Modern urban infrastructure relies heavily on a vast network of underground electrical vaults to distribute power across densely populated areas. These buried structures keep critical equipment out of sight and protected from surface-level damage, but present persistent challenges for utilities and OEMs supporting their infrastructure — namely, water ingress.
Flooding in underground vaults isn’t a matter of if, but when. Virtually all subterranean vaults will experience significant water intrusion at least once, whether from groundwater or stormwater runoff. That makes visibility into these buried systems essential — yet historically difficult to achieve.
Advanced power analyzers like the PQube® 3, which are designed to deliver continuous, high-resolution monitoring, can give utilities real-time visibility into system performance. When integrated within sealed enclosures, the application serves a dual purpose — providing both high-fidelity power quality data and unparalleled protection in moist, space-constrained and access-limited environments.
Traditional power analyzers often fall short in such conditions, requiring frequent in-person maintenance or full replacements that lead to:
More underground troubleshooting
Heightened safety risks
Higher costs
Increased operational complexity
To solve for these challenges, utilities need monitoring solutions that can withstand dynamic underground environments while still delivering accurate, real-time data. That starts with ensuring the hardware is properly protected.
The Water Ingress Challenge: IP68 Is Only Part of the Equation
To survive in underground vaults, equipment enclosures must meet elevated standards to prevent the ingress of elements like water. The ingress protection rating, or IP68 rating for waterproof enclosures, provides for complete protection against dust ingress and continuous water immersion beyond one (1) meter in depth, in accordance with IEC60529 standards for electrical enclosures.
This rating makes IP68 waterproof enclosures ideally suited for subterranean vault installations where water intrusion or flooding is a realistic operational hazard, and why both utilities and OEMs spec to this standard.
But meeting the spec is no easy feat. Many enclosure builds fall short, especially when not designed with power quality monitoring in mind from the start.
That’s why at Powerside, we work alongside our enclosure design partners to ensure our PQube 3 power analyzers integrate seamlessly into space-constrained, IP68-rated builds. By collaborating early in the enclosure design process, we help utilities and OEMs incorporate power quality monitoring into sealed underground systems — delivering a two-fold solution (Fig. 1) that provides both:
Protection from water ingress
Real-time visibility at critical grid touchpoints
This approach gives utilities access to high-resolution operational data in areas that were previously blind spots, enabling faster, more accurate diagnosis of outages, voltage disturbances and fault events. In recent PQube 3 deployments, the volume and clarity of data captured in these conditions has been unmatched.
Fig. 1 : Steel enclosure closed to show the protection and water ingress measures taken.
Power Analyzers Purpose-Built for Harsh, Space-Constrained Installations
The PQube 3 power analyzer series provides purpose-built, multi-load solutions for integration into grid equipment, including those housed within IP68 enclosures. The analyzer’s compact design enables functional integration into various OEM platforms like switchgear and distribution automation equipment, without the need for vault modifications, custom brackets or additional hardware (Fig. 2, Fig. 3).
Fig. 2 & 3 : A true plug-and-play design means there’s no need for modification or custom hardware. The PQube 3 installs easily using existing OEM accessories.
From voltage, current and frequency monitoring to harmonics, voltage sags, interruption detection and more, the PQube 3 enhances visibility into system health and operations. Its plug-and-play design enables fast deployment across new or existing infrastructure enclosures, eliminating integration complexity while providing comprehensive power quality monitoring capabilities essential for municipal utility applications.
Preventive monitoring and maintenance of underground or remote utilities is essential to reliability. Given the challenges in accessing some of these installations, remote power quality monitoring is a lifeline for operators who require visibility into system health, efficiency, voltage disturbances and environmental factors.
Fleetwide data analytics across distributed networks
Compatibility with existing SCADA systems
With 24/7 monitoring, utilities can focus resources on proactive maintenance, rather than reactive and costly issue resolution.
Fig. 4 : Easily monitor your entire fleet of PQube 3 power analyzers using QubeScan’s real-time dashboards and remote, cloud-based analytics.
Smarter, Safer, More Efficient Underground Operations Managed from Anywhere
For utilities and OEMs supporting municipal infrastructure, advanced power quality monitoring solutions enable safer, more efficient and more reliable power delivery to communities depending on critical underground networks.
As demands on the grid and infrastructure continue to increase, hardware tools like the PQube 3 power analyzer and software solutions like QubeScan and PQView become essential components of modern power systems and the OEMs that support them. With integrated power analyzers and remote monitoring and analytics, utilities and support teams gain:
Real-time, remote power quality analytics in moisture-prone, confined underground environments
Reduced field maintenance, lowering safety risks and labor costs
Fast deployment across new or existing infrastructure and enclosures
Scalable fleetwide visibility through advanced remote monitoring platforms
Get more visibility into underground electrical vaults today. Learn more about PQube 3 power analyzers, QubeScan and PQView. Or request a custom demo to see how Powerside and our engineering team can support your challenging utility power monitoring needs today.
