JP7505332B2 - Apparatus and method for determining flooding of air switch - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a water ingress detection device and a water ingress detection method for an air switch.

For example, in order to change the flow of electricity in a distribution line or to construct a blackout section during power outage construction, an air switch (e.g., a high-voltage air switch) that connects or disconnects the distribution line in the air is installed in the distribution line.

The housing that houses the electrical components such as the live parts that make up the air switch is constructed to be airtight, for example by using a packing, so that the electrical components are not affected by factors that occur outside the housing (wind, rain, moisture, ultraviolet rays, etc.). However, if the packing hardens or cracks due to aging, it becomes difficult to maintain the airtightness of the housing, and rainwater may enter the inside of the housing through the packing. Once rainwater has entered the inside of the housing, it may come into contact with the electrical components inside the housing, causing a short circuit, which may lead to a power outage in the power distribution line. To prevent such a power outage from occurring, it is desirable to regularly check whether the inside of the housing is flooded, but because the housing is made of a metal material, it is not easy to check the condition of the inside of the housing from the outside.

Therefore, a water ingress detection device, such as that described in Patent Document 1, has been proposed as a device for checking whether water has ingressed into the housing of an air switch.

The water ingress detection device in Patent Document 1 is a device that, with the exposed surface of the heater and temperature sensor in contact with the bottom surface of the switchgear housing, detects the temperature of the bottom surface when the bottom surface of the housing is heated by the heater using a temperature sensor, and determines whether water has ingressed into the housing from the temperature detection results using the principle of thermal conductivity.

JP 2011-89807 A

However, when using the device of Patent Document 1 to determine whether water has entered the interior of the housing, a worker must climb onto an aerial work vehicle and use tools such as pliers to attach the water entry determination device to the bottom of the housing. Furthermore, in order to determine whether water has entered the interior of the housing, temperature detection results are required at least several minutes after the water entry determination device is attached to the bottom of the housing. As such, inspecting a single switch for water entry requires a huge amount of effort and time, and cannot be described as an efficient inspection process.

The present invention aims to provide a water inundation determination device and method that can detect the temperature of the bottom surface of the housing of an air-surface switch without contact while an operator is on the ground, and can remotely and reliably determine whether the inside of the housing is flooded or not depending on the type of air-surface switch.

The present invention, which is a main object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems, is to provide an air contactor that judges whether or not the inside of a housing of the air contactor installed on a pole is flooded with water. a storage device that stores information on a plurality of second temperatures and a plurality of third temperatures that are lower than the second temperatures and are prepared for each type of air contactor, the plurality of second temperatures being temperatures to be compared with a first temperature at a position where the laser is irradiated on the bottom surface; and a determination device that uses information on the second temperature and the third temperature read from the storage device and corresponds to the type of air contactor to which the laser is irradiated, to determine whether the inside of the housing is flooded or not, based on a comparison result between the first temperature, the second temperature , and the third temperature, wherein the laser is a fiber laser, and the determination device determines that the inside of the housing is not flooded when the first temperature is near the second temperature, determines that the inside of the housing is flooded when the first temperature is near the third temperature, and terminates the determination operation when the first temperature is not near the second temperature and the third temperature.
Other features of the present invention will become apparent from the accompanying drawings and the description of this specification.

According to the present invention, it is possible for an operator on the ground to non-contactly detect the temperature of the bottom surface of the housing of an air contact switch and to remotely and reliably determine whether the inside of the housing is flooded or not depending on the type of air contact switch.

1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method for determining whether or not the air contactor according to the present embodiment is submerged in water. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the functions of a laser irradiator used in the water submersion determination device according to the present 2 is a diagram showing an example of the functions of a determination device used in the water submersion determination device according to the present embodiment; FIG. 13 is a table showing the temperature rise at the irradiated position on the bottom surface when a laser is irradiated onto the bottom surface of the housing of an air contactor for each type of air contactor. FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the laser irradiation time and the temperature rise at the irradiation position on the bottom surface of the housing of the air contactor for one type of the air contactor shown in FIG. 4 . 11 is a table showing the second and third temperatures used in the flooding determination device according to the present embodiment for each type of air contactor. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a display of an infrared thermograph. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a determination device constituting the water submersion determination device according to the present embodiment.

