Any remote sensing technology,
whether a drone or something yet
to be invented, is simply a tool to
assist linemen and engineers. If,
for instance, an engineer needs
to identify the serial number
of a part located high on a
transmission tower, a drone can
spare a crew the time and cost of
climbing an additional structure.
OSHA’s tall-tower climbing
regulations now require that teams
are capable of recovering a fallen
climber on site, so crews have grown
from two people to three. That spells greater
costs and coordination. Drones make it possible
to spare the crew unnecessary work and identify the
correct tower or part before a climb begins. Simply put, drones
extend a utility’s reach.
Putting Drones Into Practice
AEP and Con Edison are two utilities among others that have flown
UAS demos to inspect their infrastructure. For both utilities, drones
allow them to obtain reliable, routine and high-quality information
about their assets. Managers at these utilities say drones enable
preventative maintenance programs as well as reduce
time and costs for emergency maintenance.
Con Edison typically sends its crews to inspect towers
and feeders looking for signs of wear or damage on cotter
keys, static shoes and other equipment that can lead to outages.
Top-level inspections require crews to climb the towers. Second-level
inspections rely on ground crews making use of spotting scopes.
Con Edison sees drones as a safe way to increase the inspection
rate of towers and capture detail that ground crews could never see,
and enhance operation and maintenance excellence. For AEP and
Con Edison, the drones are a way to inspect as-built structures and
document a baseline for changes that will occur to the infrastructure
and landscape around the towers.
A drone can in a few minutes of flying time pinpoint a faulty
device. And, while a crew must often climb a tower to make a repair,
a drone program minimizes the amount of climbing that crews must
do for inspection. According to Con Edison, enhanced safety and
efficiency are good reasons to get a
drone program off the ground.
Before a utility’s first drone
takes flight, managers should
decide what kind (and amount)
of data they want to collect,
so their investment leads to
actionable data that will help
them maintain and improve their
infrastructure. For example, Con
Edison has collected hundreds of
megabytes of data on the condition
of individual towers. As this data
begins pouring in, managers need a plan
for tapping and securing this largely visual
information.
The Three Pillars of a Successful Drone Program
Before investing in a drone program, utility managers must understand
the government regulations, operations and technology.
Understanding Government Regulations
The FAA requires commercial drone operators to have a Section
333 exemption to fly a drone. Even with the exemption, the FAA
limits what utilities, or any other
commercial operator, can
do with drones. For
example, current FAA
regulations state that
commercial
operators cannot fly over a
populated area. Therefore,
inspecting downed distribution
lines or laterals after an
outage is not yet possible. In
addition, part of Section 333 requires operators to produce flight logs,
safety checks, training reports and a catalogue of maintenance on
their drones.
Piloting a Drone
In spite of the name UAS, an unmanned drone requires a pilot. The
pilot must have at least 20 hours of flying time and hold a sport pilot
license. The pilot must know how to keep a drone running next to high
power lines for up to 30 minutes, as he and a team manage variable
wind conditions and collect actionable data. An experienced drone
pilot must fastidiously adhere to a preflight checklist and run through
a rehearsal prior to an actual inspection of a tower.
Before investing in a drone program,
utility managers must understand
the government regulations, operations and technology.
3pillars
TAKE FLIGHT continued on page 23