Australian inventors have developed technology that detects potential power line faults, like the one that sparked a deadly Black Saturday bushfire, before they happen.<\/p>\n
Created by researchers at RMIT University, Early Fault Detection (EFD) has been trialled in Australia and overseas in a bid to prevent a repeat of the nation’s worst bushfire disaster.<\/p>\n
IND Technology, which commercialised the invention, wants to see it rolled out nationally.<\/p>\n
But there are limitations.<\/p>\n
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The Early Fault Detection system listens to radio frequencies on power lines to detect faults. (Supplied: IND Technology)<\/p>\n
Ahead of the next disaster season, energy providers are weighing up the benefits against the $380 million installation bill.<\/p>\n
The system<\/p>\n
On February 7, 2009, a fire started in Kilmore East, 65 kilometres north of Melbourne, when a faulty power line was brought down in powerful winds on a hot, dry, 46 degree Celsius day.<\/p>\n
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The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission found the Kilmore East blaze was caused by an ageing power line. (Supplied: Wade Horton)<\/p>\n
It went on to merge with another fire before ravaging Victoria; 173 people died, and more than 400,000 hectares of land was burnt, destroying homes, infrastructure and farms.<\/p>\n
The failure of the power line has been scrutinised by a Royal Commission<\/a> and was the subject of a $500 million class-action<\/a> lawsuit.<\/p>\n “That fire definitely would not have happened if EFD had been installed,” IND Technology chairman Tony Marxsen said.<\/p>\n Trained as an electrical engineer, Dr Marxsen worked for Victoria’s government-owned electricity provider for 30 years before it was privatised in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n He then worked as a consultant and in academic research.<\/p>\n A house is impacted by the Black Saturday fires at Kinglake in February 2009. (Supplied: April Harrison)<\/p>\n He said EFD was not connected to the network but listened to it, identifying defects like broken wires or vegetation across the line by the radio frequencies they gave off.<\/p>\n “It finds problems, locates them and allows the network owner to go directly to the site and fix the problem before it develops into a full-scale network fault,” Dr Marxsen said.<\/p>\n He said it could detect the fault within 10 metres of accuracy.<\/p>\n “Picking up those radio frequency signals at more than one location, we can triangulate exactly where the problem is,” he said.<\/p>\n Alan Wong , Andrew Walsh and Tony Marxsen lead the IND team. (Supplied: IND Technology)<\/p>\n He said the idea was to fix the problem before the line broke, which could expose live wires that started fires if they hit power poles or the ground.<\/p>\n “If you’re talking about very high fire risk weather, they always involve strong winds, so that’s maximum strain on the wires on the network and that’s when they break,” he said.<\/p>\n “We find the problem before it happens and once again the utility can go out and fix it and prevent the fire.”<\/p>\n The trials<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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