Pole Current Indicator

Completed

Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution)

Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
Eastern Power Networks plc

Network Innovation Allowance

Ofgem

01 May 2017

01 November 2018

18 months

£282,685

Power

London

Network Innovation Allowance

Project Contact, Eastern Power Networks plc

Project Contact, South Eastern Power Networks plc

At the end of the Project, DNOs will have a product that when affixed to a pole will give historical and real time indicators of earth current leakage. This will inform DNO staff of the environment into which they are entering prior to undertaking work on the pole. At the same time, DNOs will have a facility whereby they can communicate with the general public through a process of education, that should the indicator be illuminated, it is clear at the outset that the pole has been or is hazardous and should not be touched but reported for assessment by the DNO instead. The project will be deemed successful if the following are met; Design, manufacture and testing of initial TST device Design and manufacture of Handheld Diagnostic Instrument Successful field trials so as to promote adoption by all DNOs

A pole experiencing breakdown in its insulating properties can represent a serious risk of electric shock for anyone (including animals) in close proximity to the pole. The fault condition may not be immediately apparent without sophisticated test equipment and may present itself on a transient basis. Furthermore wooden pole structures are generally regarded as safe to touch at any time by the industry and the HSE, whereas in fact any pole structure can have unsafe thresholds due to faulty insulation components at which time the wood pole can become dangerous to touch. Network losses arising from the breakdown of insulators are currently unquantified as protective relays at the substation are tested for faults under 3 - 5 kΩ and will not detect a fault below this threshold, where the resistance at the fault could be up to several MΩ. The fault and the voltage across the pole will, as a consequence of this, be present indefinitely unless there is a further failure. Finally, there is clear evidence from research conducted to date that under certain circumstances such as heavy saline and/or factory pollution or cracked/damaged insulators when wet, impedance levels may be insufficient to prevent danger on the 11kV network from the effects of current leakage. A Touch Safe Tag (TST) Pole Current indicator will provide a visual indication of active or historical earth leakage so as to present a comprehensive picture of the insulation properties of a pole. The TST technique to be developed is essentially straightforward in that it contains electronic components and specifically developed algorithms that measure the electricity current leaking down the pole, to provide a visual indication of active earth leakage and/or evidence of historical leakage. The device is fixed to the wooden pole with no additional physical connection to ground or pole top, and in effect, uses the leaking current as its power source to trigger the indicator.Note : Project Documents may be available via the ENA Smarter Networks Portal using the Website link above

17/09/18