Utilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Detecting Heat Losses in District Heating Networks

After decades of operation, district heating systems often experience heat losses due to water leakage. Identifying these leaks is essential for restoring the system's reliability. Traditional detection methods consume considerable time and resources. However, given that leaking water is hot and influences the surrounding environment, there is a strong likelihood that thermal imaging could reveal these heated areas along the routes of the heating system. Furthermore, mounting a thermal camera on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) offers the potential to efficiently survey the entire heating network, or the specific sections experiencing losses, requiring significantly less time and minimal resources. In this paper we presented the case study of a city of Niš, where a UAV equipped with a thermal camera captured georeferenced images of the entire district heating network. These images facilitated the creation of a detailed plan, allowing for precise identification of potential water and heat losses, localization of heating pipe components, revision of plans, cadastral mapping, and estimation of heat losses at specific locations, including those caused by network failures.