A traditional spot or contact temperature sensor reports one number, at one fixed location. A manual thermal-camera survey is a snapshot taken only a few times a year. Both leave blind spots — in space (everywhere the probe isn't) and in time (every hour between scans).

Continuous Thermography Monitoring removes both. The sensor turns an entire surface into a live thermal image — up to 19,200 measurement points, refreshed every 2 seconds, 24x7 and automatically. A developing hot spot is caught wherever and whenever it appears, with no one scanning energized equipment by hand.

One image scales from 192 points (X-Small) to 768 (Small), 4,800 (Medium) or 19,200 (Large), and is available over Modbus TCP, Modbus RTU (RS-485), SNMP and MQTT. This is the continuous thermographic monitoring that NFPA 70B electrical maintenance programs and FM Global Data Sheet 5-19 call for.

The technology is protected by a family of patents (inventor: Maarten Van Laere):

• Thermography sensor — US 10,455,166
• Daisy-chained thermography sensors — US 12,253,416
• IR-window-mounted thermography sensor — US 12,292,334

Traditionally switchgear, panels and transformers are monitored with contact-based temperature sensors that only report the temperature at the point where the sensor is mounted, supplemented by periodic thermal camera-gun scans. You hope to catch an issue the moment it appears — and that it does not surface just after a scan.

With our patented thermography sensors you monitor switchgear, electrical panels and transformers 24x7 in a fully automated way — no individual temperature sensors required.

The thermography from each sensor can be divided into 4 different logical temperature sensors. This lets you report each bus bar, feeder cable or equipment part as a discrete temperature sensor over Modbus TCP.

For the Medium & Large versions, the sensor reports the MIN and MAX value in each zone. For the Small and X-Small versions, the sensor reports the MAX temperature value in each zone as a separate sensor.

In a three-phase system the current through each phase should be balanced. A phase unbalance can force one phase to carry more current than the others, leading to overheating and potential switchgear damage.

A thermography sensor detects temperature differences across the surface of the switchgear and automatically identifies hot spots that can indicate a phase unbalance. By comparing the temperature of each phase, the sensor generates a thermal-imbalance sensor that computes the temperature difference — letting staff identify the problem early and take corrective action before significant damage occurs, monitored 24x7 and automatically.

This thermography sensor ships in an IR window mount form factor: a custom plate that fits over an existing IR window on your switchgear, so the sensor sees inside the energized cabinet through the window’s optical-grade lens. Zero downtime, brownfield-ready — because it mounts on the outside of a closed, energized cabinet, there is no need to open the panel, de-energize the equipment or re-certify the enclosure. The mount is custom-made for your IR window — e.g. M-I-THIMG-XS-MNT-VPT75 for the IRISS VPT75 — and is available in all four resolutions (XS / S / M / L).

The same patented sensor technology is available in other form factors for different installations:

• Rack & wall — installs in a 19-inch rack or directly on a wall.
• DIN rail — snaps onto a standard 35 mm DIN rail inside panels and enclosures.
• Cylindrical — a compact, probe-style housing for flexible placement.

Rack & Wall version › DIN Rail version › Cylindrical version ›