3 ms·
Back around 2010 I worked for a company which built software to catalog residential distribution utility poles and the lines emanating from the poles to the hou
by Dangeranger 9y ago
Back around 2010 I worked for a company which built software to catalog residential distribution utility poles and the lines emanating from the poles to the houses.
To elaborate on a few of the statements from the post
Poles in my neighborhood tend to have consecutive numbers. I don't think this was carefully planned.
The sequential ordering of pole numbers is definitely planned, and fits in with a scheme developed back in the 60s-70s which made documenting the poles lifecycle in paper records much easier. The poles are numbered sequentially with prefix numbers generally indicating which substation district the pole belongs within. Distribution utilities think about their infrastructure as a network of substation circuits. You should be able to tell which circuit you are on based on the numbering on the pole.
There are three because that is one way to change the three-phase power to single-phase, something I wish I understood better. Truly, we live in an age of marvels.
Not all distribution systems use three phases, some use two, some use single. It all depends on where you are in the system and the general layout of the circuits within the distribution network. Also not all distribution is 7kV, some are 12kV, and some are 25kV. Again this all changes based on the properties of the system, and the qualities that are being optimized for by the power engineers.
I have tried to imagine what the number-burning device looks like, but I'm not at all sure. Is it like a heated printing press, or perhaps a sort of configurable branding iron?
This can be done a number of different ways, but one of the common ways is with a laser engraver. This is a fairly recent practice, so I am not as versed in the operational details as with traditional tagging. Another means of tagging which is not covered in the article is carving the numbers into the pole with a physical etcher, similar to a wood router.
Without the Internet I would just have to wonder what these were and what OSMOSE meant.
OSMOSE was at the time of my work in this field, the largest such company that dealt in the support and maintenance of residential utility poles. They have some very interesting proprietary mechanisms for managing inventories, and are generally a very smart group of people. My guess is that they collect all the inventory and survey maintenance of poles using mobile LiDAR and machine vision now, as that was what we were speaking to them about at the time.
- jmspring 9y agoThe pole numbering also helps in things like the work PG&E has to do checking for trees and other obstacles posing a risk to transmission lines. The report indicating where the work needs to be done (for instance to cut down a tree) uses the pole number as a point of reference.
- Dangeranger 9y agoYes, I am intimately familiar with this as this was also part of the services that I was involved in delivering. One of the deliverables for utility clients we provided was every "fall in" or "drop in" line violation for high power transmission lines, including their "between" location in relation to adjacent poles on the corridor. I could talk about this subject for hours so let me know if you have any other questions. :)
- lovemenot 9y agoWhat's a typical range of amperage for a distribution line?
- Dangeranger 9y agoMost distribution transformers have a maximum rating of 200kVA. So depending on their voltage you can calculate the max amps by (200kVA / voltage). Minimum amps is a bit harder to calculate but I would make a best guess of 20% of the max 200kVA. You can read a bit more about the calculations here[0] [0] https://yorkcentraltechtalk.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/transformers-and-va-ratings/ https://yorkcentraltechtalk.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/transfo... Edit: noted that 200kVA is the maximum rating, not default rating.
- phasetransition 9y agoDo the distribution transformers have "winter" ratings like the local center tapped step down transformers that feed houses? Around here it is pretty clear that Georgia Power doesn't pay much attention to the name plate ratings, winter or otherwise, when sizing and determining the number of homes per xformer.
- ilkan 9y agoMy country is divided into a very very fine cartesian grid, and each pole is referred to by the grid number, which is also its database reference id for transformers and other hardware... a homegrown GIS. A consistent grid also makes it easy for linemen to find them!
- Dangeranger 9y agoFascinating, this seems like a nice solution for "Where is this pole?" sort of questions from the back office. I wonder if they combine that numbering system with other IDs such as "Which circuit is this pole on?" tagging.
- pngai 9y agoTwo phase power is very, very rare. You are probably thinking of split phase power which is a form of single phase power. It is ubiquitous in American residential power. It takes the form of two hots at 240VAC with a neutral between them, allowing you to get 120VAC from the neutral and either hot.