Power facility inspection device and power facility inspection method

Abstract

A power facility inspection device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: an acquisition unit that acquires noise data in a frequency range from a first frequency to a second frequency around a power facility to be inspected; a removal unit that removes a known frequency component from the noise data acquired by the acquisition unit; a calculation unit that calculates a first distance from the power facility to a boundary between the far field and the near field of the first frequency, and a second distance from the power facility to a boundary between the far field and the near field of the second frequency; a determination unit that determines a first measurement point and a second measurement point on the basis of the first distance and the second distance calculated by the calculation unit; and an identification unit that identifies noise of which the power facility is the noise source on the basis of noise data obtained as a result of the removal unit removing the known frequency component from noise data acquired by the acquisition unit at the first measurement point and the second measurement point determined by the determination unit.

Description

Power equipment inspection device and power equipment inspection method

[0001] The present invention relates to a power equipment inspection device and a power equipment inspection method.

[0002] Conventional radio wave survey methods have been known that use a spectrum analyzer to obtain a spectrum showing the radio wave conditions around power facilities. In addition, technologies using small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as drones, to search for radio wave sources are also known.

[0003] For example, techniques for conducting radio wave surveys based on known frequency information such as wireless LAN (2.4 GHz, etc.) and weather sensors (920 MHz band) are publicly known (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

[0004] "Radio Wave Survey Service Using Spectrum Analyzer (for SIers)", [online], Spectrum Technology Co., Ltd. Website, [Accessed September 10, 2024], Internet <URL: https: / / spectrum-tech.co.jp / sier_service / radio_survey.html>

[0005] However, conventionally, there was a problem in that it was impossible to identify the source of noise when noise components of unknown frequencies were generated. Furthermore, if it was unknown which noise components the object under investigation was generating, it was impossible to pinpoint the source of the noise.

[0006] This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a power equipment inspection device and a power equipment inspection method that can identify noise sources in power equipment to be inspected.

[0007] A power equipment inspection device according to one embodiment of the present invention is characterized by comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires noise data in a frequency range from a first frequency to a second frequency around the power equipment to be inspected; an exclusion unit that excludes known frequency components from the noise data acquired by the acquisition unit; a calculation unit that calculates a first distance from the power equipment to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the first frequency and a second distance from the power equipment to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the second frequency; a determination unit that determines a first measurement point and a second measurement point based on the first and second distances calculated by the calculation unit; and an identification unit that identifies noise in which the power equipment is the noise source based on noise data obtained by the exclusion unit from the noise data acquired by the acquisition unit at the first and second measurement points determined by the determination unit.

[0008] Furthermore, a power equipment inspection method according to one embodiment of the present invention is characterized by including: an acquisition step of acquiring noise data in a frequency range from a first frequency to a second frequency around the power equipment to be inspected; an exclusion step of excluding known frequency components from the noise data acquired in the acquisition step; a calculation step of calculating a first distance from the power equipment to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the first frequency and a second distance from the power equipment to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the second frequency; a determination step of determining a first measurement point and a second measurement point based on the first and second distances calculated in the calculation step; and an identification step of identifying noise in which the power equipment is the noise source based on noise data obtained by excluding known frequency components from the noise data acquired in the acquisition step at the first and second measurement points determined in the determination step.

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to identify the noise source of the power equipment being inspected.

[0010] This is a schematic overhead view illustrating the outline of the power equipment inspection method performed by a power equipment inspection device according to one embodiment. This is a functional block diagram illustrating the functions of a power equipment inspection device according to one embodiment mounted on a small unmanned aerial vehicle. This is a graph illustrating noise data acquired by the acquisition unit. This is a graph illustrating noise data from which known frequency components have been removed by the exclusion unit. This is a schematic overhead view illustrating the first and second measurement points determined by the determination unit. (a) is a graph illustrating noise data at the first measurement point. (b) is a graph illustrating noise data at the second measurement point. This is a flowchart illustrating an example of operation of a small unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a power equipment inspection device according to one embodiment. This is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of a power equipment inspection device according to one embodiment.

[0011] The following describes a power equipment inspection device and power equipment inspection method according to one embodiment, using drawings. Figure 1 is a schematic overhead view illustrating the outline of the power equipment inspection method performed by the power equipment inspection device according to one embodiment. In the power equipment inspection method according to one embodiment, a power equipment inspection device mounted on a small unmanned aircraft 2, such as a drone flying around the nacelle 100 of the wind power generation equipment 1 that is to be inspected while in operation, acquires noise (radio noise) data, thereby identifying the noise source in the nacelle 100.

