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A project for drone use in inspections of the company's distribution and transmission networks is under development at Neoenergia. The initiative stands out for integrating several technologies into a single device, such as thermovision, 3D mapping and georeferencing, besides bringing two important differentials not yet available in the electrical sector: vegetation growth analysis in a mobile environment and study of the corona effect, which allow identifying the need for tree pruning and overheating of lines, respectively. Combined with this, the equipment will have self-loading technology and will be integrated into an intelligent management system. The project, which is an achievement of the Research and Development (R&D) program, regulated by the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL), will allow concessionaires to perform preventive and predictive maintenance of networks more accurately, reinforcing reliability in the power supply.

The drone, or UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), will be a modular platform.' This means that the system will be able to aggregate various functions, or modules, according to the need, for diagnosis, inspection and automatic registration of electricalassets', informs the corporate manager of Research and Development of Neoenergia, José Antonio Brito.

In this way, field teams will use the drone for periodic inspections and operators can identify network failures, acting to avoid possible occurrences. It is also possible to use the equipment in construction inspection - the UAV visualizes the cables, sends information to the system and makes the comparison with the planned in the project. Another use of innovation is in updating the company's system, by identifying networks that are not registered, in addition to acting in the prospection of losses - that is, network assets that are improperly used with clandestine connections.

Pioneering

One of the differentials of the features of the UAV is the monitoring of vegetation growth in a mobile way. Today, the existing options in the electricity sector do this analysis only from a fixed point, such as a park or pr aça. With the creation of Neoenergia, the mapping will be mobile. This will be possible by combining existing technologies in agriculture - for soil analysis and cultivation - with fixed vegetation study tools. The result is that the drone, when flying over an area, will identify the type of tree on the site and cross-reference the information with the system database, which points to the average growth time of that species - 5cm per year, for example - and the distance it is from the electricity grid. From there, you can specify when you need to prune the tree before it reaches the wiring, which contributes to the integrity of the power grid.

Another innovation​ present in neoenergia's project is the development of sensors to study the corona effect, a phenomenon in electricity that causes overheating in transmission lines and decreases the life of equipment. Added to this analysis is the thermovision technology, which identifies cable heating, which can cause rupture or failure in insulation and generate power interruption. The drone will also be able to georeference, responsible for informing the exact coordinates of network equipment and 3D mapping, which allows a more accurate view of the field.

'All these elements will have an integrated intelligent management system, capable of running specific algorithms of computer vision, augmented reality, in addition to artificial intelligence, which allow the control and monitoring by the operator of all activities in an optimized and centralized way, with image processing in a single database'says the project manager at Neoenergia, Jonatan Delfino.

The manager takes the opportunity to highlight that the UAV of Neoenergia is being developed according to all safety standards of the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), since the device carries out flight plans. With this, in the event of any occurrence, the drone can be triggered remotely by the operation team to traverse a certain location. When making the flight plan, the drone scans the region, detects the fault automatically and notifies the operator, who can make agile decisions from there.

Technologicalchallenge

The project also foresees the study of several possibilities for the self-loading of the drone. One of them would use the direct contact loading methodology, which can happen in the distributor's own vehicle that does the field survey. The other option is to charge by radio frequency, through the electromagnetic field generated from the electricity cables. With the installation of a receiver on the drone, its proximity to the network - without touch - would recharge by capturing the frequency. Fixed or mobile loading is also studied. With this, a base would be installed on poles or near substations. In this option, solar energy would power the battery, which in turn charges the drone.

The development of the UAV is in the initial phase of research and is expected to be completed in December 2023. In the end, the initiative will deliver three drones and their respective intelligence systems for use in Neoenergia distributors.​

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Neoenergia SA published this content on 23 February 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 23 February 2021 22:06:08 UTC.