Design of insulator automated cleaning end-effector based on current feedback control

Abstract

As the mileage of electrified railroads continues to expand, insulators, as a key component of the power transmission system, are crucial to the cleaning and maintenance of insulators to ensure the safety of railroad power supply. However, the dirt deposit-ed in daily use leads to the frequent occurrence of dirt flash accidents, and the traditional manual cleaning method can no longer meet the safety requirements of modern railroad operation due to its low efficiency, high operational risk and difficulty in adapting to the needs of large-scale maintenance. In view of the above problems, this paper proposes a servo control system design method based on current feedback, and designs an insulator wiping end-effector based on current feedback control. Firstly, the mechanical structure and control module design are proposed, and the three-dimensional parametric model is constructed through SolidWorks to optimize the actuator kinematic characteristics. Secondly, a high-precision servo control system is developed based on the STM32F407 master control platform, which innovatively integrates the PID regulation technology, the high-sensitivity current acquisition module and the sliding average filtering algorithm to realize the real-time dynamic and precise control of the contact pressure between the brush and insulator. Then, the model is constructed, and the actuator prototype is completed through electromechanical coupling, and simulation experiments are conducted to verify the feasibility of the project. Finally, the operation verification is carried out by building experimental platform to simulate the railway environment, and the results show that the actuator can intelligently adapt to a variety of installation postures, such as horizontal, vertical and tilted, and the accuracy of contact pressure control reaches ±0.2kg, and the efficiency of a single cleaning is improved compared with the traditional manual method. This study effectively solves the technical problem of unmanned cleaning and maintenance of railroad insulators, and provides a generalizable technical solution for the research and development of intelligent unmanned operation and maintenance equipment for contact networks.