Theta Bolts Monitoring System Deployed on Transmission Towers

Theta has recently completed the successful installation and commissioning of its wireless bolt loosening monitoring system on a transmission line segment in Shenyang. Designed for high-altitude structural health monitoring, this system offers exceptional reliability and long service life, significantly enhancing the safety and stability of power transmission infrastructure.

Transmission towers endure constant stress from gravity, wind, ice, snow loads, conductor tension, and dynamic vibration. These complex loads can cause critical bolts at structural joints to loosen or even fall off over time, potentially leading to tower deformation, failure, or collapse. Manual inspections are often inefficient, intermittent, and incapable of detecting early-stage issues.

To address this challenge, the customer deployed Theta’s SA210 wireless bolt loosening angle sensors. These non-intrusive sensors are mounted to the surface of the nut using a specially designed adhesive fixture, without interfering with the bolt tightening process. The sensors continuously monitor the rotational angle between the nut and bolt, with a high precision of less than ±0.5°, allowing for accurate detection of loosening trends.

Each tower is equipped with 12 sensors wirelessly connected to a local gateway. The gateway is powered by a solar energy system and communicates data via a 4G router to the tower’s base station or central monitoring platform. The system enables real-time status tracking, loosening trend analysis, and early-warning alerts, helping maintenance teams act proactively to prevent failures.