A wall-crawling robot for reactor vessel inspection in advanced reactors

Conference · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10159085

Spelt, P F ^[1]; Crane, C ^[2]; Feng, L ^[3]; Abidi, M ^[4]; Tosunoglu, S ^[5]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
4. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
5. University of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

A consortium of four universities and the Center for Engineering Systems Advanced Research of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has designed a prototype wall-crawling robot to perform weld inspection in advanced nuclear reactors. Design efforts for the reactor vessel inspection robot (RVIR) concentrated on the Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor because it presents the most demanding environment in which such a robot must operate. The RVIR consists of a chassis containing two sets of suction cups that can alternately grasp the side of the vessel being inspected, providing both locomotion and steering functions. Sensors include three CCD cameras and a weld inspection device based on new shear-wave technology. The restrictions of the inspection environment presented major challenges to the team. These challenges were met in the prototype, which has been tested in a non-radiation, room-temperature mockup of the robot work environment and shown to perform as expected.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 10159085
• Report Number(s): CONF-9405169--1; ON: DE94013617
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500
42 ENGINEERING
420203
CAMERAS
DEFECTS
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DESIGN
HANDLING EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES
INSPECTION
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
NAVIGATION
OPERATION
PERFORMANCE TESTING
POWER REACTORS
BREEDING
REACTOR VESSELS
REMOTE SENSING
REMOTE VIEWING EQUIPMENT
ROBOTS
WELDED JOINTS