Unperturbed dimensions of stereoregular polymers.- Reinforcement of rubber by carbon black.- Transformations of phenolic antioxidants and the role of their products in the long-term properties of polyolefins.

Properties of polymers

Power line inspection is an essential but costly task while automated UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) inspection can greatly reduce such costs. However, navigating along power lines is a challenging task due to the narrow width and limited features of power lines. Existing power line tracking methods have threshold selection problems and cannot work well for complex and changing backgrounds. We make use of power line specific knowledge to build a model to achieve predictive and continuous parameter selection so that the best thresholds are selected for changing scenarios. Experimental studies show that our solution is much better than existing ones. Specifically, we have built the first fully automated UAV that successfully tracks power lines in the real world.

Robust real-time UAV based power line detection and tracking

With the growth of the national economy, there is increasing demand for electricity, which forces transmission line corridors to become structurally complicated and extend to complex environments (e.g., mountains, forests). It is a great challenge to inspect transmission line in these regions. To address these difficulties, a novel method of autonomous inspection for transmission line is proposed based on cable inspection robot (CIR) LiDAR data, which mainly includes two steps: preliminary inspection and autonomous inspection. In preliminary inspection, the position and orientation system (POS) data is used for original point cloud dividing, ground point filtering, and structured partition. A hierarchical classification strategy is established to identify the classes and positions of the abnormal points. In autonomous inspection, CIR can autonomously reach the specified points through inspection planning. These inspection targets are imaged with PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) cameras by coordinate transformation. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified by test site experiments and actual line experiments, respectively. The proposed method greatly reduces manpower and improves inspection accuracy, providing a theoretical basis for intelligent inspection of transmission lines in the future.

A Novel Method of Autonomous Inspection for Transmission Line based on Cable Inspection Robot LiDAR Data

Several studies have aimed to develop robotic systems which move in transmission lines. Until this moment, all of them have a high weight and cost associated with the equipment and reduced battery autonomy time. In this context, this paper aims to propose the POLIBOT (POwer Lines Inspection roBOT) with low cost and weight, enabling the movement over the lines and an easier installation and remove.,The designed robot uses the Profiles Manufacturing Methodology (PMM). The construction of the robot mechanical structure uses modularized aluminum parts built through square profiles. Thus, it’s possible a drastic reduction in production time as well as cost reduction and weight when comparing this method with other manufacturing processes like foundry, for example. For hardware and software systems, the use of free and open source software causes a significant reduction in cost and project execution time. The benefits of using open source systems are immeasurable, both from academic and industrial applications.,The POLIBOT platform is one solution to the problem of inspection in power lines. With this robot, more lines are maintained with lower time. In its constructive aspect, the robotic mechanism is designed using principles of bioengineering. The use of this principle was successful, considering that obstacle transposition is performed with stability and low energy consumption.,The suggestion for future researches is to replace the battery for solar energy and construction in polymeric material to avoid high magnetic fields.,The commercial application is evident because manual inspections are inefficient, very expensive and dangerous. Thus, it is growing the number of researches that develop mechatronics systems for this kind of inspection.,The impact is the reduction of accidents because the present procedure requires precision of movements, where the pilot and electrical technician are close to high electrical and magnetic fields. In addition, for some tasks, the worker has to walk on the line to reach some important points. Thus, those tasks involve high risk of death.,The PMM methodology represents an innovation to the state of the art because others robotic mechanisms proposed for inspection tasks present total structure mass between 50 and 100 kg and POLIBOT has only 9 kg. Other fact is its price for implementation as this robot used the robot operating system (ROS) framework, what dispense the use of licenses. Other important features are that the robot performs the tasks autonomously, which reduces errors introduced by the operator and its low manufacturing cost as compared with other projects.

POLIBOT – POwer Lines Inspection RoBOT

This article is aimed at modeling of transmission line inspection robot in order to improve the mechanical mechanism and achieving dynamical stability to navigate through overhead electrical transmission lines while passing obstacles. A new mechanical mechanism design is developed that allows robot navigate more stable than current commercial inspection systems. The behavior of investigation machine while passing obstacle for four critical modes as follows has been studied: (1) Moving on a cable with maximum slope of 30° (2) Passing over aircraft warning lights (3) Passing over aircraft clamps and dampers (4) Passing from the strain insulators with/without twist in the horizon plane.

