Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration


Acoustic imager detects partial discharge

November 2020 Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration

Fluke’s new ii910 Precision Acoustic Imager detects corona, partial discharge and gas, steam and compressed air leaks that can hurt both production uptime and the bottom line.

The invisible threat that can now be seen

Partial discharge is a very serious issue that users would like to be able to monitor quickly and easily. Whether inspecting insulators, transformers, switchgear or high-voltage power lines, users need to be sure that a problem can be spotted quickly. Partial discharge that goes unchecked can cause blackouts, fires, explosions, or death from arc flashes. In addition to the danger that partial discharge poses to human lives and the environment, there is a significant monetary risk of downtime. Having equipment go down can cost millions of rand per hour of downtime.

The Fluke ii910 Precision Acoustic Imager is specifically designed for high-voltage electricians, electrical test engineers, and grid maintenance teams that are constantly inspecting and maintaining power distribution and industrial high-voltage equipment. The ii910 provides a safe, quick and easy way to detect and locate partial discharge in order to maintain high-voltage equipment and prevent catastrophic events. With the SoundSight technology the ii910 translates the sounds that it hears into a visual representation so that problem areas can quickly be located. The higher frequency capability of the ii910 allows for earlier detection to facilitate maintenance planning, and is why the ii910 has a frequency range of 2 – 100 kHz.

The ii900 series also allows technicians to ‘see’ sound as they scan hoses, fittings, and connections for leaks. Its built-in acoustic array of tiny sensitive microphones generates a spectrum of decibel levels per frequency. Based on this output, an algorithm calculates a sound image, known as SoundMap, that is superimposed on a visual image. The SoundMap is automatically adapted depending on the frequency level selected so that background noise is filtered out, making it incredibly simple to detect compressed gas leaks. Finally, a better way to detect compressed air, gas, steam and vacuum leaks; plus, the ii910 provides increased sensitivity to detect leaks that are smaller or farther away.


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