Industry Notes

摘要

Engineering students at Johns Hopkins University have invented a tool that would allow utility workers to disconnect power lines from residential transformers at a safe distance, beyond the range of dangerous electrical arcs. Their prototype, built at the request of a local utility company, consists of a lightweight aluminum frame that uses rope and a lever-and-pulley system to enable the worker to detach a transformer's power connector, known as a load break elbow. This operation sometimes triggers an explosive arc that can cause serious skin burns and eye injuries. Such arcs can travel as far as 8 ft from the transformer, but the students' device would enable workers to disconnect the line from 10 to 12 ft away.