Large scale unmanned monitoring device assessment of utility system components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11275376-B2
Application number	US-201916446851-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 20, 2019
Priority date	Jun 20, 2019
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

Large-scale unmanned monitoring devices, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), drones or rovers capable of operating within environmental conditions not suitable for human personnel and lesser capable monitoring devices may inspect system components within an area of interest (AOI) such an electric power distribution system including generation, transmission, and distribution elements for autonomous detection of damage to the components. The large-scale unmanned monitoring devices may inspect the system components while the environmental conditions are occurring. Work orders for repairing the damage are autonomously generated and resources identified within the work orders are autonomously provisioned.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, by an information processing system, of managing autonomous inspection of components within an area of interest, the method comprising:
determining at least one environmental condition associated with the area of interest;
determining a plurality of mobile unmanned monitoring devices associated with the area of interest, wherein at least a first mobile unmanned monitoring device of the plurality of mobile unmanned monitoring devices is capable of operating in the at least one environmental condition while at least a second mobile unmanned monitoring device of the plurality of mobile unmanned monitoring devices is at least one of prohibited or not capable of operating in the at least one environmental condition;
determining if the at least one environmental condition one of fails or satisfies at least one environmental condition threshold for operating within the area of interest such that the at least second unmanned monitoring device is at least one of prohibited or not capable of operating in the at least one environmental condition;
selecting the at least first mobile unmanned monitoring device to autonomously monitor at least one system component within the area of interest based on determining that the at least second unmanned monitoring device is at least one of prohibited or not capable of operating in the at least one environmental condition;
selecting the at least second mobile unmanned monitoring device to autonomously monitor the at least one system component based on the at least second unmanned monitoring device not being at least one of prohibited or not capable of operating in the at least one environmental condition; and
programming the selected at least first mobile unmanned monitoring device or the at least second mobile unmanned monitoring device to autonomously monitor at least one system component within the area of interest.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the programming comprises:
programming the selected at least first mobile unmanned monitoring device or the at least second mobile unmanned monitoring device to autonomously monitor at least one system component while the at least one environmental condition is occurring in the area of interest.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the selected at least first mobile unmanned monitoring device or the at least second mobile unmanned monitoring device, inspection data generated thereby for the at least one system component;
determining, based on the inspection data, a current operational state of the at least one system component; and
autonomously generating, based on the current operational state, a work order comprising a plurality of components addressing the current operational state of the at least one system component.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
autonomously provisioning one or more of the plurality of components for the work order.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein autonomously provisioning one or more of the plurality of components comprises:
transmitting a communication to at least one information processing system indicating that the one or more of the plurality of components have been assigned to the work order, wherein the communication further comprises instructions for the one or more plurality of components to be sent to a given location.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein autonomously generating the work order comprises:
determining the current operational state of the at least one system component indicates the at least one system component has experienced damage;
determining attributes of the damage; and
determining, based on the attributes of the damage, one or more work crews required to repair the damage and at least one of
a set of parts required to repair the damage, and
a set of equipment required to repair the damage.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the programming further comprises:
programming the selected at least first mobile unmanned monitoring device or the at least second mobile unmanned monitoring device with
one or more inspection paths to be traversed thereby with respect to the at least one system component, and
one or more inspection parameters.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental condition is wind speed.

9. An information processing system for managing devices for managing an autonomous inspection of components within an area of interest, the information processing system comprising:
a processor;
memory communicatively coupled to the processor; and
an inspection manager communicatively coupled to the processor and the memory that, when operating:
determines at least one environmental condition associated with the area of interest;
determines if the at least one environmental condition one of fails or satisfies at least one environmental condition threshold for operating within the area of interest;
selects and programs at least a first mobile unmanned monitoring device of a first type to autonomously monitor at least one system component within the area of interest based on the at least one environmental condition failing to satisfy the at least one environmental condition threshold;
selects at least a second mobile monitoring device of a second type to monitor the at least one system component based on the at least one environmental condition satisfying the at least one environmental condition threshold;
determines a current operational state of the at least one system component based on inspection data associated with the at least one system component and received from the selected at least first mobile unmanned monitoring device or the at least second mobile monitoring device; and
autonomously generates, based on the current operational state, a work order comprising a plurality of components addressing the current operational state of the at least one system component.

10. The information processing system of claim 9 , wherein the inspection manager programs the selected at least first mobile unmanned monitoring device or the at least second mobile unmanned monitoring device by:
programming the selected at least first mobile unmanned monitoring device or the at least second mobile unmanned monitoring device with
one or more inspection paths to be traversed by the the selected at least first mobile unmanned monitoring device or the at least second mobile unmanned monitoring device with respect to the at least one system component, and
one or more inspection parameters.

11. The information processing system of claim 9 , wherein the inspection manager, when operating, further
automatically provisions one or more of the plurality of components for the work order; and
transmits a communication to at least one information processing system indicating that the one or more of the plurality of components have been assigned to the work order, wherein the communication further comprises instructions for the one or more plurality of components to be sent to a given location.

12. The information processing system of claim 9 , wherein the inspection manager autonomously generates the work order by:
determining the current operational state of the at least one system component indicates the at least one system component has experienced damage;
determining attributes of the damage; and
determining, based on the attributes of the damage, one or more work crews required to repair the damage and at least one of
a set of parts required to repair the damage, and
a set of equipment required to repair the damage.

13. The information processing system of claim 9 , wherein the inspection manager

Assignees

• Florida Power & Light Co

Inventors

• Rentz Iliana Maria
• Schwartz Eric D
• Dubs Jeffrey D

Classifications

• B64U2101/31

  for surveillance · CPC title

• G06Q10/0631

  Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations · CPC title

• G06Q10/20

  Administration of product repair or maintenance · CPC title

• G01N21/952

  Inspecting the exterior surface of cylindrical bodies or wires (G01N21/956 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01W1/00

  Meteorology · CPC title