has been identified through your monitoring system.

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Without a partial discharge monitoring system from Dynamic Ratings to maintain constant surveillance of the motors generators cables switchgear in your area of operations, there will be no way for you to tell if a piece of equipment were about to experience insulation failure.