As copper prices continue to soar, electricity substations in various countries are being targeted by copper thieves. Many sites are robbed just for little scraps of copper, but are left in potentially dangerous conditions and with costly damage to repair.
As a continued effort to provide public safety and protection from theft, a large utility company has been working to create a reliable and efficient perimeter security at one of its electricity substations that includes power lines and equipment. The site required multiple levels of protection including distance, spot detection and boundary protection. Each level needed to activate a camera, trigger an alarm and notify authorities if an individual entered the substation site. While Optex had successfully used AX photo beam sensors and BX short-range PIR detectors for smaller substations; the new larger and more vulnerable site presented a different challenge to ensure optimum coverage.
Optex provided a reliable, effective layered protection system that used high-mount, zone and spot/boundary detectors as trigger devices for the CCTV system. The team created a design that easily integrated Optex’s Redwall SIP infrared sensors for distance and HX sensors for spot/boundary to CCTV cameras. REDWALL SIP sensors from Optex are passive infrared devices that can intelligently detect motion. These detectors are also equipped with anti-rotation and anti-masking functions to detect vandalism or tampering. HX series are Optex high mount multi-purpose detectors with an exclusive pyro-element to achieve highly reliable detection performance with fewer false alarms.
Each sensor installed on the site triggers PTZ dome cameras that are fixed within the area of detection, capturing and recording any intrusion within the sensor’s zone. The intrusion is then tracked by the customer’s own Central Monitoring Station which alerts the authorities along with an end-user emergency contact. All Optex sensors allowed the system integrator to easily adjust and account for any physical obstacles within the protected perimeter view of the detector. For various solar power farms, municipal or utility projects, and for sites confined to a specific space within a chain-linked fenced area, Optex sensors are the ideal solution, says Ian Henderson Export Sales Division Director.
Contact
www.optex-europe.com
