Corona Inspections

The DayCor II™ camera is today the leading daytime predictive maintenance system for inspection and detection of corona discharge and arcing on overhead power lines, insulators and substations.

Symbion Power works closely with the cameras manufacturers Ofil Ltd based in Israel to provide this new and exciting service to the UK.

Together with our joint venture partner, PDG Helicopters, this is the first time the DayCor II™ camera has been gyro stabilised to be used from a helicopter in the world. We first used this in the UK in March 2003.

The corona camera is a truly remarkable piece of equipment, in that it allows you to study discharge created in overhead lines during the day, even with the sun directly behind the apparatus.

 

Here are just a few of the problems the corona camera can detect:

  • Loose / worn spacers
  • Conductor problems
  • Insulator Degradation
  • Faulty ground connections
  • High noise areas
  • Intermitting faults

The results are amazing, as where before you could only listen to where the discharge was coming from, now you can see it visually in real time.

This allows the distribution network operators to find problems on poor performing circuits or can be used in general patrol work. The camera can detect items on any voltage with very little load, and problems that the thermal image camera cannot and therefore complements the thermal service as a powerful diagnostic tool. The information gathered is stored on digital tapes and edited onto DVD or CD for evaluation by our customers.

Our corona camera is fully removable from its gyro-stabilised pod, and can be used on the ground by foot, either using the body harness of tripod. This gives us great versatility in accessing areas where helicopters cannot go, or would be intrusive, such as substation work and areas with livestock and horses. This also gives us the opportunity to go back to any problems found and carry out further studies for longer periods of time

The corona camera can also be used in the testing of motor coils for partial discharge, this would be useful for any large motors and generating companies. Fires and invisible flames can also be found using the camera due to UV detections capabilities.

Video Clips: Corona Discharge

Forest Fires - 370KB
Alcohol Fire - 2.1MB
Generator Status 1.1MB

Download Windows Media Player

Video Clips: Corona Patrols

33KV Patrols - 1.7MB
Tower Patrols - 2.4MB

Download Quicktime

For more information on this service please click on the contact us button and fill in your details where applicable, or call us on +44 (0)1603 869 257.

For more detailed information on the DayCor II™ camera please click here to visit Ofil Ltd.

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