Power line damage, electrical outages, reduced in the {open_quotes}sleet belt{close_quotes}

Companies that depend on reliable supplies of electricity, as well as electrical utilities, need to defend against weather-related damage and power outages. Weather-related damage claims in the U.S. totaled $16 billion during the ten-year span from 1980 through 1989 and have already reached $48 billion in the first five years of this decade, evidence that climate change could be causing more severe storms. This makes technology that minimizes weather damage all the more welcome. Ice and snow build-up on high-voltage electric power lines in a moderate to high winds causes high-amplitude low-frequency mechanical vibrations, called galloping. When power lines react aero-elastically to these conditions, undamped vibration tears apart transmission towers and fittings or propels lines into each other, shorting out large circuits. Besides causing costly electric system outages and structural damage, this dramatic phenomenon steals power through higher electricity line losses that occur when other conductors have to carry more power to compensate for a tripped or damaged line. In a 1981 survey, 17 of 38 utilities reported that galloping was a moderate to severe problem, and 11 reported that they had a galloping event at least once a year. Fifty-seven percent of the incidents included flashover, and 60% included structural damage