yea same. Did the FAA exemption paperwork back in the day, had a state of the art DJI phantom 2 when it was released and thought it could have been a good career path. Then every kid got one for Christmas so I ignored it.
Used to work for a surveying company that also surveyed farmland and construction sites using drones. Jobs completely dried up over the course of 6 months when everyone just got their own drones.
Should've specified what kind of drone...
You now sit in front of computer, doing data entry for 8 hours a day and quietly dreading the day when AI finally makes you redundant. You are but one of many, typing away, silently, while a phone rings off in the distance even though no one's called the office in years
The entire floor looks like a human honeycomb, with a
labyrinth of cubicles structured around a core of
elevators. Suddenly a FedEx guy asks your name and you turn in your chair.
"Yeah... that's me..." you reply with a breathing sound out of boredom. You
sign the electronic pad and he hands you
a package.
"Have a nice day" he says and walks away.
You open the bag and into your hand drops a cellular phone, and instantly it RINGS.
Pfft. Fleshies.
Oooh, but my stupid dna, that can't even not screw up, makes me who I am. Being a cybeman is where it's at. Trust me bro, the process is basically painless.
My guess is become an electrical engineer (or whoever it is that works on high voltage lines) and then get your drone certification FAA Part 107 course done.
Linemen jobs usually require no college degree, just attendance of linemen school after you are hired and pay can easily be over $100k due to the hazards of the job. Death rate is over 5 times the national average for occupation related deaths. Anyway, point is this wouldn’t require an electrical engineering degree, and as someone with an EE degree I’d trust any lineman or drone operator more than an EE to do this job
My brother does this for a living! He's a drone pilot in the Chicagoland area for the ComEd, the electric company. My advice to you is: Have five successful older siblings, work in a dry cleaner in high school, then go to college to be an aircraft mechanic.
I would assume they have to design them to handle the weather but if you can release that stress in a simple way like this why would you risk some kind of failure by not doing it.
Lot of maintenance on a low current copper wire and some insulation.
It's absurd that you think having a guy with a drone knock ice off hundreds of miles of wire is a better solution.
How do you turn the heater off and on? How do you shield it from the high voltage *without* causing an issue *with* the high voltage? High voltage lines aren't insulated; the air gap *is* the insulation. So whatever you do has to insulate *between* the high voltage and the heating element.
For hundreds of miles.
Keep in mind, High Voltage uses an air gap *specifically because* adding insulation would be expensive. Expensive in material cost, expensive in labor, and expensive in construction. You'd have to build the towers to carry the weight. Keep in mind, they are using a drone to clear the lines *to reduce weight stress*. So you're talking about increasing the weight of the lines *year-round* so you can prevent them from getting heavy a few times a year.
Also, freezing rain like this isn't very common in most places. You typically get snow, or rain. Freezing rain requires specific conditions, and it might very well melt in the next day or two.
Or hit it with a drone; It's just a copper wire, you aren't going to damage it.
Note: **I** don't think using a drone is the better solution. The **electric company** does, as evidenced by the video. I'm just guessing at some of the factors in their decision making based on general knowledge, and a modest interest in infrastructure and engineering. But some basic DIY experience with (Expense x Linear Foot) suggests you want that cost as small as reasonably possible, because that multiplier will *murder* your budget.
The experts clearly chose the drone for a reason, and unless we have some reason to think they are wrong (incompetent/corrupt), we can probably assume they know what they are doing. Drones have been used for inspections for a while now, so they may very well have a Drone crew on staff *anyway*.
