Inspecting Static Frequency Converter Station with Thermography

Static Frequency Converter stations are becoming an important part of energy infrastructure. It is crucial to maintain their health and performance. One of versatile health indicators is temperature – many failure modes are associated with abnormal temperatures. As an operating station is off-limits to people, for safety reasons, it is important to be able to measure the temperatures at a distance. This paper describes measurements carried out at a small test Static Frequency Converter station using a hand-held thermal camera. Investigated equipment included valves, reactor coils, filter resistors, cooling system, joints, structure elements. The station was operating at rated voltage, but minimal power, therefore not all measurements were expected to be significant. Nevertheless, a number of anomalies has been detected, proving the usefulness of thermography in station diagnostics.