The present specification and accompanying drawings make clear at least the following:

== ...
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method for determining whether or not an air contactor is submerged in water according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, the air switch 100 is installed at a high position on the utility pole 200 (e.g., about 10 m above ground level) and is an electric power device that connects or disconnects the distribution line 210 in the air, for example, to change the flow of electricity in the distribution line 210 or to construct a blackout section during blackout construction. For example, when the air switch 100 is a high-voltage air switch, the high-voltage air switch is installed so as to be able to connect or disconnect the position of the demarcation point of responsibility between the electric power company and the consumer on the distribution line 210.

The air switch 100 has a charging unit 110 for connecting or disconnecting the distribution line 210 on the upstream side (e.g., the power company side) and the distribution line 210 on the downstream side (e.g., the consumer side). This charging unit 110 is housed in a sealed state inside the metal housing 120 that constitutes the air switch 100 so that it does not deteriorate due to external factors (wind, rain, moisture, ultraviolet rays, etc.). However, the packing (not shown) used to ensure the airtightness inside the housing 120 is often exposed from the boundary between the main body and the lid in the housing 120, and therefore deteriorates over time due to the above-mentioned external factors. If the deterioration of the packing progresses to a certain extent, it is no longer possible to ensure the airtightness of the housing 120, and rain, moisture, etc. will enter the inside of the housing 120 through the packing. If the housing 120 becomes flooded in this way, the water will accumulate at the bottom of the housing 120 and may come into contact with the charging unit 110 housed inside the housing 120, causing a short circuit, making regular inspection necessary.

Because the housing 120 constituting the air contactor 100 is made of a metal material such as stainless steel or iron, it is difficult to visually determine from the outside whether the housing 120 is flooded. Therefore, as part of the above-mentioned inspection work, workers are currently forced to carry out the difficult task of climbing up to the installation site of the air contactor 100 and attaching a flooding determination device such as that shown in Patent Document 1 to the bottom surface of the housing of the air contactor 100.

In this embodiment, we provide a device and method that can reliably determine whether the inside of the housing 120 is flooded or not, without contact and in a relatively short time, depending on the type of air contactor 100, while the worker is on the ground.

In this embodiment, the flooding determination device 500 of the air switch 100 includes a laser irradiator 300 and a determination device 400.

The laser irradiator 300 irradiates a laser onto the outer bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 constituting the air switch 100 in order to determine whether the inside of the housing 120 is flooded or not. The laser irradiator 300 is installed, for example, on the road surface so that the laser emission port faces the outer bottom surface 130 of the housing 120. Note that in this embodiment, a fiber laser is used as an example of this laser, and a specific description of the laser irradiator 300 will be given later.

The determination device 400 is a device that detects infrared radiation energy appearing on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 when the fiber laser is irradiated onto the bottom surface 130, converts it into an apparent temperature (first temperature), and determines whether or not the inside of the housing 120 is flooded based on the relationship between the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the fiber laser on the bottom surface 130 and the second and third temperatures described below. A detailed description of the determination device 400 will be given later.

Here, there are various types of air switchgear 100. One type of air switchgear 100, for example, is the manufacturer of the air switchgear 100. Another type of air switchgear 100, for example, is the specifications of the air switchgear 100. The specifications of the air switchgear 100 are, for example, the rated voltage, rated current, rated frequency, rated short-time current, rated short-circuit current, etc. In this embodiment, the type of air switchgear 100 is information including the manufacturer and specifications of the air switchgear 100.

The housing 120 constituting the air switch 100 may differ in shape, material, thickness of material, type of paint, paint application process, etc., depending on the above specifications. Therefore, if multiple air switch 100 of different types that are not submerged in water are prepared and a fiber laser of the same output value is continuously irradiated to the bottom surface 130 of each housing 120 for a predetermined time, the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the fiber laser on the bottom surface 130 will rise along different temperature curves and will not be the same temperature. Similarly, if multiple air switch 100 of different types that are submerged in water by a certain amount (several mm to several cm) are prepared and a fiber laser of the same output value is continuously irradiated to the bottom surface 130 of each housing 120 for a predetermined time, the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the fiber laser on the bottom surface 130 will rise along different temperature curves and will not be the same temperature. In this way, the above apparent temperature differs depending on the type of air contactor 100, so if the information on the above second and third temperatures used by the determination device 400 along with the apparent temperature when determining whether or not the housing 120 is submerged in water is prepared for each type of air contactor 100, the presence or absence of submersion in the housing 120 can be correctly determined. Details of the second and third temperatures will be described later.

