Recently, the team led by Professor Wang Shuangxi from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, won the bid for the research and application project of “Research and Application of Multi-Functional Intelligent Operation and Maintenance Equipment for Large-Scale Complex Terrain ‘Fish-Solar Complementary’ Photovoltaic Power Stations” of Huaneng Guangdong Shantou Power Plant, with a project funding of 6.728 million yuan. This amount sets a new record for cooperation projects between Shantou University and Huaneng Group, demonstrating the university’s proactive efforts in deepening cooperation with state-owned and central state-owned enterprises, strengthening collaborative innovation, and promoting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces.
“Fish-solar complementary” is an innovative model integrating clean energy and ecological agriculture under the national “dual carbon” strategy. However, in actual operation, it faces core pain points such as difficulties in cleaning photovoltaic panels, high risks of water operations, and numerous blind spots in equipment inspection. To address these common industry challenges, Wang will lead the project team to focus on developing two core pieces of equipment: a dual-purpose heavy-duty drone system and an amphibious obstacle-surmounting operation and maintenance platform system. The former combines the high-altitude mobility of industrial multi-rotor drones with the precise operation capabilities of ground mobile robots to achieve efficient and intelligent cleaning of photovoltaic panel surfaces. The latter adopts an amphibious load-bearing structure, supporting manned operation and excellent pond-crossing capability, fundamentally resolving safety risks in water operations. Through the rational integration of the two basic units, the project will build a comprehensive and multi-functional intelligent inspection system for photovoltaic power stations in complex terrains, realizing photovoltaic panel cleaning and efficient and safe operation and maintenance of power stations, providing replicable and scalable innovative solutions for the industry.
Led by Shantou University and jointly undertaken with Shantou Light Industry Equipment Research Institute, the project relies on scientific research platforms including the Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology (Ministry of Education), Shantou University, and Shantou Key Laboratory of Intelligent Equipment and Technology. It brings together multidisciplinary core strengths in mechanical engineering, intelligent manufacturing, computer science, electrical engineering, and automation. The project team boasts solid technical reserves and engineering implementation capabilities in the fields of intelligent power plant operation and maintenance and special robot development. It has successfully developed a series of intelligent technologies and products for scenarios such as online laser cleaning of insulators and internal inspection of thermal power plant boilers, laying a solid foundation for the smooth implementation of this project. The implementation and transformation of the project will further deepen university-enterprise industry-university-research cooperation and enhance the university’s capacity for scientific and technological innovation to serve the development of the new energy industry.
Text: Li Bing, Weng Jiaying
Reposted from Shantou University News Network
