Short answer: yes, and running is when they should be imaged. A motor control centre or variable speed drive panel only shows a connection problem while current flows, so the survey is done with the line in normal production. The site’s electrician opens covers under permit; the thermographer images each connection, records the load and lists anything that was not accessible.
Engineers on food sites often expect a survey to need downtime they can’t spare. It doesn’t. The line keeps running; the only change is that each panel cover is off for a few minutes while it is imaged.
Pick a time of steady production
Load decides what the camera can see. Cleaning shifts, product changeovers and the start-up hour all leave motors lightly loaded, and a lightly loaded circuit can look fine when it isn’t. Plan the route so each MCC is imaged while its line is in steady production, and make sure the report records the load on each circuit at the time.
What gets imaged in an MCC
The incoming supply and its terminations, busbar connections, isolators and fuses, contactors and overloads in each starter, and the outgoing cable terminations. Each is imaged with a matching digital photo and a clear location, so the site’s electrician can walk straight to it.
VSD panels: compare like with like
Drives and their heatsinks run warm by design, so a warm drive on its own tells you very little. The useful comparison is like with like: the same phase connections against each other, or similar drives on similar duty. A good report gives the measured temperature, where it was taken and what it was compared with, and leaves investigation of the cause to the site’s electrician or drive supplier. A thermal image shows where heat is, not why it is there.
Traps on food sites
- Process heat: panels near ovens, fryers, steam lines or blast chillers pick up heat, or lose it, from their surroundings.
- Anti-condensation heaters fitted in enclosures show up warm by design.
- Bare and shiny metal reflects heat from elsewhere, so the reading is taken on a surface that gives a true value.
- Wash-down and hygiene zones: whether a panel can be opened, and how the thermographer enters the area, follows the site’s own hygiene rules.
Who should do it
A certified thermographer, Level 2 or above, working with your authorised electrician. Our thermographers are ITC Level 3 and Ti is a Level 3 certified company. We have carried out more than 700 electrical thermography inspections across a national distribution and logistics network since 2018. Anything that needs attention is explained on site, and the report usually follows the same or next working day.
Related answers: how often a food production site should be surveyed, what load the equipment needs, who opens the panels, what happens after a hot connection is found and whether insurers require a survey.
Frequently asked questions
Does the production line need to stop?
No. The line keeps running; that is what makes the survey meaningful. Only the covers come off, one panel at a time, under the site’s permit.
Can drives be imaged with the panel door closed?
Only the outside of the door can be seen with it closed, and that tells you little about the connections inside. Where a door can’t be opened live, infrared windows or a planned check at shutdown are the options, and the report lists the panel as not imaged.
How often should MCCs be surveyed?
At least once a year under normal production load, with critical plant checked every six months where a failure would stop production. Our food production frequency guide covers what moves that up or down.
Talk to us: +44 20 3885 7464 · sales@thermalimaging.co.uk · send us your site details
About the author: Rachael Browning is General Manager of Ti Thermal Imaging, which carries out electrical thermography surveys for data centres, FM portfolios, food production and industrial sites across the UK and UAE. Ti’s work has featured on BBC News and ITV.