Improved measurement accuracy of industrial-commercial thermal imagers when inspecting low-voltage electrical installations

The main contribution of this research is a general method for improving the measurement accuracy of industrial-commercial thermal imagers when inspecting various types of electrical equipment. The measurement of the peak temperatures of fuses and miniature circuit breakers, particularly those located in inaccessible or dangerous places, was used for the verification of the developed method. The method takes into account the influence of the inspected equipment surface emissivity, reflected background temperature, the equipment distance from the thermal imager and the angle of view on the accuracy of the measured peak temperature. A practice oriented algorithm, representing the basis for the corresponding Excel sheet, was also developed, making fault diagnosis semiautomatic. It was shown that the method/algorithm is applicable for a wide range of the tested equipment rated currents and for different industrial-commercial thermal imagers.

Automated summary

The research presents a general method for improving the measurement accuracy of industrial-commercial thermal imagers when inspecting electrical equipment, with the validation on peak temperatures of fuses and miniature circuit breakers. An algorithm oriented towards practical application was developed, enabling semi-automatic fault diagnosis, and it was demonstrated that the method is applicable for a wide range of tested equipment and thermal imagers.