Inspecting power lines is dangerous. In fact, it’s one of the ten most dangerous jobs in the US. Every year, 25 power line workers are electrocuted. Those are not good odds. But fortunately, there’s a better way.
With drones, you can inspect power lines from a safe distance. Plus, drone inspections are faster, cheaper, more comprehensive, and more accurate. In this article, we’ll explain why that is, so you can consider adopting drones during your next power line inspection.
Table of Contents
What are Drone Power Line Inspections?
Drone power line inspections check electrical grids for potential hazards and routine maintenance. Most states require inspections every 1-2 years and a detailed inspection every 3-5 years.
To perform the inspection, drones fly over large stretches of transmission lines to create 3D models and maps for detailed analysis and recordkeeping. The data is compiled into a report for immediate repairs or simply as a baseline for future inspections to go by.
Detailed drone reports reveal anomalies in towers and lines. For example, they show when vegetation starts encroaching on a cell tower or when an electrical wire has damage. With the help of thermal imaging sensors, drones can also measure temperatures and create heat maps to detect hotspots. Infrared sensors catch potential issues that could lead to serious problems down the road. Drones can also perform emergency inspections. When there’s been storm damage or an electrical outage, drones have the ability to deploy at a short notice.
“Fixed-wing drones are the future of aerial-based asset management in the utility market because they offer a range of advantages over other methods, such as helicopters”
- Paolo Guzzini, Delair’s power and utilities product manager
Traditional Methods of Inspecting Power Lines
Without drones, line inspectors have to walk or drive along power lines looking for anomalies, climb up towers when necessary, or use helicopters. On the one hand, manual inspectors must work at a very slow pace of inspecting a few pylons each day. Depending on the project, a power line inspection could take weeks. Plus, the work is dangerous. Ground patrols risk falling from precarious heights and even getting electrocuted.
On the other hand, helicopters are faster, but they still only work at low ground speeds of 5 MPH (8 km/h). And most importantly, they are incredibly expensive, costing about $280 to $660 per mile of power line.
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In rare cases, line inspections are performed via satellite. But these surveys are expensive and only good for major structural analysis because they capture only a high level view without much detail.
Benefits of Drone Power Line Inspections
With the help of advanced cameras and sensors, drone technology alleviates many pain points from traditional power line inspections. Here are the top five advantages that UAVs bring to the table:
1. Improved Safety
With drones, there’s no need for workers to climb tall towers and get near high-voltage lines. Drones can easily avoid getting too close to towers and wires while still gathering tons of detailed data. This puts workers out of harm’s way and lets them analyze and diagnose the drone data from the ground.
Routine drone inspections also help mitigate many safety risks in advance. Drones can detect potential hazards and prevent future disasters. For example, with the help of IR sensors, drones can identify hotspots in wiring that could potentially set off wildfires if left unaddressed. So drones not only make life safer for line workers but they help keep the surrounding environment and communities safe as well.
What's included in the PDF...
The complete step-by-step beginners roadmap for infrastructure inspections
Crucial factors of success when implementing a drone program
The game-changing advantages of utilizing drones for inspections
Video Credit: DJI
2. Faster and More Frequent Inspections
Drones inspect power lines faster. With an average speed of 40 MPH (65 km/h), drones can cover large stretches of power lines in a short amount of time. Of course, when a survey does reveal areas of concern, a drone can also slow down to take a closer look by zooming in with its cameras.
Since drones perform inspections more quickly, they can also perform them more frequently. This gives you regular reporting and increases your capacity to respond to issues and prevent outages.
Drone data can also be processed faster. Advanced mapping software that uses artificial intelligence can produce 3D maps and models at record speeds. And as AI and machine learning continue to evolve, rendering 3D drone maps will only get faster. Someday, power line inspections will become almost entirely automated, from data collection to processing.
3. Lower Costs
Traditional inspections require hiring a lot of surveyors or paying for helicopters. Either way is expensive. The man-hours add up and helicopters are not cheap. On average, helicopter inspections cost over $4,000 per day. Drone inspections significantly cut down on inspection costs because they are faster and more inexpensive. With drones, you can lower your costs by 30-50%.
Opting for drone inspections is also a long-term investment. As the technology continues to evolve with automation, your ROI will steadily increase. Now is the best time to invest to get the most benefit.
4. Comprehensive Inspections
Drones can identify a wide range of defects and faults for a comprehensive inspection. With their HD cameras and thermal sensors, they can distinguish the smallest of anomalies. Here are just some of the things drones can detect while flying:
- Overheating wires and insulators
- Wire joints and breaks
- Defective antennas
- Missing bolts and screws
- Rust and cracks
- Tower malfunctions
- Unstable concrete bases
- Weather damage
- And even birds nests
These items and more create a checklist for drones to cover in their inspections. And because drones can check for all of these issues simultaneously, they are hands down the best all-in-one inspection tool.
5. High Level of Accuracy
Drone inspection data is highly accurate. With the help of advanced sensors, drones capture a wealth of data that regular inspection crews simply can’t. And the more inspection data you have, the more reliable the inspection.
Here’s a taste of what drone technologies have to offer:
- Infrared sensors help drones identify hotspots that aren’t visible to the human eye or regular cameras. They generate heatmaps for easy assessment of wiring and other concerning areas.
- Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) lasers allow drones to trace linear power lines with topographic precision and create point cloud models. This way, you can get highly accurate maps of entire power line corridors that you can’t get from regular photos.
- Real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning helps drones fly exact inspection routes. RTK matches GPS data with geo-tagged drone footage to correct the drone’s position as it flies. This means that after you perform an inspection once, you can create a 3D mission route that the drone can follow with RTK. That way, you don’t have to manually pilot the drone after the first inspection. The drone will fly autonomously, which streamlines the inspection process and increases its accuracy.
Together, these advanced drone technologies deliver insanely accurate data that you don’t get from traditional inspections methods.
Next Steps: Getting Started with Inspecting Power Lines with Drones
There are many benefits to using drones in the industrial sector and now that you know all the ways that drones can improve power line inspections, you can start implementing them. By integrating drones into your workflow, you can identify critical areas, create work orders, and dispatch service teams in no time.
But drone power line inspection jobs are not for the beginner drone pilot. In fact, they are a highly skilled job for two reasons: First, flying drones commercially requires a licensed and trained pilot who knows Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) drone regulations. Second, dealing with high voltage electrical wiring is extremely dangerous and requires electrical safety training. These are high-risk inspection tasks. One mistake could cause major power outages and cost a lot of revenue for the asset owner. Plus, you’ll need to be trained in aerial thermography to operate IR sensors.
This is why many companies choose to outsource inspection flights to The Drone Life. If you need a professional power line inspection, why not schedule a free one-on-one meeting with one of our drone experts today.
What's included in the PDF...
The complete step-by-step beginners roadmap for infrastructure inspections
Crucial factors of success when implementing a drone program
The game-changing advantages of utilizing drones for inspections
