High performance and autonomous UAV for interactions with energized high voltage transmission lines

用于与带电高压输电线路交互的高性能自主无人机

• 批准号: 556180-2020
• 负责人: LussierDesbiens, Alexis
• 金额: $ 16.46万
• 依托单位: Université de Sherbrooke
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=722779
• 关键词: performance; autonomous; UAV; interactions; energized

DroneVolt Canada has recently launched a new drone product. This drone, the LineDrone, developed by Hydro-Québec, can land on high-voltage transmission lines to carry out various high-value direct contact non-destructive inspections without interruption of service. This drone is currently piloted manually, as several sensors are affected by the strong electromagnetic field. This poses a number of challenges in tight spaces near expensive/critical equipment. Manual operations force the pilot to stay immediately below the drone for landing alignment and obstacle avoidance. This complicates the deployment of the drone, lengthens operations and prevents its use in particularly useful situations (e.g., over rivers). Finally, due to its particular configuration, this drone can hardly operate in wind conditions above 20 km/h. All these constraints make for stressful or too often impossible operations, even for experienced pilots.The overall objective of this project is therefore to allow a drone to navigate and land autonomously on energized power lines in a wide range of environmental conditions. These capabilities would allow DroneVolt to offer utility companies a unique product which, while being easy to use and deploy, would allow them to safely perform valuable inspections. As part of this project, DroneVolt, Hydro-Québec and the Université de Sherbrooke (4 prof., 2 RA, 1 postdoc and 9 grad. students) will pool their respective expertise in dronautics, high-voltage power lines and robotics to improve the performance of this drone while developing the technologies necessary for autonomous operations around high-voltage transmission lines.This project represents a unique opportunity for DroneVolt and Hydro-Québec to respond to a pressing need. As in most countries, the electricity networks are aging rapidly. The associated restoration programs are complex and expensive, while planning for these operations is made difficult by the lack of quality data. This drone can sense directly the remaining useful life of energized conductors for better asset management, which lead to substantial savings and reduction of service interruptions.

DroneVolt Canada最近推出了一款新的无人机产品，这款无人机由Hydro-Québec开发，目前可以降落在高压输电线路上，在不中断服务的情况下进行各种高价值的直接接触无损检查。手动驾驶，因为多个传感器受到强电磁场的影响，这给昂贵/关键设备附近的狭小空间带来了许多挑战，手动操作迫使飞行员保持在无人机正下方以进行着陆对准和避障。这使得无人机的部署变得复杂，延长了操作时间，并阻碍了其在特别有用的情况下（例如，在河流上）的使用。最后，由于其特殊的配置，该无人机几乎无法在超过 20 公里/小时的风速条件下运行。即使对于经验丰富的飞行员来说，这种操作也会带来压力或常常是不可能的。因此，该项目的总体目标是让无人机能够在各种环境条件下在通电电线上自主导航和着陆。这些功能将使 DroneVolt 能够提供。作为该项目的一部分，DroneVolt、Hydro-Québec 和 Université de Sherbrooke（4 名教授、2 名 RA、1 名博士后）为公用事业公司提供了一款易于使用和部署的独特产品。和 9 名研究生）将汇集各自在无人机、高压电力线和机器人技术方面的专业知识，以提高这款无人机的性能，同时开发围绕高压传输的自主操作所需的技术。与大多数国家一样，该项目为 DroneVolt 和 Hydro-Québec 提供了一个独特的机会来应对紧迫的需求，相关的恢复计划既复杂又昂贵，而且这些操作的规划也很困难。由于缺乏高质量数据，该无人机可以直接感知通电导体的剩余使用寿命，以实现更好的资产管理，从而节省大量成本并减少服务中断。