Then, the laser irradiator 300 is installed on the road surface, and the temperature of the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 when the fiber laser is irradiated thereon is detected by the determination device 400 in a non-contact manner by converting the infrared radiation energy appearing on the bottom surface 130 into an apparent temperature, and based on the result of comparing this apparent temperature with the above-mentioned second and third temperatures corresponding to the type of air contactor 100 to which the fiber laser is actually irradiated, it is determined whether or not the inside of the housing 120 is flooded. Therefore, the worker does not need to climb up to a high place where the air contactor 100 is installed in order to determine whether or not the inside of the housing 120 is flooded, and can perform the inspection work safely and reliably in a relatively short time. This makes it possible to correctly determine whether or not the inside of the housing 120 is flooded for each type of air contactor 100.
===Water Flood Detection Device===

<Laser irradiator>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the function of a laser irradiator used in the water submersion determination device according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 2, the laser irradiator 300 outputs a fiber laser having a near-infrared wavelength (e.g., 1064 nm) as a laser to be irradiated onto the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 of the air switch 100.

The laser irradiator 300 includes an excitation section 310, a resonator section 320, an emission port 330, and legs 340 as means for emitting a fiber laser.

The excitation section 310 is composed of a plurality of semiconductor lasers 311 for excitation, an excitation combiner 313 through which the lasers (having a wavelength of approximately 0.9 μm) output from the plurality of semiconductor lasers 311 are propagated via optical fibers 312, and an optical fiber 314 through which the plurality of lasers propagated to the excitation combiner 313 are output in a combined state as a single excitation light.

The resonator unit 320 amplifies the excitation light output from the optical fiber 314 of the excitation unit 310 and outputs it as a fiber laser. The resonator unit 320 is configured to include a high reflectance mirror 321, an amplification fiber 322, and a low reflectance mirror 323 as a means for amplifying and outputting the excitation light as a fiber laser. Here, a fiber laser is a type of solid-state laser that uses an optical fiber as an amplification medium. The amplification fiber 322 has a core doped with the rare earth element Yb (ytterbium) so that the refractive index at the center of the optical fiber is the highest. The excitation light output from the excitation unit 310 is amplified by the high reflectance mirror 321, then excites the Yb doped in the core in the amplification fiber 322, is further amplified by the low reflectance mirror 323, and is oscillated and output as a fiber laser.

Since the fiber laser is propagated through the amplifying fiber 322, it has the advantage of being highly efficient in energy conversion and capable of being designed with a long focal length. Therefore, in this embodiment, taking into consideration that the irradiation distance to the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 of the air switch 100 is long at approximately 10 m, the fiber laser is irradiated from the laser irradiator 300 to the bottom surface 130.

The legs 340 have a structure similar to that of a well-known camera tripod, and the length of each leg is adjustable. The laser irradiator 300 is supported by the legs 340, and by adjusting the length of each leg of the legs 340, the emission port 330 faces the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120. This makes it possible to reliably irradiate the fiber laser through the emission port 330 to the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120. Note that the legs 340 are one example of a structure that supports the laser irradiator 300, and any structure may be used as long as the structure is adjustable so that the emission port 330 faces the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120.

When the laser irradiator 300 is installed on the road surface, there is a risk that an operator may accidentally touch the laser irradiator 300 and cause it to fall over. In this case, it is necessary to prevent the fiber laser from being irradiated onto the human body. Therefore, the laser irradiator 300 may further be equipped with an acceleration sensor and/or tilt sensor (neither of which are shown in the figures), and if these sensors detect movement of the laser irradiator 300 while the fiber laser is being irradiated onto the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120, the operation of emitting the fiber laser by the laser irradiator 300 may be stopped.

The housing 120 is coated with paint on its outer periphery to prevent deterioration due to external factors. The output of the fiber laser when irradiating the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 must be suppressed to a level that does not damage the coating. The applicant prepared a switch sample (new, rust-free deteriorated product, rusty deteriorated product, etc.) equivalent to one arbitrarily selected type of air switch 100, and conducted an experiment in which the fiber laser was irradiated from the laser irradiator 300 to the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 while changing the output of the fiber laser from the laser irradiator 300 at a distance of about 10 m. As a result, it was found that a fiber laser output of about 20 W is sufficient to determine whether or not water has entered the inside of the housing 120 in multiple types of air switch 100. Therefore, the output of the fiber laser output from the laser irradiator 300 is assumed to be, for example, 20 W in the following description.

