Westar Energy is increasing the use of drones for such things as inspecting equipment, navigating remote areas and managing some emergencies, as the utility tries to improve safety and efficiency while also saving money, company officials said.<\/p>\n
\nWestar and Kansas State University\u2019s Polytechnic Campus offer an unmanned aircraft systems program and have one of the nation\u2019s largest enclosed drone flight facilities on the polytechnic campus in Salina. Now, it has begun deploying unmanned aircraft commercially, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported (http:\/\/bit.ly\/2iAgWiu ).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely a cost savings at this point,\u201d said Jason Klenklen, supervisor of transmission maintenance. \u201cInstead of using manned aircraft, we\u2019re using unmanned aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n
The drones also can reduce risk for employees and contractors, Klenklen said. For example, fewer employees would need to travel during an ice storm to determine the cause of an outage.<\/p>\n
Using drones to inspect boilers also would be safer, said Sam Sharp, a Kansas State Polytechnic USA Laboratory researcher and Westar\u2019s primary liaison. The work takes extensive training to fly the aircraft because boilers have no internal lights or GPS signal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows employees to view the internal components of the boiler through real-time imagery captured by a drone while securely staying on the outside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The drones are primarily being used in rural areas to gather information about transmission lines, specifically lines that are 69,000 volts and above, Klenklen said. The drones face some airspace restrictions, such as in Wichita and Topeka, and unmanned aircraft are required to be in the operators\u2019 line of sight, although waivers are available in some instances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin line of sight, that\u2019s still a pretty big restriction on us,\u201d Klenklen said. \u201cThat being said, there are times we\u2019re able to see several miles down the line with one of these.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drones also can find potential issues that lead to outages more quickly than having somebody drive to find an issue or have somebody walk to the area, he said.<\/p>\n
The drones help alleviate concerns with landowners who don\u2019t want trucks or people on their land. The utility can send drones to areas within its easements but it still contacts landowners before sending a drone in to inspect lines. Westar Energy uses quadcopters or multi-copters, which are four-bladed machines that can fly anywhere from 20 minutes to more than 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of areas our lines traverse that are environmentally sensitive, through wetlands and even through croplands,\u201d Klenklen said.<\/p>\n
A new federal law passed earlier this year cleared the way for non-pilots to fly unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes with a Remote Pilot in Command certificate. The designation takes significant training and information although the actual flying of a drone isn\u2019t difficult, he said.\u2014AP<\/p>\n
Image: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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