[0012] The nacelle 100 is located in the center of the wind power generation facility 1 and is a power facility that houses a generator (not shown) and other devices that generate electricity using the wind received by the blades 10.

[0013] Figure 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating the functions of a power equipment inspection device 20 according to one embodiment of a small unmanned aerial vehicle 2 shown in Figure 1. Note that the power equipment inspection device 20 is not limited to being mounted on or integrated with the small unmanned aerial vehicle 2, but may be configured independently.

[0014] One embodiment of the power equipment inspection device 20 includes, for example, an acquisition unit 21, a exclusion unit 22, a calculation unit 23, a determination unit 24, a judgment unit 25, a specific unit 26, and a storage unit 27. The functions of the power equipment inspection device 20 will be described below with reference to Figures 2 to 6.

[0015] The acquisition unit 21 has a small unmanned aircraft 2 fly around the nacelle 100 to be inspected and acquires (for example, receives and measures) noise data (such as electric field strength or magnetic field strength) in a frequency range from a first frequency to a second frequency using an antenna (not shown), and outputs it to the rejection unit 22.

[0016] Figure 3 is a graph illustrating noise data acquired by the acquisition unit 21. As shown in Figure 3, when the first frequency is A [MHz] and the second frequency is B [MHz], the acquisition unit 21 acquires noise data containing frequency components of several AM broadcasts and radio waves used in amateur radio between A [MHz] and B [MHz].

[0017] The exclusion unit 22 removes known frequency components from the noise data acquired by the acquisition unit 21 using filters or the like, and outputs the noise data with the known frequency components removed to the determination unit 25 and the storage unit 27. Known frequency components are, for example, the frequency components of radio waves used in AM broadcasting and amateur radio.

[0018] Figure 4 is a graph illustrating noise data after the exclusion unit 22 has excluded known frequency components. The exclusion unit 22 removes known radio wave frequency components used in AM broadcasting and amateur radio from the noise data shown in Figure 3 and outputs noise data as shown in Figure 4.

[0019] The calculation unit 23 calculates a first distance from the nacelle 100 to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the first frequency, and a second distance from the nacelle 100 to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the second frequency, and outputs the calculation results to the determination unit 24.

[0020] The first and second frequencies may be any frequencies. For example, if the first frequency is A [MHz] and the second frequency is B [MHz], then the first distance R Ａ [m] and second distance RＢ [m] is calculated by the following equations (1) and (2) based on the respective wavelengths.

[0021]

[0022]

[0023] For example, if the first frequency A is 1 [MHz] and the second frequency B is 10 [MHz], then the first distance R Ａ [m] becomes 48 [m] according to equation (1) above, and the second distance R Ｂ [m] is 4.8 [m] according to equation (2) above.

[0024] The determination unit 24 determines the first measurement point and the second measurement point based on the first distance and the second distance calculated by the calculation unit 23, and outputs information indicating the determined first measurement point and second measurement point to the acquisition unit 21 and the storage unit 27.

[0025] Figure 5 is a schematic overhead view illustrating the first and second measurement points determined by the determination unit 24. For example, the first measurement point is the first distance R from the center of the nacelle 100. Ａ The measurement is given as [m]. Furthermore, the second measurement point is the second distance R, which is the distance from the center of the nacelle 100. Ｂ It is [m].

[0026] The determination unit 25 uses the noise data from the first and second measurement points, from which the exclusion unit 22 has excluded known frequency components, to determine whether the electric field strength (or magnetic field strength) is changing inversely proportional to the square or cube of the distance from the nacelle 100, and outputs the determination result to the identification unit 26. The determination unit 25 may also perform the determination using AI (artificial intelligence).

[0027] Figure 6 is a graph illustrating the noise data used by the determination unit 25. Figure 6(a) is a graph illustrating the noise data at the first measurement point. Figure 6(b) is a graph illustrating the noise data at the second measurement point.

[0028] In the graph shown in FIG. 6(b), when there is a frequency component in which the electric field strength decays (or increases) inversely proportional to the cube of the distance from the nacelle 100 with respect to the graph shown in FIG. 6(a), the noise of the frequency component is the noise generated from the nacelle 100.

[0029] That is, when the electric field strength of the noise changes inversely proportional to the square to cube of the distance from the nacelle 100, the determination unit 25 may determine that the nacelle 100 is the noise source. Further, when the electric field strength of the noise does not change inversely proportional to the square to cube of the distance from the nacelle 100, the determination unit 25 may determine that the noise is external noise.