The applicant also conducted an experiment to determine whether the reflected light when the fiber laser is irradiated on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 may affect the human body. For example, a new product (sample 1), a rust-free deteriorated product (sample 2), and a rusted deteriorated product (sample 3) were prepared as test piece samples corresponding to the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 in one arbitrarily selected type of air contactor 100, and a fiber laser (e.g., 21.95 W) was irradiated on each test piece sample under conditions of an irradiation distance of 1 m and irradiation angles of 10 degrees, 30 degrees, and 45 degrees. The measurement results of the reflected light at that time are shown in the table below. Here, the irradiation angle refers to the angle inclined from a virtual line perpendicular to the test piece sample. In other words, the smaller the inclination angle, the greater the irradiation intensity of the fiber laser on the test piece sample. The reflected light of the fiber laser irradiated on the test piece sample can be measured using, for example, a laser power meter, which is a product of Ocean Photonics Co., Ltd.

Consider an irradiation angle of 10 degrees, at which the irradiation intensity on the test piece sample is the greatest. The intensity of the reflected light decreases by one square of the irradiation distance as the irradiation distance increases. Since the irradiation distance in the above experiment was 1 m, if the irradiation distance is actually 10 m, the reflected light of sample 1 is 1.3 mW, the reflected light of sample 2 is 0.0034 mW, and the reflected light of sample 3 is 0.0025 mW. Thus, the intensity of the reflected light is sufficiently small compared to the intensity of ultraviolet light outdoors, which is about 70 mW. From the results of this experiment, it can be determined that the reflected light when a 20 W fiber laser is irradiated on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 of multiple types of air switches 100 does not have an adverse effect on the human body.

<Determination device>
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the functions of a determination device used in the water submersion determination device according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 3, the determination device 400 takes in information on the air contactor 100 that is actually irradiated with the fiber laser from among multiple types of air contactor 100, detects the infrared radiation energy that appears on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 of this air contactor 100 when the fiber laser is irradiated from the laser irradiator 300 to the bottom surface 130, converts it into an apparent temperature, and determines whether the inside of the housing 120 is flooded or not based on the relationship between the apparent temperature at the fiber laser irradiation position on the bottom surface 130 and the second and third temperatures that are predetermined for this air contactor 100.

As explained above, when a fiber laser with the same output value is continuously irradiated onto the bottom surface 130 for a predetermined period of time in both cases where the inside of the housing 120 of multiple different types of air switches 100 is flooded and not flooded, the apparent temperature at the irradiated position on the bottom surface 130 will not be the same.

Therefore, the applicant limited the "specifications" constituting the types of air contactors 100 to the material of the housing 120, distinguished the types of air contactors 100 by the "manufacturer" and "material", and conducted an experiment to obtain the above-mentioned second and third temperatures. Specifically, five manufacturers of air contactors 100 (Company A, Company B, Company C, Company D, and Company E) were selected as the manufacturers, and one air contactor 100 manufactured by each manufacturer and made of stainless steel (SUS) and iron was prepared for each manufacturer. The applicant measured the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 when a 20 W fiber laser was continuously irradiated on the bottom surface 130 for one minute in both cases where the housing 120 of each air contactor 100 was not submerged and where it was submerged to a certain extent. In addition, the air switches 100 from the five companies are prepared with, for example, the same degree of deterioration over time, and the temperature at the irradiated position on the bottom surface 130 is measured, for example, using the function of an infrared thermograph described below.

Figure 4 is a table showing the measurement results of the above experiment. In Figure 4, Company D does not have an air contactor 100 whose housing 120 is made of stainless steel, and Company E does not have an air contactor 100 whose housing 120 is made of iron, so a horizontal line "-" is written in the corresponding columns for Company D and Company E.

4, in the case of air contactors 100 using stainless steel from companies A, B, C, and E as the material for the housing 120, the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 when the inside of the housing 120 is not flooded varies in the range of 139°C to 194°C, and the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 when the inside of the housing 120 is flooded to a certain extent varies in the range of 68°C to 125°C. On the other hand, in the case of air contactors 100 using iron from companies A, B, C, and D as the material for the housing 120, the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 when the inside of the housing 120 is not flooded varies in the range of 91°C to 110°C, and the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 when the inside of the housing 120 is flooded to a certain extent varies in the range of 71°C to 83°C. In other words, even if the type of air contactor 100 is different, the only knowledge that could be obtained was that the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 is higher when the inside of the housing 120 is not flooded than when the inside of the housing 120 is flooded with a certain amount of water. For this reason, in order to correctly determine whether or not the inside of the housing 120 is flooded with water, it is necessary to set the above-mentioned second and third temperatures for each type of air contactor 100.

