Power Cable Monitoring for Overheating

"Finding Danger where It's Impossible to Look"

Introduction

With industrial and economic development comes increasingly large and advanced power plants and factories. Nevertheless, we find many cases where the original cables, cable tunnels, and other components of the power infrastructure have languished under continuous operation. In extreme examples, cable tunnels that were installed during the fast-paced economic growth period of the previous half century haven’t been entered by maintenance workers since. If the power infrastructure is cut off, unplanned outages are unavoidable. As deterioration looms through years of operation, accidents are inevitable unless risk avoidance measures are taken. Once an unplanned outage occurs, loss of production is only the first of considerable damages incurred, including compromised community trust and a tarnished public image. And having to infuse capital into recovery efforts may notably inhibit corporate growth. The DTSX distributed optical fiber temperature sensor is a solution for monitoring abnormal cable temperatures and cable tunnel fires. It is a powerful tool for maintenance of critical power infrastructure.

What is the DTSX Distributed Temperature Optical Fiber Sensor?

The DTSX is a module that can be used as an optical fiber sensor to enable temperature monitoring over wide areas.

Customer Benefits

• Monitors 24 Hours, 365 Days a Year, Even where Workers Can't Go
• Identifies Trouble Spots in 1 m-increments to Minimize Damage
• Semipermanent Monitoring Possible in a Single Installation

Solutions and Benefits

Monitoring 24 Hours, 365 Days a Year, Even where Workers Can't Go

Optical fiber sensors can detect abnormal heating of power lines in cable trays and high voltage power cables in cable tunnels. They enable blind-spot–free monitoring—24 hours a day 365 days a year—in out-of-reach places and spaces that are too narrow for people to enter. One DTSX and its software application enable centralized monitoring of the entire power plant or factory because you can extend the optical fiber sensor up to 50 km.

Identifies Trouble Spots in 1m-increments to Minimize Damage

Since that application performs detection in 1-meter units at least every 10 seconds, it easily identifies trouble spots. You can rely on it to respond quickly in the event of an accident, keeping damage to a minimum. And as a total Yokogawa solution, you can customize the monitoring system and output monitor screens and reports that mirror the needs of the site. Now you can visualize power infrastructure conditions that were once out of view.

Semipermanent Monitoring Possible in a Single Installation

Cable rack and cable tunnel installations only require optical fiber sensors, and no other control or power system lines are needed. Plus, optical fiber sensors require almost no maintenance. This is the ideal application for managing risk at facilities where workers aren’t physically present on a daily basis.