Temperature Monitoring for Electrical Substations Using Infrared Thermography: Architecture for Industrial Internet of Things

Large corporations require smart interconnected cyber-physical systems that can interact and cooperate to reach common goals. The design of complex monitoring and fault detection systems based on this approach, usually referred to as Industrial Internet of Things, creates interconnected physical systems that generate value by providing more efficient manufacturing opportunities. However, this approach also creates important challenges, as the large number of sensors and devices provokes difficulties for configuration, application deployment, and service generation. This paper presents solutions for this advanced automation model, proposing an architecture for temperature monitoring and fault detection in electrical substations using infrared thermography. In this paper, systematic methods to apply flexible configurations and deployments are presented, including robust procedures to measure and monitor the temperature of electrical components. Architectural abstractions are also identified for this particular scenario. The proposed methodology and architecture are validated in a real-life case study in a large industrial organization.