JPH076570Y2 - Optical insulator contamination amount measuring device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an optical insulator fouling amount measuring device for measuring the amount of fouling substances such as salt adhering to the entire surface of an insulator with a single optical waveguide. .

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as an apparatus for measuring in real time the amount of fouling substances adhering to an insulator during actual operation or for measuring the distribution of fouling substances on the surface of an insulator, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-147344 is known. There was one shown.

This is because the optical waveguide that causes optical loss when salt adheres is exposed and mounted on the insulator surface, receives the transmitted light that enters from one end of the optical waveguide and exits from the other end, and changes the intensity of the transmitted light to the insulator surface. The amount of salt adhering to is determined.

Since it is a transmissive type that allows light to pass through, it is necessary to separately connect a transmission optical fiber for guiding the light from the light source to the entrance end and the exit end of the optical waveguide and for guiding the transmitted light to the light receiver. is there. Therefore, at least two optical connectors are required. In order to measure the distribution of pollutants, multiple optical waveguides are mounted concentrically with the center of the insulator, or multiple radial waveguides are mounted, but in these cases, the number of connectors is further increased. To do.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, in the conventional transmitted light intensity change type measuring device, since it is a transmission type, it is necessary to connect the transmission optical fibers to both ends of the optical waveguide attached to the insulator. . Therefore, the number of connecting parts (optical connectors) between the optical waveguide and the transmission optical fiber is increased, and the number of optical fibers is also increased in order to obtain the distribution of salt content. Therefore, long-term reliability and economical efficiency are improved. It had the drawback of being chipped.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and provide a simple and highly reliable insulator fouling amount measuring device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The optical insulator fouling amount measuring device of the present invention forms a spiral groove extending from the center of the insulator to the entire insulator surface on the surface of the insulator, and the fouling substance adheres to the surface of the groove. Then, one optical waveguide that causes optical loss is mounted so as to be exposed on the insulator surface, and a transmission optical fiber is connected to one end of the optical waveguide, and a reflection means is provided at the other end, and the transmission optical fiber is Light is incident from one end of the optical waveguide and reflected light is reflected from the other end of the optical waveguide, and the amount of the fouling substance adhering to the insulator surface is obtained from the change in the reflected light intensity.

Here, the insulator surface may be one surface forming the insulator, a plurality of constituent surfaces, or even the entire constituent surface of the insulator. Moreover, it is preferable to apply a reflective coating to the other end of the reflecting means of the optical waveguide.

[Operation] When light is incident from one end of the optical waveguide, the incident light passes through the optical waveguide to reach the other end where the reflection means is provided, is reflected here, and returns to the same one end again. In this process, if a pollutant with a refractive index higher than that of the optical waveguide, such as salt, is attached to the insulator surface, that is, the surface of the optical waveguide, light leaks according to the amount of the attachment, and the light emitted from one end is reflected. The light intensity changes. Therefore, the amount of the fouling substance attached to the insulator can be obtained from the change in the reflected light intensity.

In this case, in particular, the optical waveguide is a reflection type rather than a transmission type, so there is only one entrance / exit end, and since the optical waveguide is made spiral and spreads over the entire insulator surface, total contamination attached to the insulator surface is eliminated. Even when a substance is required, only one optical waveguide is required, and connection with a transmission optical fiber is sufficient at one place.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 shows a ball-socket type insulator 1 used in the present invention. FIG. 2 (a) is a front view thereof, and FIG. 2 (b) is an enlarged sectional view of its main part.

A groove 4 is provided in the lower surface 3 of the cap portion 2 of the insulator 1, and an optical waveguide 5 is embedded in the groove 4 with its surface exposed on the lower surface 3 of the cap portion 2. The optical waveguide 5 covers the entire lower surface 3 of the cap portion 2 of the insulator 1 together with the inclusion 6 such as silicon resin. The optical waveguide 5 is formed of a material having a smaller refractive index value than that of a pollutant such as salt, and light loss occurs when the pollutant such as salt adheres to the surface. The refractive index value of the inclusion 6 is smaller than that of the optical waveguide 5.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of the entire device including the optical waveguide 5. The groove 4 provided on the lower surface 3 of the umbrella portion 2 is provided in a spiral shape so as to spread radially outward from the center of the lower surface 3. The optical waveguide 5 is composed of one continuous waveguide, and is embedded in the spiral groove 4 to have a spiral shape. A relatively long transmission optical fiber 9 is connected to one end 7 of the optical waveguide 5 by an optical connector 10 as a connecting portion, and the other end 8 is provided with a reflective coating for reflecting the transmitted light.

