Ground clearances

The LineSmarts overhead power line ground clearance measurement function enables the use of android tablet or smartphone devices to safely and efficiently:

    • Identify the span ground profile
    • Measure ground clearances with the ability to specify:
      1. a specific conductor to measure or automatically identifying the lowest conductor
      1. a specific span location to measure or automatically identifying the location where the ground clearance is lowest
      1. the surveyed condition, a specific user defined load case or automatically identify the user defined load case that creates the minimum ground clearance
    • Measure conductor blowout distances for a specified conductor, in-span location, and user defined loadcase
  • Measure the distance from the poles to objects along the span profile

The following video provides a brief introduction to how the ground clearances measurements are achieved in Linesmarts.

 

 

LineSmarts provides the first practical way for distribution utilities to fully comply with ground clearance regulations and standards. It is common for regulations and standards to specify minimum ground clearances which are intended to be complied with under worst case loading and temperature scenarios. In the past it has been common for distribution utilities to measure clearances that exist at the time of survey and assess clearance compliance on the basis of that raw measurement only, leaving uncertainty as to whether the clearances might change in other service conditions, breaching compliance.

 

A full assessment for compliance would consider how clearances decrease under design service load cases. However in the past this additional level of analysis required input of information, time, money and technical skills which generally rendered it impractical. LineSmarts automatically performs these assessments as part of its ground clearance measurement calculation, thus eliminating all the problems that have hindered full compliance in the past.

 

A further advantage of LineSmarts ground clearance measurements is that they provide a persistent record which can be electronically communicated and stored. LineSmarts measurements provide photographic evidence of ground clearance compliance, which can be used to demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements to keep records of assessments. These records can always be reanalysed for more information, and they easy and efficient to review for quality assurance purposes.

 

By comparison with most conductor height assessment methods LineSmarts provides safety advantages since it does not require surveyors to stand on roads while measurements are completed or make contact with overhead conductors.