Railroad Forums 

  • Insulator maintenance

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1383683  by farecard
 
The HV transmission industry regularly washes the line's insulators, sometimes from the air https://youtu.be/Jeg6idCrcnA but also the ground https://youtu.be/kdIX74tt0lk

I've never heard any mention of WMATA doing so. I have to wonder why a small, self-propelled line cart with a pressure washer could not be built and used during the nightly shutdowns.

[With Google's help, it could even be self-driving..........]
 #1383692  by smallfire85
 
WMATA has a pressure washer loaded onto a flatcar that is used for that purpose, and they actually go out regularly, when some incident doesn't take over the agency's priorities for a few weeks.

In my opinion, the issue is that washing wasn't done for years, so a really intensive cleaning to clear off the years of caked soot is needed before regular washing will be effective.
 #1383702  by farecard
 
Thanks, but if it was not requiring a prime mover [sure to be needed elsewhere...], I'd think it could be done routinely.
 #1383711  by smallfire85
 
You're welcome. I think the issue is more manpower than equipment. There are plenty of prime movers to handle the work needs for a given window. Keeping equipment assigned to a task is easier than keeping routine maintenance (and its crew) from getting bumped by an urgent repair. Whatever maintenance was planned for this past Thursday will have to wait for the next available window due to the insulator incident.

I'll have to double check, but I believe that there is a prime mover dedicated for this task.
 #1383716  by Sand Box John
 
"farecard"
I've never heard any mention of WMATA doing so. I have to wonder why a small, self-propelled line cart with a pressure washer could not be built and used during the nightly shutdowns.


Cleaning third rail insulators is a totally different game, different issues need to be considered.

Here is a report that was presented to the Transportation Research Board in October of 2004:
Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis
Cleaning Device for Electrified Third Rail Insulators (1.04 MB PDF file)

Apparently somebody at the Small Business Administration thought it worth of development funding.

I have no idea what the status of the product is.
 #1383736  by JDC
 
Sand Box John wrote:"farecard"
I've never heard any mention of WMATA doing so. I have to wonder why a small, self-propelled line cart with a pressure washer could not be built and used during the nightly shutdowns.


Cleaning third rail insulators is a totally different game, different issues need to be considered.

Here is a report that was presented to the Transportation Research Board in October of 2004:
Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis
Cleaning Device for Electrified Third Rail Insulators (1.04 MB PDF file)

Apparently somebody at the Small Business Administration thought it worth of development funding.

I have no idea what the status of the product is.
That was an interesting report.
 #1383747  by JackRussell
 
JDC wrote: That was an interesting report.
I was struck by the huge price difference between porcelain and fiberglass insulators. Perhaps a 10x difference in price.

This is the sort of purpose built thing that it would be hard to sell commercially due to the limited numbers that would ever be required. But the design of the thing seems sound enough. That being said, the guy patented the thing and is trying to commercialize it. I found a SBIR grant from 2013

https://www.sbir.gov/sbirsearch/detail/416935" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This Phase IIB proposal will accelerate the commercialization of the Phase II project that developed the Vohrtex insulator cleaner. The Phase II cleaner used self-spinning nozzles which require oversized offset jets to provide sufficient reaction force to make the nozzle spin. The oversized jets damage the surface finish of the insulators. This Phase IIB project will use small pneumatic, electric or hydraulic motors coupled to a new small rotary swivel, to spin the nozzles. The nozzle can be run at an appropriate speed, with smaller jets of optimized diameters, where the dwell time and diameter of the jet will wipe the dirt off without damaging the surface of the insulator. Smaller jets will not damage the surface finish of the insulators, require less water, a smaller jetting pump and less diesel engine exhaust emissions in the tunnel confines – all required attributes that will provide the cleaner that the Subways have said they want to acquire and is vital to the commercial viability of the SBIR project results. A prototype Vohrtex cleaner will be bench tested and also demonstrated on the track of a participating transit agency for commercialization and deployment in other subways.
 #1383782  by Sand Box John
 
JackRussell"
I was struck by the huge price difference between porcelain and fiberglass insulators. Perhaps a 10x difference in price.


The fiberglass insulators is a single piece item, The ceramic insulator is composed of 7 parts, A base retaining ring, the insulator, a rubber gasket, a 2 piece bracket held in place by a nut and bolt.

Image

The wall of the shaft of the fiberglass insulator is roughly the same thickness as the base. The ceramic insulator has a roughly 1" diameter open core that runs up to roughly 2" from the top.

I happen to believe the ceramic insulator is superior to the fiberglass insulators when properly maintained.

I wish I had a section of third rail, I do have a section of running rail.
 #1383801  by srepetsk
 
farecard wrote:I'm astonished that such has not existed for decades.
NYC has had subways for how long???
MTA also has a vacuum train (aptly named the "VakTrain") specifically for removing dust and debris from their tunnels, which partially the need to wash insulators.
Image