IR thermography transforms heat, light into greater productivity
Facility Engineer Brandon Black, left, and Reliability Engineering Manager Nick Stephens describe how Pantex uses infrared thermography to identify failing power cables outside the North Main Substation.
Planned power outages are nothing new to Pantexans. When such events occur, though, how do site engineers identify what equipment is properly operating and what might require replacement?
“Before every electrical outage, we have to go out and inspect the manholes to examine the equipment that provides power to every facility,” explained Reliability Engineering Manager Nick Stephens. “We use infrared thermography to see if there are problems with the plant’s electrical distribution system.”
Infrared (IR) thermography, also known as thermal imaging, uses a heat-sensitive camera to detect infrared radiation coming from a given source, with the goal of trying to restore power, to extend equipment life, and to provide the best possible maintenance for Pantex devices and infrastructure.
But while the issue with the power cables was a problem, Stephens said it was not the problem.
“We were having to contract that work out,” he said. “That was causing delays, always being dependent on someone else.”
Facility Engineer Brandon Black recalled the frustration but said having the added in-house capability is paying dividends.
“Having the equipment and trained personnel on-site to perform the IR scans is a great benefit,” Black said. “We are able to perform these scans quickly based on emergent issues or operational needs, rather than being constrained by a contractor’s schedule or availability.”
Implementing IR thermography was more than just overcoming the latest obstacle, though. Stephens said the desire to bring IR thermography capability to Pantex had always been an objective.
“One of the cores of reliability engineering, as a discipline, is infrared thermography,” he said. “As we started seeing more outages and connections catastrophically failing, it drove a need for the plant to be more proactive to these situations.”
But how has reliability engineering evolved from a discipline exercised within one group to its own department within Pantex Engineering?
“Reliability Engineering at Pantex probably came about three years ago,” explained Infrastructure and Projects Director Ryan George. “The group was under Infrastructure and managed the preventive maintenance (PM) program. As we began to look at predictive maintenance and other technologies, the group was moved to Engineering, and we have been hiring experienced engineers ever since.”
The premise, according to George, is to take a more proactive approach to problem-solving, looking for predictive ways to perform condition-based maintenance.
“We’re always trying to find just the right amount of maintenance to keep everything running without interfering with people’s work,” George said.
Pantex reliability engineers are the men and women whose technical expertise equips them to dive into things like thermal images to diagnose problems when they happen.
“While we contracted IR Scanning out, we didn’t retain those thermal images,” Stephens said. “Consequently, any subsequent in-depth analysis of an issue would be contingent upon receiving responsive information from the contractor.”
He said the decision to bring IR thermography capability to Pantex dramatically sped up outage investigations, facilitating faster repairs.
“Taking away that need to contract out gives us freedom to schedule our maintenance and our actions when we need to,” Stephens said. “Now, there’s only a two- or three-day delay in taking the images, receiving them back from Engineering and getting a report out in a day or two. It really speeds things up.”
Black said Pantex having its own engineers and equipment enables the plant to better monitor trends in a given piece or collection of equipment, planning future maintenance and life cycles accordingly.
“With the reliability engineers analyzing the images and preparing the reports,” he said, “we’ll be able to have a standardized IR scan report with consistent information that will be used to monitor equipment history.”
George said having a dedicated team of engineers committed to making sure Pantex and its federal customer receives the greatest value and productivity for its investment is vital, especially in light of the greater workload coming in the near future.
“We have about 15,000 PMs that we control,” he said. “That number will continue to grow as we bring on new facilities and so one of our major efforts is to make sure we are doing what we should be doing. At Pantex, we have so much work to do; we don’t want to waste time doing PMs that aren’t valuable.”