[0030] The specifying unit 26 includes an extraction unit 260, specifies the noise in which the nacelle 100 is the noise source based on the result determined by the determination unit 25, and outputs the specified result to the storage unit 27. At this time, the extraction unit 260 extracts, for example, a frequency component that decays inversely proportional to the cube of the distance from the nacelle 100 as the frequency (frequency component) of the noise in which the nacelle 100 is the noise source.

[0031] For example, the specifying unit 26 specifies the noise in which the nacelle 100 is the noise source and the frequency of the noise based on the noise data from which the exclusion unit 22 has excluded known frequency components from the noise data acquired by the acquisition unit 21 at the first measurement point and the second measurement point determined by the determination unit 24.

[0032] As a specific example, for example, the first distance R Ａ [m] at the first measurement point where the first frequency A is 1 [MHz], and the second distance R Ｂ [m] at the second measurement point where the second frequency B is 10 [MHz], when there is a noise component of 1.5 MHz in the acquired noise data, the distance R Ｃ of the boundary between the near field and the far field becomes 32 [m] according to the following formula (3).

[0033]

[0034] At this time, the distance R ＣIt falls within the range between the distances of the boundaries of the near-field and far-field of the above-mentioned first frequency A (1 MHz) and second frequency B (10 MHz) respectively (4.8 m to 48 m).

[0035] And for 1.5 MHz between distances of 4.8 m to 32 m, assuming that in a small dipole, the electric field changes inversely proportional to the cube of the distance and the magnetic field changes inversely proportional to the square of the distance, and in a small loop, the electric field changes inversely proportional to the square of the distance and the magnetic field changes inversely proportional to the cube of the distance.

[0036] In this case, the attenuation amount of the noise in the near-field (inversely proportional to the square to cube of the distance) is larger than the attenuation amount of the noise in the far-field (inversely proportional to the first power of the distance). And if the attenuation amount of the noise in the near-field is large near the nacelle 100, the specific part 26 specifies that the noise is generated by the nacelle 100.

[0037] The storage part 27 stores information such as the noise and frequency processed by the power equipment inspection device 20. For example, the storage part 27 stores information indicating the noise specified by the specific part 26 and the frequency of the noise.

[0038] Note that the operation sequence of each part constituting the power equipment inspection device 20 may be arbitrarily changed. For example, the acquisition part 21 may operate first in the power equipment inspection device 20 and use the storage part 27, or after the determination part 24 determines the first measurement point and the second measurement point, the noise data (such as the electric field strength) in the frequency range from the first frequency to the second frequency at the first measurement point and the second measurement point may be acquired.

[0039] And the power equipment inspection device 20 determines the measurement range (the first measurement point and the second measurement point) of the noise data based on the near-field regions of the first frequency A [MHz] and the second frequency B [MHz], and the acquisition part 21 may acquire (measure) the noise data so that the directivities of the antennas to the nacelle 100 at the first measurement point and the second measurement point are the same.

[0040] Next, an operation example of the small unmanned aircraft 2 equipped with the power equipment inspection device 20 will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the small unmanned aircraft 2 equipped with the power equipment inspection device 20 according to an embodiment.

[0041] As shown in Figure 7, in step 100 (S100), the acquisition unit 21 of the power equipment inspection device 20 acquires noise data (e.g., electric field strength) while the small unmanned aircraft 2 flies over the area surrounding the nacelle 100, including the first and second measurement points described later. Note that the acquisition unit 21 may have multiple measurement points for acquiring noise data in addition to the first and second measurement points.

[0042] In step 102 (S102), the exclusion unit 22 excludes known frequency components from the noise data acquired by the acquisition unit 21.

[0043] In step 104 (S104), the calculation unit 23 calculates the first distance R Ａ and the second distance R Ｂ Calculate.

[0044] In step 106 (S106), the determination unit 24 determines the first measurement point and the second measurement point.

[0045] In step 108 (S108), the determination unit 25 uses the noise data from the first and second measurement points, acquired by the acquisition unit 21 and after the exclusion unit 22 has excluded known frequency components, to determine whether or not there are frequency components that are attenuated inversely proportional to the square or cube of the distance from the nacelle 100. If there are no corresponding frequency components (S108: No), the determination unit 25 proceeds to the process in S110, and if there are corresponding frequency components (S108: Yes), it proceeds to the process in S112.

[0046] In step 110 (S110), the identification unit 26 identifies the noise data that the determination unit 25 has determined does not contain the corresponding frequency component as external noise, and proceeds to the process in S116.

[0047] In step 112 (S112), the identification unit 26 extracts the noise frequency (frequency component) from the noise data that the determination unit 25 has determined to contain the corresponding frequency component.

[0048] In step 114 (S114), the identification unit 26 identifies the noise of the frequency components extracted by the extraction unit 260 as noise generated by the nacelle 100.

