Smart Towers of Overhead Lines of Active-Adaptive Power Grid: Concept, Implementation, Prospects

A distinctive feature of the active-adaptive electrical grid is the continuous monitoring of the state of overhead power lines. An important problem is the effective location of damage on the overhead power line as well as monitoring the external impact of the environment causing the accidents. As the main factor threatening the normal operation of the power line, the risk of glaciation of the phase conductors, leading to their break, is considered in the paper. In order to minimize accidents, it is proposed to install the most dangerous sections of the lines on “smart” towers equipped with information and measuring equipment for detecting emergency modes by changing the electromagnetic field of the power line, as well as video recording of its sagging. An important feature of the “smart” tower is the use of the apparatus of artificial neural networks with the purpose of processing information about the current mode of the line and predicting its state. The combination of disparate sensing elements in a single information and measuring complex of a “smart” tower” allows to achieve a synergistic effect - to increase the reliability of the air line by simultaneously recording any potentially dangerous disturbances as well as reducing the time spent on restoring the line after an accident.