Thermographic Characterization of Electrical Units in Diesel Electric Locomotive for Effective Maintenance

초록

The infrared (IR) thermography is a powerful NDE technique for the characterization of thermal phenomenon in engineering components and/or systems including engineering materials. The IR camera provides the measurement of temperature as well as the images of temperature contour on the surface of objects. In this investigation, the electrical units of diesel electric locomotives, which were used for over 25 years, were characterized for deterioration evaluation using infrared thermography technique. After test running, the thermographic images were obtained for the inspection of high-voltage cables using the infrared camera. The thermographic results were quantitatively analyzed, and compared with temperature changes. In this study, the infrared thermography technique for the safety characterization of diesel electric locomotives was introduced, and the analysis results were used to provide the deterioration or wear information in electrical units of the locomotive systems.