Drones Can Give Insulators "Live Cleaning"

1. How to give high-voltage insulator a live cleaning?

In the power field, the live cleaning of high-voltage insulator has always been a big problem. In the past, manual cleaning or helicopter high-pressure water spray cleaning were generally used, which not only has high cost and low efficiency, but also has potential safety hazards. Recently, a new special drone for cleaning insulators has emerged, which can give the high-voltage insulators a live cleaning. Compared with traditional cleaning, drones are safer and more efficient, which has bright prospects.

2. The importance of live cleaning of high-voltage insulator

Insulator cleaning: high cost and risk

Insulators play the role of insulating and suspending wires in power supply lines. High voltage insulators are exposed all year round, and pollutants such as dust, oil, and charged particles in the environment are adsorbed as dirt under the action of electromagnetic fields and static electricity. In the rain, snow and haze weather, part of the salt deposits are dissolved and converted into a highly conductive water film solution, which greatly reduces the insulation performance of the insulators, causing pollution flashovers and power outages.

Therefore, the cleaning of dirty insulators is very important.

3. Live cleaning methods of high-voltage insulator

Because power outage cleaning will affect economic production, live cleaning is generally adopted as much as possible, which brings great challenges to the cleaning work.

Most of the high voltage insulators are located on high-rise towers, and it is extremely difficult to clean them, especially for high-tension towers in the field, which can only be cleaned by manual tower climbing or helicopter cleaning.

(1) Manual tower cleaning: 

It is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and construction personnel are exposed to the risk of falling from high altitude and electric shock. Besides, the cleaning chemical reagents are harmful to the human body.

(2) Helicopter cleaning: 

The helicopter takes the cleaning staff up high to clean the insulators directly. It has very high technical requirements for pilots, and the helicopter's rotors are also easy to hit the high-voltage line, which poses a great safety hazard.

The advancement of drone provides a new idea for the live cleaning of high voltage insulators. Multi-rotor drones are small in size, flexible in control,  which are not limited by space. If used for insulator cleaning of high-voltage electrical towers, it has the advantages of high efficiency and safety compared to manual work and helicopters.