Drones Take Over Hazardous Line Work

Wonder what the cost analysis is for this UAV scenario? As currently most of the time you do not need to go up to inspect, often just someone driving around with an infrared camera using thermography, sometimes zoom on HD camera. For repairs, one would still need to go up there. Has anyone broke down UAV to standard practice cost wise yet?

It's not a cost issue it's a safety issue.

.....they came with the idea to use a helicopter drone to carry a P-line to the top of a tower and drop it down the center or over a desired support point. Then the P-line is used to pull up a specially rigged three-part climbing rope. To allow linemen to climb 100% attached, utilities must sling a line up over the structure with secured ground attachments for all the workers to attach to. In the past, a sole climber or "first man up" set the initial line.

Oh, makes sense. I was envisioning the lighter UAV that don't carry more than a camera. Attaching safety equipment is a great idea. I was thinking just for visual and infrared inspection, done a ground level already with existing technology. But if its making it more safe and improving visual/IR inspections, definately cost justified. thanks for clarifying for me.

"Safety One has already patented several innovations related to the concept. This includes a device where the P-line spooling out from on the ground can sense any current coming down the P-line, which could happen if it got wet."
Someone should have suggested this to Benjamin Franklin before he did his kite experiment :)

That's a good idea. When I need to get a climbing line way up in high crotch, I should enlist my missus to fly the leader through the canopy with her DJI.

Exactly. I haven't seen any quadcopters with a claimed battery life of more than 30 minutes. And that's usually at hover. As soon as you need to lift anything or climb or try to maintain position in a wind that battery life quickly halves. There's lots of potential for doing work with them but right now it seems like you'd be climbing to your work position, getting about five minutes of work done and then descending to put in the eighth fresh battery of the day. Then breaking for lunch.

The idea is to use these vehicles to get the first safety line up so a technician doesn't have to free climb the first climb.

Endurance issues for a relatively low vertical climb and limited horizontal movement could be sorted with ground based power and a cable. Composite cable....power, video, control...perhaps.