'Deformable spider vehicle' for live-line working in Yangzhou enters ancient alley


On the morning of September 5, in the old alley in Nanhexia, located in the old town area of Yangzhou city, the live-line working personnel of State Grid Yangzhou Power Supply Company completed the grid connection work for the medium-voltage business expansion users in the narrow alley using the crawler-type insulated aerial device.
The insulated aerial device has a small crawler-type chassis. Compared to the "tall and burly" traditional insulated aerial device, it has a slim and flexible "figure", a low center of gravity, and four flexible mechanical legs with strong support. It has strong obstacle-crossing abilities and spatial adaptability, and can move freely in narrow roads, fields, woodlands, and other complex terrain areas.
Considering the narrow terrain of the working area – an old town of Yanzhou -, coupled with the low and crisscrossing low-voltage lines, the conventional insulated aerial device, due to its large size, heavy weight, and weak mobility, has high requirements for the width, height and hardness of the working site and cannot enter the ancient alley for operation.
"In order to protect the ancient city, ensure that power is supplied to users on time, and not affect the safe and reliable power consumption of surrounding schools, hospitals, homestays, and enterprises, after on-site investigation, we decided to use the crawler-type insulated aerial device for live-line working," said Cai Song, the high-voltage comprehensive service manager of the Chengdong Power Supply Service Center of State Grid Yangzhou Power Supply Company.
"With this magical tool, we can carry out live-line working in many complex environments and better meet the power consumption needs of enterprises and the public," said Zhang Wei, a live-line worker at the Live-line Working Center of State Grid Yangzhou Power Supply Company. "Conventional insulated aerial devices are suitable for wide roads, but their performance space is greatly limited when encountering projects in complex terrain environments such as old alleys and fields. The crawler-type insulated aerial device has higher mobility and flexibility, which just makes up for the shortcomings of the conventional insulated aerial device and can effectively expand the applicable scope of live-line working in Yangzhou."
It is understood that this year, State Grid Yangzhou Power Supply Company has been continuously promoting the improvement of the intelligent level of distribution network live-line working equipment and the transformation and upgrading of working methods. It fully utilizes new equipment such as the "deformable spider vehicle" for live-line working to enable all-terrain coverage of live-line working and promote the continuous improvement of power supply reliability in Yangzhou.