Research Status & Deliverables
Task: Understanding Conductor Service Life and Life Extension Technologies
Task Description: This task is to understand the effects of conductor shape and size, corrosion control of the steel core protective coatings or the environmental factors causing the aluminum to degrade. Once these effects are understood and quantified, the weighting factors may be applied to a service life model for specific geographic locations.
Update:
- Literature review and laboratory experiments to help rank overhead line conductors in terms of corrosion resistance. This will help transmission line engineers proactively selected a corrosive resistant conductor for corrosive areas such as coastal and industrial locations
- Investigating if torsional testing can be a good laboratory test to quantify aluminum corrosion and pitting. In a graph of torsional vs. tensile, early results have shown that it can be used to quantify aluminum corrosion and an approximate service life remaining.
- Looking at a history of grease uses in the US and around the world. A survey of utility about their standard and practices for greased conductors is planned. Testing of existing greases or new inhibitor available on the market is underway.
- Different shield wires and OPGW are composed of aluminum, stainless steel, aluminum-clad steel. The corrosion resistance of these shield wires and corrosion degradation is unknown.
Task: Inspection and Assessment Technologies for Conductors and Shield Wires
Task Description: Each conductor type has slightly different construction specifications which may favor one inspection technology over another technology. This task is to qualify the technology for the conductor type and qualify the technology for the specific conductor specifications.
Update:
- Value and use of establishing an atmospheric corrosion map. How to use to use the geometry effect, literature review of atmospheric corrosion done in the transmission world. Creation of a GIS based-map to screen a service territory for “at risk” conductors or shield wires.
- Investigating new technologies for conductor corrosion inspection. Technologies not usually used in the overhead world such as hyperspectral imaging, Raman spectroscopy, and two probe inspection are being investigated.
- Regular review of inspection robots either available or in development. Most inspection technologies are based on eddy currents, magnets or cameras, and this task reviews new and emerging technologies.
Task: Hardware corrosion
Task Description: This task is designed to understand the performance of dampeners as they age and how components degrade due to fretting wear corrosion.
Update:
- Understanding how hardware degrades due to corrosive environment and line movement. Report based on case studies but also aging chamber tests such as for dampers and buddy bushing.
Planned Deliverables for 2024
| Product ID | Name |
Type |
|---|---|---|
| TBD | Understanding all Aluminum Conductor Corrosion |
Technical Update |
| TBD | Development and Evaluation of a New Conductor Grease |
Technical Update |
| TBD | Atmospheric Corrosivity Maps for Conductor Modeling: Selection and Application of Conductors for Severe Service Environments |
Technical Update |
| TBD | Health Assessment of Inservice Conductors and the Evaluation of Conductor Failures Due to Corrosion |
Technical Update |
2023 Deliverables
| Product ID | Name |
Type |
|---|---|---|
| 3002026926 | Atmospheric Corrosion Mapping and Models Development |
Technical Update |
| 3002026928 | Conductor Selection and Application for Corrosive Areas |
Technical Update |
| 3002026929 | Lessons learned from Conductor and Hardware Corrosion Condition Assessments |
Technical Update |
| 3002026872 | Overhead Transmission Asset Corrosion Workshop |
Technical Update |
Key Deliverables
| Product ID | Name |
Type |
|---|---|---|
| 3002026928 | Conductor Selection and Application for Corrosive Areas |
Technical Update |