JP2006012799A - Estimating device and method of leakage current generated in insulator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To estimate a leakage current generated in an insulator without installing an exclusive sensor to measure the leakage current. <P>SOLUTION: The estimating device 1 of the leakage current is provided with a photographing means 2 to obtain a monitoring image of the insulator, a light-emitting area calculating means 3 to obtain an area of a part which emits light by discharge from the monitoring image obtained by the photographing means 2, and an estimating means 4 to estimate a leakage current value which flows on the surface of the insulator based on a correlation between a light-emitting area recorded beforehand and the leakage current value. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for monitoring an insulator that is made of an electrically insulating material and supports an electric wire. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for estimating leakage current occurring in an insulator.

  In response to demands for extending the life of existing power facilities and increasing the efficiency of facility utilization, the flow of maintenance and management methods for power facilities is the conventional post-processing management (CM) or periodic replacement management ( From time-based maintenance (TBM) to state-based management (Condition Based Maintenance, CBM) is predicted, and for that purpose, establishment of a technique for constantly monitoring the state of equipment is desired. Under such circumstances, it has been pointed out that constant monitoring technology for insulators has not been established.

  The monitoring items for the insulator include monitoring the degree of contamination of the insulator surface, and the amount of salt attached mainly due to salt damage. When the contaminated material adheres to the insulator surface, and the insulator surface becomes wet due to, for example, rain, a conductive path is formed by the electrolyte (mainly NaCl) contained in the contaminated material, and a discharge is generated. Leakage current may occur on the insulator surface. If such discharge or leakage current occurs, the insulator may be damaged or deteriorated due to Joule heat, electrochemical action, or the like. In particular, polymer insulators that use polymer insulating materials such as silicone rubber as the outer skin are expected to expand in the future in the field of power transportation because they are lighter, stronger, and have better insulation performance than conventional porcelain insulators. However, since it is an organic material, there is concern about erosion degradation due to the occurrence of discharge and leakage current.

  Therefore, as disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1, conventionally, a current detection circuit is attached to each insulator series to be measured, a leakage current is measured, and a relationship with insulator degradation has been studied.

Hashimoto et al., “Exposure test of polymer insulator with 77kV transmission line (two and a half years)” Proceedings of the IEEJ Power and Energy Division, No.7, pp.147-148, 2000.

  However, in order to achieve constant monitoring of insulators, installing all leakage current measuring sensors individually requires a huge number of sensors and special equipment for sensor installation, which requires significant costs, Labor and time are required, and the entire monitoring system becomes complicated. For this reason, in actuality, constant monitoring of individual insulators has not been realized, and only measures such as simultaneous washing of insulators to which salt has adhered after passing through the typhoon are taken.

  In addition, when investigating the leakage current of an insulator experimentally, it is necessary to set various measurement conditions because the surface state of the insulator shows complicated changes due to changes in weather conditions and geographical conditions. Installing a leakage current measurement sensor individually for each of the setting conditions also requires a huge number of sensors and special equipment for sensor installation, which requires a great deal of cost, labor, and time. The entire monitoring system becomes complicated.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method capable of estimating a leakage current generated in an insulator with a simple configuration without installing a dedicated sensor for measuring the leakage current.

  In order to achieve this object, the present inventor conducted various experiments and studies, and as a result, between the area of the portion emitting light by the discharge imaged on the monitoring image of the insulator and the leakage current value flowing on the surface of the insulator at this time. Came to know that there is a correlation.

  The leakage current estimation apparatus according to claim 1 is based on such knowledge, and is based on an imaging unit that acquires a monitoring image of a test piece made of the same material as the insulator or the insulator, and a monitoring image obtained from the imaging unit. A light emitting area calculating means for obtaining an area of a portion emitting light by discharge, and a surface of the insulator or the specimen from the light emitting area obtained by the light emitting area calculating means based on a correlation between a leakage current value and a light emitting area. An estimation means for estimating a flowing leakage current value is provided.

  The method for estimating leakage current according to claim 8 is to obtain an area of a portion emitting light by discharge from a monitoring image of an insulator or a test piece made of the same material as the insulator, and obtain a light emission area and leakage current obtained in advance. Based on the correlation with the value, the value of the leakage current flowing through the insulator or the surface of the specimen is estimated from the light emission area obtained as described above.

  Therefore, if the light emission at the time of discharge is captured in the monitoring image, the light emission area in the monitoring image and the leakage current value at the time of the discharge are measured, and the correlation between the light emission area and the leakage current value is obtained in advance, If the light emission area in the monitoring image capturing light emission during discharge is obtained, the corresponding leakage current value can be estimated based on the previously obtained correlation.

  Further, it has been found that the area of the light emitting part due to the discharge generated on the surface of the insulator due to the leakage current has a close relationship with the applied voltage. Then, it has been found that there is a correlation between the value obtained by multiplying the leakage current value flowing through the insulator surface by the effective value of the applied voltage (hereinafter referred to as the emission area spread index) and the emission area. It was.

  The leakage current estimation apparatus according to claim 2 is based on such knowledge, and includes an imaging unit that acquires a monitoring image of a test piece made of the same material as the insulator or the insulator, and a monitoring image obtained from the imaging unit. Light emission area calculation means for calculating the area of the portion that emits light by discharge, and the light emission area spread index and light emission area obtained in advance as a light emission area spread index obtained by multiplying the leakage current value by the effective value of the applied voltage The emission area spread index is calculated from the emission area obtained from the emission area calculation means based on the correlation between the emission area and the surface of the specimen corresponding to the applied voltage from the emission area spread index. An estimation means for estimating the leakage current value is provided.

  The method for estimating a leakage current according to claim 9 is to obtain an area of a portion emitting light by discharge from a monitoring image of a test piece made of the same material as the insulator or the insulator, and to determine an effective value of the applied voltage as a leakage current value. The value obtained by multiplying as a light emission area spread index, based on the correlation between the light emission area spread index and the light emission area obtained in advance, obtain the light emission area spread index from the light emission area obtained from the monitoring image, Further, a leakage current value flowing through the insulator or the surface of the test body corresponding to the applied voltage is estimated from the light emission area spread index.

  Therefore, the value obtained by multiplying the leakage current value at the time of discharge by the effective value of the applied voltage is used as a light emission area spread index, and the light emission by the discharge when the leakage current flows through the monitored object such as the light emission area spread index. If the correlation with the area is obtained in advance, the emission area in the image capturing the light emission at the time of discharge is obtained regardless of the applied voltage value for the insulator or the test piece made of the same material as the insulator, and based on the above correlation. Thus, the emission area spread index is estimated, and the corresponding leakage current value can be estimated by dividing by the effective value of the applied voltage.

  Here, it is preferable that the imaging means for obtaining a monitoring image accompanied by light emission is an ultraviolet camera. By using an ultraviolet camera with a high sensitivity to the wavelength of ultraviolet light, it is possible to capture the ultraviolet light emitted when nitrogen in the air is ionized during discharge with high sensitivity. It is possible to photograph well without burying the discharge light generated in the background.

  Moreover, it is preferable that an imaging means is provided with a means to raise the sensitivity with respect to the light applicable to the fixed wavelength of 600 nm vicinity rather than the sensitivity with respect to the light of another wavelength. In this case, it is possible to photograph with high sensitivity without burying the light emitted when sodium contained in the fouling material causes a flame reaction during discharge even under sunlight or the like. Furthermore, it is more preferable to be able to obtain both the ultraviolet region and visible light with enhanced sensitivity to wavelengths near 600 nm. In this case, since it is possible to detect in a state where ultraviolet light emission and sodium light emission caused by leakage current are superimposed, it becomes easier to grasp the light emission phenomenon.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the leakage current estimating apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the emission area calculating means includes a monitoring image obtained by the imaging means, and the insulator. Or, for two images with a reference image prepared in advance showing the normal image of the test specimen, the number of pixels in which the difference between the luminance values of the two pixels at the same coordinate position is equal to or greater than a preset threshold is calculated. The number of pixels thus made is set as the light emission area.

  Therefore, since the reference image is an image including noise similar to the noise included in the monitoring image, the noise can be effectively removed by evaluating the change in the luminance value from the reference image for the monitoring image. Thus, the light emission part accompanying the discharge phenomenon can be accurately extracted.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the leakage current estimating apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the infrared camera that is disposed on the same optical axis as the imaging unit and simultaneously images the same subject as the imaging unit is provided. A monitoring image corresponding to when heat generation is recognized is selected from infrared images captured by an infrared camera, and processing by the light emission area calculation means is performed on the monitoring image. The method for estimating leakage current according to claim 10 obtains an infrared image on the same optical axis simultaneously with a monitoring image accompanied by light emission, and emits light to the corresponding monitoring image when heat generation is recognized from the infrared image. The area is calculated.

