4Site – Continuous Monitoring of Electrical Assets

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Last modified: 9 May 2023
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Always Listening
The 4Site is listening in real-time for the first sign of high frequency sounds produced by arcing, tracking & corona.

Non-Invasive
Utilizing the power of airborne ultrasound, there is no contact with the electrical components of the equipment being monitored, making installation safer and easier.

Optimized Data
The 4Site is designed to reduce data overload and alert by exception. While the 4Site is always listening, it will only transmit informative data if a threshold is crossed and eliminating the need to transmit healthy data.

Scalability
Each 4Site is designed to monitor up to 4 cabinets simultaneously in one unit.

Continuous Monitoring of Electrical Assets
When electrical systems such as switch gear, transformers, insulators or disconnects and splices fail, the results can be catastrophic. The average cost of a critical electrical asset failure is greater than $500K per event and with the aging equipment and less than 5% of critical electrical assets have continuous monitoring integrated, the time is now to efficiently monitor your critical electrical assets for the three common failure modes, arcing, tracking & corona.

Online continuous ultrasound inspection can be performed at all voltage levels (low, medium and high) and is used to detect:
• Corona
• Partial discharge or tracking
• Arcing
• Mechanical vibrations (transformers)

How Ultrasonic Electrical Inspection Works
Partial discharge/tracking, arcing and corona all produce ionization which disturbs the surrounding air molecules. The 4Site detects high frequency sounds produced by these emissions. The specific sound quality of each type of emission and the intensity of the signal is recorded. These sounds are analyzed through ultrasound spectrum analysis software for diagnosis & reporting. Normally, electrical equipment should be silent, although some equipment such as transformers may produce a constant 50 cycle hum, or some steady mechanical noises. These should not be confused with the erratic, sizzling frying, uneven and popping sound of an electrical discharge.

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Written by

UE Systems Europe

For more than 40 years, UE has produced thousands of ergonomically designed portable, and incredibly accurate airborne/structure borne ultrasonic instruments. Used primarily for leak detection, mechanical analysis and electrical inspection,... Read more