Undergrounding construction unavoidably disturbs soil at the site, generating excess spoils that must be properly disposed of. These spoils must be handled according to specific requirements and often must be hauled off-site for processing, remediation, or disposal. Moving soils back and forth for processing and disposal between off-site locations that are often far from dig sites requires time and resources that could be spent elsewhere. This process is particularly costly in cases where distrubed soil contains hazardous materials.
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Problem
Current monitoring technology for underground lines lacks the ability to precisely identify and communicate the location of faults. As a result, repairs are often more costly and time-consuming as technicians in the field must expose larger sections of line to manually identify damage. Additionally, current technology does not collect sufficient data to enable utilities to proactively manage the health of their underground networks and avoid potential future faults through preventative maintenance.
Desired properties
- Ability to precisely identify and communicate fault location to remote monitoring site, eliminating the need for manual observation in the field
- Ability to collect ongoing information about wire conditions and health outside of fault events
- Increased longevity of monitoring devices without need to replace power source
Specifications
Category 4: Intelligent monitoring of underground distribution lines
Problem statement
The technology installed to monitor underground utility infrastructure in most cases is reactive, rudimentary and wholly insufficient to effectively manage a vast network of cables over the course of the asset’s life. These shortcomings result in unnecessary strain on installed cables, as technicians are unable to proactively identify failing cables to prevent faults which cause further deterioration of cable health. Additionally, in many cases the monitoring devices used to detect failures and faults are operated by batteries that typically have a shorter lifespan than the cables they monitor and depend either on visual inspection or unreliable remote networks to relay alerts. Delays in fault detection may result in prolonged outages, which may be further exacerbated by difficulties locating the precise location of the failure due to limitations of the sensing technology.
Possible approaches
Any solution that provides improvements on the current technology’s ability to proactively predict or precisely locate failures on underground lines, capture key data on cable health outside of critical faults or extrapolate trends to provide a more informed understanding of asset health would be welcome. Additionally, solutions that address issues associated with detection of failures due to network connectivity problems or sensor reliability would also be of interest.
| Industrywide Market Gap | Potential Solution Category |
|---|---|
| Existing sensors are rudimentary in their ability to detect and locate faults | Improved sensing technology able to identify faults and provide more precise location information |
| Network connectivity and sensor reliability issues hinder sensors’ ability to consistently detect and communicate faults | Technology that enhances sensor reliability in terms of connectivity or longevity |
| Existing sensor technology lacks the capability to proactively manage cable health for preventative maintenance | Enhanced sensing technology that is able to detect a wider range of data points critical to understanding cable health Ability to better identify transient faults |
Known approaches not of interest
- Procedural / management solutions are not of interest.
- Software based solutions without a hardware component are not of interest.
Key success criteria
Required:
- Demonstrated improvement over current state-of-the-art technology
- Ability to detect and communicate location of fault within 10 ft
- Improved sensor reliability over 40-year lifespan
Desired:
- Commercially deployable within 3 years