Development of automatic line-tracking inspection device for high voltage transmission lines based on ground control

Abstract

A new inspection device which can move on the high voltage transmission lines and control on the ground by people is presented. This device has three mechanical arms, every arm can lift and rotate automatically, and manipulator can open and close automatically. The flexible design is used in lower riding wheel, this design can make the upper and lower riding wheel automatically adjustment, so as to adapt to the change of wire diameter. Automatic checking and autonomous negotiating obstacles are realized successfully in this device. The biggest breakthrough is that its automatic on-line or offline can be completed by operator operating the auxiliary tools on the ground. The process of on-line or off-line automatically and the process of negotiating obstacles are discussed in this paper, and also the design of control system is introduced. This control system is consisted of the device main body control system and the ground monitoring system. The results of experiments with simulation transmission lines demonstrate that the device has realized the specified work tasks and runs smoothly.

A novel unit mechanism for serial head-tail alternatively supported robot

“…In step-2, ARC-2 has two more energy consumption joints (h 121, h 141 ) than ARC-1, because the same reasons as in step-1, step-3, step-4, ARC-3 has one more energy consumption joint(h 23 ) than ARC-1, because the yew motion shaft of the joint(h 23 ) is not vertical. In every step, the energy consumption of ARC-1 is minimum because the driving torque of the proposed unit based on parallelogram structure has no relationship with the load moment equally applying on the unit, and is only determined by the load gravity applying on the unit, the driving torque of the ARC-2, ARC-3 conventional joint is determined by both the equivalent load moment and load gravity, as shown in (3)(4)(5).…”

“…1 The overhead power transmission line endures various unavoidable severe weather, such as high wind, high temperature, rain, frost, snow, haze, et al To ensure the normal operation, the line grids should be inspected and maintained regularly. 2 The conventional inspection methods are foot patrol with a telescope from the ground and helicopter-assisted, [3][4][5] which are tedious, slow, and inefficient. The real-time images of the line can not be provided clearly.…”

A novel flying–walking power line inspection robot and stability analysis hanging on the line under wind loads

“…Therefore, people strive to develop all kinds of ad-vanced power line inspection robots (PLIRs) to replace humans. Inspection robots have been widely used to reduce inspection intensity, improve inspection accuracy, and prevent accidents caused by manual inspection (Yang et al, 2020;Alhassan et al, 2019;Menendez et al, 2017;Seok and Kim, 2016;Luo and Tian, 2011;Jalal et al, 2013). At present, inspection robots can generally be classified into three categories, i.e., climbing PLIRs, flying PLIRs, and hybrid PLIRs (Alhassan et al, 2019).…”

Investigation of Aerodynamic Stability of a Lightweight Dual‐Arm Power Transmission Line Inspection Robot under the Influence of Wind

“…Another method involves the use of telescopes to inspect the lines from the ground. Although the ground foot patrol assured the safety of the human inspector, it is sluggish and highly inefficient since it may not provide the clear visualization of the line [5,6]. In addition, those manual inspection methods would be difficult to be employed when the PTLs cut-across mountains, water bodies, hot deserts, and thick forests.…”