A robot for diagnostics of overhead power lines

W artykule przedstawiono strukturę sprzętu i programu komputerowego do sterowania i wizualizacji prototypu robota mobilnego poruszającego się wzdłuż linii napowietrznych średniego i wysokiego napięcia. Komunikacja z robotem poprzez protokół TCP / IP umożliwia sterowanie ruchem robota oraz oględziny przewodów linii na podstawie obrazu z kamery zamontowanej na robocie. Wykonane próby na poligonie doświadczalnym na odcinku linii 110 kV potwierdziły poprawną pracę robota w warunkach silnego pola elektrycznego. Konstrukcja robota ma charakter otwarty. Robot może być wyposażony w dodatkowe czujniki umożliwiające pomiar interesujących użytkownika parametrów np. zakłóceń radioelektrycznych lub temperatury przewodu.The article presents the structure of hardware and computer application to control and visualization of the prototype of a mobile robot moving along overhead lines of medium and high voltage. Before building, the robot was designed in the Autodesk Inventor Professional 2012 environment to eliminate potential errors in structure. The mechanical construction is divided into three parts: the base contained electrical parts, trolley drive and robot arms. All the main components are made of aluminum sheet with a thickness of 4 mm, so that the weight of the robot does not exceed 20 kg. Small size and low weight of the robot allows for handling by a single person. Robot contains over 300 parts including construction elements, screws, washers and nuts. The motor driving the robot is positioned above the wire, so dirt doesn’t pollute it. Belt transmit drive to the rollers. Robot arms are moved by helical gear. The electronic parts are placed in the base box (IP65). Microcontroller STM32F4 is a central control unit of the robot. Motors are powered by PWM signal. The robot has two sonar preventing collisions with any obstacle, and a camera that can be used for wire inspection or control of the robot work. The robot communicates with a host computer wirelessly via Ethernet. The control application allows connecting with the robot using TCP/IP protocol and: control device (starting and stopping robot, changing the speed of movement smoothly, changing direction of movement, raising and lowering arms of robot); viewing the status of the robot (battery status, travelled distance, the state of ultrasonic sensors). Operator can also view the video from the camera mounted on the robot. Robot presented in this article is a prototype that has been tested on the experimental field of Energa SA company in Straszyn near Gdansk. Unit placed on the air line moved properly. Communication and wireless control worked also fully properly. All tests were successful. In this regard it should be noted that the presented device can be a powerful tool for remote inspection of medium and high voltage power transmission lines (when will be equipped with a suitable set of sensors)