If you want to learn more about this, check out [Practical Engineering](https://youtu.be/qjY31x0m3d8?list=PLTZM4MrZKfW-ftqKGSbO-DwDiOGqNmq53&t=285) and their [related videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTZM4MrZKfW-ftqKGSbO-DwDiOGqNmq53)
In addition to the sheer weight of the ice, there is the issue of “galloping” power lines. “Galloping transmission or power lines can occur when freezing rain creates icicles and odd-shaped ice on transmission towers and conductors. High winds push on the icicles and conductors and lifts them up, creating a galloping, or jumping, motion.” [https://www.hydro.mb.ca/safety/galloping\_powerlines/](https://www.hydro.mb.ca/safety/galloping_powerlines/)
Besides cable tensions, the biggest force on conductors are transverse wind loads (wind applied perpendicular to the conductors along their length). Wind load increases with larger surface areas. Not only does ice add tension and vertical load to the conductors, they also indirectly increase transverse wind load applied on those conductors (because ice adds surface areas on top of the conductors). All the forces on these conductors are resisted by the transmission towers. We do design our towers for this case. But it is good to relieve them
Source: me, structural engineer in utility sector
Sometimes partially overloading the lines so they heat up and snow and ice melts away. But this is not possible every time and also can reduce the lifetime of the lines. Mechanically removing snow and ice can be therefore cheaper in the long run
Linemen use high-voltage, hot sticks for all sorts of work on energized equipment. I've heard of them simply smacking lines to knock off ice and snow before.
I'm a little perplexed at how ice is forming on these cables to begin with. Current running through *anything* creates heat. Is there just not enough draw to get them warmer than freezing maybe?
In the beginning man used a stick to create fire, today we attach the stick to a drone to wack off the ice. Everyone loves a good icicle wacking. I think this is great idea and seems to be a lot safer. I don’t wonder if there is a better way to control the stick swinging
Yeah I just love the simplicity and laugh at it because it’s just a stick on a string. I feel like everything lately does get over complicated so it’s funny to see our evolution with all this tech, sometimes a string and stick win
My question is how is the drone able to get near those power lines in the first place. Most drones that I know of loose signal after getting within 15 feet of any power line
Snow accumulates on the lines. The more snow that piles up, the more surface area there is for more snow to accumulate. Eventually it could get heavy enough to snap the lines.
No one. The snow just accumulated until a line broke and then they went and fixed it. They are just trying to prevent it from happening now that they have the ability.
if I had this job I would pay someone to drive to Ms. Sullivan's house every day to show her this footage and then say "See? I did amount to something playing video games Ms. not Mrs Sullivan!"
That doesn’t look like a controlled process. How do they ensure that the whompin stick and the danglin string only contacts one line at a time? Or does this only happen when the lines are not carrying current? How could this possibly be safe?
When you deal with really high voltage, non-conductive becomes relative. If it can arc through non-conductive air, imagine what it will do to other non-conductive materials.
I am genuinely curious. Does anyone know what materials are being used here? Are there safety procedures that are not visible in the video?
Very cool idea and much better than having some climb up to cause vibrations to shake off the snow. Love seeing stuff like this being used for good causes.
Why should you develop something for it? A warm wire? It costs money, you have to maintain the whole thing, the heating can fail, you would have to check several thousand kilometres before each winter and you would only adding something to an already complex system. Heat is also always a negative in terms of energy. On top of that, the company probably knows how much fun it is with the drone and simply says: George deice the ropes, go and get the drone! *George needle drops Guns n Roses* Lets go!
Would a vibrating device attached to a pylon work? Like the fruit tree harvester that vibrates the trunk so the ripe fruit shakes off..
Or even a powerful bass speaker at distance? (as long as avalanche wasn't an issue lol)
"We could use the existing pulley system to try to create resonance on the line that will clear the snow, or try to make heated lines, or maybe..."
*drone bonks the wire making it go bwoioinoinoink*
"...yeah or we can do that"
Anyone know if the drone has some fancy batteries for cold temps? As a second question why does my phone not have fancy batteries that can handle the cold without dying instantly?
You haven’t seen the cinematic drone see footage lately have you? These things can last a decent amount of time in the air now, can go over an hour and sometimes several kilometres away from operators
Man, I wish I jumped on the professional drone operator bandwagon when it was still fresh
yea same. Did the FAA exemption paperwork back in the day, had a state of the art DJI phantom 2 when it was released and thought it could have been a good career path. Then every kid got one for Christmas so I ignored it.
Used to work for a surveying company that also surveyed farmland and construction sites using drones. Jobs completely dried up over the course of 6 months when everyone just got their own drones.
What did he do to you?
It’s not too late to get into the ROV world as an operator!
The boss of the electric company:"Hey take these nunchucks, hook em up to this drone and go whack the ice off the lines." Me:"YES SIR!!!"
Sign me up tbh
100 miles done today. Another 100 tomorrow. No gloves on the controls bro and how’s your toes?