  Therefore, among the insulators or test specimens to be monitored, first, narrow down the monitoring images (corresponding monitoring images) taken simultaneously with the infrared images obtained by picking up the insulators or specimens where the heat generation was recognized from the infrared images. Only the monitoring image to be processed can be processed by the light emitting area calculating means to calculate the light emitting area.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for estimating a leakage current, wherein the distance dependency of the light emitting area caused by the difference in photographing distance between the imaging means and the insulator or the specimen is arbitrarily set in advance. The area ratio between the area on the reference image of the reference object arbitrarily selected from the objects imaged in the reference image and the area on the monitoring image of the reference object imaged in the monitoring image is obtained, and light emission in the monitoring image Means for correcting the area is provided. In this case, since it is possible to correct the variation of the light emission area on the monitoring image caused by the difference in the shooting distance between the imaging unit and the insulator, it is possible to estimate the leakage current without depending on the shooting distance. .

  The invention according to claim 11 is the leakage current estimation method according to claim 8, wherein a plurality of sets of the light emission area of the discharge image of the insulator or the specimen and the leakage current value at that time are set as one set. Based on the experimental data, a first regression curve representing the correlation between the emission area and the leakage current is obtained, and the leakage current value for the same emission area is compared with the value on the first regression curve of the experimental data. Based on only low experimental data, a second regression curve is obtained, and the light emission of the function representing the second regression curve is calculated assuming that the emission area of the blind spot portion of the discharge image is α times the observed emission area. The variable representing the area is replaced with a variable representing the light emitting area multiplied by (1 + α), and the regression curve represented by the function after the substitution is used as the third regression curve. The upper value is the lower limit of the estimated leakage current And the value on the third regression curve is set as the upper limit value of the estimated value of the leakage current. In this case, the leakage current can be estimated in consideration of the blind spot of the imaging means.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the leakage current estimation method according to the eighth or ninth aspect, the distance dependency of the light emitting area caused by the difference in the photographing distance between the imaging means and the insulator or the specimen. The area on the reference image of the reference object arbitrarily selected from the objects imaged in the reference image at the shooting distance arbitrarily set in advance and the monitoring image of the reference object imaged in the monitoring image The area ratio with the area is obtained in advance, and the light emission area in the monitoring image is corrected. In this case, since it is possible to correct the variation of the light emission area on the monitoring image caused by the difference in the shooting distance between the imaging unit and the insulator, it is possible to estimate the leakage current without depending on the shooting distance. .

  Further, the insulator monitoring method according to claim 13 obtains the area of the portion emitting light by the discharge from the insulator monitoring image, and correlates the obtained emission area with the predetermined emission area and the degree of contamination. Based on the relationship, the degree of contamination of the insulator is estimated.

  Leakage current is caused by contamination of the insulator, and the greater the leakage current value, the greater the degree of contamination.Therefore, if a correlation between the emission area and the degree of contamination is determined in advance, monitoring is performed based on the correlation. The degree of contamination of the insulator surface can be determined from the light emitting area due to the discharge in the image.

  According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the insulator monitoring method according to the thirteenth aspect, an infrared image is acquired on the same optical axis as the monitoring image, and an infrared image accompanied by heat generation is obtained from the infrared image. Corresponding monitoring images are selected, the emission area is obtained, and the degree of contamination is estimated.

  Therefore, from among a large number of monitoring targets, first, an infrared image obtained by capturing an insulator in which fever is recognized can be selected, and a light emitting area can be calculated for the monitoring image captured simultaneously with the infrared image. . Further, based on the correlation between the light emission area and the degree of contamination, the degree of contamination on the surface of the insulator can be determined from the light emission area due to the discharge of the insulator in the monitoring image.

  Therefore, according to the leakage current estimation device according to claim 1 and the leakage current estimation method according to claim 8, the leakage current generated in the insulator with a simple configuration without installing a dedicated sensor for measuring the leakage current. Can be estimated quantitatively. Since it is possible to estimate the leakage current in a non-contact manner using the image processing technology, the trouble and cost of installing a dedicated sensor for measuring the leakage current can be reduced.

Further, according to the leakage current estimation device according to claim 2 and the leakage current estimation method according to claim 9, regardless of the voltage applied to the test piece made of the same material as the insulator or the insulator,
If the light emission area in an image capturing light emission during discharge is obtained, a light emission area spread index is estimated from the value based on the correlation, and the corresponding leakage current value can be estimated by dividing by the effective value of the applied voltage. it can.

  Then, from the estimated leakage current value, it is possible to determine the state of the insulator, for example, the degree of contamination or the deterioration of the insulator, and the necessity of cleaning the insulator or replacing the insulator. In addition, since the discharge occurring on the insulator can be detected at an early stage, an accident caused by the insulator damage can be prevented in advance. According to the present invention, it is possible to easily perform monitoring and soundness diagnosis of a currently operating insulator, and a great contribution can be expected to realize CBM (Condition Based Maintenance).

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, not only the monitoring of the active insulator, but also the test and experiment related to the insulator, for example, the outdoor electric field exposure test using the same material as the insulator or insulator (for example, the polymer insulating material) and the artificial accelerated deterioration. In tests and the like, it is possible to easily estimate the leakage current, and it is possible to associate the estimated value of the leakage current with other measurement results obtained in the above-mentioned test, etc. Can perform tests and experiments.

  Furthermore, in the leakage current estimation apparatus according to claim 3, since the ultraviolet camera is provided as the imaging means, the ultraviolet light emitted when nitrogen in the air is ionized during discharge can be photographed with high sensitivity. Even underneath, the discharge light generated on the insulator can be well photographed without being buried in the background.

  Furthermore, in the leakage current estimation apparatus according to claim 4, the imaging means includes means for increasing the sensitivity to light corresponding to a constant wavelength in the vicinity of 600 nm as compared with the sensitivity to light of other wavelengths, so that it is a pollutant during discharge. The light emitted when sodium contained in the flame causes a flame reaction can be photographed with high sensitivity without being buried in the background even in sunlight.

  Further, according to the leakage current estimating apparatus according to claim 5, since the reference image is an image including noise similar to the noise included in the monitoring image, the change in luminance value from the reference image is detected for the monitoring image. By evaluating, noise can be effectively removed, and a light emitting portion accompanying a discharge phenomenon can be extracted accurately.

  Furthermore, according to the leakage current estimation device according to claim 6 and the leakage current estimation method according to claim 10, an image of an insulator or a test body in which light emission caused by the leakage current occurs using a heat generation phenomenon is taken. Since the monitored image can be narrowed down and the emission area can be calculated for the monitored image, the processing speed can be increased.

  Furthermore, according to the leakage current estimation apparatus according to claim 7 and the leakage current estimation method according to claim 12, fluctuations in the light emission area on the monitoring image caused by the difference in imaging distance between the imaging means and the insulator are detected. Since the correction can be made, the leakage current can be estimated without depending on the shooting distance.

  Furthermore, according to the leakage current estimation method of the eleventh aspect, the leakage current can be estimated in consideration of the blind spot of the imaging means.

  Furthermore, according to the insulator monitoring method according to claim 13, the degree of contamination of the insulator surface is determined from the light emission area caused by the discharge in the monitoring image based on the correlation between the light emission area and the degree of contamination obtained in advance. can do.

  Further, according to the insulator monitoring method of claim 14, first, the insulators that generate heat are selected from among the insulators to be monitored, and the emission area is calculated for the corresponding monitor image. Based on the correlation between the light emitting area and the degree of contamination, the degree of contamination on the insulator surface can be quickly determined.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

  FIG. 1 to FIG. 15 show a first embodiment of an apparatus and method for estimating leakage current generated in the insulator of the present invention. This leakage current estimation method obtains the area of the portion emitting light from the insulator monitoring image and based on the obtained light emission area and the correlation between the light emission area obtained in advance and the leakage current value. The leakage current value flowing through the surface of the insulator is estimated.

  The above estimation method is implemented as a leakage current estimation apparatus of the present invention. The leakage current estimation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes an imaging unit 2 that acquires a monitoring image of an insulator, and a light emission area calculation unit 3 that calculates an area of a portion that emits light from the monitoring image obtained by the imaging unit 2. And an estimation means 4 for estimating the leakage current value flowing on the surface of the insulator based on the emission area obtained by the emission area calculation means 3 and the correlation between the emission area and the leakage current value recorded in advance. I have.

  The light emission area calculation means 3 and the estimation means 4 are configured by a computer (computer) 5 such as a personal computer, for example. The computer 5 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 6, a storage device 7 such as a RAM, a ROM, or a hard disk, an interface 8 with the imaging means 2, an input device 9 such as a keyboard and a mouse, and an output device 10 such as a display and a printer. Are connected by a bus 11. The imaging means 2 that captures the insulator generates a monitoring image at regular time intervals, for example, and the generated monitoring image is recorded in the storage device 7 of the computer 5, for example. In addition, the monitoring image in the present embodiment is a gray scale digital image for easy processing and the like. For example, 256 pixels of brightness values (luminance values) from 0 (black) to 255 (white) are assigned to each pixel constituting the monitoring image as color information. However, the monitoring image is not necessarily a grayscale image, and may be a color image.

