Polymer end of life indicator

Rapid, cost-effective, non-destructive identification and diagnosis of insulation materials, equipment casings and other polymeric materials under the remit of DSOs is an increasingly important area of asset management. This is necessary to assess the reliability and potential risks presented by equipments in a particular population as well as gauging the prospective life expectancy of individual units. Within the PAS 55 certified Risk Based Asset Management process [1], Enexis has started to test and introduce a remote sensing Raman-spectroscopy method as developed by GnoSys UK. A portable fibre-optic spectroscopic probe system has been developed which can remotely and non-destructively identify the polymer and then provide an estimate of glass transition temperature, tan d, and an indicator of "extent of damage". The system uses a hand-held optical probe that gathers spectral information which is analysed using dedicated multivariate analysis software. Following calibration and measurement trials in the laboratory, the instrument has been used in the field, to provide quality values based on in-situ measurements of buried components of switchgear.