Thermo Vision Camera & OLIVIR-G

Thermo Vision Camera imaging is a genuine predictive-maintenance technique: it identifies developing defects on OHE/PSI/RC/station traction equipment by analysing RELATIVE temperature between similar sub-components — not absolute/ambient temperature — allowing rectification before an in-service failure occurs.

Imaging Technique — Real Requirements

• Periodicity: half-yearly, or per Railway Board/RDSO guidelines — PCEE may decide more intensive periodicity based on local load/pollution conditions.
• The COMPLETE assembly must be imaged, never individual sub-components in isolation — e.g. for a G-jumper, the full jumper plus PG clamps must appear in one picture, since analysis compares relative temperatures within the frame.
• Images must be saved sequentially in BMT/IS2 format (or other proper heat-picture format) — NEVER as JPEG.
• Night-time imaging is preferred, since temperature differences are more clearly visible then.
• Emissivity (ratio of radiated energy from a material's surface vs. a blackbody at the same temperature/wavelength/viewing conditions) must be kept between 0.88 and 0.95.
• Standby components (bridging interrupters at SP/BM, isolators normally open, standby AT) must be recorded only AFTER closing/connecting them to load — imaging an unloaded standby component wouldn't reveal a real defect.

Priority Classification — The Real Temperature-Difference Table

Any defect requiring immediate attention must be reported to the Depot-In-Charge, TPC, and Officer-In-Charge — with immediate rectification ensured, not just logged for later. After rectification, images of the fixed component must also be taken, closing the loop on the record.

OLIVIR-G Plus — Spark Detection System

OLIVIR-G plus assists Overhead Equipment spark detection using a video camera mounted on a locomotive. A GPS receiver tracks the loco's current position, matching it against previously-collected track feature data — this dramatically simplifies identifying exactly WHERE a spark occurred, not just that one occurred.

The accompanying Olivir Mate RT Software identifies sparks in real time, saving them as location-tagged images while a continuous video file also records to a hard drive — these images can later be analysed to recognise the exact type of spark and its precise location.

What Thermo Vision Camera Must Check on 25kV AC OHE

1. All types of jumpers and their PG clamps.
2. Catenary splices, 'U' clamps, and bulldog clamps.
3. Contact splices.
4. Isolator contacts, connectors, jumpers, and their PG clamps.
5. Feeder wire jumpers connected with OHE and their PG clamps.

Schedule: the depot/OHE in-charge (SE/JE) should inspect his entire section by thermal imaging once a year, and should cover any OHE Ghat section specifically once every six months (ghat sections — steep gradient sections — get double the frequency given their higher failure consequence).

OLIVIR-G — Real Test Procedure & Flash-Intensity Priority Table

• Current collection and checking of OHE by OLIVIR-G is carried out consecutively for two to three trips at an interval of two days, covering the entire section. The same cycle is repeated after every two months.
• Current collection through OLIVIR-G is conducted by the rearmost electric locomotive of the banker in a ghat section.
• Current collection is carried out during NIGHT TIME ONLY.

Schedule: the current collection test should be carried out over the entire section by ADEE (TRD) level every two months. Sr.DEE/TRD will cover the entire section once in six months.