Tools development: Manufacturing lightweight composite insulators for electricity distribution and rail systems

在工业、住宅和写字楼以及电动轨道交通中使用的能源的很大一部分是 从发电站通过高压电力线网络传输。高潮 电压线绝缘良好，通常由一组陶瓷盘组成，上面是人们熟悉的棕色釉面瓷器 附近的电线杆。虽然这种材料本身具有优异的绝缘性能，但这样的绝缘体 由一个漫长的、能源密集型的过程制成。而完全相同的更换是昂贵的。据报道，他们是 经常成为破坏行为的目标。脆性绝缘子和金属销之间的小气隙，由于裂纹或 当电流在带有电离空气的缝隙中跳跃时，缺陷会导致可见的放电。这会导致 各种频率的电磁噪声，包括用于Wi-Fi的射频(RF)范围， 手机、互联网、广播和电视传输。电力线附近的射频干扰目前对许多人来说是一种滋扰 城市地区。智能电网，用于更高效地使用能源，以及道路信号和其他城市规划 未来依赖于射频范围内关键信息传输率的提高，这将使 射频干扰是严重公共安全问题的候选者。 该提案旨在开发工具来帮助设计和制造具有竞争力的新绝缘子 安装和更换。这种绝缘体使用复合材料，包括聚合物，它可以 为重量的一小部分提供相同的绝缘，并且可能不太容易出现裂缝， 去粘合、破坏和射频干扰。我们希望量化和提高能源优势在 与瓷绝缘子相比，这类绝缘子的生命周期。全尺寸绝缘子的高压试验 是安全的必要的最后一步。然而，导致制造的材料和设计问题可以 更系统、更快速、更廉价地由小规模实验实验室的类似物进行研究。这里 我们试图为电力线路绝缘子的开发评估这样一个缩小的系统。

A major fraction of the energy used in industry, residential and office buildings, and electric rail transit, is transmitted from electric power generating stations over a network of high-voltage power lines. The high voltage lines are well-insulated, usually by a set of ceramic disks, a familiar sight of brown glazed porcelain on neighbourhood utility poles. While this material itself has excellent insulating properties, such insulators are made by a long, energy-intensive process. and identical replacements are costly. They are reported to be frequent targets of vandalism. Small air gaps between the brittle insulator and metal pins, due to cracks or imperfections can lead to visible discharge when electricity jumps across gaps with ionized air. This causes electromagnetic noise in a wide range of frequencies, including the radio-frequency (RF) range used for Wi-Fi, cellphone, internet, radio and TV transmission. RF-disruption near power lines is currently a nuisance in many urban areas. Smart grids for more efficient energy usage, as well as roadway signalling and other city planning for the future rely on increasing rates of critical information transmission in the RF-range, which would make RF-disruption a candidate for serious public safety problems. This proposal seeks to develop tools to help in the design and manufacture of competitive insulators for new installations and replacements. Such insulators employ composite materials, including polymers, which can provide the same insulation for a fraction of the weight, and are likely to be less susceptible to cracks, debonding, vandalism, and RF-disruption. We would like to quantify and improve the energy advantage in the life-cycle of such insulators, compared to porcelain insulators. The high-voltage testing of full-scale insulators is a necessary final step for safety. However, materials and design questions leading to manufacture can be more systematically, quickly and inexpensively studied by small-scale experimental laboratory analogues. Here we seek to evaluate such a scaled-down system for power line insulator development.