Electrical Equipment Reliability—a critical concept ensuring the electrical system's reliability in nearly every industry. But what exactly is Electrical equipment reliability? For a base note, we can say, this is the capacity of electrical equipment such as motors, switchgear, transformers, substations, breakers, etc, to operate without breakdowns. It is pivotal as it improves the safety of electrical assets, reduces unprecedented downtime, minimises maintenance and repair costs and ensures continuous operation in industries with criticality, improving efficiency and operational output.

 So, guaranteeing electrical assets' desired performance is quite simply indispensable, which is why it's not just about fixing as it pops, it is about predicting, preventing and pro-acting electrical faults before they even occur. Here is where two robust technologies step into the limelight: Ultrasound and Infrared.

These non-invasive, predictive maintenance tools detect electrical anomalies in real-time without needing to de-energize the systems. Consider it as giving your electrical equipment a regular health check-up, detecting minor hitches before they become major concerns.

Ultrasound and Infrared Thermography

Ultrasound proves to be one of the most adaptable and highly flexible tools in predictive maintenance and electrical inspection. It detects arcing, current leakage or corona discharge by detecting high-frequency sound waves emitted from faulty equipment, which are often silent symptoms until major thermal faults occur.

Common applications include compressed air and vacuum leak detection, steam traps and several condition-monitoring executions. They can be used in low, medium and high-voltage assets. Infrared (IR), on the other hand, utilises thermal-sensing cameras or devices to catch temperature fluctuations across connections, electrical panels and parts.

Overheating, heat and temperature variations indicate loose connections, overloads, wear and compromised insulations. IR screening aids in identifying heat spots before they escalate to costly outages or faults.

Integrating Ultrasound and Infrared: A Proactive Approach

Over the past decades, inspecting electrical equipment has been carried out mostly via infrared means. While it remains valuable most of the time, Infrared Thermography alone can be less dependable in some cases, for example, IR detects heat on the surface, but it cannot detect heat signatures through insulations or panels, which may cause faults to go unnoticed.

With the advent of innovations and technologies, ultrasound tools and instruments are incorporated into the predictive maintenance settings for industries. It has upped the game in terms of safety, precision, quickness and cost-effectiveness. For instance, an ultrasound inspection can be done from a safe distance, even on a live electrical asset. Unlike Infrared, Ultrasound catches corona, tracking and even baby arcing, which won't always be picked up by infrared thermography as they might emit little to no heat to be detected through IR imaging. 

However, integrating ultrasound and infrared into electrical reliability industries can foster a proactive maintenance approach rather than a reactive one. One way is to carry out an ultrasound test before approaching energised equipment to scan with infrared. Ultrasound inspection can be done without needing to open the energised gear. Proper caution can be exercised if ultrasonic emissions are detected, improving safety and dependability.

Let us explore how these tools work and the different metrics to assess equipment reliability and associated details.

Electrical Anomalies Analysis through FFT and Time waveform

The FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and Time Frame form methods in electrical equipment reliability offer high precision in analysing and diagnosing electrical abnormalities found through ultrasound. FFT is a technique to analyse acoustic and vibration patterns in equipment such as motors, transformers, etc.

FFT aids in vibration analysis, condition monitoring and preventive maintenance. Convert vibrations into frequency domains showing the signal’s frequency components, detect spikes or unusual frequency signals indicating issues such as electrical arcing and provide early alerts of potential faults to enable actions to prevent faults from escalating.

The Time Frame Form is the period where reliability data and maintenance cycles are tracked and assessed, aiding in understanding the equipment reliability, alert failures and offering comprehensive maintenance schedules. Short or long-term time frames, MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) and MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) are some of the reliability metrics under the Time Frame Form.

Metrics to Measure Equipment Reliability

Let us explore some terms and techniques critical to electrical equipment reliability used to assess, track, enhance and optimise equipment performance, maintenance and dependability.

1. MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures): MTBF tracks the equipment over a longer time frame.  It gives the average time between two consecutive system failures when running, showing how long the equipment runs before a failure occurs. Higher MTBF shows the equipment experiences fewer breakdowns and is more reliable.
2. MTTR (Mean Time to Repair): MTTR is the average time taken to repair electrical equipment once an anomaly occurs and is brought back to running state. It helps organisations improve operational efficiency by assessing their ability and time taken to repair and restore the equipment. Lower MTTR means less downtime, efficient repairs and higher reliability.
3.  Reliability Block Diagrams (RBD): RBDs are graphical diagrams depicting the reliability and interdependence of components or subsystems by breaking them down into parts and assessing the reliability of each component. RBD helps to identify electrical system weaknesses and failure points and analyse to predict the critical components from a reliability perspective.
4. Failure Rate: Failure rate shows the probability of failure at Time(t); it is the frequency at which a system fails. The failure rate is inversely proportional to reliability, a higher failure rate indicates lower equipment reliability. This metric is used to understand the probability of failure, which in turn shows the trends or early signs of reliability concerns.
5. Availability: Availability is calculated to evaluate system uptime and quantify the effectiveness of maintenance strategies. It refers to the proportion of time an equipment is in an up and running state, relative to the total time it is available. High availability shows the equipment is mostly running with few unplanned downtimes.
6. Failure Modes and Effective Analysis (FMEA): It is a systematic method for identifying potential modes within a system or component, as well as understanding the chances of occurrence and measuring their impact on operations. An effective FMEA approach helps industries channel maintenance efforts and preventive actions to avoid risks based on severity, likelihood and detectability.
   

Factors Influencing Equipment Reliability

Electrical equipment reliability is vital as it determines an industry's process efficiency, cost-optimisation, and safety. The following factors must be addressed to enhance the life and performance of electrical systems:

1. Design and build quality: Electrical equipment design and build quality is the stepping stone for reliability processes, as it directly impacts the longevity and dependability of electrical assets. Equipment with substandard parts or design compromises is susceptible to overheating, breakdowns and sloppiness. Ensure equipment reliability using quality materials, strong insulation, and safety compliance.
2.  Electrical stress: Being one of the most common reasons for equipment failures, electrical stress can cause voltage fluctuations, transient spikes and harmonic distortion, all of which can lead to insulation wearing, short circuits and excess heating. To improve system reliability and prevent unnoticed issues, it is crucial to use surge protection devices, voltage regulators and power-quality regulators.
3. Maintenance — Reactive or Predictive:  Deciding between the maintenance strategies is often challenging when it comes to efficiency and cost considerations. Reactive maintenance, where repairs are done only when an issue pops up, results in costly downtime and safety threats. In contrast, predictive maintenance is continuously monitoring and detecting anomalies well in advance using modern tools such as infrared, thermography, vibration analysis, or insulation testing. Predictive maintenance addresses issues before they become major concerns and reduces unexpected downtimes.
4. Aging, wear and tear: The equipment components are prone to wear and tear. Aging parts, corrosion, degrading insulation, fatigued mechanical parts and worn connections reduce the system's efficiency, increasing the chances of failure. Regular inspections, worn parts replacements and proactive maintenance strategies are quintessential to ensure reliability throughout the electrical asset’s lifecycle.

Electrical Equipment Reliability with Technomax

Technomax has been a leading name in the electrical equipment reliability services across the UAE and Middle East. Why? Because we are committed to quality, prioritising customer needs and staying ahead of changing technologies. With decades of experience, our expertise, careful diagnosis, and quality services have made us the go-to name for businesses and industries looking for the best electrical infrastructure service provider.
Our strategies involve careful analysis, feasible methods, and advanced technologies to identify the underlying concerns or gaps. Our predictive maintenance is a suite of the most modern solutions. As industry veterans, we work in and out to provide the best customised inspection and repair services to our clients to maintain optimal efficiency and reliability for their electrical assets.
As a strategic partner, we ensure unhindered operations and long-term equipment performance. Our proactive solutions, commitment to innovations, and customer satisfaction set us apart as an industry leader. Additionally, we provide advanced condition monitoring services throughout the UAE and GCC, including Vibration analysis, Laser Shaft alignment, Infrared Thermography, Partial Discharge testing, CFD and FEA Analysis, and much more.

Whether you need advanced diagnostics, predictive maintenance strategies, reliability solutions or advanced condition monitoring services, Technomax is your ultimate partner for safer, reliable, and trusted solutions. Contact us now to know more