Hi, We are studying the possibilities of using UAVs (drones) for power line inspection. Our requirement in this regard will be as follows,
1) visually inspect the equipments installed in the power line and get clear footage. Special application in this regard would be Insulator inspection where it is necessary to see whether insulators are failed, cracked or damaged
2) autonomous flight on a given path to see the vegetation in power distribution line (to see if trees are coming close to the line) - some commercial drones has the way-point navigation facility but not sure if they can detect obstacles in a given path
The intention is of above is the hot line application, where you don't need to shut your power line and do visual inspections while supply is on. This can save time, reduce downtime and increase safety of workers.
I have noted that most of the commercial suppliers manufactures are not recommending to fly UAVs near power lines. Hence it is doubtful if commercial drones can cater this type of application.
However there can be experts who has knowledge/information or can give us some guidance on this as this is a specific application (not just areal photography)
Looking for some advice on this
Regards,
Asela
Replies
Well,our team(MMC) have been researching this for five years and made great progress.
can you please share more information on this
You can check this video of power line stringing(the first step of guiding line stringing).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeUakYnsWeE
More video of power line inspection will be updated later.
A Person has to have extensive training just to get close to power lines. 3.5 years minumum to be exact. So the drone idea is a good one for trainned professionals only. Getting within 10 feet of a power line is dangerious and illegal, coming with hefty fines and jail time. And the power line right of way is not a good place to get caught in without approval.
well what you have shared is interesting Gary. I feel this solution is more applicable in application like monitoring vegetation.
however in case of monitoring the network components we need to move the drone more closer
to give some more idea on this requirement, we have tested something like below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmaFt10slyQ
however we feel that we need something specifically designed to use with power lines to tackle the presence of high electromagnetic interference at power lines.
Buy a system from Delair Tech http://www.suasnews.com/2012/10/19001/flights-of-upto-100km-permitt...