Lightweight Motorised Multiple personnel carriage

The project involves the research, design, development and testing to a prototype stage a lightweight motorised personnel carriage to transport maintenance engineers, tools and spacers and other componen spares which travel on electricity conductor wire bundles in elevated environments upto 800' between pylons. Since the early 1970's the National Grid has erected in the region of 80,000 pylons or towers to carry conductor wires to distribute electricity throughout the UK. This is an ongoing project resulting in continual maintenance and erection of new towers. After erecting the towers and winching up the conductor wires, multiple configurations of conductor wires have to be kept safely separated by means of a safety critical device, a spacer, which is designed to prevent the conductor wire bundles from contacting each other. Spacers have to be
positioned equally across the span, the span being the distance between the two pylons. To fit the spacers, an engineer linesman must first climb the tower to the start of the first span and then hoist the personnel carriage and position it onto the conductor wire bundles so it can travel along the conductor wire bundles. The linesman/engineer must then calculate the sag of the conductor wires to find the correct position for the conductor wire spacer. The proposed project would also include the design and evelopment of a conductor wire sag level measurement system, which enables precise measurement conductor sag wire. Also, when lengths of conductor wire bundles have to
be replaced during restringing where lengths of new conductor wire is connected to the ends of existing wire, safety measures have to be put in place when the conductor wire crosses over roads, railways, other power circuits, buildings and adjacent lower lying infrastructure when conventional protection systems such as scaffolding and nets are not viable or considered too expensive. The industry employs conductor wire catcher safety systems incorporating electrically insulated ropes which run through trolleys which suspend the conductor wire as it is pulled through the span between the towers. Currently this has to be carried out using spacer chairs, but as the use of spacer chairs on single conductor wires is considered too high a risk, the industry is looking for an
effective unmanned system to deploy the elevated conductor wire catcher safety system. The trolleys and insulated ropes could number upto 50 across long spans. The remotely controlled tug system would need to operate on single, double, triple and quad wire configurations and would be a critical aspect of the company's proposed innovative elevated maintenance equipment set. The proposal document includes an introductory section, which provides detailed project aims and deliverables, reasons for the research and development, project location, cost and length of the programme of work. This section also provides reasoning as to why the grant for research and development is required to research, design and develop the lightweight motorised personnel spacer carriage, sag measurement system and remote controlled conductor wire atcher equipment deployment tug. The technical workplan details the tasks required for the development of the lightweight motorised personnel spacer carriage, remote controlled conductor wire catcher deployment tug and the conductor wire bundle sag measurement system used in the maintenance of elevated conductor wires. The technical workplan also clearly identifies the major technical difficulties and how the
company plans to overcome such technical risks. This workplan includes the technical
methodology and how the project would be completed. The company has outlined the
development activities in project phases which are illustrated in a gantt chart to illustrate
timescales. The project costs, means of funding and project team are also included in Section B of the project proposal document. The project proposal provides a background to the market with data provided from sources outside the company. The management at Metmachex have discussed the requirements with major potential customers including National Grid, Balfour Beatty, Amec, Babcock Networks in the UK. This has enabled the company to develop an outline specification, which has led to the development of some proof of principle product modules being researched. The company has also provided details of the key features, which would become unique selling points, and has produced a strategy for the exploitation of the technology across the power networks market. The final section of the proposal covers the background of the company, its development plans, past public sector support and financial impact of the project on the company once the development is completed.