Figure 5 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the irradiation time (horizontal axis) for irradiating the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 with a fiber laser and the apparent temperature (vertical axis) at the irradiation position on the bottom surface 130, both when the inside of the housing 120 is not flooded and when a certain amount of water is flooded. In Figure 5, the solid line indicates the case when the inside of the housing 120 is not flooded, and the dashed line indicates the case when a certain amount of water is flooded inside the housing 120. Figure 5 shows, for example, an air contactor 100 whose housing 120 is made of stainless steel from Company B.

When a fiber laser with an output value of 20 W is applied to the bottom surface 130 of a housing 120 that is not submerged in water, the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 gradually rises and reaches 158°C after one minute. On the other hand, when a fiber laser with an output value of 20 W is applied to the bottom surface 130 of a housing 120 that is submerged in water to a certain extent, the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 gradually rises along a temperature curve that is lower than the apparent temperature of the bottom surface 130 of a housing 120 that is not submerged in water, and reaches 82°C after one minute. Therefore, for this air switch 100, a temperature range of, for example, 5 degrees (for example, 156°C to 161°C) including the apparent temperature of 158°C is set as the second temperature, and a temperature range of, for example, 5 degrees (for example, 80°C to 85°C) including the apparent temperature of 82°C is set as the third temperature. Here, the reason why the second and third temperatures are set to a certain temperature range is that the temperature rise of the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 of the air contactor 100 of companies A to E shown in FIG. 4 may vary due to factors such as manufacturing variation of the housing 120 and deterioration of the housing 120 over time. The second and third temperatures can be set in the same manner for other types of air contactor 100. In this way, the second and third temperatures can be set for all types of air contactor 100 shown in FIG. 4.

The determination device 400 includes an infrared thermograph 410, an input unit 420, a determination unit 430, a storage device 440, and a timer 450 as means for performing the determination operation.

The infrared thermograph 410 detects the infrared radiation energy appearing on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 when the fiber laser is irradiated from the laser irradiator 300 to the bottom surface 130, converts it into an apparent temperature, and displays, for example, a temperature distribution map of the entire bottom surface 130 with colors corresponding to the apparent temperatures on the display 411. At this time, information indicating the apparent temperature at the position on the bottom surface 130 where the fiber laser is irradiated is stored in the storage device 440 while being updated sequentially. The operation of the infrared thermograph 410 is to be started, for example, by receiving an irradiation start signal generated when an operator operates an irradiation start button (not shown) provided on the laser irradiator 300. In addition, in order to precisely detect the temperature distribution on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 and make it easier for the operator to grasp the temperature distribution on the bottom surface 130, the infrared thermograph 410 may be fitted with a magnifying lens (e.g., a 4x lens) to convert the infrared radiation energy on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 into an apparent temperature, and the temperature distribution on the bottom surface 130 may be displayed on the display 411.

The timer 450 starts timing from a reset state, triggered, for example, by the operation of the irradiation start button.

In the storage device 440, the second and third temperatures set for the air contactors 100 whose housing 120 is made of stainless steel manufactured by companies A, B, C, and E shown in FIG. 4, and the second and third temperatures set for the air contactors 100 whose housing 120 is made of iron manufactured by companies A, B, C, and D are stored in advance as table data. FIG. 6 shows an example of the table data.

The input unit 420 is an interface for inputting information indicating the type of air contactor 100 to be irradiated with a fiber laser on the bottom surface 130 to determine whether the inside of the housing 120 is flooded, among multiple types of air contactor 100. For example, if the target is an air contactor 100 whose housing 120 is made of stainless steel from Company B, the operator inputs information indicating that the manufacturer is "Company B" and that the material of the housing 120 is "stainless steel" into the input unit 420.

When the determination unit 430 acquires the information indicating the type of the air contactor 100 input to the input unit 420, it reads out the information of the second and third temperatures set for the corresponding air contactor 100 from the table data of FIG. 6 stored in the storage device 440 as information for determining whether the inside of the housing 120 is flooded or not, and uses it for the determination operation. For example, when the air contactor 100 whose housing 120 is made of stainless steel of company B is the object of determination, the determination unit 430 reads out information indicating a temperature range of 156°C to 161°C as the second temperature and information indicating a temperature range of 80°C to 85°C as the third temperature. Then, when the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 is within the range of the second temperature (when the temperature is close to the second temperature), for example, when one minute has elapsed since the start of irradiation of the fiber laser to the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120, the determination unit 430 determines that the inside of the housing 120 is not flooded. On the other hand, when the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 is within the range of the third temperature (when the temperature is close to the third temperature), for example, one minute after the start of irradiation of the fiber laser to the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120, the determination unit 430 determines that the inside of the housing 120 is flooded with water. The determination unit 430 is configured to include a microcomputer, and the function of the determination unit 430 is realized by software processing by executing a program stored in the storage device 440. The above second and third temperatures are examples for easily explaining this embodiment, and may be set to different values depending on the type of air contactor 100 as long as they are within the range including the apparent temperature. When the determination unit 430 ends the above determination operation, it outputs a determination end signal, stops the operation of the timer 450, and resets the timer 450.