Since the insulator 1 is made up of optical members in this way, it is possible to neglect any electrical influence when it is applied to a practically used insulator.

The transmission optical fiber 9 extending from the insulator 1 is guided to an optical branching / coupling device 11 installed in a tower (not shown) or the like and branched there, and one of the optical fibers 12 and 12 is connected to the optical branching coupler 11. Light source 13
And the other is connected to the light receiver 14, respectively. Since the optical fibers 12, 12, the light source 13, and the light receiver 14 can be collectively installed in a housing box such as a steel tower like the optical branching / coupling device 11, the length of the optical fiber 12 is shorter than that of the transmission optical fiber 9. Can be much shorter.

The operation of the configuration of the above embodiment will be described below.

The light emitted from the light source 13 is an optical fiber 12, an optical splitter / combiner 11,
It passes through the transmission optical fiber 9 and the optical connector 10, enters from one end 7 of the optical waveguide 5 in the insulator 1, is reflected by the other end 8 of the optical waveguide 5, and returns to the one end 7 again. This reflected light passes through the optical branching / coupling device 11 and is received by the light receiver 14. At this time,
The light reception level of the light receiver 14 when the optical waveguide 5 is free of contaminants is used as a reference. When salt adheres to the optical waveguide 5,
Since the refractive index of salt is larger than that of the optical waveguide 5,
Light leaks from the optical waveguide 5, and the light receiving level of the light receiver 14 falls below the reference value. In this way, the reflected light intensity, that is, the received light level, changes according to the amount of salt attached to the insulator 1,
The fouling substance amount of the insulator 1 can be measured.

As shown in FIG. 1, by making the optical waveguide 5 spiral and covering the entire lower surface 3 of the bulge portion 2 of the insulator 1, the amount of salt adhering to the entire lower surface of the bulge portion 3 can be measured.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the optical waveguide 5 of one system is used.
Only by doing so, it is possible to directly and quantitatively determine the salt content, in particular, of the fouling substances attached to the entire lower surface of the insulator bulkhead during actual operation. Further, since only one optical connector 10 and one transmission optical fiber 9 are required, it is possible to reduce the size of the measuring device, as compared with the conventional one that requires a plurality of optical connectors and transmission optical fibers. , Its economic significance is extremely large.

In this embodiment, since the lower surface 3 of the bulge portion 2 of the insulator 1 is the measurement target, the optical waveguide 5 is attached to the lower surface 3. However, when measuring the amount of salt attached to the upper surface of the bulge portion 3 of the insulator 1. In the above, the installation position of the optical waveguide 5 is the upper surface of the cap portion 2. Furthermore, when measuring the amount of salt attached to both the upper surface of the bulge portion and the lower surface 3 of the bulge portion of the insulator 1, it is preferable to attach one continuous optical waveguide 5 to the upper surface of the bulge portion and the lower surface of the bulge portion 3, It is possible to know the salt content of the entire insulator 1 with one optical waveguide 5. Of course, the extended optical waveguide 5 may be embedded in the peripheral surface of the head portion other than the bulky portion so as to cover the entire insulator 1 with a snap.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the ball socket type is illustrated as the insulator, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, it can be applied to an insulator such as a clevis type.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, since the fouling substance detection sensor uses the reflection type optical waveguide instead of the transmission type, the connecting portion between the optical waveguide and the transmission optical fiber is reduced. ,
Since only one transmission optical fiber is required, the device can be simplified, and it is possible to obtain high reliability without deterioration over time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an optical insulator fouling amount measuring device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 (a) is a front view of the insulator, and FIG. 2 (b) is an enlarged sectional view of its essential part. 1 is an insulator, 2 is a bulkhead, 3 is a lower surface of the bulkhead, 4 is a groove, 5
Is an optical waveguide, 6 is an inclusion, 7 is one end of the optical waveguide, 8 is the other end of the optical waveguide, 9 is an optical fiber for transmission, 10 is an optical connector, 11 is an optical branch coupler, 12 is an optical fiber, and 13 is Light source, 14
Is a light receiver.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A spiral groove extending over the entire surface of an insulator is formed, and one optical waveguide which causes optical loss when a contaminant is attached to the groove is mounted so as to be exposed on the surface of the insulator. A transmission optical fiber is connected to one end of the optical waveguide, and a reflecting means for reflecting light is provided at the other end, and light is incident from one end of the optical waveguide and reflected from the other end through the transmission optical fiber. An optical insulator fouling amount measuring device configured to receive reflected light and obtain the amount of fouling substances adhering to the surface of the insulator from a change in reflected light intensity.