[RFI] PG&E IR line fault detection advertisements

[Jim P]

Rick,

A deeper look into the field of using 'camera 
imagery' for location of potential faults or 
actual 'faults' in overhead line gear result in 
this interesting find:

Corona Camera
http://www.specialcamera.com/uvcam/cameras.html

This would seem be a little more applicable to 
finding 'arcs' and arcing line gear (as, it seems, arcs 
produce much more energy in the UV spectrum rather 
than in the longer IR wavelengths).

An 'active' demo with animated imagery can be 
seen on this page:

http://www.specialcamera.com/uvcam/corimage.html

Give that page a few mins to load; something in 
excess of a 1.5 MB showed to be downloading
at one point while I was waiting for that page to 
load.

(I realize, too, that the example shown are for 
"transmission level" lines and not the lower
voltage "distribution circuit" lines that most 
of us have experience DFing noise on.)

My own personal experience for locating RF noise 
sources on poles and in/on residential property
involves locating RF souces only; no IR, UV
or ultrasonics, though I have actually audiblely
*heard* one prodigious RF noise producer on a 
distribution-level line noise source.

I have found, like others, that different 'sources'
can be predominant at different RF wavelengths,
from predominantly HF only sources to sources 
that peak out in the low-band VHF area (6 M
and TV low-band VHF channles) to arcing
sources (like doorbell transformers) that are
able to be DF'd with a UHF receiver in AM 
receive mode connected to a hand-held 
7-element Yagi antenna.

Jim P  /  WB5WPA  / 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Karlquist" <richard at karlquist.com>
To: <rfi at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 1:33 PM
Subject: [RFI] PG&E IR line fault detection advertisements


> PG&E is running a TV ad campaign touting some infra-red
> power line fault detection system.  Does anyone have info
> on this?  I am wondering if I should add it to my arsenal
> of power line noise diagnostic equipment.  Is there a
> correlation between faults that are detectable with IR
> and faults that cause RFI.
> 
> The system might be just some simple minded thing that
> measures power transformer temperature, in which case
> we don't care.  A power company engineer once told me
> that they just wait for transformers to boil over and
> go up in flames before they replaced them.  There was
> no preventive maintenance.
> 
> Rick N6RK
> 
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