Mechanism design of an insulator cleaning robot for suspension insulator strings

Cleaning contaminated insulators is an effective way to protect power transmission lines from accidental power outages caused by flashovers due to wet polluted insulators. Traditional cleaning methods are risky, inefficient, expensive and labor-intensive. This paper presents an insulator cleaning robot mechanism which is mainly consisted of locomotion mechanism, cleaning mechanism and the frame. The structure is introduced and the principles of moving and cleaning are analyzed. The kinematic equations are established. Simulation results of the downward moving process prove the robot is able to move along the suspension insulator string and has such advantages as stability, large load carrying capacity and adaptability to dimensional variations of the insulator.