Comment by wanderingstan
2 years ago
As mentioned in another comment, these cables are designed to handle orders of magnitude more stress than a drone. (Think wind storms, entire flocks of birds, blown debris, etc)
For example, See this video of how wires are inspected by humans crawling along them: https://youtu.be/oBJyyEAw-6g?si=QVqBgjqwlM4XCGKl
If anything, this offers utility operators a massive new revenue opportunity. Drone fleets could pay to "perch" and recharge (giving unlimited range and ubiquitous charging), all just by reusing existing infrastructure. No need for a massive new infrastructure buildout, and "nothing left to take away" design.
Big future for whoever can successfully commercialize this.
Massive? Comparing to carrying high currents around, not so sure charging drones for a few watts would even make sense for a company that runs those power lines.
Of course they could create a sophisticated billing system, invest tens of millions in branding and marketing and then end up in the red for that particular operation.
Don't be confused by the watts-to-watts comparison.
Drone fleet operators would be paying more for ubiquitous access to drone parking on (presumably inspected and pre-approved segments of) powerlines. The energy supply is almost an ancillary service, but an important one.
Just like with EV charging today, the energy cost will presumably be higher than your household bill, or similar billing schemes. "The house always wins."
Simply charge a fixed sum for a time-limited license to perch within a specific region. Should also include some insurance.
How would power companies prevent someone from freeloading?
It's not that simple: just because you add a safety margin on a construction element, doesn't mean you're allowed to use this safety margin.
For example if a chain has a certified Weight Limit Load of 1 T, it means it actually lifted 4 T (or 10 T if it's certified to lift people). This is because a lifting sling is tested in very controllable environment when it's new, whereas on a building site it will be subject to dynamical stress caused by winds, it will be hit, it will be used in various temperatures etc.
Now, I'm not saying you're wrong: in case of power cables there might not be such a rigidly defined safety margin in law, and experts may figure out some assumptions, like the drones not operating during wind storms, in which the safety margin is more than needed - and therefore there's some spare capacity BEFORE the the actually needed safety margin.
But are they designed to carry those loads with a drone flock. They’ll also increase the received wind load. Unlikely to cause an issue but you still have to do the math to determine the decrease to the margin of safety
Definitely looks like a new idea that will have some fetching about for a reason for it to be illegal.
You are quite literally stealing electricity. It is not that far of a reach.