Robotics Usage in Electric Power Systems and EM Emissions and Mitigation Strategies

College of Engineering & Applied Science, Collins, Haley, Collins, Lisa, Electrical Engineering, Mentor, Poster Presentation, School and College, Student, Wang, Lingfeng

Haley Collins and Lisa Collins, “Robotics Usage in Electric Power Systems and EM Emissions and Mitigation Strategies”
Mentor: Lingfeng Wang, Electrical Engineering
Poster #8

Electric power systems are formally defined as ‘a network of electrical components deployed to supply, transfer, and use electric power.’ As power systems expand in both size and complexity, the risk of failure increases. Consistent maintenance and monitoring of key functions and outputs is a necessary component of ensuring reliable and proper functioning. This project focuses on the use of robotic systems such as brachiating, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), and UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) robotic technology and the application of such systems in power system inspection and maintenance. Robotic systems (such as Boston Dynamic’s Spot, Quadrotor UAV, and ROBTET) have been successfully employed for tasks such as transmission line inspection, radiation detection, and site documentation, as well as digital twin evaluation and construction. In addition to the benefits of such technology usage in electric power systems, potential EMI hazards and mitigation strategies (especially in wireless robotics technology) were also identified and analyzed. Notwithstanding the recent advancements in EMF shielding, there are still barriers presented regarding EM emissions and their impact, especially when it comes to robotics and their application in live power line repair and power system maintenance. The emission for electromagnetic wireless power transfer must adhere to the ICNIRP Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Time-varying electric, magnetic, and EMF of up to 300 GHz. The IEEE Standard for Safety levels regarding human exposure to radio frequency EMF is 3 kHz to 300 GHz. All three of the most efficient power transfer systems, LPT, MRPT, and MWPT, exhibit safety hazards even at mid-power transmission. Considerations for reduction of EMI effects while using robotics includes designing shielding, filtering, and grounding, in addition to the proper selection of components and the use of buck converters and sine amplitude converters.