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UKAEA-RACE-PR(23)022021
Maintenance and inspection systems for future fusion power plants (e.g., STEP and DEMO) are expected to require the integration of hundreds of systems from multiple suppliers, with lifetime expectancies of several decades, where requirements evolve over time and obsolescence management is required. There are significant challenges associated wit…
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UKAEA-RACE-CP(23)022021
Robotic systems that enable the operators to remotely manipulate delicate materials with high dexterity and sufficient force feedback will pave the path for improvements of the safe maintenance and decommissioning processes within the nuclear industry. Training the operators, however, for challenging conditions (e.g., low visibility, restricted …
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UKAEA-RACE-CP(21)042021
Just like most industrial or scientific installations, future fusion reactors will require more or less frequent maintenance. The expected environmental conditions, as well as the necessity of carrying out many maintenance tasks in parallel in result in remote robotic maintenance becoming a necessity in order to minimize the maintenance shutdown du…
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UKAEA-RACE-CP(21)022021
Sensor technologies will play a key role in the success of Remote Maintenance (RM) systems for future fusion reactors such as ITER and DEMO. Understanding their limitations and suitability for use in a fusion context is crucial to the operation and maintenance of these reactors. In this paper, we evaluate three key types of sensor which are of p…
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UKAEA-RACE-PR(23)012020
In the last decades, several approaches have been presented to accomplish tasks with a robot or autonomous systems in a glovebox, nevertheless, in nuclear facilities, risky operations are still executed by humans that guarantee a high manipulation capability and dexterity. Inside the gloveboxes, robotic devices have to operate in cluttered envir…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(21)202020
In the worlds of nuclear energy, mining, petrochemical processing, and sub-sea, robots are being used for an increasing number and range of tasks. This is resulting in ever more complex robotics installations being deployed, maintained, and extended over long periods of time. Additionally, the unstructured, experimental, or unknown operational cond…
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UKAEA-RACE-PR(21)012020
Remote handling systems are commonly used for decommissioning and maintenance of hazardous environments, specially in the nuclear sector. The necessity for a more realistic and accurate user interaction with the remote environment has led research towards the usage of immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality. In order for thi…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(20)1332020
Future experimental scientific facilities, energy generation assets, and nuclear decommissioning facilities will require increasing levels of remote maintenance, which must be facilitated by robotic systems. Moreover, these long-lived (30+ years) maintenance systems will, themselves need to maintained and upgraded in order to deal with lifespan …
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UKAEA-CCFE-CP(20)822018
The containment vessel of the Joint European Torus is a huge, complicated assembly with a myriad of components, all of which are important for plasma operation. As a research device, JET has been operated over many years and has been extensively rebuilt. During each maintenance shutdown, inspections and measurements of the Vacuum Vessel are carri…
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UKAEA-CCFE-CP(18)092018
The operation of nuclear fusion facilities must be carefully planned and monitored due to the potential damage to equipment or personnel caused by radiation fields. A method for visualising such three-dimensional (3D) radiation fields in real-time is presented. An interactive volumetric representation is achieved using view-dependent ray casting of…
Showing 11 - 20 of 20 UKAEA Paper Results