A Casey based firm is at the forefront of cutting edge technology that could prevent another Black Saturday fire storm.
Successful Endeavours helped develop an early detection system that detects equipment faults and vegetation ingress affecting rural powerlines.
The Narre Warren based electronics design and embedded software development consultancy, helped start-up firm IND Technology with its Early Vegetation Fault Detection system for SWER (single wire earth return) systems.
Based on state-of-the-art high speed digital signal processing technology and specialised RF antenna sensor technology, IND Technology designed an Early Fault Detection system that remotely monitors and detects partial discharges on overhead distribution lines and underground cable systems on a continuous 24 hour basis.
In 2015 IND Technology approached Successful Endeavours managing director Ray Keefe to create a commercial version of the product including the highly technical web services needed to support the system.
Mr Keefe said the the technology was “a world first developed in Melbourne“.
“Every second, each device in the field sends a log of sophisticated mathematical data to the web services where it is stored and then passed through to a server cluster that analyses the data and determines the overall electrical health of the network as well as specific fault locations,“ Mr Keefe explained.
“The technology relies on the atomic clocks on board the GPS satellites as well as some high speed local FPGA processing.“
In 2017 IND Technology won a State Government grant for the supply of 65 systems for northern and mid western Victoria.
These had to be solar powered and were for SWER lines. Successful Endeavours was again commissioned to do the engineering design and to produce the 65 systems.
“As a result they detected a cable snap event that was equivalent to the incident that started a major Black Saturday fire,“ Mr Keefe said.
Both firms were nominated in the national manufacturing awards run by Manufacturers’ Monthly. Successful Endeavours was a finalist in the Industrial Product of the Year category as well as Most Innovative Manufacturing Company Award.
IND Technology was selected as a finalist for Outstanding Start up of the Year.
Mr Keefe said EVFD was a great example of technology designed and made in Casey gaining national recognition.
“The result is a Victorian based startup now positioned to take this technology nationally and then internationally.“
