Inductive power harvesting for a touchless transmission line inspection system

Jessica D. Boles, Burak Ozpineci, Leon M. Tolbert, Timothy A. Burress, Curt W. Ayers, Jared A. Baxter

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Transmission line inspection becomes increasingly more important as power system infrastructure ages because proactively identifying line maintenance needs is crucial for minimizing outages. Utilizing robots to conduct such inspections is both safer for humans and less costly in terms of labor, but finding an appropriate on-line robot design presents its own set of challenges. This paper proposes a touch-free transmission line inspection system in which an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) conducts all inspection activities and, while doing so, charges from the line via inductive power transmission. Two coil designs are presented and tested for this charging application - one with an air core and one with a line-enclosing core clamp. Finally, the benefits and challenges associated with each design are discussed, along with the general practicality of inductive charging via transmission lines for UAV applications.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2016 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, PESGM 2016
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
ISBN (Electronic)9781509041688
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 10 2016
Event2016 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, PESGM 2016 - Boston, United States
Duration: Jul 17 2016Jul 21 2016

Publication series

NameIEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting
Volume2016-November
ISSN (Print)1944-9925
ISSN (Electronic)1944-9933

Conference

Conference2016 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, PESGM 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period07/17/1607/21/16

Keywords

  • Coils
  • Electromagnetics
  • Inductive charging
  • Inductive power transmission
  • Inspection
  • Magnetic cores
  • Transmission lines
  • Unmanned aerial vehicles

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