A Novel Design of an Electrical Transmission Line Inspection Machine

Purpose – In this article, a detailed design of a novel power line inspection robot is studied. This robot can be used to move on ground wires for special purposes such as inspection and fault detection of electric power lines. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Designed active and passive mechanisms in the proposed robot enable it to move over various obstacles on ground wires, such as clamps, warning balls and mast tips. Indeed, this robot is the first designed robot with the capability of moving over all ground wire obstacles. The active mechanisms contain seven rubber-coated rollers (i.e. four vertical rollers and three horizontal rollers) as well as three mechanisms in order to make horizontal rollers move vertically. The passive mechanisms also include a set of spring-dampers installed in each joint of robot arms. Findings – The simulation results in the ADAMS software revealed a desirable stability of performance when moving on the ground wires with a maximum slop...

A novel design of inspection robot for high-voltage power lines

In this research, loop-formed fiber is introduced as a novel reinforcement method of soil composites instead of using ordinary fibers. In order to investigate the materials' mechanical properties, the shear behavior of both fiber and looped-fiber-reinforced soil composites was analyzed by micromechanical method (finite element method) and a set of direct shear tests. The results indicate that the looped-fiber soil composite exhibits greater failure strain energy compared with fiber-reinforced soil composite at the same fiber orientation in the substrate. Furthermore, the proposed model demonstrated two major reinforcing components: “the fiber effect” and “the loop effect.” The latter effect is the key benefit and the main advantage of using looped fibers over ordinary fibers in soil reinforcement. Altogether, there is a close agreement between finite element method outputs and experimental results, suggestive of a novel technical textile material that could potentially be used in geotechnical engineering.

Micromechanical analysis of loop-formed fiber-reinforced soil composite

In many modern continuous production lines of steel sheets, a twist roll machine is used to change the strip direction for shortening the production line. A twist roll machine typically consists of a cylindrical body on which some guide rollers are mounted in rows to gradually change the traveling direction of the strip when passes over the guide rollers. In this article, quality of the sheets after exiting an industrial twist roll machine is first investigated. The amount and distribution of wear on the guide rollers are also assessed by measuring and comparing diameter at different sections of selected worn and new guide rollers. The specific wear rate as well as friction coefficient for guide rollers made of two different popular polymers is measured by pin-on-disk wear tests. Details of the strip path on the twist roll machine as well as contact between the strip and all the guide rollers are specified, and stress distribution in strip and the guide rollers is studied by finite element analysis. Effec...

An investigative study on the performance of twist roll machine in a continuous cold strip rolling mill

In this study, design, analysis, and field test of an innovative inspection robot (which is named LinBot) for highvoltage power transmission lines are investigated. This robot is utilized for moving on ground wires of transmission lines with the aim of inspection and fault detection of phase lines. Thanks to active and passive mechanisms designed in this robot, it is able to surmount all different ground wire obstacles including warning balls, clamps, and tower tips, and this is a unique capability of this robot among all other line inspection robots. The active mechanisms comprise four vertical rollers attached to the robot chassis by four arms, three horizontal rollers, and six mechanisms to control the vertical position of these horizontal rollers. Moreover, four sets of rotational springs and dampers are located in the joints of vertical rollers arms as passive mechanisms. To validate stability and feasibility of the robot in obstacle surmount and achieve the best selection for the robot required motors, a simulation study in MSC ADAMS software is conducted. The dynamical behavior of the robot including the motors torques is presented based on the simulation results. Furthermore, effect of wind on the stability of the robot is studied. Finally, practical performance of robot prototype manufactured in a laboratory is evaluated in the real field experimentally.

Amir Mostashfi

Papers

A novel design of inspection robot for high-voltage power lines

Micromechanical analysis of loop-formed fiber-reinforced soil composite

An investigative study on the performance of twist roll machine in a continuous cold strip rolling mill

LinBot - Design, Analysis, and Field Test of a Novel Power Transmission Lines Inspection Robot