ELECTRICAL SECTION
24/7 Thermal condition monitoring
1.01
The Thermal Monitoring System (TMS) shall be designed to provide continuous (24/7) thermal
monitoring of all critical connections within electrical distribution infrastructure, including but
not limited to:
MV & LV: Air-circuit breaker joints/terminations;
MV: power cable and bus duct joints/terminations;
LV & MCC: power cable and bus duct joints/terminations 400A and greater;
LV & MCC: other specific critical joints/terminations;
LV MCC: vertical busbar;
Site assembled joints e.g. shipping splits, transport joints, cable terminations and others as
applicable for all voltages.
1.02
TMS shall identify joints and terminations which may be compromised in real-time, to allow
the planning of any required maintenance activity and prevent potential failures occurring.
This permanent monitoring system shall be capable of replacing periodic Thermographic
inspections and the installation of thermal windows.
1.03
The TMS Sensors shall be infrared non-contact, non-powered, non-conductive, and provide
rise above ambient (ΔT) temperature value, and shall be lifetime calibrated and not require
any periodic maintenance. For cable connections cable sensors may be used, which attach to
the incoming or outgoing cables via a cable tie, and provide the same ∆T temperature values
as the infrared sensors.
1.04
The sensors shall be hard wired connected to Datacards which shall be capable of accepting
a minimum of 8 sensor inputs per datacard and shall use a robust industry standard open
protocol e.g. Modbus RS485 to transmit data values and shall be capable of being
daisychained to form a modbus 485 network for export of data.
1.05
The datacard/s will directly connect to an Alarm Relay Module (ARM) HMI which shall be
mounted in the switchboard and provide the following alarms via relay contacts:
A low or warning alarm, user configurable between a ΔT of 15°C and 30°C;
A high or critical alarm, user configurable between a ΔT of 30°C and 50°C;
A communications failure alarm, between the HMI and / or Datacards;
An alarm in the event of loss of power to the HMI.
The HMI shall also provide for two sets of output alarms to allow for both local and remote
annunciation.
1.06
The electrical equipment Supplier shall include for all installation/cabling associated with the
monitoring system within the switchboards.
1.07
The Purchaser’s preference is for the Thermal Monitoring System is Exertherm system
supplied by QHi Group : email - sales@Qhigroup.com.
SCADA / BMS/ Controls Section
2.0
Output / Transfer of Thermal Monitoring System Data:
SELECT ONE APPLICABLE REQUIREMENT FROM SECTION A OR B
2.01
SECTION A
If the Alarm Relay Module HMI has been included in the supply of the switchboard then the
dry contact alarm relays must be connected to the local outstation of the SCADA / BMS /
Controls software, such that these alarms are notified and visible in the "head End" software
package.
OR
2.02
SECTION B:
Transfer raw data to a host system (e.g BMS / SCADA), which will shall accept the raw
data at a local outstation in modbus register format and then subsequently manipulate
data to create required thermal alarm thresholds and graphical user interface.