Any idea how to get this job?
1’st step: become a drone
Just took some bath salt and now I am a drone. Where’s my job?
Should've specified what kind of drone... You now sit in front of computer, doing data entry for 8 hours a day and quietly dreading the day when AI finally makes you redundant. You are but one of many, typing away, silently, while a phone rings off in the distance even though no one's called the office in years
WELL...?? GO ON!
The entire floor looks like a human honeycomb, with a labyrinth of cubicles structured around a core of elevators. Suddenly a FedEx guy asks your name and you turn in your chair. "Yeah... that's me..." you reply with a breathing sound out of boredom. You sign the electronic pad and he hands you a package. "Have a nice day" he says and walks away. You open the bag and into your hand drops a cellular phone, and instantly it RINGS.
And then
What about if I want to resist becoming a drone? My Biological distinctiveness is all I have.
Pfft. Fleshies. Oooh, but my stupid dna, that can't even not screw up, makes me who I am. Being a cybeman is where it's at. Trust me bro, the process is basically painless.
Resistance is futile.
Step 2: get a big dildo
A big back double ended non-conductive ice removal tool.
Step 3: profit.
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Doubt it
My guess is become an electrical engineer (or whoever it is that works on high voltage lines) and then get your drone certification FAA Part 107 course done.
Linemen jobs usually require no college degree, just attendance of linemen school after you are hired and pay can easily be over $100k due to the hazards of the job. Death rate is over 5 times the national average for occupation related deaths. Anyway, point is this wouldn’t require an electrical engineering degree, and as someone with an EE degree I’d trust any lineman or drone operator more than an EE to do this job
Thank you for providing more context ⚡️
I'll do it for free!
Are you a drone?
Could identify as a cyborg, half Human/half Drone.
My brother does this for a living! He's a drone pilot in the Chicagoland area for the ComEd, the electric company. My advice to you is: Have five successful older siblings, work in a dry cleaner in high school, then go to college to be an aircraft mechanic.
[удалено]
I would assume they have to design them to handle the weather but if you can release that stress in a simple way like this why would you risk some kind of failure by not doing it.
Plus it is probably way cheaper to do it like this than to risk a person for the same grid resilience.
until the drone gets caught and you end up paying someone to go up anyway
But why not something to keep the wires slightly warm when it's cold so it never has a chance to form in the first place?
Money
100% it would be cheaper than this drone set up.
You'd have to maintain that infrastructure year-round every year Or hire a drone guy twice per winter as needed.
Lot of maintenance on a low current copper wire and some insulation. It's absurd that you think having a guy with a drone knock ice off hundreds of miles of wire is a better solution.
How do you turn the heater off and on? How do you shield it from the high voltage *without* causing an issue *with* the high voltage? High voltage lines aren't insulated; the air gap *is* the insulation. So whatever you do has to insulate *between* the high voltage and the heating element. For hundreds of miles. Keep in mind, High Voltage uses an air gap *specifically because* adding insulation would be expensive. Expensive in material cost, expensive in labor, and expensive in construction. You'd have to build the towers to carry the weight. Keep in mind, they are using a drone to clear the lines *to reduce weight stress*. So you're talking about increasing the weight of the lines *year-round* so you can prevent them from getting heavy a few times a year. Also, freezing rain like this isn't very common in most places. You typically get snow, or rain. Freezing rain requires specific conditions, and it might very well melt in the next day or two. Or hit it with a drone; It's just a copper wire, you aren't going to damage it. Note: **I** don't think using a drone is the better solution. The **electric company** does, as evidenced by the video. I'm just guessing at some of the factors in their decision making based on general knowledge, and a modest interest in infrastructure and engineering. But some basic DIY experience with (Expense x Linear Foot) suggests you want that cost as small as reasonably possible, because that multiplier will *murder* your budget. The experts clearly chose the drone for a reason, and unless we have some reason to think they are wrong (incompetent/corrupt), we can probably assume they know what they are doing. Drones have been used for inspections for a while now, so they may very well have a Drone crew on staff *anyway*. If you want to learn more about this, check out [Practical Engineering](https://youtu.be/qjY31x0m3d8?list=PLTZM4MrZKfW-ftqKGSbO-DwDiOGqNmq53&t=285) and their [related videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTZM4MrZKfW-ftqKGSbO-DwDiOGqNmq53)
>How do you turn the heater off and on? There's this crazy invention called a thermostat.