<An example of an infrared thermograph display>
7A and 7B are diagrams showing examples of display of an infrared thermograph. In particular, Fig. 7A shows an example of temperature distribution of the entire bottom surface 130 when a 20W fiber laser is irradiated from the laser irradiator 300 to a predetermined position on the bottom surface 130 when the housing 120 is not submerged in water. On the other hand, Fig. 7B shows an example of temperature distribution of the entire bottom surface 130 when a 20W fiber laser is irradiated from the laser irradiator 300 to a predetermined position on the bottom surface 130 when the housing 120 is submerged in water. For example, the air contactor 100 to be judged is a type whose housing 120 is made of stainless steel from company B.

In the example of FIG. 7(A), the position of the cross mark is the position where the fiber laser is irradiated, and it shows that the temperature at this position rose to 158°C one minute after irradiation started. The "Maximum 158" shown in the upper left corner of the display 411 is the temperature at the position where the fiber laser is irradiated. From this, the operator can visually determine through the display 411 that the housing 120 is not flooded.

In the example of FIG. 7(B), the position of the cross mark is the position where the fiber laser is irradiated, and the temperature at this position only rises to 82° C. one minute after irradiation begins. The "maximum 82" shown in the upper left corner of the display 411 is the temperature at the position where the fiber laser is irradiated. From this, the operator can visually determine through the display 411 that the housing 120 is flooded.

The outside temperature is displayed at the top center of the display 411.
===An Example of Operation of the Determination Unit===

Figure 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the determination device 400 constituting the flood determination device 500 according to this embodiment. In the explanation of Figure 8, an air contactor 100 in which the housing 120 is made of stainless steel from Company B will be used as an example.

First, a position on the road surface where a fiber laser can be irradiated onto the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 of the air switch 100 installed at a high position on the utility pole 200 is identified, and the laser irradiator 300 is installed at that position. At this time, the length of the leg 350 is adjusted so that the emission port 340 of the laser irradiator 300 faces the direction of the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120. In addition, a determination device 400 is installed at a position where the infrared radiation energy of the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 when the fiber laser is irradiated onto the bottom surface 130 can be converted into an apparent temperature.

When the installation of the laser irradiator 300 and the determination device 400 is completed, the worker inputs information indicating the type of air contactor 100 to be irradiated with the fiber laser (manufacturer is Company B, and the material of the housing 120 is stainless steel) into the input unit 420. When the determination unit 430 acquires information indicating the type of air contactor 100 from the input unit 420 (step S1: YES), it reads information indicating the second and third temperatures of the corresponding air contactor 100 from the storage device 440, and holds this information indicating the second and third temperatures in the determination unit 430 while performing the determination operation (step S2). Note that if the determination unit 430 cannot acquire information indicating the type of air contactor 100 from the input unit 420 (step S1: NO), it repeats the operation of step S1.

When the determination unit 430 holds information indicating the second and third temperatures of the corresponding air switch 100, the operation of the irradiation start button of the laser irradiator 300 becomes valid. Then, when the operator operates the irradiation start button of the laser irradiator 300 and an irradiation start signal is generated (step S3: YES), the laser irradiator 300 emits a fiber laser from the emission port 340 in response to the irradiation start signal, and irradiates the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 with the fiber laser (step S4).

The determination device 400 also receives the above-mentioned irradiation start signal from the laser irradiator 300, and starts the determination operation in response to this irradiation start signal (step S5).

Specifically, the infrared thermograph 410 converts the infrared radiation energy appearing on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 into an apparent temperature at regular intervals (e.g., 1 second) and displays it as a temperature distribution map of the entire bottom surface 130 on the display 411, as shown in Fig. 7(A) and Fig. 7(B). In addition, information indicating the apparent temperature at the position where the fiber laser is irradiated on the bottom surface 130 of the air switch 100 is stored in the memory unit 430 through the determination unit 430 while being updated sequentially.

