Patent Application
20230366907
The present disclosure relates generally to a system for monitoring and alerting to the contact of an object with lines or wires strung between upright posts, such as powerlines that are supported by and strung between upright posts.
The electrical power supply system comprises three general areas: generation, transmission and distribution. Generation is generating power by, for example, power plant. Transmission is the movement of high voltage power (electricity) from, for example, a power plant to an electrical substation. Distribution is the movement of lower voltage power locally from, for example, a substation through a neighborhood to homes, businesses and the like.
Distribution can be underground or overhead. In overhead distribution, conductors are suspended from arms mounted to poles. The conductors can be bare conductors that are suspended individually or independently from the arms by insulators, they can be covered (insulated) conductors that are suspended individually or independently from the arms, or they can be covered conductors that are suspended together on a spacing device from a non-conducting messenger wire. One such spacing device is a Hendrix Aerial Cable System (ACS) spacer cable system.
Covered conductor systems provide a number of advantages over bare wire systems. For example, unlike bare wire systems, covered conductor systems can continue to operate when contacted by a grounded object, such as a tree limb. That is, bare wire systems will trip or shut down when a tree limb contacts the wire, whereas a covered conductor system will continue to operate. As such, covered conductor systems provide a benefit over bare wire systems.
One drawback to covered conductors is the although the system will not trip or shut down, there is no way to determine whether there is contact of an object with the conductor, that is, the conductor can tolerate short duration contact, long term contact duration will lead to insulation damage eventually resulting in the circuit or system failure.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system to monitor contact with covered conductor systems. Desirably, such a system provides an alert that the conductor has been contacted by an object prior to long-term failure of the conductor and system. More desirably still, such as system can determine whether the contact is long term or fix a short duration. Still more desirably, such a system can also provide for visual inspection of the conductor and Ern object in contact with the conductor.
A device monitors and alerts for contact of an object with a line, such as a power transmission line, a communication line or the like that is strung between two upright posts, such as poles. The device includes a housing having a body and a mounting portion extending from the body. A mount is positioned in the mounting portion to mount the device to a line.
A processor and an accelerometer are positioned in the housing, the accelerometer in operable communication with the processor. A power supply is operably connected to the processor.
When the device is positioned on the line and the accelerometer senses movement of the device, the accelerometer generates and transmits a signal to the processor. The processor analyzes the signal to determine whether the signal meets a threshold and, if the threshold is met, the processor generates and transmits an alarm signal to a receiving device.
In an embodiment, the further includes a camera. The camera captures an image when the threshold is met. The image can be transmitted to the receiving device.
The device includes a mount in the mounting portion. In an embodiment, the camera is positioned in the mounting portion spaced from the mount. The device can include a second mounting portion extending from the body having a second mount, the mounting portions being spaced from each other. Cameras can be positioned in each mounting portion. In an embodiment, the mounts are positioned in their respective mounting portions between the body and the cameras. Such an arrangement allows for downward viewing of the line by the camera.
In an embodiment, the power supply is one or more solar cells. The solar cells can be positioned on the housing. In an embodiment, the housing has a generally three-sided cross-section and the solar cells are positioned on two side of the housing. In an embodiment, the housing includes a receiver on the body for receiving an associated installation tool or “hot stick”.
While the present disclosure is susceptible of embodiments in various forms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described a presently preferred embodiment with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification and is not intended to limit the disclosure to the specific embodiment illustrated.
The carriage S is suspended from a wire such as a messenger wire M. As such, the conductors C are indirectly supported by the messenger wire M. In a typical configuration, the messenger wire M is a non-conducting wire. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the messenger wire M may be a conductor of one type or another. For example, the messenger wire M may be a communications and/or control wire.
In an embodiment, the mounts 16 are formed as mounting portions 28 that are, in part, integral with the body 15. The mounting portions 28 can be formed as upstanding posts 30 that extend upwardly from the body 15. The posts 30 each include the mount 16 which, in the illustrated embodiment is a recess 32, such as the C-shaped recess that defines an open side of the post 30 and a clip 34, such as the illustrated spring clip, that is positioned in each recess 32. The clips 32 permit insertion of the monitoring device 12 onto a wire, such as a messenger wire M, and removal of the device 12 from the wire M, preferably without the use of a tool. In an embodiment, the clips 34 are configured such that the monitoring device 12 remains fixed relative to the wire M and, for example, will rotate with the wire M as a torque (twisting) is applied to the wire M.
In an embodiment, the housing 12 has an overall or generally triangular shaped cross-section. In an embodiment a bottom 36 of the housing 12 is rounded or curved. In an embodiment, the monitoring device 12 is powered internally, that is the monitoring device 12 has no external power source. As seen in
One or more accelerometers 26 are configured to sense movement of the device 12. The one or more accelerometers 26 can communicate with the processor 22 to generate signals based on movement of the accelerometers 26, the rate of movement, an orientation or angle of the accelerometers 26 (which correlates to an orientation of the device 12), and other movement and direction/orientation actions/reactions of the accelerometers 26/device 12.
In an embodiment, the device 12 includes one or more cameras 20. As seen in
The device 12 can communicate information and images. In an embodiment, the device 12 communicates the information and images to a receiving device 40 via a wireless protocol, such as WIFI, WAN, LAN, long range (LoRa) communications, cellular transmission, Bluetooth or any other wireless protocol know or not yet known.
In an embodiment the housing 14 includes a tool receiver 42, such as the illustrated slot to accommodate a mounting tool, referred to as a “hot stick” (not shown). Those skilled in the art will recognize and appreciate that unlike known devices, the present device 12 is advantageously mounted while the conductors C are “live” or “hot”. Mounting of the device 12 while the conductors C are “hot” is referred to as “hotsticking”. The tool receiver 42 permits mounting the device 12 to the tool and installing the device 12 on the wire M with the conductors C hot, thus eliminating the need to power down the lines or circuit to install or maintain the monitoring device 12. The tool receiver 42 likewise allows for removing the device from the wire M while the conductors are “hot”.
One example protocol for the monitoring system 10, or monitoring method, is illustrated at 102 in
Referring to
It will also be appreciated that the system 10 can be used for general maintenance, by, for example, periodically (automatically or manually) capturing and transmitting images of the line M and/or conductors C for viewing and storage.
In the present disclosure, the words “a” or “an” are to be taken to include both the singular and the plural. Conversely, any reference to plural items shall, where appropriate, include the singular. All patents and published applications referred to herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety, whether or not specifically done so within the text of this disclosure.
It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any relative directional terms such as sides, upper, lower, top, bottom, rearward, forward and the like are for explanatory purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.
From the foregoing it will be observed that numerous modifications and variations can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific embodiments illustrated is intended or should be inferred.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/787,555, filed Feb. 11, 2020, titled, POWERLINE CONTACT MONITORING AND ALERT SYSTEM, which claims the benefit of and priority to Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 62/803,705, filed Feb. 11, 2019, titled, POWERLINE CONTACT MONITORING AND ALERT SYSTEM, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entireties.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62803705 | Feb 2019 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16787555 | Feb 2020 | US |
| Child | 18306481 | US |