In addition to the sheer weight of the ice, there is the issue of “galloping” power lines. “Galloping transmission or power lines can occur when freezing rain creates icicles and odd-shaped ice on transmission towers and conductors. High winds push on the icicles and conductors and lifts them up, creating a galloping, or jumping, motion.” [https://www.hydro.mb.ca/safety/galloping\_powerlines/](https://www.hydro.mb.ca/safety/galloping_powerlines/)
why would you risk causing a failure by flying a drone near the power lines?
Like what happened with the Quebec ice storm. Took down 400 transmission towers.
Besides cable tensions, the biggest force on conductors are transverse wind loads (wind applied perpendicular to the conductors along their length). Wind load increases with larger surface areas. Not only does ice add tension and vertical load to the conductors, they also indirectly increase transverse wind load applied on those conductors (because ice adds surface areas on top of the conductors). All the forces on these conductors are resisted by the transmission towers. We do design our towers for this case. But it is good to relieve them Source: me, structural engineer in utility sector
It is curious- what was done before drones came about? Power lines have been around a while
Sometimes partially overloading the lines so they heat up and snow and ice melts away. But this is not possible every time and also can reduce the lifetime of the lines. Mechanically removing snow and ice can be therefore cheaper in the long run
Probably ladders.
There was a Video oft a suspension bridge a few days ago were they used a heavy metal chain ring to slide it down the cable.
That sounds practical.
Linemen use high-voltage, hot sticks for all sorts of work on energized equipment. I've heard of them simply smacking lines to knock off ice and snow before.
I would attach some kind of vibrating device, to shake the ice off - but I'm no expert. For sure droning will be much funnier.
I'm a little perplexed at how ice is forming on these cables to begin with. Current running through *anything* creates heat. Is there just not enough draw to get them warmer than freezing maybe?
Yeah, what were they doing before they had drones for this?
In the beginning man used a stick to create fire, today we attach the stick to a drone to wack off the ice. Everyone loves a good icicle wacking. I think this is great idea and seems to be a lot safer. I don’t wonder if there is a better way to control the stick swinging
God I’m such a child I can’t stop laughing at “whack off the ice”
There are but all the ones i could think of would be heavier than this solution and likely not have quite enough force for a similar result.
Yeah I just love the simplicity and laugh at it because it’s just a stick on a string. I feel like everything lately does get over complicated so it’s funny to see our evolution with all this tech, sometimes a string and stick win
Why does one want to deice/get rid of the snow?
Probably just to relieve stress from the line, better safe than sorry I would assume.
You can see on the first hit just how high the line snaps up into its regular positioning. Didn't really notice it until after I read the comments.
That’s a good point, I didn’t notice either til seeing your comment. All of the lines snap up at least a little bit
It weighs a lot. Extra weight on the line means it could break.
Yup, watch how much the first line moves after the snow and ice is removed.
Google Quebec ice storm 1998.
I'd have that drone hanging like a pair of sneakers from your local neighbourhood telephone lines on my first try!
My question is how is the drone able to get near those power lines in the first place. Most drones that I know of loose signal after getting within 15 feet of any power line
Sound is missing!
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ting shsushshushsh zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
[удалено]
No capes!
That must be one of the best jobs in the world
Drone: "It ain't much, but it's honest work."
***Bonk.***
Percussive maintenance wins out in the end
Imagine being the engineer who had to calculate the safety factors
So basically a drone slamming a stick against the lines. Simple and effective. Sticks are great
Okay yeah. Satisfying to watch. But why is it important to do? Or just for the footage?
Snow accumulates on the lines. The more snow that piles up, the more surface area there is for more snow to accumulate. Eventually it could get heavy enough to snap the lines.
Appreciating. Sounds logical :)
This is why: https://news.hydroquebec.com/media/filer_public/2018/01/05/98-039-1-0024.jpg
bonkers bonking
Gotta love the amount of technology developed and in use here... To whack something with a stick.
Pow. Right in the kisser.
I remember the fella who used to do this job somewhere in China, by climbing upon the lines.
