Spot Loose Terminals & Poor Contact Early — Streamlining Control Panel Inspection with the Acoustic Camera "AlgoLeak"

In the control panels and electrical equipment inside a factory, terminals can work loose or develop poor contact after long periods of operation and exposure to vibration. Left unchecked, such faults can lead to overheating or equipment downtime, so regular inspection was necessary. How do you find a loose terminal? How do you detect poor contact early? This case study shows how a food factory used the acoustic camera "AlgoLeak (AL64)" to visualize abnormalities caused by loose terminals and poor contact.

What causes loose terminals and poor contact in control panels — the risk of overheating and downtime

In the control panels and electrical equipment inside a factory, terminals can work loose or develop poor contact after long periods of operation and exposure to vibration.

If such faults are left unattended, they can lead to overheating or equipment downtime, so regular inspection was necessary.

The challenge: how to find loose terminals — visual checks, retightening and thermography alone fall short

Until now, the food factory had relied on visual checks, retightening of terminals and temperature checks with thermography. However, the following challenges remained.

• Inspection takes time — checking the many control panels one at a time is time-consuming.
• Early-stage faults are hard to spot — in the early stages the temperature change is small, so there are cases where an abnormality is difficult to find.

We therefore proposed inspecting the electrical equipment with the acoustic camera "AlgoLeak (AL64)".

The solution: visualizing signs of loose terminals and poor contact with the acoustic camera "AlgoLeak (AL64)"

AlgoLeak not only visualizes the ultrasound generated by air leaks, it also captures abnormal ultrasound such as the discharge that accompanies loose terminals and poor contact.

Simply pointing the camera at the equipment shows where the sound originates on screen, so suspect locations can be narrowed down efficiently before checking the many terminals inside a control panel one at a time.

• Visualizes abnormal ultrasound — captures discharge and other ultrasound that accompanies loose terminals and poor contact, and shows the sound source on screen.
• Just point the camera — the origin of the sound is identified simply by pointing the camera at the equipment, making it easy to narrow down what to inspect.
• No need to shut equipment down — the control panel was filmed while still in operation, and the sound source confirmed on screen.
• Two uses in one unit — on top of energy saving through finding and fixing air leaks, it also supports predictive maintenance of electrical equipment.

Results: fewer inspection man-hours on control panels and earlier detection of equipment trouble

The customer valued the fact that, in addition to energy saving through air leak repair, the camera can also be used for predictive maintenance of electrical equipment.

Filming with the control panel in operation, a strong ultrasonic response was confirmed near the terminal connections. Because inspection can be focused on the suspect locations, the work became more efficient and equipment trouble could be found earlier.

• More efficient inspection (fewer man-hours) — inspection can now be focused on the locations where an abnormality is suspected.
• Earlier detection of equipment trouble — abnormalities linked to loose terminals and poor contact can be caught at an earlier stage.
• Energy saving and predictive maintenance together — one unit covers both finding and fixing air leaks and detecting faults in electrical equipment.

Summary: an acoustic (ultrasonic) camera as an option for tackling loose terminals

Loose terminals and poor contact produce only a small temperature change in the early stages, so they can be hard to find with visual checks, retightening and thermography alone. Adding sound as a further angle makes it possible to narrow down the suspect locations first, and inspect them afterwards.

AlgoLeak is useful not only for finding and repairing air leaks but also for detecting faults in electrical equipment, such as the discharge that accompanies loose terminals and poor contact. Being able to use a single unit for both energy saving and predictive maintenance is a major advantage.