Netze Duisburg GmbH
Inspection of District Heating Pipelines Using Thermography
Based on industrial waste heat or renewable energy sources, district heating offers the possibility of heating water and thus supplying private, commercial and industrial customers. Prerequisite for this is an intact transport system. Only then energy reaches the consumers with minimal losses. This is precisely what Netze Duisburg GmbH is doing to control the city‘s entire district heating network supported by InfraTec infrared cameras.
Several Hundred Kilometres of Pipelines in Focus
Netze Duisburg GmbH use InfraTec thermography systems to regularly inspect the district heating network, which covers almost 465 kilometres, for possible leaks and check the sleeves of plastic-coated pipes for perfect thermal insulation.
Not a job to be accomplished on foot. Therefore, an infrared camera of the VarioCAM® HDx research 600 series with a pan/tilt head mounted on the roof rack of a car is used. The camera’s robust light metal housing, combined with the LEMO® plug connections that maintain the degree of protection, ensures that the system is not affected by any weather conditions. The custom-built design includes a cable entry into the vehicle interior. Here, the recordings can be monitored and evaluated live on the monitor of a notebook. Optionally, the camera can be removed from the pan/tilt head and simply used as a handheld device. The 5.6 inch extremely large and very bright colour TFT display allows the immediate evaluation of recordings, even if the camera is not live connected to a computer. This considerably expands the range of applications for the thermography system.
