Central China realizes low-altitude autonomous drone inspection of substations for the first time

Central China has realized the first low-altitude autonomous inspection of substations by drone

Source: People's Daily Online-Hubei Channel

Drones are conducting low-altitude autonomous inspections of substations. Photo courtesy of State Grid Wuhan Power Supply Company

In the past, it took 4 hours to conduct an inspection of a 220 kV substation, but now the drone can complete the inspection independently by simply downloading the task remotely, which is really very convenient. "Han Jianping, who has been working in the Luojia Mountain Operation and Maintenance Team for more than 30 years, sighed. On May 14, in the 220 kV Jintai substation of the State Grid Wuhan Power Supply Company, a task was issued with "one click", and the drone followed a fixed route. Completed low-altitude autonomous inspection of substation.

Unlike in the past, this inspection was only 3 meters above the ground, 85% lower than the traditional flight height. Compared with manual inspections, the use of drones for autonomous inspections reduces operating time by 70%, and at the same time increases the rate of discovery of hidden defects by 2 to 3 times. This marks the first application of low-altitude autonomous drone inspection technology for substations in central China.

“Since drones can be widely used for inspection of transmission lines, why can’t they be used in substations?” Since last year, the Substation Operation and Maintenance Branch of State Grid Wuhan Power Supply Company has been studying the application of drones in substation inspections. Through centimeter-level "modeling and positioning", drones can carry out autonomous inspections of equipment at high altitudes.

As the frequency of drone use increases, the weaknesses of its high-level inspection technology become increasingly apparent. Due to the "layer-on-layer" structure of substation equipment, some components are "hidden", and airborne drones cannot completely replace manual inspections.

Focusing on the common problem of "blind spots" in the field of vision of drones when inspecting high-level substations, in February this year, the company began to study how to realize low-altitude autonomous inspections of substations. After reviewing the drawings of more than 100 substations and summarizing the structural characteristics of more than 40 types of equipment, we pioneered the design of a drone inspection path that is only 3 meters above the ground. The manual inspection perspective is restored by taking an overhead shot, so that the drone can image Like a human being, it flexibly shuttles around the lower part of the equipment to collect important data such as circuit breaker opening and closing instructions and current transformer oil levels that cannot be seen at high altitudes, achieving full coverage of autonomous inspection of oil filling and inflating equipment in substations, filling the gap of technology in related fields. blank.

Since this year, the Substation Operation and Maintenance Branch of State Grid Wuhan Power Supply Company has trained more than 30 drone certified operators, achieving a drone certification rate of 90% for young employees under the age of 30. We will establish a drone team and select outstanding team members to participate in the competition to expand the safe and efficient inspection model of new substations.

State Grid Wuhan Power Supply Company will further explore the application scenarios of drone inspections in the next step. With a radius of 5 kilometers around the substation, it will build an integrated inspection of "transmission, transformation and distribution" equipment through "fixed and mobile" machine nests. Platform to realize a new model of multi-professional smart mobile inspection. (Feng Yinyao)

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