Detection of Broken Strands on Transmission Lines through Image Processing

Abstract

Transmission lines act as a medium to transmit power between the generating station and distribution station. The overhead transmission lines are placed at a height from the ground for safety purposes. When the transmission line is exposed to the environment for the long term, they are subjected to vibration due to wind, icing of conductors, etc., Hence there are chances of damages like partial breaks and fractures on the surfaces of the line. This leads to a reduction in load-bearing capacity. To overcome these issues, there is a necessity for continuous observation of the transmission lines. This paper targets the detection of fault due to broken strands in a transmission line using image processing. It is done using grayscale variance normalization along with the average intensity method in OpenCV, Python. The statistics about the transmission lines will be sent to the monitoring station for implementing precautionary measures.