Robot can be used to do preventive maintainence of transmission lines

 Saurabh Uttarwar, Sudeep Bhagat, Ashish Meshram, Rahul Dehankar, Monica Mankar, Priti Panchawate and Mayur Sonar.

Robot can be used to do preventive maintainence of transmission lines

By Vikas Vaidya

Transmission lines cross thousands of kilometers in remote and sometimes through dense forests. Their preventive maintenance is of extreme importance as through it electricity goes to large urban and industrial areas. This is done by means of ground patrolling. Many a times people walk on this transmission lines. This is however hazardous job and also risky for people walking on the line.
This can become easier, proper and accurate. The students of KDK College of Engineering came out with the project that describes fault inspection in transmission line by using a mobile robot that can crawl along the transmission line wires to perform power line inspection tasks. This technique is very much efficient to detect the fault. Its ultimate purpose is to automate the inspection of power transmission line. An embedded computer based programming is chosen as the core of control system. Visible light and thermal infrared cameras are installed to obtain the video and temperature information, and the communication system is based on wireless technology which make it possible to control the robot from the ground station itself. The robot is however efficient enough to cross the tower, claimed students who prepared this project.
All faults can be inspected by using robot. These faults are detected by using high definition cameras and sensors on it and it will take visual recording of that position also. This information is send to the server and then it will be solved. This robot can detect the fault that occur due to the variation in temperature, short circuiting of line, fault due to environmental damages to line, string damage, corrosion of tower, rusting of overhead conductor and also damages to the strands of the conductor. Small faults can be overcome by robot but for big faults it gives exact location of fault to the server for manual maintenance. However up till date no such system is available for the inspection of the above described mechanical and physical faults.
Presently maintainence people walk on cables or prefer ground patrolling. It is high-risk job, performed by people moving on the cables. This is very costly method and also risky. Companies deploy teams, the members of which, they call as “linemen” who are paid about Rs 25,000 monthly plus a dearness allowance of Rs 7,500 totalling, about Rs 1 lakh per month. Using helicopters for fault detection and maintenance is also too costly and risky. Helicopters hovering over live 400-800 kv lines can, at time, be extremely dangerous. Thermal Binoculars and special attire are used that can cost between Rs 22-25 lakh a piece. Compared to this, the robot will cost Rs 6, 25,000 and will have a payback period of merely two years. This cost is one-time only and for next two years there will be no need to spend a single penny.

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Highlights of the project
Beneficiaries – Power Transmission companies, Common man.
Innovation in Project – The robot is efficient enough to cross the tower and is completely wireless.

Benefits claimed by the students
      1. Low cost than other inspection and maintenance system.
      2. It works in hilly region where human cannot reach personally.
      3. Efficient to work at night time because of using infrared cameras.             
      4. The performance of robot cannot be affected with respect to climate
change.
      5. It reduces the human efforts and also gives the exact location of fault.
      6. Danger in other system has no place.
      7. Works efficiently even under bad weather conditions.
      8. Efficient system for the purpose of condition patrolling.
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Who made the project?
The students Saurabh Uttarwar, Sudeep Bhagat, Ashish Meshram, Rahul Dehankar, Monica Mankar, Priti Panchawate and Mayur Sonar of K.D.K. College Of Engineering, Nagpur prepared this project under the guidance of Prof C S Hiwarkar. The project has won first prize in National Level Project Competition, Technorollix-13 organised by O.P. Jindal Institute Of Technology, Raigarh, Chattisgarh. The project consists of a robot for inspecting mechanical faults on overhead transmission line. It is mainly useful in hilly region where the transmission line extends from one hill to other and manual inspection is not possible. The students give the credit to Prof.C.S.Hiwarkar, Project Guide, Prof. S. S. Ambekar, Head of  Electrical Engg. Dept., Prof. A. M. Badar, Vice –Principal, Dr. D. P. Singh, Principal, and the management for their success.         

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pic of Rajendra Mulak

Minister Mulak to check the practical applicability

Rajendra Mulak, Minister of State for Power told The Hitavada that he was highly impressed by the project and has asked Principal to send the students to meet Arvind Singh, Managing Director of Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL). Mulak said, “The project is good but the practical applicability needs to be checked by the technical person. I have talked to Arvind Singh. He will check the same. If we find it is feasible then it would be included in the process. In that case I shall take it to Union Ministry of Energy. If it is really reducing cost, time, risk then why not Government of India adopt it?”