  Here, for example, the mechanism of the occurrence of discharge on the surface of the filing insulator is considered as follows. First, as shown in FIG. 15A, innumerable water droplets are formed in an island shape on the surface on which the fouling material is adhered by wetness such as rainfall. In FIG. 15, reference numeral 12 indicates an insulator, reference numeral 13 indicates a water droplet, reference numeral 14 indicates an AC power supply for applying a voltage to the insulator, and reference numeral 15 indicates an electrode. Next, as wetting progresses, water droplets containing the electrolyte coalesce and grow, and when a conductive path is formed in part, due to local electric field concentration, partial discharge (corona discharge at the edge of the water droplet or between water droplets) Spark discharge, etc.). Next, the water repellency decreases due to the influence of partial discharge, etc., the surface wets, and a fouling film is formed. As a result, a channel is formed between the electrodes, and a leakage current starts to flow as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 16 in FIG. 15 indicates corona discharge or spark discharge. Next, due to the Joule heat of the leakage current, water partially evaporates, and a dried portion (dryness) is formed on the surface. Next, as shown in FIG. 15C, arc discharge (local arc) is generated that bridges both ends of the dry ground. Reference numeral 17 in FIG. 15 indicates dryness, and reference numeral 18 indicates arc discharge. Then, arc discharge grows along with the expansion of dryness, and eventually the arc discharge disappears.

  Along with the change of the aspect as described above, the waveform of the leakage current flowing on the insulator surface also changes as follows. When the surface is uniformly covered with the fouling film or when a channel is formed between the electrodes due to the fouling film, a current flows through the fouling film (fouling film conductive component). In that case, the magnitude of the leakage current is determined by the resistance of the fouling film (depending on the electrolyte concentration, the pressure of the film, etc.), and the current waveform is a sine wave reflecting the applied voltage. In addition, corona discharge and spark discharge occur due to local electric field concentration at the water drop end and dry end end. Due to this minute discharge, a pulsed current waveform is observed (corona / spark discharge component). In addition, with the generation of a local arc bridging both ends of the dry ground, a current that rises sharply with a delay from zero voltage (zero cross point) is observed (arc discharge component). In addition, a waveform in which the current rapidly decreases as the arc disappears is observed. The magnitude of the current is determined by the remaining fouling film resistance other than the dry and the arc resistance.

  On the other hand, there are mainly two elements of light emission by discharge. One is light emission due to flame reaction of sodium (Na) contained in insulators on the insulator surface during discharge, and the other is light emission when nitrogen (N) in the air is ionized during discharge. . In light emission by flame reaction of sodium, light having a wavelength of about 600 nm (more precisely, about 589 nm) is emitted. In light emission when nitrogen is ionized, ultraviolet light (wavelength: 1 nm to 400 nm) is emitted.

  Accordingly, at least one or both of the light emission caused by the flame reaction of sodium during the discharge and the light emission when nitrogen is ionized is captured in the image, and the light emission area in this image and the insulator surface flowed during the discharge. If the leakage current value is measured and the correlation between the light emission area and the leakage current value is obtained in advance, the light emission at the time of discharge is assumed to be the same or almost the same as the previous shooting conditions. If the light emission area in the image is obtained in view of the image, the corresponding leakage current value can be estimated based on the previously obtained correlation.

  For example, in the present embodiment, a single ultraviolet camera is used as the imaging means 2. The ultraviolet camera may use an existing or new ultraviolet detection video camera having a high sensitivity to the wavelength of ultraviolet light (1 nm to 400 nm), or a CCD or the like capable of detecting visible light and ultraviolet light. An existing or new video camera that includes an image sensor and can capture visible light to ultraviolet light by omitting the filtering process for removing ultraviolet light may be used. By using an ultraviolet camera with a high sensitivity to the wavelength of ultraviolet light, it is possible to capture the ultraviolet light emitted when nitrogen in the air is ionized during discharge with high sensitivity. It is possible to photograph well without burying the discharge light generated in the background. Further, if an ultraviolet camera capable of photographing visible light and ultraviolet light is used, both light emission due to flame reaction of sodium (Na) during discharge and light emission when nitrogen (N) in the air is ionized can be captured. be able to. Discharge contains both visible light (sodium light emission) and ultraviolet light components, but there may be cases where sufficient information cannot be obtained if the light emission area is only visible light. In this case, it is preferable to use an ultraviolet camera because a general ultraviolet camera can acquire visible light information unless a special filter is used.

  However, the imaging means 2 is not necessarily limited to the ultraviolet camera. For example, a video camera provided with means for increasing the sensitivity to light corresponding to a certain wavelength near 600 nm higher than the sensitivity to light of other wavelengths may be used. In this case, the light (wavelength of about 600 nm, more precisely about 589 nm) emitted when sodium (Na) causes a flame reaction during discharge is photographed with high sensitivity without being buried in the background even in sunlight. can do. Furthermore, a video camera provided with means for increasing the sensitivity to light corresponding to the wavelength of ultraviolet light (1 nm to 400 nm) and a constant wavelength in the vicinity of 600 nm higher than the sensitivity to light of other wavelengths may be used. In this case, both the light emission due to the flame reaction of sodium (Na) during discharge and the light emission when nitrogen (N) in the air is ionized are taken well without being buried in the background even in sunlight. can do.

  For example, an optical device such as a filter may be used as a means for increasing the sensitivity to light corresponding to a specific wavelength as compared with the sensitivity to light of other wavelengths, or the obtained original image data may be constant. Software or hardware that executes image processing may be used. For example, by using a band-pass filter or the like, light corresponding to a wavelength other than a specific wavelength incident on an image sensor such as a CCD may be blocked or attenuated to increase sensitivity to light corresponding to a specific wavelength. . Alternatively, the original image data obtained from the imaging device may be subjected to image processing that emphasizes pixels representing light corresponding to a specific wavelength or removes or attenuates light corresponding to a wavelength other than the specific wavelength. good.

  In order to detect weak light such as ultraviolet rays, when the sensitivity of an image sensor such as a CCD is increased, the influence of thermal noise, that is, shot noise, increases with the sensitivity improvement. Therefore, the light emission area calculation means 3 of the present embodiment uses the same coordinates for two images, that is, a monitoring image obtained from the imaging means 2 and a reference image prepared in advance showing a normal image, that is, a non-discharge insulator image. The number of pixels in which the difference between the luminance values of the two pixels at the position is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value is calculated, and the calculated number of pixels is set as the light emission area.

  The reference image is created in advance before the start of leakage current estimation. For example, in the present embodiment, a plurality of images obtained by photographing the insulator that does not emit light due to the discharge phenomenon, that is, non-discharge, are prepared, and these images are averaged to create a reference image. In this case, the luminance value of each pixel of the reference image is an average value of the luminance values of the pixels at the same position of the plurality of original images. The ambient brightness changes with time, and the shot noise level varies depending on the shooting condition setting. By obtaining a reference image by averaging multiple images, the reference image contains shot noise that appears frequently. It becomes an image.

  Thus, since the reference image is an image including shot noise with a high appearance frequency, thermal noise, that is, shot noise can be effectively removed by evaluating the change in the luminance value from the reference image for the monitoring image. Therefore, the light emission part accompanying the discharge phenomenon can be extracted accurately. An example of the reference image is shown in FIG. 2, and an example of the monitoring image at the time of discharging is shown in FIG. FIG. 4 shows an image obtained by extracting a light emission portion due to discharge using these monitoring image and reference image. Note that FIG. 2 shows an overhead power transmission line when there is no discharge, and FIG. 3 shows an overhead power transmission line that is causing corona discharge, but the same applies to the process of extracting a light emitting part due to discharge.

  Here, as another method of extracting the light emission part due to the discharge while avoiding the influence of shot noise, in the monitoring image in which the state of the discharge is photographed, in the vicinity of the target pixel (for example, in the 3 × 3 pixel centered on the target pixel) ), If there is no pixel having a luminance value equal to or higher than a threshold value indicating light emission (for example, 100 in 256 gradations), it is considered that the pixel is determined as shot noise and image processing is performed to exclude the pixel. . However, in this image processing, a large amount of shot noise also appears due to the increased sensitivity of the CCD. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the magnitude of the shot noise, and it is difficult to extract only the target light emission phenomenon. For example, FIG. 5 shows an image in which the size of shot noise is set to 3 × 3 pixels or less and the above-mentioned image processing is performed on the monitoring image during discharge shown in FIG. Further, FIG. 6 shows an image obtained by further increasing the shot noise to 5 × 5 pixels or less with respect to the image shown in FIG. A black dot in a circle indicated by symbol A in FIGS. 5 and 6 represents noise. In the example shown in FIG. 4, only the light emitting portion can be accurately extracted, but noise has not been completely removed in the images of FIGS. 5 and 6. This also confirms the effectiveness of evaluating the change in luminance value from the reference image for the monitoring image.

  It should be noted that a plurality of reference images may be prepared according to the monitoring time zone, the weather at the time of monitoring, and the optimum reference image corresponding to the situation may be selected as appropriate. Further, although the use of the reference image for extracting the light emitting portion is a preferable example as described above, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this example. For example, in a monitoring image, a predetermined threshold value indicating light emission (for example, 100 in 256 gradations) is used. ) The number of pixels having the above luminance values may be calculated, and the calculated number of pixels may be used as the light emission area. Further, new or known noise removal image processing may be performed on the monitoring image before the calculation of the number of pixels.

