Renovating the aerial vehicle so that it can do remedial actions
At the end of 2018, Power Transmission Company No. 2 (PTC2) imported a drone named UAV Altura Zenith ATX8 of the Netherlands to pilot the inspection of 220kV and 500kV lines. This device has the advantage of flying up to 40 minutes at an altitude of 600m. The high-definition camera facilitates the detection and identification of objects, encoding and locating incidents. So far, after being granted a flight permit by the Ministry of Defense (for 12 months), the drone has been used to inspect 1,228km of 500kV lines, 1,613km of 220kV lines, detecting many would-be incidents. However, the biggest drawback of this device is that it is able to detect and identify incidents, but not deal with incidents at site. The Company had to interrupt the power supply, their workers had to climb up and manually remove obstacles or "strange objects".
Therefore, a group of 20 people including radio and mechanical engineers from PTC2’s Technical Department were gathered to realize the idea of installing a new UAV based on the imported UAV and overcoming the disadvantage. “We went to Ho Chi Minh City to seek and buy components and materials to assembly the new UAV. Luckily, through flycam players, we have known that it is not very difficult to find components to install a drone” said Mr. Nguyen Duy Dung - Head of PTC2’s Technical Department.
PTC2’s Technical Department staff are controlling the renovated UAV to solve incidents on a 500kV line
After only 3 months, the renewed UAV model was fully assembled and being tested in a hypothetical situation where a kite entangled on a 500kV transmission line was likely to cause an explosion. Engineers used the UAV system to fly straight from the ground to the location of the kite. When approaching the kite, the fuel injection system was activated and the ignition nozzle ignited to burn the detected object.
According to PTC2’s engineers, the newly built device has two main parts: a flying system and a fuel kit for handling foreign objects. Unlike the imported UAV, instead of having a fault detection camera, the homemade UAV has a high pressure pump system to pump fuel from a fuel tank of about 1 liter under the belly of the drone, accompanied by an ignition system.
No more fear of danger when climbing high
The initiative of PTC2’s Technical Department was completed and launched right on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of operation of the North - South high voltage transmission line (May 27, 1994 - May 27, 2019). This equipment has effectively supported the work of power transmission workers. Previously these workers had met many difficulties in checking the quality of power lines, tower locations, detecting and troubleshooting. According to Mr. Nguyen Duy Dung, in addition to electro-magnetic field effects on health, the workers had to go through rugged topographical areas, often faced dangerous animals such as bees, ants, wringers, snakes, etc. Having this drone, they will be less exposed to dangers caused by climbing high.
Assessing the drone, Mr. Tran Thanh Phong - Director of Power Transmission Company No. 2 said: In addition to the above benefits, the new UAV also helps to improve labor productivity and reduce manpower. Previously, to test a 500kV transmission line needed a whole team of 5 -6 people. Currently the job needs only 2 workers. The most important thing is that no power interruption will be made when remedying incidents, hence not affecting residential and production activities of customers.
It is known that PTC2’s engineers will work out anti-jamming solutions for the drone when flying close to 500kV lines and find ways to handle larger objects entangled on the lines. In the future, PTC2 will continue to improve and perfect the device, so that this "fire dragon" team can protect 500kV transmission lines - the national energy blood vessel in the most effective way.