Detection of Icing and Calculation of Sag of Transmission Line Through Computer Vision

Overhead transmission lines in freezing season can be covered with ice in most of the countries. The icing of the transmission lines is usual and the electrical line comes vertically downwards which may cause huge economic loss, short circuit and power failure. Transmission lines are normally allowed to give a conductor suspension so that there is no breakage or drop off in all the weather conditions. Sag is an important parameter and has to be maintained within its limit. So there is a need for continuous monitoring of the transmission lines. There are many sensor technologies where sensors are installed directly on the wire are used to calculate the sag, tension, icing. But the employment of different sensors makes it more expensive and during the installation of sensors switching off the transmission line is needed. Hence, the concept of a vision system is used which requires only one camera placed in front of the transmission line for monitoring. This paper focuses on the detection of icing in a transmission line. Also, sag and tension of the overhead transmission line are calculated using image processing. Detection of icing and calculation of transmission line parameters is accomplished through the camera. The captured image from the camera can be processed via raspberry PI. The information about the transmission lines is sent to the monitoring station for taking safety precaution measures.