University of Huddersfield professor aims to end hassle of power
Story by Martin Shaw
Huddersfield Examiner Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:03:00 BST
A Professor at Huddersfield University is aiming to make power cuts a thing of the past.
Prof Ian Glover is heading a new £670,000 research project to find a way to detect sub-station faults before they blow.
Ironically, news of the appointment comes 24 hours after hundreds of homes and businesses in Golcar and Scapegoat Hill were hit by a cut.
Many lost power for several hours after a sub-station fault.
Prof Glover says his research promises major economic benefits, higher safety standards and fewer costly electricity cuts.
Born and brought up in Bailiff Bridge, Prof Glover began his working life in the power supply industry, working for the former Yorkshire Electricity Board before embarking on academic study.
He has now been appointed Professor of Radio Science and Wireless Systems Engineering at Huddersfield.
A key area of his research is the use of easily-installed wireless sensor networks in sub-stations.
This technology is designed to locate and diagnose imminent system faults so repairs can be made.
"With this system you get a quicker diagnosis and it means that you can move from planned maintenance to condition-based maintenance," he said.
"You don't have to maintain everything quite so often if its health is being measured all the time. You can wait until something is about to go wrong."
Prof Glover said that when cable insulation becomes worn or damaged it radiates microwave energy known as 'partial discharge'.
"This can be picked up by radio receivers and by monitoring the intensity of this microwave energy, you can predict when an item of plant is going to fail," he said.
Traditionally, partial discharge has been detected by a technician walking the sub-station with a radio receiver and a pair of headphones.
Prof Glover added: "He listens to an audio signal that simply gives some basic information about whether partial discharge is present or not and with a bit of luck, the closer he is to the partial discharge the more intense it sounds.
"That might typically be only done once a year but that is not enough. A piece of equipment can degrade very quickly."
In the worst cases equipment can explode, leading to power cuts and massive repair costs plus safety risks although modern sub-stations in the UK are not generally manned.
Prof Glover is the lead investigator on a project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, which will develop the principle of wireless sensor networks which can be monitored centrally.
This would produce efficiency savings, cut down on the cost of equipment replacement and avoid the large fines levied on utility companies in the wake of power cuts.
The novel feature of Prof Glover's research is that he would use 'free space radiometers', devices which are not attached to power cables and can be installed without switching high voltage equipment off so there is no interruption to power supplies.
Prof Glover's colleagues on the four-and-a half-year project will include physicist and engineer Dr Maria de Fatima Queiroz Vieira, who retires soon from her post at the Federal University of Campina Grande in her native Brazil to take up an honorary appointment at Huddersfield.
PhD students and post-doctoral researchers will also be recruited for the project which will be housed in a new, specially-equipped £100,000 lab at the university.
Read more: Examiner http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2013/04/13/university-of-huddersfield-professor-aims-to-end-hassle-of-power-cuts-86081-33164129/2/#ixzz2Quiq0JAR