  Here, the threshold value for extracting the light emission part due to discharge from the monitoring image is suitable for the photographing conditions and the situation at the time of photographing so that only the light emission part due to discharge can be accurately extracted. Set by judgment. A plurality of threshold values may be prepared according to the monitoring time zone, the weather at the time of monitoring, and the optimum threshold value may be appropriately selected according to the situation. For example, in this embodiment, the threshold is set to 15.

  The correlation between the light emission area at the time of discharge and the leakage current value is obtained in advance by experiments. For the experiment for obtaining this correlation, for example, a rotating wheel immersion test apparatus (RWDT) which is an artificial accelerated deterioration test apparatus can be used. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, this rotating wheel immersion test apparatus attaches a rod-shaped sample piece as a specimen 19 made of the same material as the insulator to the rotating plate 20, rotates the rotating plate 20 around the rotating shaft 21, The erosion resistance of the surface of the test specimen 19 is evaluated in a short time by repeating immersion in the fouling liquid 22 placed in the water tank and application of a high voltage by the AC power source 23.

  In this rotating wheel immersion test apparatus, the leakage current measurement circuit 24 measures the leakage current flowing on the surface of the specimen 19 at regular intervals, and also images the specimen 19 by the imaging means 2 and generates images at regular intervals. To do. The imaging means 2 is preferably of the same or the same type as that provided in the leakage current estimation device 1 in order to match the imaging conditions and the like with the leakage current estimation.

  Then, the area of the light emitting portion due to the discharge in the photographed image and the leakage current value measured at the same time as the photographing time are orthogonal to each other with one axis indicating the leakage current value and the other axis indicating the light emission area. Plot on the coordinates. An example of the graph plotted in this way is shown in FIG. From the plotted graph, a regression curve indicating the correlation between the light emission area during discharge and the leakage current value is obtained. The leakage current value data output from the leakage current measuring circuit 24 and the image data output from the imaging means 2 are taken into a computer such as a personal computer, and a graph showing the relationship between the leakage current and the light emission area is automatically created. Alternatively, a regression curve may be automatically created. Further, the computer may be a computer 5 that realizes the light emission area calculating means 3 and the estimating means 4.

  Here, it is pointed out that the emission intensity of partial discharge and the charge amount of partial discharge are in a logarithmic proportional relationship. Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the light emission area of the discharge light and the leakage current also have a logarithmic proportional relationship, where the light emission area of the discharge light is S, the leakage current value is I, and the following equation holds: Assume that A and k in the equation are obtained by regression analysis using actual measurement data shown in FIG. The obtained regression curve is called a first regression curve. A curve indicated by a broken line in FIG. 9 and indicated by a symbol B indicates a first regression curve.

<Equation 1>
I = A * S ^k

  As shown in FIG. 9, the actual measurement data is often located on the upper side of the first regression curve. This is considered because there is a possibility that light is emitted even in a portion that is a blind spot of the imaging means 2. That is, the actual light emission area is considered to be larger than the measured light emission area. On the other hand, it is considered that the data below the first regression curve is unlikely to emit light at the blind spot of the camera. Therefore, a regression curve represented by the following equation is newly obtained by regression analysis using data below the first regression curve (data included in the hatched area in FIG. 9). Find A 'and k' inside. The obtained regression curve is called a second regression curve. A curve indicated by a solid line in FIG. 9 and indicated by a symbol C indicates a second regression curve. The second regression curve can be considered to represent the lower limit of the leakage current estimated from the information on the light emitting area obtained from the imaging means 2.

<Equation 2>
I = A '* S ^k '

  Next, the light emission area in the blind spot portion of the imaging means 2 is considered. If the light emission area of the blind spot portion is α times the observed light emission area, the regression curve considering the blind spot portion of the imaging means 2 is expressed by the following equation.

<Equation 3>
I = A ′ * ((1 + α) * S) ^k ′

If 1 + α is changed to β, the following equation is obtained.
<Equation 4>
I = A ′ * (β * S) ^k ′

  It can be said that β * S in Equation 4 represents the entire light emission area estimated from the observed light emission area S. For example, since the blind spot of the ultraviolet camera as the imaging means 2 is ½ of the entire circumference of the rod-shaped sample piece 19, it is considered that the total light emitting area is twice the actually measured light emitting area when the light is uniformly emitted to the axis target. , Β = 2. The regression curve expressed by Equation 4 is called a third regression curve. A curve indicated by an alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 9 and indicated by a symbol D indicates a third regression curve. It can be considered that the third regression curve represents the upper limit of the estimated leakage current. Therefore, the true value of the leakage current is considered to be within a range between the second regression curve and the third regression curve.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the relationship of Formula 1 is established between the light emission area S of the discharge light and the leakage current value I. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this example. In some cases, the relationship may differ from Equation 1 due to the influence of the shape or the like, so that a relationship different from Equation 1 may be assumed in consideration of the influence, or the regression function may be simplified by approximation. . For example, a substantially linear regression curve may be obtained as shown in FIG. The regression curve includes a case where the regression curve is a straight line.

  In the present embodiment, the second regression curve representing the lower limit of the estimated value of the leakage current and the third regression curve representing the upper limit are derived in consideration of the influence of the blind spot of the imaging unit 2, but for example, the imaging unit 2 May be derived based on experimental data, for example, by setting a plurality of images around the insulator that is the subject of imaging to obtain an image without a blind spot.

  According to the leakage current estimation method and estimation apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the leakage current generated in the insulator can be estimated by the processing shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, for example. First, as preprocessing, the correlation between the emission area of the discharge light obtained in advance and the leakage current value, a reference image created in advance, and a preset threshold value are input to the leakage current estimation device 1 (S1). ~ S3).

  For example, a relational expression between the light emission area S and the leakage current value I representing the first to third regression curves is recorded in the storage device 7 via the input device 9 (S1). Reference numeral 25 in FIG. 1 indicates correlation data between the light emission area S and the leakage current value I stored in the storage device 7. Further, a reference image created in advance is read into the storage device 7 (S2). Reference numeral 26 in FIG. 1 indicates reference image data stored in the storage device 7. In addition, a threshold value for extracting a light emission portion due to discharge from the monitoring image is recorded in the storage device 7 via the input device 9 (S3). Reference numeral 27 in FIG. 1 indicates threshold data stored in the storage device 7.

  Next, the photographing of the insulator by the imaging unit 2 is started, and the monitoring image of the insulator is created by the imaging unit 2 at regular time intervals, and the created monitoring image is recorded in the storage device 7. Reference numeral 28 in FIG. 1 indicates a monitoring image data group stored in the storage device 7. The monitoring images recorded in the storage device 7 are read out, for example, one by one (S4), and the light emission area calculation means 3 calculates the area of the light emission portion due to discharge for the read monitoring image (S5).

  An example of the light emission area calculation process is shown in FIG. First, an initial value 0 is set to the variable S representing the light emitting area (S501). Also, an initial value 1 is set to the variable y representing the vertical pixel number (S502). Then, the following processing is repeated until the vertical pixel number y reaches the maximum value y_max (S503; Yes).

  An initial value 1 is set to the variable x representing the horizontal pixel number (S504). Then, the next process is repeated until the horizontal pixel number x reaches the maximum value x_max (S505; Yes). That is, the absolute value of the difference between the luminance value of the pixel at the coordinate (x, y) of the monitoring image and the luminance value of the pixel at the coordinate (x, y) of the reference image is obtained (S506). If the absolute value of the obtained luminance value difference is equal to or greater than the threshold value set in step 3 (S507; Yes), 1 is added to the light emitting area S (S508). Then, 1 is added to the horizontal pixel number x (S509), and the process returns to S505. On the other hand, if the absolute value of the difference between the obtained luminance values is less than the threshold value set in step 3, the process of S508 is not performed, and 1 is added to the horizontal pixel number x (S509). Return to processing.

  When the horizontal pixel number x exceeds the maximum value x_max (S505; No), 1 is added to the vertical pixel number y (S510), and the process returns to S503. When the vertical pixel number y exceeds the maximum value y_max (S503; No), the light emission area calculation process for the monitoring image ends. As described above, for all the pixels of the monitoring image read in step 4, the difference in luminance value from the corresponding pixel of the reference image is obtained, and the number of pixels for which the difference is equal to or greater than a preset threshold is calculated and calculated. The number of pixels thus obtained becomes the light emission area S.

  Next, the leakage current value I is estimated based on the relational expression between the light emission area S and the leakage current value I input in step 1 and the light emission area S obtained in step 5 (S6 in FIG. 11). ). The estimated leakage current value is displayed and output on an output device 10 provided in the computer 5, for example, a display. When the estimated leakage current value exceeds a certain value, a warning sound, a warning message, or the like may be automatically output to the output device 10 such as a speaker or a display so as to alert the supervisor or the like. . When the above processing is performed for all the monitoring images recorded in the storage device 7 (S7; No), the processing ends.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to quantitatively estimate the leakage current generated in the insulator with a simple configuration without installing a dedicated sensor for measuring the leakage current. Since it is possible to estimate the leakage current in a non-contact manner using the image processing technology, the trouble and cost of installing a dedicated sensor for measuring the leakage current can be reduced.

