Abstract: In the power system, it is difficult to detect the insulator's deterioration in operation. Aiming at this problem, this thesis applies the convolution neural network algorithm to evaluate the insulator's deterioration degree based on the deep analysis of the principle and structure of the convolution neural network model. Firstly, the power frequency flashover test was conducted on the insulator to produce three states as follows: no discharge, weak discharge, and strong discharge. Moreover, the Ultraviolet imager was applied to collect the insulator's ultraviolet images in different discharge state to establish the ultraviolet images sample library. Subsequently, the VGGNet framework neural network algorithm was applied to perform the classification training and the state-prediction evaluation on the samples so as to eventually achieve the purpose of judging whether the insulator is degraded. From the experimental results, it can be seen that the accuracy rate of the algorithm is as high as 98.4%, which has broad application prospects in the insulator's degradation detection. Furthermore, it provides a mentality for the reliability detection of other power equipments.