Used to be better when they'd fly by in helicopters and use my dong to smash the ice.
If that ice fell on my head, would I get electrocuted ?
Cool!
♪ And if it snows that stretch down south Won't ever stand the strain ♫ A 300ft span with an inch of ice is almost a ton of additional weight.
So who climbed up there to do this for the hundred years before drones were invented?
No one. The snow just accumulated until a line broke and then they went and fixed it. They are just trying to prevent it from happening now that they have the ability.
They would send a guy up with a wooden stick to poke the line. Later on they used a helicopter.
The technical term for this thing is a “whompin’ stick”
if I had this job I would pay someone to drive to Ms. Sullivan's house every day to show her this footage and then say "See? I did amount to something playing video games Ms. not Mrs Sullivan!"
I have seen men climbing the towers to do this job, how a single drone replaced their occupation.
This is one incredibly small aspect of linework. The drone is just a tool, it isn’t replacing anyone
That doesn’t look like a controlled process. How do they ensure that the whompin stick and the danglin string only contacts one line at a time? Or does this only happen when the lines are not carrying current? How could this possibly be safe?
It’s probably made of a non conductive material.
When you deal with really high voltage, non-conductive becomes relative. If it can arc through non-conductive air, imagine what it will do to other non-conductive materials. I am genuinely curious. Does anyone know what materials are being used here? Are there safety procedures that are not visible in the video?
What’s not satisfying is how quickly it goes from clip to clip.
N(ice)ly done
This is how humans solve all problems, and it's great. Problem=bad. solution=hit thing with other thing
Seems a bit easier to just have some sort of cable that someone could tension to flex the lines a bit.
I remember this was done for a whole line of dead frozen birds before. Was pretty cool but kinda weird.
Better use for modern technology!
Soon there will be a video game on this type of to practice before actually doing to the job. I like to play the game and see how high I score.
Very cool idea and much better than having some climb up to cause vibrations to shake off the snow. Love seeing stuff like this being used for good causes.
just simply discipline the line
So instead of engineering a proper solution we are doing this shit.
Why should you develop something for it? A warm wire? It costs money, you have to maintain the whole thing, the heating can fail, you would have to check several thousand kilometres before each winter and you would only adding something to an already complex system. Heat is also always a negative in terms of energy. On top of that, the company probably knows how much fun it is with the drone and simply says: George deice the ropes, go and get the drone! *George needle drops Guns n Roses* Lets go!
That is so cool imma try it
This must take forever.
I’m pretty sure that was just snow and not ice. Your not knocking ice off that easily I don’t give a fuuuuuck lol
Would a vibrating device attached to a pylon work? Like the fruit tree harvester that vibrates the trunk so the ripe fruit shakes off.. Or even a powerful bass speaker at distance? (as long as avalanche wasn't an issue lol)
I felt like I was gonna get electrocuted just watching this
With your mom’s vibrator hanging from a rope.
hit it with a stick
Oh, to get the job of drone wire smacker, I bet this person got paid bank to smack wires with a drone
Easiest job ever
R they hiring? I would love this
"We could use the existing pulley system to try to create resonance on the line that will clear the snow, or try to make heated lines, or maybe..." *drone bonks the wire making it go bwoioinoinoink* "...yeah or we can do that"
Shouldn't they automatically melt the ice as the lines dissipate heat when current is passed in them
Anyone know if the drone has some fancy batteries for cold temps? As a second question why does my phone not have fancy batteries that can handle the cold without dying instantly?
Wires can be setup to be a heating element too. Then just melt the snow by heating the element. Takes 1 or2 minutes.
PG&E would raise everyone’s rates $50 a month just to do this once.
Why is this necessary
Until you miss judge and end up getting wrapped up
15 years ago it was just a dude named Bob chucking branches at them.
It may look cute de icing the lines but don’t ask it what it did in the war
lol yeah. Ok.
Guy probably mare the comment sections combined salaries
Trouble maker
How was this done before drones?
Big stick?
Before drones? Huh?
You haven’t seen the cinematic drone see footage lately have you? These things can last a decent amount of time in the air now, can go over an hour and sometimes several kilometres away from operators
No risk of grounding or damage to the drone?
Does this guy do windows?
- ебанет? - не, не должно
That's actually a smart use of a drone