Filters
Results 1 - 1 of 1
Results 1 - 1 of 1.
Search took: 0.013 seconds
Bucher, Luisa; Hafen, Hubert; Dixon, Joe
WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)2019
WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)2019
AbstractAbstract
[en] A power manipulator has many applications in the handling, treatment and packaging of radioactive waste. In high radiation environments, where humans cannot work safely, a power manipulator is essential to perform difficult and heavy tasks. For more than 40 years, Waelischmiller has provided power manipulators to the nuclear market. Specifically in a high radiation nuclear environment, electrical driven manipulators are preferred. The basic design of a power manipulator is divided into the following parts: Bridge, carriage, telescopic mast and manipulator arm. All parts are customizable in length, width and capacity. The standard power manipulator version is equipped with a manipulator arm. For the nuclear waste disposal industry, there is a special need for a drum gripper. Drums are used for packing low, medium or high activated material and for storage. After packing, the drums must be handled remotely. For both tasks, a power manipulator with a drum gripper is needed. For this project KTE (Kerntechnische Entsorgung Karlsruhe GmbH) required a total refurbishment of equipment in a cell used for handling, sorting and packaging radioactive waste drums. The power manipulator was obsolete and provided low availability and through put. This cell was an essential asset in their decommissioning process and was impacting KTE's ability to meet their volume objectives. Our challenge was to develop a new system with few details from the original cell construction. The new manipulator must meet all capabilities of the old system and in addition have the ability to achieve 180 degree tilting of the drums. An additional challenge was the requirement to use the existing rails in the cell which were very close to the roof structure which required a special design. Our project, named internally Henriette, is the first of its kind. The drum gripper is based on the power manipulator A1000 series. The biggest challenges in this project were to adapt the standard components of the power manipulator to the non-standard type of gripper to have 180 deg. tilting of the drum and a handling capacity of 1200 kg in the whole working range. The new manipulator fits to the old rails and is mountable in a hot cell with restricted access and can operate with the other A1000 manipulator which is located in the cell. The result is a system with no external wiring, maintenance-free and easy to decontaminate. Other features include a 5 t auxiliary hoist on additional and parallel carriages, emergency drives for bridge and carriage, emergency drive for telescope turn movement and emergency lifting unit for telescope. A tilt and pan holder for camera on the telescope and external mechanical emergency drives on the gripper were also essential. This paper will address the complexity, challenges and engineering ingenuity required to replace very old and obsolete equipment with a state-of-the-art system within very limited physical space and within a high radiation environment. (authors)
Primary Subject
Source
2019; 9 p; WM2019: 45. Annual Waste Management Conference; Phoenix, AZ (United States); 3-7 Mar 2019; Available from: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (US); Country of input: France; available online at: https://www.xcdsystem.com/wmsym/2019/index.html
Record Type
Miscellaneous
Literature Type
Conference
Report Number
Country of publication
Reference NumberReference Number
INIS VolumeINIS Volume
INIS IssueINIS Issue