Robotic Power Line Inspection System

Provision of high quality and reliable electric power has become a necessity like air and water to the modern world. Any failure in todays power systems and grids results in to massive losses and inconvenience to consumers. The ideal conditions for any distribution company can be the ideal power network can be approached through minimizing maintenance cost and maximizing the service life and reliability of existing power networks. But both goals cannot be achieved simultaneously. Timely preventive maintenance can dramatically reduce system failures. Currently, there are three maintenance methods employed by utilities: corrective maintenance, scheduled maintenance and condition-based maintenance. Corrective maintenance dominates in todayʹs power industry. This method is passive, i.e. no action is taken until a failure occurs. Scheduled maintenance on the other hand refers to periodic maintenance carried out at pre-determined time intervals. Condition-based maintenance is defined as planned maintenance based on continuous monitoring of equipment status. Condition-based maintenance is very attractive since the maintenance action is only taken when required by the power system components. The only drawback of condition-based maintenance is monitoring cost. Expensive monitoring devices and extra technicians are needed to implement condition-based maintenance. Mobile monitoring solves this problem.