WASHINGTON. IRON NEW. THIS MORNING WE ENERGIES IS ROLLING OUT NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT THEY SAY WILL HELP PREVENT POWER OUTAGES. 12 NEWS MALLORY ANDERSON IS LIVE AT 25TH AND WELLS IN MILWAUKEE AND MALLORY. THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY COMES AHEAD OF THE SUMMER STORM SEASON. GERRON SO MANY POWER OUTAGES CAN BE CAUSED EITHER BY THUNDERSTORM OR BY HIGH WINDS DURING STORMS, SO THIS IS COMING AT A PERFECT TIME. TODAY WE GOT A LOOK AT HOW TWO PIECES OF TECHNOLOGY, NEWER TECHNOLOGY WORK FOR WE ENERGIES. ONE WAS AN INFRARED CAMERA, THE OTHER WAS AN ACOUSTIC CAMERA, AND THEY WERE USED RIGHT HERE ON THIS SWITCH FUZE BOX. AND THOSE TESTS ACTUALLY IDENTIFIED A PROBLEM. SO TODAY CREWS DEMONSTRATED HOW THE NEW HIGH TECH ACOUSTIC CAMERA WORKS. IT SCANS POWER EQUIPMENT AND THEN CAN INDICATE ANY POTENTIAL PROBLEMS. IT ACTUALLY FOUND SOME ABNORMALITIES WITH THE SWITCH FUZE BOX. THEY WERE TESTING ACCORDING TO WE ENERGIES. THE CAMERA CREATES AN ACOUSTIC IMAGE, PROVIDE A VISUAL MAP OF THE PRECISE LOCATION OF AUDIBLE HUMS OR NOISES THAT CAN INDICATE AN ISSUE IS BEGINNING TO OCCUR. AND THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED HERE TODAY. THE ACOUSTIC CAMERA, WITH ITS OVER 120 MICROPHONES, SHOWED THAT THIS BOX COULD USE SOME WORK TO GET UPGRADES, WE ENERGY SAYS IDENTIFYING THIS PROBLEM NOW JUST PREVENTED AN OUTAGE IN THE FUTURE. FOR OUR CUSTOMERS, IT’S POTENTIALLY COULD ELIMINATE AN OUTAGE BEFORE IT HAPPENS. AND SO AS WE AS WE SCAN OUR SYSTEM, IF WE SEE THAT THERE COULD BE A POTENTIAL PROBLEM AND WE DO THE SCAN WITH THE ACOUSTIC CAMERA, IT IT CAN ALLOW US TO TAKE IT DOWN. PLANNED, MAKE THE REPAIR SO THAT THE CUSTOMER DOESN’T EVEN SEE AN OUTAGE ON IT. AND THAT THAT REALLY IS WHAT WE’RE WE’RE TRYING TO PREVENT IS OUTAGES TO OUR CUSTOMERS. SO THE MORE WE CAN DO PROACTIVELY, THE BETTER OFF OUR CUSTOMERS WILL BE. SO WITHOUT USING THAT ACOUSTIC CAMERA, WE ENERGIES CREWS TELL US THAT THEY WOULD HAVE REALLY HAD NO INDICATION THAT THE SWITCH FUZE BOX NEEDED SOME WORK DONE ON IT. I WILL TELL YOU, IT’S NOT ABOUT TO FAIL RIGHT NOW. IT ACTUALLY WAS JUST ON A LIST OF THINGS THAT THEY NEEDED TO CHECK. SO THEY’RE GOING TO PUT IN A WORK ORDER AND THEN THEY’RE GOING TO GET THIS CLEANED UP AND GET SOME OF THOSE PARTS REPLACED TO PREVENT ANY FUTURE OUTAGES. SO HOPEFULLY THERE WILL BE NO DISRUPTION TO ANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE AROUND HERE DURING THE SUMMER OR WINTER MONTHS AS WELL. MALLORY ANDERSON, REPORTING LIVE
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We Energies using new technology to prevent power outages
High-tech acoustic cameras are now utilized to scan power equipment and indicate any potential problems
Updated: 2:28 PM CDT May 15, 2024
We Energies has unveiled new technology they say will help prevent power outages as we enter the summer storm season.On Wednesday, crews showcased a new high-tech acoustic camera that can be utilized to scan power equipment and indicate any potential problems. They also use infrared cameras to identify issues. According to We Energies, the camera creates an acoustic image, providing a visual map of the precise location of audible hums or noises that can indicate an issue is beginning to occur. The camera uses over 120 microphones to scan equipment such as transformers and switch fuse units. “It’s an acoustic camera, so when they use that, it measures the sound wave that’s coming off of the device or the equipment that we’re looking at,” said Dave Megna, vice president of Wisconsin field operations for We Energies. “Then it can pinpoint if there’s a spot that’s causing a problem. So you can hear that buzzing, but you just can’t see where it’s occurring. The infrared camera actually identifies where a connector or something is heating up abnormally.”We Energies says without this technology, many of these problems would not be identified before an outage occurred.”For our customers, it potentially could eliminate an outage before it happens,” Megna said. “As we scan our system, if we see that there could be a potential problem, and we do the scan with the acoustic camera, it can allow us to take it down planned, and make the repair. So the customer doesn’t even see an outage on it. That really is what we’re we’re trying to prevent, is outages to our customers. So the more we can do proactively, the better off our customers will be.”Before this new technology, crews previously had to visually inspect all equipment.”It was all visual inspection, getting up close to it in a bucket truck,” said Marty Koutnik, a We Energies senior application engineer. “Getting up there, inspecting it visually, as you can imagine, would be incredibly difficult. Now, you wouldn’t have to set up your bucket truck, which takes time to be able to get up there close. With this, you could be on the ground or even hundreds of feet away.”
We Energies has unveiled new technology they say will help prevent power outages as we enter the summer storm season.
On Wednesday, crews showcased a new high-tech acoustic camera that can be utilized to scan power equipment and indicate any potential problems. They also use infrared cameras to identify issues.
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According to We Energies, the camera creates an acoustic image, providing a visual map of the precise location of audible hums or noises that can indicate an issue is beginning to occur. The camera uses over 120 microphones to scan equipment such as transformers and switch fuse units.
“It’s an acoustic camera, so when they use that, it measures the sound wave that’s coming off of the device or the equipment that we’re looking at,” said Dave Megna, vice president of Wisconsin field operations for We Energies. “Then it can pinpoint if there’s a spot that’s causing a problem. So you can hear that buzzing, but you just can’t see where it’s occurring. The infrared camera actually identifies where a connector or something is heating up abnormally.”
We Energies says without this technology, many of these problems would not be identified before an outage occurred.
“For our customers, it potentially could eliminate an outage before it happens,” Megna said. “As we scan our system, if we see that there could be a potential problem, and we do the scan with the acoustic camera, it can allow us to take it down planned, and make the repair. So the customer doesn’t even see an outage on it. That really is what we’re we’re trying to prevent, is outages to our customers. So the more we can do proactively, the better off our customers will be.”
Before this new technology, crews previously had to visually inspect all equipment.
“It was all visual inspection, getting up close to it in a bucket truck,” said Marty Koutnik, a We Energies senior application engineer. “Getting up there, inspecting it visually, as you can imagine, would be incredibly difficult. Now, you wouldn’t have to set up your bucket truck, which takes time to be able to get up there close. With this, you could be on the ground or even hundreds of feet away.”