The timer 450 is reset by the irradiation start signal, starts counting, and outputs information indicating the counted time to the judgment unit 430.

As a result, the judgment unit 430 monitors how the apparent temperature at the position where the fiber laser is irradiated on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120, which is successively updated and stored in the memory unit 440, changes relative to the second and third temperatures associated with the type of air contactor 100, as the time measured by the timer 450 elapses.

The determination unit 430 determines whether the time measured by the timer 450 has exceeded one minute (step S6).

When the timer 450 has timed out for one minute (step S6: YES), the determination unit 430 determines whether the apparent temperature of the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 irradiated with the fiber laser is within the second temperature range (156°C to 161°C) (step S7). When this apparent temperature is within the second temperature range (step S7: YES), the determination unit 430 determines that the housing 120 of the air switch 100 irradiated with the fiber laser is not submerged (step S8). The determination unit 430 then outputs a determination end signal to end the determination operation (step S9).

On the other hand, if the apparent temperature in step S7 is not within the second temperature range (step S7: NO), the housing 120 may be submerged in water, and the determination unit 430 determines whether the apparent temperature of the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 irradiated with the fiber laser is within a third temperature range (80°C to 85°C) that is lower than the second temperature range (step S10). If this apparent temperature is within the third temperature range (step S10: YES), the determination unit 430 determines that the housing 120 of the air switch 100 irradiated with the fiber laser is submerged in water (step S11). The determination unit 430 then outputs a determination end signal to end the determination operation (step S9).

In addition, if the apparent temperature is not within the range of the third temperature (step S10: NO), there is a possibility that an obstacle other than flooding is preventing the air contactor 100 from operating normally, and the judgment unit 430 outputs a judgment end signal to end the judgment operation (step S9).

When the judgment unit 430 outputs a judgment end signal, this judgment end signal triggers the laser irradiator 300 to stop emitting the fiber laser, the timer 440 to stop timing, and the series of operations related to the judgment is terminated.

In this embodiment, the fiber laser is irradiated to one position on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 to determine whether or not the inside of the housing 120 is flooded with water, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the fiber laser may be sequentially irradiated to a plurality of different positions on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120, and the determination operation of FIG. 8 may be performed for each of the plurality of irradiation positions of the fiber laser, thereby increasing the accuracy of the determination regarding the presence or absence of flooding in the housing 120. In addition, in this embodiment, the fiber laser is used to determine the presence or absence of flooding in the housing 120, but the present invention is not limited to this. A solid-state laser other than a fiber laser may also be used as long as it is possible to determine the presence or absence of flooding in the housing 120 in the same manner as in this embodiment.
====Summary====

As described above, the flooding determination device 500 for the air switch 100 according to this embodiment includes a laser irradiator 300 that irradiates the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 of the air switch 100 installed at a high position on the utility pole 200 with a fiber laser to determine whether the inside of the housing 120 is flooded, a storage device 440 that stores information on a plurality of second temperatures that are compared with a first temperature (apparent temperature described below) at the irradiation position of the fiber laser on the bottom surface 130 and are prepared for each type of air switch 100, and a determination device 400 that uses the information on the second temperature read from the storage device 440 corresponding to the type of air switch 100 to which the fiber laser is irradiated to determine whether the inside of the housing 120 is flooded based on the comparison result between the first temperature and the second temperature.

The storage device 440 also stores information indicating the manufacturer (switch manufacturer) of the air switch 100 and the material of the housing 120 as information indicating the type of air switch 100, and stores information indicating the second temperature for each type of air switch 100.

In addition, the determination device 400 determines that the inside of the housing 120 is not flooded when the first temperature is included in the range of the second temperature (i.e., when it is close to the second temperature), and determines that the inside of the housing 120 is flooded when the first temperature is not included in the range of the second temperature (i.e., when it is not close to the second temperature).

More specifically, the determination device 400 determines that the inside of the housing 120 is not flooded when the first temperature is within the range of the second temperature, and determines that the inside of the housing 120 is flooded when the first temperature is within the range of a third temperature that is lower than the second temperature.

The determination device 400 also detects infrared radiation energy appearing on the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120, converts it into an apparent temperature, and determines whether the inside of the housing 120 is flooded or not by taking the apparent temperature at the position where the fiber laser is irradiated on the bottom surface 1130 of the housing 120 as the first temperature.

