Electricity Generation and Delivery

Melni Technologies is redesigning and developing novel medium-voltage power cable splice kits that require fewer steps and streamline connections to greatly reduce human errors and boost the reliability of underground electrical power distribution systems. The splice kits feature Melni's proprietary Dual Helix Spiral Technology, which expands and contracts as electrical currents and temperatures vary. The kit also contains an integrated housing system with medium-voltage insulation and components that require only basic hand tools for installation.

RTX Technology Research Center (RTRC) is developing a mobile sensing platform using radar approaches based on quantum radio frequency sensing together with artificial intelligence to locate existing utility lines prior to installing underground power distribution lines.

Sandia National Laboratories will develop a solid-state surge arrester device that would protect the grid from very fast electromagnetic pulses that threaten the grid’s reliability and performance. Sandia’s arresters take advantage of the properties of granular metals—a composition of metal nanoparticles within an insulating matrix—to divert sudden and short-lived high-voltage and high-current surges of energy safely away from the grid. The proposed arrester responds on a nano-second timescale, which is faster than existing lightning surge arresters currently on the grid.

Cornell University is developing a worm-inspired digging tool with a combustion-powered soil fracturing head to minimize environmental disruption, enhance efficiency, and reduce costs of undergrounding power cables. The Mini-Mole leverages soft robotics to allow for improved steering and movement compared with conventional approaches and would be capable of tunneling, laying conduit, and installing cables without damaging the surface.

Arcbyt is developing a small-diameter ultrafast tunneling construction tool to underground power lines in heterogeneous soil conditions. The tool can operate in both hard rock and soft sediments and enable cost-effective undergrounding. Digging through hard rock typically requires higher-power, oversized machines, which complicates undergrounding in urban and suburban environments. Instead, Arcbyt seeks to tunnel through hard rock using thermal spallation drilling which breaks rock into small pieces via thermal shock without touching or melting any rock material.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is developing an artificial intelligence system for processing geophysical survey data into digital twin and augmented reality in order to identify existing utilities and other subsurface obstacles before installing underground power distribution lines. The system would autonomously process data from multiple types of geophysical sensors to detect and classify anomalies underground and create a digital representation of the subsurface for geographic information systems.

Prysmian Cables & Systems USA is developing a hands-free power cable splicing machine operating in underground vaults to reduce the share of splicing-caused medium-voltage network failures from 60-80% to less than 5% and dramatically improve the workforce safety by reducing the time the underground cable splicing crews spend in underground vaults.

Arizona State University is developing a water-jet underground construction tool that would deploy medium-voltage electrical cables and conduits simultaneously underground with a lower risk to existing utilities by eliminating the need for a hard drill bit. The proposed tool creates a borehole by passing high-pressure water through a steering drill head and then vacuuming the slurry back out of the borehole to clear a path for excavation. At the same time, the system installs conduit to reduce cost and schedule impacts from reaming and duct pulling tasks.

Case Western Reserve University is developing a worm-inspired construction tool that could cheaply and quickly install underground distribution powerlines in busy urban and suburban environments. The proposed robotic tool consists of a sleeve of expanding and contracting materials that digs underground like an earthworm while laying conduit as it goes.

GE Vernova Advanced Research is developing a robotic worm tunneling construction tool that would dig and install conduit and cables for underground distribution powerlines in a single step. GE’s SPEEDWORM would mimic the natural movement of earthworms and tree roots to install 1,000 feet of cable and conduit in two hours with unmatched flexibility. The tool could deploy from a standard pickup truck and would eliminate the cost, complexity, and surface disruption compared with conventional approaches.