  Then, from the estimated leakage current value, it is possible to determine the state of the insulator, for example, the degree of contamination or the deterioration of the insulator, and the necessity of cleaning the insulator or replacing the insulator. In addition, since the discharge occurring on the insulator can be detected at an early stage, an accident caused by the insulator damage can be prevented in advance. According to the present invention, it is possible to easily perform monitoring and soundness diagnosis of a currently operating insulator, and a great contribution can be expected to realize CBM (Condition Based Maintenance).

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, not only the monitoring of the active insulator, but also the test and experiment related to the insulator, for example, the outdoor electric field exposure test using the same material as the insulator or insulator (for example, the polymer insulating material) and the artificial accelerated deterioration. In tests and the like, it is possible to easily estimate the leakage current, and it is possible to associate the estimated value of the leakage current with other measurement results obtained in the above-mentioned test, etc. Can perform tests and experiments. Therefore, the monitoring target of the leakage current estimation method and apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to an existing insulator, and includes a specimen that simulates an insulator and a specimen that is made of the same material as an insulator. The insulating material constituting the insulator is not limited to a polymer material such as silicone rubber, but may be ceramics or the like.

  Next, FIGS. 16 to 19 show a second embodiment of the apparatus and method for estimating the leakage current generated in the insulator of the present invention.

  In the first embodiment, an image captured by an ultraviolet camera is used as a monitoring image. However, when an ultraviolet camera is used, the background of the image may be a problem depending on the shooting conditions. In particular, it is often a problem when shooting outdoors. For example, when the insulator on the power transmission line is photographed for inspection from the ground, the light emitting portion of the insulator is photographed in white by light emission. For this reason, the light emitting portion of the insulator is buried in the background sky or cloud color, and it may be difficult to visually recognize the light emitting portion. In addition, the number of insulators to be monitored is very large, and many insulators are photographed in one monitoring image. In such a case, it may be difficult to distinguish which portion of the monitoring image is regarded as a light emitting portion actually hits.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, attention is paid to the fact that heat is generated by the leakage current that flows along with the discharge, and the temperature of the insulator rises due to the heat, and the insulator that generates heat is selected by the infrared camera. In the above, the leakage current is estimated from the monitoring image. As a result, compared to the first embodiment, it is possible to identify an object to be monitored such as an insulator in which a discharge has occurred and to estimate a leakage current quickly and efficiently, and to perform an insulator monitoring operation. It is a thing.

  The change in the heat generation area in the infrared image and the change in the monitoring image due to the temporal change of the leakage current was examined. FIG. 17 shows the relationship between the heat generation area and the leakage current value in the infrared image. FIG. 18 shows the relationship between the light emission area and the leakage current value based on the monitoring image.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the time change of the heat generation area of the infrared image is more gradual than the time change of the leakage current, and it can be seen that once the heat generation area is increased, the change of the heat generation area is small. Further, as shown in FIG. 18, it can be seen that the temporal change in the light emission area of the monitoring image changes from time to time as compared to the temporal change in the infrared image. This is made clearer by the graph of FIG. 19 in which the time axis of the graph shown in FIG. 18 is shortened and the light emission area and the absolute value of the leakage current are expressed. That is, it can be clearly seen from FIG. 19 that the temporal change of the light emission area due to the monitoring image varies violently with the variation of the leakage current amount. However, as shown in FIG. 18 and FIG. 19, the temporal change of the light emission area constantly changes with the fluctuation of the leakage current amount, so even if it is an image with a slight time difference between the monitoring images of the same insulator, Since there may be a large difference in the number of pixels in the light emitting area, the light emitting area may be overlooked or image recognition may be difficult.

  On the other hand, the infrared image shows that once the heat generation area increases, the heat generation area changes gradually, and when the temperature rises, the temperature remains high for a while. In addition, the rise in the temperature of the insulator is not only due to the increase in the temperature of the light emitting part due to the leakage current, but for example, the generation of a leakage current such as the temperature around the actual light emitting part is increased due to heat conduction. Other factors that are not directly attributable to this are also considered to be included. In other words, since the leakage current is not always generated in the part where the temperature is rising, it cannot be said that the change in the heat generation area accurately reflects the change in the leakage current. It becomes. However, the infrared image can easily recognize the image of the heat generation portion on the image as compared with the monitoring image. Moreover, the heat generation part does not only indicate the presence of leakage current, but if there is leakage current, it will normally be included in the heat generation part, so the infrared image is the heat generation part among countless insulators to be monitored. It can be said that it is suitable for selecting insulators that have (possibly causing leakage current).

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 16, an infrared camera 30 is disposed on the same optical axis as the imaging unit 2 that acquires the monitoring image, and the infrared image and the monitoring image can be taken simultaneously. In the figure, reference numeral 31 denotes a beam splitter, 32 denotes an imaging lens, and 33 denotes a prism. Here, the image pickup means 2 is preferably a video camera image that is a continuous image since the variation of the light emission area is relatively rapid. However, since the variation of the heat generation area is relatively mild for an infrared camera, even a still image is not a problem. There are few, and it is not necessary to be a video camera. An imaging apparatus provided with means for increasing the sensitivity to light corresponding to a certain wavelength in the vicinity of 600 nm more than the sensitivity to light of other wavelengths, even when the monitoring image taken by the ultraviolet camera includes only an ultraviolet image of 1 to 400 nm. The visible light picked up by the above also includes both of them.

  By the way, after detecting a possible leak current from an infrared image obtained by an infrared camera and then trying to obtain a monitoring image from that insulator, if there are many insulators, There is a problem that it is difficult to judge whether it is an insulator.

  Therefore, the infrared image and the monitoring image are taken simultaneously on the same optical axis and synchronized. In order to synchronize both images, for example, NTP (Network Time Protocol) can be used. Also, a time counter may be recorded on the image at the same time. In addition, the number of frame rates of both images does not necessarily have to be completely the same. In this case, the correspondence between the image frames may be recorded in the storage means or the like. For example, since the temperature of an infrared image is less time-series than that of a monitoring image, the monitoring image may be taken at a video rate, the infrared image may be taken at a slower frame rate, and both images may be synchronized.

  First, it is preferable to determine a portion that generates heat by setting a threshold value for extracting a heat generation portion in an infrared image in advance and determining a pixel having a value equal to or greater than the threshold value as a heat generation portion. The threshold value can be arbitrarily set, and may be a relative value or an absolute value, and the value to which the threshold value is set is not limited. For example, on the basis of the outside air temperature, the outside air temperature may be set to +5 degrees or more (relative threshold), or may be set to a certain temperature, for example, 25 degrees or more (absolute threshold). In addition, for example, a reference image prepared in advance showing an image of an insulator at normal time, that is, non-discharge, can be used, and a threshold value can be set for the same pixel of the reference image.

  Next, an infrared image from which the heat generation portion is extracted and a corresponding monitoring image taken at the same time on the same optical axis are extracted. Here, when an infrared image and a monitoring image are captured, they are recorded on the main memory or in a recording device, respectively. In the infrared image, extraction is performed as a light emitting part corresponding to a pixel position that is a heat generating part and having a luminance value at a pixel position of the monitoring image that is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value. Note that it is not always necessary to perform the above processing on all infrared images from which heat generation portions have been extracted. For example, a certain threshold value may be provided when extracting on a monitoring image from an infrared image from which heat generation portions have been extracted. Is possible. For example, it is possible to select a corresponding monitoring image only for an image in which a heat generation portion is detected by 10 pixels or more on an infrared image. Further, it is not always necessary to provide a threshold value used when extracting the light emission area from the monitoring image, and all the pixel positions of the monitoring image corresponding to the pixel position that is the heat generation part in the infrared image may be extracted as the light emission area. it can. Note that, as in the first embodiment, the means for selecting the corresponding monitoring image when detecting the heat generation portion and the step of calculating the light emission area from the monitoring image are performed by the central processing unit and the device, as in the first embodiment. The computer includes a computer, a program that causes the computer to execute the above-described steps, and a program that causes the computer to function.

  Here, if the performance of the CCD camera is exactly the same and the same object is reflected at the same pixel (pixel position), the position where the insulator is heated by the leakage current is determined from the infrared image, and the information is obtained. Based on the above, the luminance value on the corresponding monitoring image is obtained, and the pixels having the luminance value or more are counted to obtain the light emission area. If the performance of the CCD camera is not the same, the correspondence for each pixel between the infrared image and the monitoring image is examined using a grid pattern (referred to as calibration). The luminance value at the pixel position of the monitoring image corresponding to the pixel position considered to have been heated by the discharge is examined, and pixels having a luminance value higher than that are counted to obtain the light emission area.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the infrared image and the monitoring image are simultaneously photographed on the same optical axis, the insulator that can catch the heat generation point is selected by the infrared image, and the corresponding monitoring image at that time is selected. By performing the process of calculating the light emitting area and then estimating the leakage current of the insulator, the leakage current of the insulator can be estimated more quickly and effectively than when only the monitoring image is used. . In this embodiment, the acquisition of the infrared image and the monitoring image is synchronized, and the target narrowing and the calculation of the light emitting area are processed in parallel or continuously. Thereafter, the method of the embodiment may be performed by switching to an ultraviolet camera on the same optical axis.

