Thermal powerline rating and clearance analysis using thermal imaging technology
AssigneeUtility Risk Management Corporation, LLC
InventorsAdam Robert Rousselle, Vesa Johannes Lepppanen, Kevin Brzys, Hugh Andrew Clymer, Dawn Marie Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided to acquire direct thermal measurements, for example, from a LiDAR collecting vehicle or air vessel, of an overhead electrical conductor substantially simultaneous with collection of 3-dimensional location data of the conductor, and utilize temperature information derived from the direct thermal measurements in line modeling, line rating, thermal line analysis, clearance analysis, and/or vegetation management.
Claims21
A method of analyzing an overhead electrical conductor, comprising:
- by a processor, accessing 3-dimensional location data of an overhead conductor;
- by the processor, accessing thermal measurement data of the conductor, wherein the thermal measurement data comprises a remotely collected thermal image wherein each element of the thermal measurement data corresponds an element of the 3-dimensional location data and has a collection time that is substantially simultaneous with a collection time of its corresponding location data element;
- by the processor, generating a computer assisted design (CAD) model of the conductor using the 3-dimensional location data of the conductor and the thermal measurement data of the conductor;
- and
- by the processor, employing the computer assisted design (CAD) model for thermal analysis of the conductor.
A method for determining temperature of an overhead electrical conductor, comprising:
- by a processor, accessing 3-dimensional location data of an overhead conductor;
- accessing thermal measurement data of the conductor, wherein each element of the thermal measurement data corresponds an element of the 3-dimensional location data and has a collection time that is substantially simultaneous with a collection time of its corresponding location data element;
- and
- performing a thermal analysis of the thermal measurement to determine temperature of the conductor at a time that the 3-dimensional location data was collected.
A system, comprising:
- a processor;
- a computer-readable medium on which is stored location data and thermal measurement data for a plurality of overhead electrical conductors;
- and
- a non-transitory computer-readable memory containing programming instructions that enable the processor to:
- access 3-dimensional location data of a selected one of the overhead electrical conductors;
- access thermal measurement data for the selected conductor, wherein each element of the thermal measurement data corresponds an element of the 3-dimensional location data and has a collection time that is substantially simultaneous with a collection time of its corresponding location data element;
- and
- perform a thermal analysis of the thermal measurement to determine temperature of the conductor at a time that the 3-dimensional location data was collected.
A method of analyzing an overhead electrical conductor, comprising:
- by a processor, accessing 3-dimensional location data of an overhead conductor;
- by the processor, accessing thermal measurement data of the conductor, wherein the thermal measurement data comprises a remotely collected thermal image, wherein each element of the thermal measurement data corresponds an element of the 3-dimensional location data and has a collection time that is substantially simultaneous with a collection time of its corresponding location data element;
- by the processor, generating a computer assisted design (CAD) model of the conductor using the 3-dimensional location data of the conductor and the thermal measurement data of the conductor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.