A Novel Design of Imspection Robot for High-Voltage Power Lines

"A Novel Design of Imspection Robot for High-Voltage Power Lines"

INDUSTRIAL ROBOT-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL

Mostashfi Habibabadi, A., Fakhari, Badri, M.A.

ABSTRACT :

In this article, adetailed design of a novel power line inspection robot is studied. This robot can be to move on ground writefor special purposes such as inspection and fault detection of electric power lines. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/Metodology/Approach-Designed active andpassive mechanisms in the proposed robot enable it to move over various obstacles on ground wires, such as clamps, warning balls and mast tips, lndeed , this robot is  the first designed robot with the capability of moving overall ground wire obstacles. The active mechanism contain seven rubber-coated rollers (i.e. four vertical rollers and three horizontal rollers) as well as threemechanism in order to make horizontal rollers move vertically. The passive mechanism also include a set of spring - dampers installed in each joint of robot arms.

Findings-The simulation results in the ADAMS software revealed a desirble stability of performance when moving on the ground wires with a maximum slope of 30 - degree . Also , the robot showed a suitable performance when passing over the warning balls (with a maximum diameter of700 mm), rectangular mast tips (170*170mm) and mast tips with a 30 - degree twist in the horizontal plane.

Practical Implications-The feasibility of these maneuvers is proved with a prototype implementation and successful test results . This robot is approximately 60 kg weight and can move in ground wires maximum speed of 20 m/min.

Originality Value-The proposed robot is able to move on ground cable and pass over different kinds of obstacles like warning balls and mast tips (straight and angular) with maximum speed of 20 m/min.