  Next, FIGS. 20 to 22 show a third embodiment of the present invention.

  The actual insulator inspection work can be performed in various situations, such as photographing the insulator on the transmission line from the ground or photographing the insulator on the transmission line from the helicopter. That is, the shooting distance between the insulator and the imaging means 2 varies depending on the shooting environment, and it is difficult to keep the shooting distance constant in actual inspection work. Here, since the light emission area in the monitoring image is the number of pixels of the light emitting portion in the captured image in the monitoring image, the light emission area varies depending on the distance from the imaging means to the insulator. That is, even if the amount of leakage current is the same, the light emission area increases as the shooting distance decreases, and the light emission area decreases as the shooting distance increases. This is the distance dependency of the light emitting area.

  This distance dependency of the light emitting area is when the distance between the position of the insulator and the imaging means 2 is constant in actual inspection work or the like (including cases where several types of distances exist). In this case, the relationship between the leakage current and the light emission area corresponding to each distance may be obtained by experiments in advance, but calibration is required when the distance is not assumed.

  As a conventional method for eliminating the distance dependency of the light emitting area, it is common to measure the shooting distance from the object by attaching a marker to the object and performing a calibration process. It is. However, it is not easy to attach a marker to the insulator on the transmission line each time, and it is difficult to attach a marker to all the insulators to be monitored. Therefore, it is not practical to perform the calibration process using the marker.

  Therefore, the present invention sets a common object on the monitoring image as a reference object, and obtains the difference in light emission area on the monitoring image due to the difference in shooting distance using the enlargement / reduction ratio of the reference object. The distance dependence is resolved. Regarding the method of confirming and making the dependence of the light emitting area distance independent, the light emitting area was captured by changing the distance between the camera 2 and the specimen 39 on the column 38 using the experimental apparatus shown in FIG. . As a result, as shown in FIG. 20, an object (hereinafter referred to as a reference object) 37 arbitrarily selected from objects picked up in a reference image 34 at an imaging distance (hereinafter also referred to as a reference distance) arbitrarily set in advance. The enlargement or reduction ratio is obtained from the area ratio between the area on the reference image 34 and the area on the monitoring image 35 of the reference object 37 captured by the monitoring image 35. Next, the shooting distance is corrected by using the area ratio on the image of the reference object even at different shooting distances by multiplying the calculated light emission area on the monitoring image. Thereby, by measuring and determining the reference distance in advance, if the area of the reference object photographed at the reference distance is obtained in advance, if the reference object is an image taken, even if the photographing distance is unknown, The distance dependency due to the shooting distance can be eliminated, and a correct leakage current value can be estimated.

  Specifically, since the light emission area is the number of pixels of the extracted monitoring image, the number of pixels occupied by the reference object at the reference distance, and the number of pixels occupied by the reference object on the captured monitoring image This ratio (enlargement or reduction ratio) is obtained, and the light emission area is corrected by performing a process of multiplying the number of pixels occupying the light emission area on the captured monitoring image by the obtained ratio.

  Here, the reference distance for obtaining the relative ratio is preliminarily measured with a distance meter or the like. There is no particular limitation on the reference distance, and the reference object may occupy a certain number of pixels on the monitoring image. Note that the reference object is the object closest to the monitoring object, for example, the arm part of the insulator in this embodiment where the insulator is the monitoring object, but is not limited to this, and can be specified on the image If it is. That is, the insulator itself can be used as the reference object. In actual insulator inspection work, it is conceivable that the reference object is an object having a shape where the area such as a lightning arrester mounted on the insulator side can be easily obtained. The area of the rectangular part is the area of the reference object in the captured image, but the shape of the area of the reference object is not limited to a rectangle because the number of pixels only needs to be measurable. Absent.

  As described above, the difference in the area on the image due to the shooting distance from the common object is obtained as the magnification of the enlargement / reduction ratio, and as shown in FIG. 21, the leakage current amount is not dependent on the actual shooting distance. Estimates can be made. As a result, since it is possible to perform the inspection work without measuring the shooting distance in the inspection work of the insulator, there is no need to attach a marker or the like to the insulator, and the inspection work can be performed more effectively. It is. The means for executing the step of obtaining the difference in area on the image according to the shooting distance from the common object as the magnification of the enlargement / reduction ratio is the same as that of the first embodiment. It is comprised by the computer comprised by an apparatus etc., the program which makes this computer perform the above-mentioned step, and also the program which makes it function.

  Next, a fourth embodiment in which the dependency on the applied voltage is eliminated based on FIGS. 23 to 27 will be described.

  The magnitude of the applied voltage affects the correlation between the leakage current and the light emitting area. For this reason, when the applied voltage is greatly different in a power transmission system or the like, it is necessary to obtain the correlation between the leakage current and the light emitting area for each applied voltage. That is, even if the light emission area on the monitoring image is the same, if there is a difference in the applied voltage, the actual leakage current value will be different (this will be referred to as the applied voltage dependency). As a result of research conducted by the present inventors on this point, if a value obtained by multiplying the effective value of the applied voltage by the leakage current value is used as an index (referred to as a light emission area spread index in this specification), FIG. As can be seen from FIG. 1, it has been found that the leakage current amount can be estimated from the light emitting area regardless of the magnitude of the applied voltage. Here, the light emission area spread index is an energy amount obtained by multiplying the voltage value by the current value, and the unit is expressed in W (watts).

  The relationship between the leakage current and the light emission area for each applied voltage was determined by experiment using a silicone rubber sample piece. FIG. 23 shows a graph when an applied voltage of 6 kV is applied to the sample piece, and a regression curve showing the relationship between the leakage current and the light emission area (hereinafter also referred to as a first leakage current estimation curve) is obtained. It was. FIG. 24 shows a graph when an applied voltage of 10 kV is applied to the sample piece. Comparing the light emission areas of the two graphs, it can be seen that the light emission area increases in proportion to the increase in leakage current in the graph when the applied electric field is applied at 10 kV, compared with the case where 6 kV is applied. . This is presumably because, in the case of the same leakage current value, if the applied voltage is large, the energy that can be consumed increases, so that light emission is facilitated.

  26 and 27, a regression curve showing the relationship between the emission area spread index obtained by multiplying the leakage current by the effective value of the applied voltage and the emission area (hereinafter also referred to as a second leakage current estimation curve) is obtained. It was. The resulting graph is shown in FIG. From the graph of FIG. 25, it can be seen that the emission area spread index and the emission area are close to the same regression curve even at different applied voltage values. In this embodiment, the second leakage current estimation curve regression curve was obtained from the measurement results when the applied voltage was 6 kV and 10 kV, respectively. However, the reference measurement result is not limited to this. Even if the light emission area spread index is obtained from the measurement result of the leakage current value and the light emission area at one arbitrarily applied voltage value, the measurement result is similarly close to the same regression curve. That is, it can be understood that if the light emission area spread index is estimated from the light emission area, it can be handled uniformly regardless of the applied voltage. Thus, it can be seen that the leakage current can be estimated if the applied voltage is known.

  The present embodiment is based on such knowledge, and a second leakage current estimation curve representing a relationship between a light emission area spread index, which is a value obtained by multiplying an execution value of an applied voltage by a leakage current value, and a light emission area in advance. The light emission area spread index is estimated using the second leakage current estimation curve from the light emission area captured on the monitoring image after being obtained and stored in the storage device. Furthermore, the leakage current value can be estimated by dividing the estimated emission area spread index by the execution value of the applied voltage. Thereby, even if the applied voltages are different, the leakage current value can be estimated by obtaining one second leakage current estimation curve in advance. That is, the applied voltage dependency can be eliminated.

  By eliminating the applied voltage dependency described above, it is possible to estimate the leakage current without depending on the applied voltage. That is, in the previous embodiments, the first leakage current estimation curve had to be obtained every time the applied voltage was different, but in this embodiment, even if the applied voltage is different, one regression curve (second leakage curve) is required. By calculating the current estimation curve), the leakage current amount can be estimated without depending on the applied voltage amount. As in the first embodiment, the means for executing the step of eliminating the distance dependency of the applied voltage described above is a computer constituted by a central processing unit and the device, and the above-described steps are included in this computer. It is comprised by the program which performs this, and also the program which makes it function.

  Each of the second and third embodiments described above is preferably implemented as necessary simultaneously with the first embodiment, depending on the imaging conditions of the monitoring object or the conditions imposed on the monitoring object. Furthermore, the fourth embodiment is preferably implemented in place of the leakage current estimating means / estimating step of the first embodiment when the applied voltage changes. Moreover, depending on the case, it is preferable to perform these continuously, for example, to estimate the leakage current generated in the insulator by the processing shown in FIG. First, each input item and threshold is set as pre-processing (S101). Input items include the applied voltage value for the insulator, the area of the reference object on the captured image and the reference distance, the correlation between the discharge light emission area and the leakage current value obtained in advance, and the light emission area spread index obtained in advance. As a threshold value, a threshold value for a preset infrared image and a threshold value for a preset monitoring image are input to the storage device of the leakage current estimation device.

