EoW March 2011

Transat lant ic Cable

As Mr Wald describes it, the robot is studded with sensors. One is a device that picks up the electrical disturbance produced from electrical arcs if electricity is jumping through the air. Another uses lidar (light detection and ranging) to establish the position of distant objects. The lidar checks for sufficient distance between the power lines and trees or the ground. An infrared sensor finds hot spots, which could indicate a bad splice. And, Mr Wald wrote: “[Ti] has a high-quality optical camera that would look at cables, towers and tower foundations for signs of wear and tear” – and even spot encroachments on the utility company’s right-of-way. Ti can work autonomously, analysing data from its sensors and sending a radio signal back when its computer brain discovers something amiss. Or, MrWald noted:“It can function as a remotely controlled probe, responding to commands and streaming data back to a utility control centre.” At about 145 pounds and five feet long, Ti is still in prototype. But the Times noted that engineers in Lenox, Massachusetts, have been running it around a test track where it must negotiate its way around towers as well as climb cables at angles of up to 45 degrees. MrWald reported a“clever trick”that enables the prototype to ❈ ❈ tap into energy travelling through high-voltage lines without actually touching them: The alternating current in the conductors creates a magnetic field. The field interacts with the shield wire to produce electricity. Every night, the robot docks at a tower where it connects the shieldwire to the tower, creating a circuit and a current flow. It charges up its battery and departs at dawn. (It works from dawn to dusk; it cannot see in the dark to do its work.) The robot is to be tested on a line that utilities plan to build through West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland. At 285 miles long, the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline, or PATH, would probably require three robots to ensure that every stretch is inspected twice a year. EPRI anticipates a future for Ti because rules imposed after the great blackout of the Eastern US in August 2003 stipulate more stringent monitoring of power lines. Today, that greater stringency often calls for close inspection from a helicopter. Tomorrow, it may provide work for robots. The Obama administration on 26 ❈ ❈ th January announced several proposals intended to boost sales of plug-in electric vehicles in the US, including a $7,500 point-of-sale rebate that would immediately reduce the price of the car. Currently, the buyer of a plug-in or battery-powered car like the Chevrolet Volt or Nissan Leaf may qualify for a $7,500 tax credit in the following year. A relatedWhite House initiative is a $200-million grant programme for communities for electric vehicle infrastructure, such as charging stations. Speaking at a Greenfield, Indiana, plant on the same day, vice-president Joe Biden said that these and other proposals are in aid of the president’s goal of reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil by putting a million plug-in or other advanced- technology cars on the road by 2015. Before awarding battery manufacturer Ener1 a $118.5-million Department of Energy grant, Mr Biden said: “We’re going to have batteries that go 300 miles on a charge, with ten bucks of electricity instead of fifty bucks [of gasoline].” Automotive

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EuroWire – March 2011 Euro ire – January 2006