IND.T EFD Device

Risk Reduction Category

Grid monitoring

Technology Description

Overhead transmission and distribution (T&D) lines connect urban environments and span continental grids, frequently traversing remote and difficult-to-access terrain. Stringent reliability, vegetation management, and fire protection standards create the need for utilities to navigate along power line corridors and to conduct inspections from the ground, by helicopter, and by unmanned aerial vehicle. Periodic inspection is inefficient and incapable of detecting many failures, creating opportunity for innovation.

In the Incubatenergy Labs 2020 Pilot Project the early fault detection (EFD) technology developed by IND Technology (IND.T), was tested. The EFD technology which applies radio-frequency (RF) sensors and advanced analytics for monitoring power line conditions to detect and accurately locate failing network assets—those that are deteriorated, damaged, or compromised by external factors such as vegetation encroachment. In essence, EFD finds failure-causing faults before they happen.

EFD data collection units are installed about every 3 to 5 miles along power lines to supply RF signal data for algorithms running on a secure cloud server and trained for electrical circuit diagnostics. EFD systems could potentially revolutionize utilities’ network operation, asset management, and work planning processes while cutting the number of T&D line faults causing customer supply outages and fires.

Working in collaboration with IND.T, Ameren and EPRI initiated a pilot project to assess EFD technology by importing 15 RF sensor and data collection units from Australia and installing them on 138kV wood pole and steel lattice tower lines and 34kV lines with underbuilt 12kV distribution circuits remotely located in rugged terrain in rural Missouri. As a secure EFD cloud server was already in place to support trials on high-fire-risk networks in California, installation of the RF sensor units was the only step required to commission the EFD systems.

Ameren’s EFD systems almost immediately identified and accurately located a range of issues on the trial power lines. The first suspect asset became apparent just 15 hours after commissioning the EFD system. Problems identified included a 138kV porcelain insulator string with partial discharge and a handful of distribution transformers with internal discharge, plus instances of suspected conductor damage and vegetation encroachment. Ameren responses, including some forensic investigations, have been scheduled for each of these issues.

The EFD system located issues within plus or minus 30 feet and demonstrated very sensitive detection of incipient faults. Its frequency-time signature analysis and pattern recognition gave indications of the type of failure detected and whether it was located on the monitored power line path or away from it on a tap-line or secondary supply service line. Issues were identified down to individual phases [1].

In Australia, Victoria state, the SWER (single-wire earth return) distribution has had EFD devices installed along with the requisite software. Some initial findings are:

  • Successful concept development and proof-of-concept tests of a radical new approach for monitoring powerlines using sensors attached to low-voltage (LV) customer service wiring.
  • Successful design and manufacture of low-cost easy-install EFD data collection units using the new sensor approach.
  • Successful deployment of FireSafe SWER EFD units across Victoria to monitor 1,120 km of SWER powerlines in Victoria’s highest fire-risk areas.
  • Successful confirmation of the new technology’s ability to detect and locate powerline defects, documented in case studies.
  • Deployment of add-on weather stations to allow assessment of the value to network [2].

Technical Readiness (Commercial Availability)

Presently available from Australian-based company (IND Technology Pty Ltd).

Vendors with Hardware and Software

https://ind-technology.com/efd_system/

Implementations / Deployments

Ameren and Australian Utility in Victoria State

Innovations as of Mid 2023

Potential Enrichment Work Opportunity

References

[1] Incubatenergy Labs 2020 Challenge: Final Report & Pilot Demonstration Summaries, EPRI 3002020189, Palo Alto, CA, March 2021.

[2] FireSafe SWER EFD Trial Final report,17 June 2022, IND Technology Pty Ltd.