Below
is a blog from Elizaveta Malashenko, the Director of the CPUC’s Safety and
Enforcement Division
In mid-November, I attended Minds
+ Machines, a conference dedicated to the industrial Internet. My main takeaway
is that the digital transformation of asset heavy industries is starting to
become reality. It may be tempting to dismiss this technology as fancy tools
that don’t fundamentally change the industries that have largely remained the
same for a hundred years or longer. But there is something profound that’s
beginning to take shape. The interconnectedness of assets, sensors, cloud
computing, and data analytics are getting to the point of inflection that will
in the near future allow for operation of energy and transportation industries
in ways that could have never been done before.
The concept that best illustrates
the potential of digital transformation is something called a “digital twin”.
This term is used to describe a digital replicate of an asset that is
associated with all of the available data about that asset. A digital twin of
an asset can be used to maintain traceability of all its components, model how
an asset would react under certain conditions, monitor condition of the asset
in real time, and predict and prevent failure. Digital twin concept can be
further extended to have a “process twin” and a “system twin”, with data being
used at every level to inform operators and optimize performance. With a full
implementation of the digital twin concept, it will be realistic to eliminate
preventable down time and greatly improve safety.
The Minds + Machines conference also showcased several
specific technologies that I found interesting, including:
- A “black box” on locomotives that records all
events as the train travels, in a manner analogous to a “black box” on
airplanes. GE locomotives used in the U.S. already have that technology and its
wider adoption is growing. This will prove very useful for investigation of
rail accidents and near misses.
- A smart drone, specifically configured to fly
over power lines and analyze information in real-time. Typical drones that have
been used up until this point have relied on an operator interpreting
information that’s being streamed/recorded by the drone. Smart drones are able
to identify issues using advances analytics and can automatically notify
operators of areas with vegetation encroachment, sagging lines, cracked
insulators, and other issues. This technology can allow for more frequent and
safer inspection of power lines, something that can be particularly valuable in
California to help manage fire risks due to drought conditions and tree
mortality.
- Augmented reality eyewear that can assist engineers
and technicians in real-time as they perform different tasks. Augmented reality
can display manufacturer information about a component, demonstrate how to
assemble/disassemble complex pieces of equipment, and provide safety guidance.
This digital
transformation of energy and transportation industries will create very
interesting opportunities in regulatory space. Assets of the future will continuously
provide data about their condition at a much more granular level than what’s
available right now from manual, infrequent inspections. It will soon be
possible to model assets before they are put in service, set specific rules for
how to handle abnormal conditions, and program controls that will automatically
ensure compliance with regulatory standards. This capability will allow
regulators to create much more sophisticated policies that are risk-based and
performance driven – something that has been extremely challenging to do with a
lot of manual processes and data analysis. Of course, there are a lot of things
that will need to happen to make this work, including having a digital
infrastructure that has traceable, verifiable, and reliable information.