Innovative Leapfrog Drone Inspection in Ningxia's Transmission Lines
TapTechNews July 7th news, according to the report of "State Grid", on July 3rd, the Ultra-High Voltage Company of State Grid Ningxia successfully carried out the first "leapfrog" inspection of drones in Ningxia. This inspection is an uninterrupted inspection of about 9.32 miles (15 kilometers) of the line from tower No. 3361 to No. 3390 of the ±1100 kV Jiquan Line, marking a major innovation in the operation and maintenance technology of transmission lines in Ningxia.
It is introduced that the "leapfrog" inspection is a new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operation mode. By installing leapfrog airport and photovoltaic power supply system on the line poles, it enables the UAV to select the "airport" nearby for docking and replenishment during the mission, thereby reducing the process of returning to the original take-off point, and realizing the continuous flight operation in long-distance and large-scale scenarios.
TapTechNews learned through inquiries that the total length of ultra-high voltage and extra-high voltage transmission lines in the whole region of Ningxia is about 1957.41 miles (3151.055 kilometers), and some lines pass through complex terrains, and the inspection is difficult. Traditional UAV inspection due to endurance and road conditions limitations needs to be operated many times and segmented, with low efficiency. However, the currently adopted "leapfrog" inspection in Ningxia can break the "border" of the UAV airport, and the claimed inspection coverage radius can be increased by 4 times, realizing the "one aircraft with multiple fields and multiple grids sharing", significantly improving the efficiency of UAV inspection.
At present, the State Grid has piloted the deployment of 5 sets of on-tower UAV airports in important sections of the Jiquan Line, covering 15 kilometers of lines and 30 towers. In the future, the official will invest in the construction of more leapfrog airports in batches according to the actual inspection situation, and comprehensively promote the large-scale deployment of UAV on-tower airports to achieve all-weather full-coverage inspection of transmission lines.