About Our Product
The Need:
High Voltage (HV) insulators suspended from HV transmission towers are susceptible to dielectric breakdown due to excrements and debris (bird dirt) from birds roosting and/or nesting above the insulators. Accumulated Bird Dirt may cause arcing, resulting in damaged insulators and power outages.
Relatively long intervals between significant precipitations leave the HV insulators susceptible to dielectric breakdown. Arcing occurs during summer months where electrical demands are greatest. Hot cinders falling from arcing insulators have the potential to spark wildfires.
To combat accumulation of Bird Dirt, electrical utility companies spend significant time, labor and money cleaning and/or replacing HV insulators affected by the birds. Many of the nesting species of birds occupying the towers include protected species (falcons, hawks, eagles, vultures and condors. As such, only non-harmful and environmentally friendly solutions to the negative effects caused by the nesting species are feasible.
Our Solution:
We have developed and patented inexpensive Avian Guards for protection of HV transmission insulators and equipment to address this problem. The guard consist of a tubular rectangular frame covered with a shade cloth mesh (figure 1) dimensioned to span a portion of horizontally oriented cross bridge of the HV transmission tower.
Each tower utilizes 2 bridge guards placed longitudinally back-to-back to span over the insulators suspended below the bridge.
Bird Dirt is captured by the shade cloth mesh, which periodically can be easily cleaned and re-utilized several times thereafter. Flexibility of the shade cloth mesh also allows a great portion of the Bird Dirt to be blown away by wind gusts thereby reducing the manual cleaning requirements.
We have lent this service for the past ten years to utility companies throughout the state of California as the first of its kind. It has been designed for quick, easy and safe installation (with only 2 units for total coverage), and with maximum flexibility for longevity. They last a minimum of six years. The durability of our product is unmatched in the industry.
The fabric protection covers can be slipped onto each unit at the time of installation, which makes for simple storage and transport, without any damage concerns. We, along with our current clients, have complete confidence in this product, and have thus patented it with the federal government (US Patent No: US 7,154,035). Our “Avian Guards” take half the installation time of any comparable product.
We ensure the highest standards of safety with individually assembled product construction and a thorough safety inspection process.
Our “Avian Guards” have been proven, under the test of time, to cover HV insulators from hot, desert conditions to turbulent, stormy areas, and to resist the tendency of similar products to become brittle.
High Voltage (HV) insulators suspended from HV transmission towers are susceptible to dielectric breakdown due to excrements and debris (bird dirt) from birds roosting and/or nesting above the insulators. Accumulated Bird Dirt may cause arcing, resulting in damaged insulators and power outages.
Relatively long intervals between significant precipitations leave the HV insulators susceptible to dielectric breakdown. Arcing occurs during summer months where electrical demands are greatest. Hot cinders falling from arcing insulators have the potential to spark wildfires.
To combat accumulation of Bird Dirt, electrical utility companies spend significant time, labor and money cleaning and/or replacing HV insulators affected by the birds. Many of the nesting species of birds occupying the towers include protected species (falcons, hawks, eagles, vultures and condors. As such, only non-harmful and environmentally friendly solutions to the negative effects caused by the nesting species are feasible.
Our Solution:
We have developed and patented inexpensive Avian Guards for protection of HV transmission insulators and equipment to address this problem. The guard consist of a tubular rectangular frame covered with a shade cloth mesh (figure 1) dimensioned to span a portion of horizontally oriented cross bridge of the HV transmission tower.
Each tower utilizes 2 bridge guards placed longitudinally back-to-back to span over the insulators suspended below the bridge.
Bird Dirt is captured by the shade cloth mesh, which periodically can be easily cleaned and re-utilized several times thereafter. Flexibility of the shade cloth mesh also allows a great portion of the Bird Dirt to be blown away by wind gusts thereby reducing the manual cleaning requirements.
We have lent this service for the past ten years to utility companies throughout the state of California as the first of its kind. It has been designed for quick, easy and safe installation (with only 2 units for total coverage), and with maximum flexibility for longevity. They last a minimum of six years. The durability of our product is unmatched in the industry.
The fabric protection covers can be slipped onto each unit at the time of installation, which makes for simple storage and transport, without any damage concerns. We, along with our current clients, have complete confidence in this product, and have thus patented it with the federal government (US Patent No: US 7,154,035). Our “Avian Guards” take half the installation time of any comparable product.
We ensure the highest standards of safety with individually assembled product construction and a thorough safety inspection process.
Our “Avian Guards” have been proven, under the test of time, to cover HV insulators from hot, desert conditions to turbulent, stormy areas, and to resist the tendency of similar products to become brittle.