TY - GEN
T1 - Design and Experimental Validation of a Robotic System for Reactor Core Detector Removal
AU - Han, Zhe
AU - Tian, Huanyu
AU - Meng, Fansheng
AU - Wen, Hao
AU - Ma, Rui
AU - Duan, Xingguang
AU - Zhang, Yilin
AU - Liu, Chenghua
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The reactor power and the coolant level in the nuclear plant are monitored via the reactor core detectors. Every 4 to 5 years, the detectors with high-level radiation need to be removed, which is time-consuming and hazardous for workers. To address this issue, this paper introduces a novel robotic system and its strategy for the removal of the detectors. The modular mechanisms are designed to achieve diverse actions such as positioning, extracting, transporting, cutting, and coiling. The detector with different radiation doses is physically classified and minimized in volume. The experiments to simulate the removal process are conducted. The results demonstrate that the time for the robotic removal of one detector is reduced from more than 1 hour to 31.2±5.3 min compared with the manual mode. The radiation exposure time for workers is reduced to 0 under normal working conditions, which significantly reduces the radiation dose compared with the traditional methods.
AB - The reactor power and the coolant level in the nuclear plant are monitored via the reactor core detectors. Every 4 to 5 years, the detectors with high-level radiation need to be removed, which is time-consuming and hazardous for workers. To address this issue, this paper introduces a novel robotic system and its strategy for the removal of the detectors. The modular mechanisms are designed to achieve diverse actions such as positioning, extracting, transporting, cutting, and coiling. The detector with different radiation doses is physically classified and minimized in volume. The experiments to simulate the removal process are conducted. The results demonstrate that the time for the robotic removal of one detector is reduced from more than 1 hour to 31.2±5.3 min compared with the manual mode. The radiation exposure time for workers is reduced to 0 under normal working conditions, which significantly reduces the radiation dose compared with the traditional methods.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85125463781
U2 - 10.1109/ICRA48506.2021.9560847
DO - 10.1109/ICRA48506.2021.9560847
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85125463781
T3 - Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
SP - 2473
EP - 2479
BT - 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2021
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2021
Y2 - 30 May 2021 through 5 June 2021
ER -