TEHRAN – A team of researchers at Tehran’s Amir Kabir University of Technology have designed and manufactured a robotic arm for removing pollutants from the surfaces of the double umbrella type porcelain insulators, Mehr reported on Saturday.

Cleaning the polluted insulators of the overhead high voltage power lines has been one of the problems for the power transmission network during recent years, Amir Kabir University faculty member Amir Abolfazl Souratgar told Mehr.

He pointed to power failure in southwestern Khuzestan province and a number of western provinces due to sand and dust storm in January 2015 due to polluted insulators.

The robotic arm is able to clean insulators at higher speed and precision in comparison with other methods, he said, adding that it can work at high temperatures of up to about 60 centigrade and at low temperatures of around minus 40 centigrade as well as during high humidity and other bad climate conditions.

According to semanticscholar.com, exposed porcelain insulator strings need regular cleaning to prevent power failures caused by flashovers from occurring. Live-line cleaning of insulators using robot technology is an alternative and novel approach to removing the contaminants on the surfaces of the insulator. 

SB/MG