Removing Danger from Power Lines
Brisbane start-up ProxGrid is building autonomous drones to clean live powerline insulators, taking people out of one of the energy sector's riskiest jobs.
Brisbane-based company ProxGrid is taking the manual work out of one of the most dangerous jobs in the energy sector—maintaining live power lines. Developing their first autonomous drones for cleaning powerline insulators, co-founders Rasmus Gupta and Aidan Cairns are building ProxGrid from the ground up at ARM Hub.
What does it cost to keep the lights on?
Maintaining power lines is a dangerous, time-consuming and costly job.
4.7 million kilometres of line around the world rely on metal, glass, or ceramic insulators that need regular inspection and maintenance. If maintenance slips, the consequences are disastrous; insulators become conductive, components melt, and sparks can start fires.
The maintenance work is high-risk, and currently performed manually. Crews work carefully with live lines under strict safety protocols, which require expensive training and certification. The faster alternative is line spraying from helicopters, which (while a safer option) costs around $15,000 an hour.
A safer, cheaper option
ProxGrid's solution is a drone designed specifically for live power lines, inspired by industrial cleaning drones. Live lines generate electrical noise, which scrambles the electronics of a standard drone and can bring it down.
"If you try to fly a normal drone across a power line, it basically gets confused and falls to the ground. The drone has to be specially designed to withstand that environment, which means shielding," says Rasmus Gupta, Co-founder of ProxGrid.
ProxGrid's drone is built to survive those conditions and can be operated remotely and autonomously. The live-line robots can perform maintenance, starting with insulator cleaning.
"You can have more robots with fewer people doing the dangerous work, and that means you can maintain the lines better, avoid fires and outages, and reduce costs."
ARM Hub as a launchpad
ProxGrid needed a place to build and test hardware without worrying about dust and noise from the process. ARM Hub proved to be the right fit.
"ARM Hub allowed us to start from nothing and get our footing to scale ahead. It's been a really good launchpad in that way."
ProxGrid's tenancy gives them access to a network of engineers, researchers, and investors. Their first prototype has been successfully tested, with production being the next step.
About ProxGrid
ProxGrid is a Brisbane-based robotics company building autonomous drones for live power line maintenance. The company was a finalist in Propel-AIR and the Energy Lab accelerator and is part of the WA Nature Tech Accelerator cohort.