What are the best methods for cleaning and inspecting power system components?

Visual Inspection: Someone has to start by looking for signs of wear and tear, corrosion, and damage. This can help in identifying issues before they become serious problems. Cleaning Methods: Dry Cleaning: Brushes, cloths, and blowers to remove dust and debris. Useful for sensitive components where moisture should be avoided. Wet Cleaning: Mild detergents and water for components that are resistant to water damage. Chemical Cleaning: For removing tougher accumulated dirtiness or oxidation. Electrical Testing: To check insulation resistance and continuity . Thermal Imaging: Infrared thermography for hot spots or unusual heating patterns.

Visual inspection should be carried out by experienced personnel that know what they are looking for. Accessibility is going to be a major problem but that can be made easier by boroscope use.photographic evidence is also advised where possible to set a datum on the inspection date. This can then be referred to on any future inspections

Visual inspection can also be accompanied by audio inspection. Pressurized air or other gas escaping a pipe or chamber may yield an audible noise that can help to pinpoint the leak.

Visual inspection can be conducted to confirm if there is any signs of wear, corrosion, foreign particles, overheating and any misalignment caused by vibration. If any foreign materials found, cleaning must be done using appropriate and sufficient chemicals. Conduct all required electrical and mechanical test to confirm the specifications. Verification and calibration of testing/measuring instrument also plays an important role on precision of manufacturing and inspection of the product.

Visual inspection is very costly, unfortunately most of the time it's not taken into account in the financial estimate of the project during the design phase. I think it's time for project developers to take this cost into account during the design phase. This is one of the biggest problems that our local technicians (in Africa) have to deal with on a daily basis when operating installations. I think it remains the best methode.

Ultrasonic inspection can aid “the bigger picture”. This technique can be very expensive but if it prevents further more expensive failures then it should be an alternative means of inspection

While ultrasonic inspection can provide detailed information on the system, it could be expensive and require detailed analysis. Evaluations of the cost and return may need to be conducted before choosing this method.

Oil tests especially in a gearbox scenario can also gauge contaminants levels and future oil life. Investigation of contaminants can age the oil and replacement can be done before damage occurs.

Visual and Ultrasound could be a good combination. Traditionally a chemical analysis is always required as part of the process. All options is on the table depend on the circumstances.

Best to use thermal inspection using flir cameras which can pinpoint areas for future more detailed inspection. Hot spots will show up more readily and easier than only visual inspection

With IoT and sensor technologies, electrical testing can be conducted by instrumentation of the power system. It can also provide valuable datasets to better understand the performance of the system and may assist in developing and training AI models.

Electrical testing is complex and risky, which is why it must be carried out by a trained and experienced person. It's very easy when you've mastered all the aspects and principles of electricity. Very inexpensive and easy to learn, it remains the most widely used method to this day.

Mechanical inspection is important due to failures that you cannot physically see the risk of. Such as the movements of bearings or other moving parts' physical movements within one another which can cause too much or too little resistance as well as cause excessive stress.

From my experience, especially for nonmetallic components, mechanical failure due to thermal cycling is an important consideration for systems in environments with varying temperatures. Testing the mechanical properties of these components at increasing cycle counts in such environments is key.

Mechanical testing is very important in detecting unforeseen defects and failures which can help to prevent the failures before starting any stage.

Despite its destructive aspect, mechanical testing is a very important and well mastered method. It's important to use component datasheets to conduct mechanical tests, and I think this will become less destructive.

In my experience dry ice blasting works very well, does not damage the assets and leaves everything clean and free from dirt, dust, grease and oil.

While the above testing methods are necessary, current advancements in AI technology may offer more cost-efficient methods. As an example, by analyzing historical data and real-time sensor information, a well-trained AI model can predict when power system components might require cleaning or maintenance, optimizing schedules and reducing downtime.