  Next, shooting of the insulator is started by the imaging means 2, and a monitoring image and an infrared image obtained by shooting the insulator are acquired and recorded in the storage device. The infrared image recorded in the storage device is read for each image (S102), and if a heat generation portion is recognized (S103-Yes), a process of reading a monitoring image taken at the same time (S104) is performed. If there is no heat generation part in the infrared image (S103-No), the next infrared image is read (S102). When the monitoring image is read out, the shooting distance dependency elimination processing (S105) is performed based on the relative ratio with the area of the reference object on the image. Further, the light emission area calculation means 3 calculates the area of the light emission portion due to the discharge of the read monitoring image (S106).

  A light emission area spread index is estimated from the light emission area obtained in step 106 based on the relational expression between the light emission area and the light emission area spread index input in step 101 (S107), and the estimated light emission area spread index is calculated. A process of estimating the leakage current value by the effective value of the applied voltage is performed (S108). When the above processing is performed on all the captured images recorded in the storage device (S109; No), the processing ends.

  The above-described embodiment is an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the leakage current value is estimated from the light emission area due to the discharge in the monitoring image. However, the leakage current is caused by the contamination of the insulator, and the greater the leakage current value, the greater the degree of contamination. Therefore, a correlation between the light emitting area and the degree of contamination may be determined in advance, and based on the correlation, the degree of contamination of the insulator surface may be determined from the light emitting area due to the discharge in the monitoring image. . In particular, the emission area due to flame reaction of sodium contained in the insulator on the insulator surface is considered to be closely related to the contamination range of the insulator surface. By obtaining from the monitoring image, it is possible to accurately estimate the degree of contamination of the insulator surface.

  Further, according to experiments by the present inventors, when the material of the insulator changes, the relationship between the light emission area and the leakage current also changes, and the measurement result may vary depending on the material. From this, it may be difficult in some cases how to estimate the leakage current with high accuracy for a material. However, since the merit of using images is that they can be measured remotely without contact, it is very important and useful in terms of maintenance and inspection of facilities that the leakage current can be estimated roughly.

Example 1
Using the rotating wheel immersion test apparatus shown in FIG. 7, the light emission area of the arc discharge generated on the sample piece 19 and the leakage current due to the arc discharge were measured, and the relationship between the light emission area and the leakage current was obtained. . The leakage current was measured every 0.1 msec (milliseconds), and the image was taken in from the ultraviolet camera as the imaging means 2 every 33 msec (milliseconds) (that is, 30 frames per second). In order to take correspondence between the measured value of the leakage current and the monitoring image obtained from the imaging means 2, the time synchronization of both measurement systems is performed via the LAN using NTP (Network Time Protocol). A type stamp indicating the data creation time is attached to each of the monitoring image data, and the correspondence between the leakage current data and the monitoring image data is taken.

  The calculation of the light emission area was performed by the process shown in FIG. The threshold for extracting the light emission part due to discharge from the image of the state of discharge was set to 15. An image for 10 seconds immediately before the start of measurement was acquired, and an average image of the image group was created and used as a reference image. The applied voltage of the power source 23 was changed between 3 kV and 10 kV.

  A monitoring image at each applied voltage taken by an ultraviolet camera as the imaging means 2 is shown in FIG. 13A shows the discharge light when the applied voltage is 3 kV, (B) shows the discharge light when the applied voltage is 4 kV, (C) shows the discharge light when the applied voltage is 6 kV, D) shows the discharge light when the applied voltage is 8 kV, and (E) shows the discharge light when the applied voltage is 10 kV. From FIG. 13, it can be seen that arc discharge increases as the applied voltage increases.

  FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the actually measured leakage current and the arc discharge emission area. Based on the actual measurement data shown in FIG. 8, assuming that Formula 1 is satisfied, the result of obtaining the regression curve indicating the correlation is shown in FIG. As a result, the first regression curve in this experiment was as follows.

<Equation 5>
I = 1.8545 * S ^0.68224

In addition, the second regression curve in this experiment was as follows.
<Equation 6>
I = 0.75795 * S ^0.91518

  Since the blind spot of the ultraviolet camera 2 is ½ of the entire circumference of the sample 19, it is considered that the total light emitting area is twice the actually measured light emitting area when light is emitted uniformly to the axis target. Therefore, the third regression curve in this experiment is considered to be the following equation.

<Equation 7>
I = 0.75795 (2 * S) ^0.91518

  Therefore, regarding the estimation of the leakage current in this experiment, it is considered that the lower limit of the leakage current is expressed by Expression 6 and the upper limit of the leakage current is expressed by Expression 7.

  As described above, it was confirmed that there is a positive correlation between the light emission area of the arc discharge and the leakage current due to the arc discharge. Therefore, if this correlation (for example, the regression function shown in Equations 5 to 7) is obtained in advance, the leakage current value I can be estimated by measuring the emission area S of the discharge light.

  Here, in the present invention, the leakage current value is estimated from the measured emission area during discharge based on the correlation between the emission area during discharge and the leakage current value obtained in advance. In contrast, a correlation between the luminance value representing the light intensity during discharge and the leakage current value is obtained in advance, and the leakage current value is estimated from the measured luminance value representing the light intensity during discharge. It is also possible. FIG. 14 shows the relationship between the leakage current measured in this experiment and the luminance value on the monitoring image. In this experiment, when leakage current flows and light emission is observed, the luminance value on the image is about 255 regardless of the leakage current, and the luminance value (light emission intensity) has a resolution that can estimate the leakage current value. I understand that there is no. Also from this point, the effectiveness of estimating the leakage current value at that time from the light emitting area at the time of discharge can be confirmed.

(Example 2)
As shown in FIG. 16, the infrared camera arranged on the same optical axis as the ultraviolet camera that obtains the monitoring image of the first embodiment simultaneously captures the infrared image and the monitoring image, and has a light emitting area corresponding to the change in leakage current. Changes and changes in the heat generation area were examined.

  FIG. 18 is a graph showing the relationship between the light emission area and the leakage current based on the monitoring image. For two images of a monitoring image obtained from an ultraviolet camera and a reference image prepared in advance showing a normal image, that is, a non-discharged insulator image, a difference in luminance value of two pixels at the same coordinate position is preset. The number of pixels equal to or greater than the threshold was calculated, and the calculated number of pixels was used as the light emission area.

  In addition, the heat generation area and the light emission area in the graphs shown in FIGS. 17 to 19 are each displayed to be 1/80 times so that changes in the graph can be clearly understood. Further, the leakage current value was measured every 0.1 msec (milliseconds), and the image capturing from the different wavelength simultaneous measurement camera was performed every 33 msec (milliseconds) (30 frames per second). In addition, in order to take correspondence between the measured value of the leakage current and the monitoring image obtained from the simultaneous measurement camera of different wavelengths, NTP (Network Time Protocol) is used to synchronize the time of both measurement systems via LAN, A type stamp indicating the data creation time is attached to each of the leakage current data and the monitoring image data, and correspondence between the leakage current data and the monitoring image data is taken.

  The heat generation area is calculated by calculating the number of pixels in the region where the outside air temperature is 5 ° C. or more as a threshold for determining the heat generation portion of the infrared image obtained from the infrared camera, and extracting the calculated pixels as the heat generation area. I did it. As a result, the infrared image showed that once the heat generation area was increased, the change in the heat generation area was gradual, and when the temperature rose, the temperature remained high for a while. Further, it has been clarified that in the ultraviolet image, the temporal change of the light emission area by the monitoring image fluctuates violently with the fluctuation of the leakage current amount.

Example 4
First, the following experiment was performed in order to make the leakage current value dependent on the applied voltage value. FIG. 26 shows the relationship between leakage current and light emission area when an applied voltage of 6 kV is applied. As a result, the first leakage current estimation curve in this experiment was as follows.

<Equation 8>
S = 244.98 * I

  FIG. 27 shows the relationship between the leakage current and the light emission area when an applied voltage of 10 kV is applied. As a result, the first leakage current estimation curve in this experiment was as follows.

<Equation 9>
S = 554.8 * I

  A high correlation was observed between the light emitting area and the leakage current value (correlation coefficient = 0.80 in the first leakage current estimation curve shown in FIG. 26, the first leakage shown in FIG. 27). In the current estimation curve, since the correlation coefficient = 0.91), the regression curve indicating the first leakage current estimation curve is represented by a linear expression, but can also be obtained by power regression. Note that the regression curve in this embodiment includes a regression line.

  From the above, it was found that the first leakage current estimation curve is different when the applied voltage for the insulator is greatly different. In other words, since there is an applied voltage dependency, it has been found that the correlation between the leakage current and the light emission area must be obtained for each applied voltage.

  Second, in order to eliminate the dependency on the applied voltage, an experiment was performed in which a value obtained by multiplying the effective value of the applied voltage by the leakage current value is used as an index (light emission area spread index).

  The emission area spread index (P) is a value obtained by multiplying the effective value (V / √2) of the applied voltage by the current value (I), and is obtained by the following equation.

