Automatic elevator for assisting maintenance of distribution power line - Control system

The maintenance of public lightning equipments is an important and frequent activity of power utility company in Brazil. This service is usually executed using a truck with aerial bucket or a manual ladder. Despite the bucket truck being consolidated as a versatile device for several tasks across the electricity network, it still presents disadvantages such as the difficult on using it in urban areas or due to its high initial cost. The use of manual ladder, on the other hand, presents serious ergonomic problems, like, heavy weight carrying and increased risk of accidents to the electrician. Aiming to develop a solution able of aggregating the advantages of the aerial bucket and the ladder, studies were developed at the Escola Politécnica of São Paulo University, in partnership with the CPFL utility company. This resulted in a device named Automatic Elevator, which is a mechatronic computer controlled device, equipped by electrical / hydraulic actuators and sensors, that is able of carrying the electrician to the level of the lamps and provide mobility to access the majority of equipments installed in a pole. In a past work, mechanical aspects of the latest version of the Elevator were presented. Here, the control system is presented.