Mechanical Design of a Metamorphic Robot for High-voltage Transmission Line Insulator Detection

The insulator strings of 220kV high-voltage power transmission line usually operate in high-altitude complex environment. To achieve the detection task, the insulator detection robot needs to meet the design requirements of light, compact structure and adaptability. This paper proposes an insulator detection metamorphic robot contained higher pair metamorphic mechanism. The main mechanism of the robot and moving detection process are introduced. The configurations transformation of the metamorphic clamping mechanism of the robot are discussed by topological graphs with mobility analysis, and the adaptability to the size and position of different insulators is demonstrated through metamorphic condition analysis. By static force analysis of the robot and the metamorphic clamping mechanism, the driving torque are obtained. Finally, a prototype is developed for climbing experiment, the result shows that the insulator detection metamorphic robot can move along insulator strings stably and effectively, and meet the requirements of lightweight, compact structure and adaptability.