Prisma Photonics Revolutionizes Power Grid Monitoring with Light-Based Tech
Prisma Photonics, a startup founded in 2017, is revolutionizing power grid monitoring with its innovative technology. This tech aims to replace traditional purpose-built sensors, potentially saving operators time and money. It has already detected ice buildup, wildfires, and even a meteor explosion in the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Prisma's technology, designed to detect various issues like short circuits, partial discharge, wind, and dynamic line rating, is becoming increasingly relevant due to climate change-driven grid emergencies. High-voltage transmission lines face challenges such as short-circuiting, sagging, damage from wildfires, windblown debris, or wear and tear.
Prisma's optical interrogator devices plug into substations, sending pulses of light down optical fiber cables to analyze reflections. This allows them to detect shifts in temperature, pressure, strain, and other signals, acting as a 'microphone' for the transmission lines. Unlike traditional sensors, which are expensive and time-consuming to install and maintain, Prisma's technology uses existing fiber-optic communications cables alongside transmission lines.
Prisma Photonics' innovative use of existing infrastructure to monitor power transmission lines is a significant advancement. By detecting a wide range of issues, from ice accumulation to wildfires, it could help grid operators save money and improve grid reliability, especially in the face of increasing climate-related threats.
Read also:
- Minimal Essential Synthetic Intelligences Enterprise: Essential Minimum Agents
- Tesla is reportedly staying away from the solid-state battery trend, as suggested by indications from CATL and Panasonic.
- UK automaker, Jaguar Land Rover, to commit £500 million for electric vehicle manufacturing in Merseyside
- Standard Nuclear & Framatome Join Forces to Boost TRISO Fuel Production by 2027