<Equation 10>
P = V / √2 * I

  In this experiment, the emission current spread index is obtained by multiplying the leakage current value obtained as a result of the experiment shown in FIG. 26 by the effective value (6 kV / √2) of the applied voltage, and the result of the experiment shown in FIG. The obtained leakage current value was multiplied by an effective value (10 kV / √2) of the applied voltage to obtain a light emission area spread index. From the result, the relationship between the emission area spread index and the emission area (second leakage current estimation curve) was obtained. As a result, it was found that the emission area spread index and the emission area are close to the same regression curve even at different applied voltage values. In addition, the 2nd leakage current estimation curve in this experiment became following Formula. S represents a light emission area, and P represents a light emission area spread index.

<Equation 11>
S = 71.3 * P

  Since a high correlation (correlation coefficient = 0.88) was recognized between the emission area spread index and the emission area (FIG. 28), the regression curve indicating the second leakage current estimation curve is expressed by a linear expression. However, it can also be obtained by the following formula by power regression. A is a coefficient and k is an index.

<Equation 12>
S = A * P ^k

  As a result, it was found that the leakage current amount can be estimated without depending on the applied voltage amount by obtaining the second leakage current estimation curve even if the applied voltage is different.

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a leakage current estimating method and apparatus according to the present invention and showing the configuration of a leakage current estimating apparatus. It is an image which shows an example of a reference image. It is an image which shows an example of a monitoring image. It is a figure which shows the result of having extracted the light emission part from the monitoring image of FIG. It is a figure which shows the result of having extracted the light emission part from the monitoring image of FIG. 3 by the other method. It is a figure which shows the result of having extracted the light emission part from the monitoring image of FIG. 3 by the other method. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the experimental apparatus for calculating | requiring the correlation with the light emission area at the time of discharge, and a leakage current value. It is a graph which shows an example of the relationship between the light emission area at the time of discharge, and a leakage current value, a horizontal axis shows a light emission area, and a vertical axis | shaft shows a leakage current value. It is the figure which added the regression curve which shows the correlation with the light emission area at the time of discharge, and a leakage current value about the graph of FIG. It is the figure which calculated | required the regression curve about the graph of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process of the estimation method and apparatus of the leakage current of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the light emission area calculation process. It is an image which shows the relationship between an applied voltage and discharge light, (A) shows the discharge light in the case of an applied voltage of 3 kV, (B) shows the discharge light in the case of an applied voltage of 4 kV, (C) is an imposition. The discharge light when the voltage is 6 kV is shown, (D) shows the discharge light when the applied voltage is 8 kV, and (E) shows the discharge light when the applied voltage is 10 kV. It is a graph which shows an example of the relationship between a leakage current and the luminance value on a monitoring image, a horizontal axis shows a leakage current value, and a vertical axis | shaft shows a luminance value. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the mechanism in which a discharge generate | occur | produces on the surface of a spoiled insulator, (A) shows a mode that a water droplet is formed on a insulator, (B) shows the initial mode of partial discharge on a insulator, (C) shows how arc discharge occurs on the insulator. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a different wavelength simultaneous measurement camera. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the heat_generation | fever area by an infrared image, and leakage current, a horizontal axis shows time, and a vertical axis | shaft shows a heat generation area and leakage current. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the light emission area and leakage current by an ultraviolet image, a horizontal axis shows time, and a vertical axis | shaft shows a light emission area and leakage current. It is a graph which expands the time axis | shaft of the graph which shows the relationship between the light emission area by an ultraviolet image, and leakage current, and shows the absolute value of a light emission area and leakage current. It is an image which shows an example of the change of the light emission area at the time of changing an imaging distance. It is a graph which shows the value when distance dependence is correct | amended with respect to the measured value which shows the relationship between a light emission area and leakage current. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a salt fog chamber method experimental apparatus. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the light emission area and leakage current in the applied voltage of 6 kV. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the light emission area and leakage current in the applied voltage of 10 kV. It is a graph which shows the relationship between a light emission area expansion parameter | index and a light emission area. It is a graph which shows an example of the experimental result to a polymer insulator. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process of the estimation method and apparatus of the leakage current of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Estimation apparatus 2 Imaging means 3 Light emission area calculation means 4 Estimation means 34 Reference image 35 Monitoring image 36 Light emission part 37 Reference object

Claims (14)

  An imaging means for acquiring a monitoring image of a test piece of the insulator or the same material as the insulator, a light emission area calculating means for obtaining an area of a portion emitting light from the monitoring image obtained from the imaging means, and a leakage current value And an estimation means for estimating a leakage current value flowing through the insulator or the surface of the specimen from the light emission area obtained by the light emission area calculation means based on the correlation between the light emission area and the light emission area. Estimating device.   An imaging means for acquiring a monitoring image of a test piece of the insulator or the same material as the insulator, a light emission area calculating means for obtaining an area of a portion emitting light from the monitoring image obtained from the imaging means, and a leakage current value Based on the correlation between the light emission area spread index and the light emission area obtained in advance as a light emission area spread index obtained by multiplying the effective value of the applied voltage by the light emission area calculated from the light emission area calculation means Leakage current estimation, further comprising: an estimation unit that obtains the emission area spread index and further estimates a leakage current value flowing through the insulator or the surface of the specimen corresponding to an applied voltage from the emission area spread index. apparatus.   3. The leakage current estimating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging means is an ultraviolet camera.   3. The leakage current estimating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging means includes means for increasing the sensitivity to light corresponding to a constant wavelength near 600 nm as compared to the sensitivity to light of other wavelengths.   The light emission area calculating means includes two pixels at the same coordinate position with respect to two images of a monitoring image obtained by the imaging means and a reference image prepared in advance showing a normal image of the insulator or the specimen. 5. The leakage current according to claim 1, wherein the number of pixels for which a difference in luminance value is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value is calculated, and the calculated number of pixels is used as a light emission area. Estimating device.   An infrared camera that is disposed on the same optical axis as the image pickup means and simultaneously picks up the same subject as the image pickup means, and corresponds to the monitoring when heat generation is recognized from the infrared images picked up by the infrared camera 3. The leakage current estimating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an image is selected, and the monitor image is processed by the light emitting area calculating means.   The distance dependency of the light emitting area caused by the difference in the shooting distance between the imaging means and the insulator or the test body is arbitrarily selected from objects picked up in a reference image at a predetermined shooting distance. Means for obtaining an area ratio between an area of the selected reference object on the reference image and an area of the reference object captured on the monitoring image on the monitoring image, and correcting a light emission area in the monitoring image; The leakage current estimating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   The area of the portion emitting light from the monitoring image of the insulator or the same material as that of the insulator is obtained, and based on the correlation between the light emission area obtained in advance and the leakage current value, the above obtained light emission area A leakage current estimation method characterized by estimating a leakage current value flowing through the insulator or the surface of the specimen.   Obtain the area of the part that emits light by discharge from the monitor image of the insulator or the same material as the insulator, and obtain in advance the value obtained by multiplying the leakage current value by the effective value of the applied voltage as the emission area spread index. Based on the correlation between the light emission area spread index and the light emission area, the light emission area spread index is obtained from the light emission area obtained from the monitoring image, and the insulator corresponding to the applied voltage is further calculated from the light emission area spread index. Alternatively, a leakage current estimation method, wherein a leakage current value flowing on the surface of the test body is estimated.   An infrared image is acquired on the same optical axis at the same time as the monitoring image with light emission, and the emission area is obtained for the corresponding monitoring image when heat generation is recognized from the infrared image. The method for estimating a leakage current according to 8 or 9.   Based on a plurality of sets of experimental data in which the emission area of the discharge image of the insulator or the specimen and the leakage current value at that time are set as a set, a first regression curve representing the correlation between the emission area and the leakage current is obtained. Obtaining a second regression curve based only on experimental data having a low leakage current value for the same light emission area as compared with the value on the first regression curve among the experimental data, and obtaining a blind spot portion of the discharge image Of the function representing the second regression curve is replaced with a variable representing the light emission area multiplied by (1 + α), assuming that the light emission area is α times the observed light emission area. Then, the regression curve represented by the function after the replacement is the third regression curve, the value on the second regression curve is the lower limit value of the estimated value of the leakage current, and the third regression curve The value is the upper limit of the estimated value of leakage current The method for estimating a leakage current according to claim 8.   The distance dependency of the light emitting area caused by the difference in shooting distance between the imaging means and the insulator or the specimen is arbitrarily selected from objects picked up in a reference image at a predetermined shooting distance. An area ratio between the area on the reference image of the reference object and the area on the monitoring image of the reference object captured in the monitoring image is obtained in advance, and the light emission area in the monitoring image is corrected. The method for estimating a leakage current according to claim 8 or 9.   The area of the portion emitting light by discharge is obtained from the monitoring image of the insulator, and the degree of contamination of the insulator is estimated based on the obtained light emitting area and the correlation between the predetermined light emitting area and the degree of contamination. A method of monitoring an insulator characterized by that. Simultaneously with the monitoring image, an infrared image is acquired on the same optical axis, and when the infrared image with heat generation is obtained from the infrared image, the corresponding monitoring image is selected, the emission area is obtained, and the degree of contamination is estimated. The method for monitoring an insulator according to claim 13.