[0049] In step 116 (S116), the storage unit 27 stores data relating to the noise identified by the identification unit 26.

[0050] In this way, the power equipment inspection device 20 can identify the noise source of the nacelle (power equipment) 100 to be inspected based on noise data obtained by the exclusion unit 22 from noise data acquired by the acquisition unit 21 at the first and second measurement points determined by the determination unit 24.

[0051] Furthermore, each function of the power equipment inspection device 20 may be partially or entirely composed of hardware such as a PLD (Programmable Logic Device) or FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or it may be composed of a program executed by a processor such as a CPU.

[0052] For example, the power equipment inspection device 20 can be implemented using a computer and a program, and the program can be recorded on a storage medium or provided via a network.

[0053] Figure 8 shows an example of the hardware configuration of a power equipment inspection device 20 according to one embodiment. As shown in Figure 8, for example, the power equipment inspection device 20 has an input unit 50, an output unit 51, a communication unit 52, a CPU 53, a memory 54, and an HDD 55 connected via a bus 56, and is equipped with computer functions. The power equipment inspection device 20 is also configured to be able to input and output data to and from a computer-readable storage medium 57.

[0054] The input unit 50 is, for example, a keyboard and mouse. The output unit 51 is, for example, a display device such as a display that outputs images. The communication unit 52 is, for example, a wired and wireless network interface, and may also have the function of an output unit that outputs data to the outside.

[0055] As described above, the CPU 53 controls each component of the power equipment inspection device 20 and performs predetermined processing. The memory 54 and HDD 55 are storage units that store data, etc.

[0056] The storage medium 57 is capable of storing programs and the like that which cause the power equipment inspection device 20 to perform its functions. Note that the architecture of the power equipment inspection device 20 is not limited to the example shown in Figure 8.

[0057] The functions realized by the components described herein may be implemented in a circuitry or processing circuitry, including general-purpose processors, application-specific processors, integrated circuits, ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), CPUs (a Central Processing Unit), conventional circuits, and / or combinations thereof, programmed to realize the functions described herein.

[0058] A processor includes transistors and other circuits and is considered circuitry or processing circuitry. A processor may also be a programmed processor that executes programs stored in memory.

[0059] In this specification, circuitry, unit, and means are hardware programmed to perform or execute the functions described herein. Such hardware may be any hardware disclosed herein, or any hardware known to be programmed to perform or execute the functions described herein.

[0060] If the hardware is a processor that is considered to be a type of circuitry, then the circuitry, means, or unit is a combination of hardware and software used to constitute the hardware and / or processor.

[0061] 1... Wind power generation equipment, 2... Small unmanned aircraft, 10... Blade, 20... Power equipment inspection device, 21... Acquisition unit, 22... Exclusion unit, 23... Calculation unit, 24... Determination unit, 25... Judgment unit, 26... Identification unit, 27... Memory unit, 50... Input unit, 51... Output unit, 52... Communication unit, 53... CPU, 54... Memory, 55... HDD, 56... Bus, 57... Storage medium, 100... Nacelle, 260... Extraction unit

Claims

1. A power equipment inspection device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires noise data in a frequency range from a first frequency to a second frequency around the power equipment to be inspected; an exclusion unit that excludes known frequency components from the noise data acquired by the acquisition unit; a calculation unit that calculates a first distance from the power equipment to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the first frequency and a second distance from the power equipment to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the second frequency; a determination unit that determines a first measurement point and a second measurement point based on the first and second distances calculated by the calculation unit; and an identification unit that identifies noise from which the power equipment is the noise source based on noise data from which the exclusion unit has excluded known frequency components from the noise data acquired by the acquisition unit at the first and second measurement points determined by the determination unit.

2. The power equipment inspection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the identifying unit identifies the frequency of noise in which the power equipment is a noise source.

3. A power equipment inspection method characterized by comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring noise data in a frequency range from a first frequency to a second frequency around the power equipment to be inspected; an exclusion step of excluding known frequency components from the noise data acquired in the acquisition step; a calculation step of calculating a first distance from the power equipment to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the first frequency and a second distance from the power equipment to the boundary between the near-field and far-field of the second frequency; a determination step of determining a first measurement point and a second measurement point based on the first and second distances calculated in the calculation step; and an identification step of identifying noise in which the power equipment is the noise source, based on noise data obtained by excluding known frequency components from the noise data acquired in the acquisition step at the first and second measurement points determined in the determination step.

4. The power equipment inspection method according to claim 3, characterized in that the specific step identifies the frequency of noise in which the power equipment is a noise source.

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