And according to this embodiment, while an operator is on the ground, it is possible to detect the temperature of the bottom surface 130 of the housing 120 of the air contact switch 100 in a non-contact manner, and to remotely and reliably determine whether the inside of the housing 120 is flooded or not, depending on the type of air contact switch 100.

The above-described embodiment is for the purpose of facilitating understanding of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and equivalents thereof are also included in the present invention.
For example, the determination operation of the determination unit 430 constituting the determination device 400 may be performed by an operator while checking the temperature distribution map displayed on the display 411 of the infrared thermograph 410 against the time measured by the timer 450. In addition, as a specification that is one element of the type of the air contactor 100, not only the material of the housing but also at least one or more selective combinations of the shape, material, thickness of the material, type of paint, etc. of the housing may be used.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Air switch 110 Charging section 120 Housing 130 Bottom surface 200 Utility pole 210 Power distribution line 300 Laser irradiator 310 Excitation section 311 Semiconductor laser 312, 314 Optical fiber 313 Excitation combiner 320 Resonator section 321 High reflectance mirror 322 Amplification fiber 323 Low reflectance mirror 400 Determination device 410 Infrared thermograph 411 Display 420 Input section 430 Determination section 440 Storage device 450 Timer

Claims (6)

A water ingress determination device for an air switch that determines whether or not the inside of a housing of an air switch installed on a pole is flooded, comprising:
a laser irradiator that irradiates a laser onto a bottom surface of the housing to determine whether or not the inside of the housing is flooded;
a storage device in which information on a plurality of second temperatures and a plurality of third temperatures lower than the plurality of second temperatures, the plurality of second temperatures being prepared for each type of the air contactor, the plurality of second temperatures being temperatures to be compared with a first temperature at the irradiation position of the laser on the bottom surface;
a determination device that determines whether or not the inside of the housing is flooded based on a comparison result between the first temperature, the second temperature , and the third temperature , using information on the second temperature and the third temperature read from the storage device, which corresponds to the type of the air switch to be irradiated with the laser ;
the laser is a fiber laser;
The determination device determines that the inside of the housing is not flooded with water when the first temperature is close to the second temperature, determines that the inside of the housing is flooded with water when the first temperature is close to the third temperature, and ends the determination operation when the first temperature is not close to the second temperature and the third temperature.
A device for detecting water ingress in air switches. the storage device stores information indicating a manufacturer of the air switch and a material of the casing as information indicating a type of the air switch, and stores information indicating the second temperature and the third temperature for each type of the air switch.
A water ingress detection device for an air contact switch according to claim 1. the determination device detects infrared radiation energy appearing on the bottom surface of the housing, converts it into an apparent temperature, and determines whether or not the inside of the housing is flooded with water by using the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the fiber laser on the bottom surface of the housing as the first temperature.
3. A water ingress detection device for an air contact switch according to claim 1 or 2 . A method for determining whether or not the inside of a housing of an air contactor installed on a pole is flooded with water, comprising the steps of:
a first step of irradiating a laser from a laser irradiator onto a bottom surface of the housing to determine whether or not the inside of the housing is flooded;
a second step of reading out information on the second temperature and the third temperature corresponding to the type of the air contactor to be irradiated with the laser from a storage device storing information on a plurality of second temperatures and a plurality of third temperatures lower than the second temperatures , the temperatures being compared with a first temperature at the irradiation position of the laser on the bottom surface, the plurality of second temperatures being prepared for each type of the air contactor, and judging by a judgment device whether or not the inside of the housing is flooded based on a comparison result between the first temperature, the second temperature , and the third temperature ;
the laser is a fiber laser;
In the second step, when the first temperature is close to the second temperature, it is determined that the inside of the housing is not flooded with water, when the first temperature is close to a third temperature lower than the second temperature, it is determined that the inside of the housing is flooded with water, and when the first temperature is not close to the second temperature and the third temperature, the determination operation is terminated.
A method for determining whether an air switch is submerged in water. the storage device stores information indicating a manufacturer of the air switch and a material of the casing as information indicating a type of the air switch, and stores information indicating the second temperature and the third temperature for each type of the air switch.
The method for determining whether an air contactor is submerged in water as claimed in claim 4 . In the second step, infrared radiation energy appearing on the bottom surface of the housing is detected and converted into an apparent temperature, and the apparent temperature at the irradiation position of the fiber laser on the bottom surface of the housing is set as the first temperature, and it is determined whether or not the inside of the housing is flooded with water.
The method for determining whether an air contactor is submerged in water as claimed in claim 4 or 5 .

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