Lord Power Equipment

Application of Corona Imaging to MV & HV Insulator Management

04 November 2024

Written by By Trevor Lord and Graham Hodge

By Trevor Lord and Graham Hodge (Issue 1 and 2) Updated by Trevor Lord 2023 Lord Consulting

Corona activity on or near MV/HV insulators and lines has now been recognised as one of the single most destructive mechanisms faced by the Power Industry, demanding a suitable understanding and response.
Corona imaging, via Corona Camera technology, creates an electronic image of corona discharge activity using UV light generated by the impact of excessive electric field stress on air. The technology has proven itself to be extremely useful. It is now a ‘best practice,’ commissioning, management, and diagnostic tool for network operators concerned with optimising the life and operational reliability of their MV/HV insulation system components.
This paper examines the nature of the corona mechanism, its adverse impact on MV/HV insulator and line assets, the current state of corona discharge imaging technologies for high voltage electrical power networks, and the application of such technologies toward mitigating the challenges caused by corona activity.

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Specifying a Transformer Main Tank DGA Monitor

19 May 2023

Written by Trevor Lord, LORD Consulting

For the past 23 years, LORD Consulting has developed and applied its own IP in the discipline of well implemented on-line main tank DGA monitoring to clients Australasian-wide, with excellent success in the overall risk minimisation to strategic transformers.

Although there is a wide range of devices offered as ‘transformer DGA monitors’ they are by no means equal in capability or performance. Certain devices marketed today are unsuited to the role and this should concern our Industry. It is truly a case of ‘buyer beware’ and, here too, the old adage ‘you get what you pay for’ very much applies to the purchase and successful deployment of these devices.

Download Full Paper [451kb PDF] ...

The CoroCAM 7HD is now available.

21 January 2023

Written by Lord Power Equipment

Improvements include a new full HD visible sensor and a new circuit board allowing 720p HD video of the central cropped full HD feed. This gives you the best of both worlds, the resolving power afforded by a high zoom (30x) full HD visible camera with the smaller file sizes of 720p (a 1/4 of Full HD file sizes).

A simpler and cleaner user interface has been implemented, while keeping the easy to handle and understand the physical interface and menu structure - putting powerful features at your finger tips, if you want to use them.

New CoroCAM8 Corona Camera video

27 January 2022

Written by Lord Power Equipment

Video: CoroCAM 8UAV Inspection at Qirion, NL

A fascinating flashback to a flying visit in the Netherlands with the CoroCAM 8UAV combined UV, visible and thermal camera mounted in a Gremsy T3 gimbal, lofted by an Aerialtronic’s Altura Zenith drone. The point inspection luckily did not show any major issues, unlike the example image included in the video, which shows a corona discharge co-locating with a hotspot.