Cable-Climbing Robots for Power Line Inspection

Abstract

Power transmission line inspection is of utmost importance for power companies towards
\nhaving sustainable electricity supply to vast number of customers in major industries as
\nwell as households in a city. Inspection provides valuable data from status of the line, thus
\nhelps line engineers to plan for necessary repair or replacement works before any major
\ndamages which may result in outage.
\nConstant energy supply to the customers requires performing all the inspection tasks
\nwithout de-energizing the line, so live line inspection methods are of the most interest to
\npower companies. These companies perform patrol inspection mainly using helicopters
\nequipped with infrared and corona cameras to detect observable physical damages as well
\nas some internal deterioration to the line and line equipment. However, aerial inspection is
\ncostly and always there is a risk of contact with live lines and loss of life. Moreover, there are
\nsome critical specifications of the line such as internal corrosion of steel reinforced
\naluminium conductors that should be inspected precisely from close distances to the line
\nthat are not accessible by a mobile platform such as a helicopter or even an unmanned aerial
\nvehicle (UAV). Hence, power companies have endeavored to make especial cable-climbing
\nrobots to accomplish inspection tasks from close distances to the hot line.
\nThanks to technological advances, utilizing robots as reliable substitutes for human beings
\nin hazardous environments such as live lines has become possible. For many tasks requiring
\nhigh precision over a long period of time, robots even do their job better than human
\noperators. However, power companies have mainly focused on automating inspection tasks
\nmore willingly than making autonomous systems to perform repair works on the live line
\ndue to the fact that repair works are often complex to be accomplished by a robot.