Electricity and Control November 2021

PLANT MAINTENANCE, TEST + MEASUREMENT

At a glance  The company decided to retrofit transparent polymer IR windows to provide for safer inspections on live electrical equipment.  As a result, routine inspections of energised equipment could be done more often and maintenance time and costs could be reduced.  The large format IR windows also provide for both visual and thermal inspection, with fewer units needing to be installed.

The bottling company installed 24-inch IR windows in main breaker bus cabinets. inspection on the equipment to establish baseline temperature data - Any problems discovered were noted and addressed. Results The bottled water company has seen substantial savings in time and money with the implementation of the transparent polymer infrared windows in its condition-based monitoring programme. The use of polymer IR windows allows more convenient and frequent inspections resulting in the ability to catch and fix potential problems well before they turn into unexpected outages. In this way, it is expected that the bottled water plants at the different sites will see increased mean time between failure (MTBF) on their critical electrical infrastructure. Based on the results at the first sites, the bottled water company is now implementing the IR windows at 29 of its Followingaprevious testandinspectionprojectcompleted successfully at Eskom’s Ingula pumped storage scheme on the escarpment of the Little Drakensberg in KwaZulu- Natal, Skyriders Access Specialists has again been appointed to undertake similar work at the utility’s Drakensberg and Ingula pumped storage schemes and the Gariep hydro power station on the banks of the Orange River near Norvalspont in the Eastern Cape. Periodic inspection of the various schemes by spe- cialised structural, civil or mechanical teams has required Skyriders to deploy some of its most highly qualified and experienced technicians to provide the necessary assis- tance and access, says Marketing Manager Mike Zinn. “One of the challenges presented by the pumped storage schemes is that we have to take the Mine Health & Safety Act into consideration, which means there are additional regulations and provisions with which we need to comply. It is quite a strict process, but we have been well-guided by the client’s own safety team in this regard,” says Zinn. Although the schemes are among the most chal- Test and inspection in challenging environments

Incoming line connections were also fitted with 24-inch IR windows. sites around North America. The IR windows are supplied by Teledyne FLIR, a leader in intelligent sensing solutions for defence and industrial applications. □

For more information visit: www.teledyneflircom

PLANT MAINTENANCE, TEST + MEASUREMENT : PRODUCTS + SERVICES

lenging industrial environments that Skyriders has worked in to date, the contract is a significant extension of the inspection, repair and access work that the company has carried out for Eskom over the years at many of its coal-fired power stations. Zinn says Skyriders is keen to introduce the possibility of using its Elios SkyEye drone system to carry

Skyriders is providing access and standby rescue for inspection teams at a number of Eskom’s pumped storage and hydro power schemes.

out inspection work at the pumped storage schemes. This will reduce the time required and reduce the risk for all personnel involved. “We are currently arranging for a demonstration of our drone service as the first step in the approval process – with a view to using this technology in such environments,” he says.

For more information contact Skyriders. Tel: +27 (0)11 312 1418

Email: mike@ropeaccess.co.za Visit: www.ropeaccess.co.za

Electricity + Control NOVEMBER 2021

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