FR2693583A1 - Nuclear site harmful radiation simulation system - uses spatial reference triangulation system with ultra sonic communication for training operatives - Google Patents

Abstract

The system is designed around a spatial triangulation using ultra sonics controlled by a logic supervisory unit. Each contributor carries a transmitter whose signal is identified and its propagation time measured by a series of receivers installed on a training installation. The measurements are transmitted to the supervisory logic unit for the calculation by triangulation of its co- ordinates in three dimensions. These are compared with their location on a model of the installation. Each position has at a given instant is known as a function of its environment, which permits association of simulated irradiated source values to which the contributor is submitted. All data is managed by the supervisory unit and is stored in memory and can be recalled in different forms according to needs. ADVANTAGE - Provides method for training operatives of personnel who have to enter hostile environments on nuclear sites.

Description

METHOD FOR SIMULATING INTERVENTIONS SUBJECT TO
HARMFUL RADIATION, ESPECIALLY ON SITES
NUCLEAR
The invention relates to a simulation method intended for training,
Training and awareness of staff working in environments
hostile, particularly on nuclear installations.

This invention can also be applied to any system requiring the
remote location of one or more mobiles in an environment
given.

This process makes it possible to reproduce fictitiously, therefore in a harmless way
for responders, the actual conditions of intervention in hostile environments
subject to ionizing radiation or any other dangerous emission
invisible, painless and odorless, for which training and
realistic and controlled training can lead to substantial
savings in terms of individual and collective security, design and
intervention time.

 The process is based first of all on the principle of transparency in the sense that it is invisible to stakeholders and therefore does not induce "parasitic" behavior on their part.

This implies that the conditions of the simulation are identical to the real conditions, with in particular the use of means and instruments of control, measurement and protection similar in their forms and functioning to those employed on building sites.

Another principle is that the entire training process must be recorded to allow monitoring and subsequent analysis in order to draw corrective lessons, which means archiving in real time the behavior of each of the participants.

The last principle consists in being able to remotely, during operation and without prior warning, variations of parameters in order to simulate incident situations that the participants will have to learn to manage, but also to take into account their attitude during training.

This process is designed around a spatial triangulation system by ultrasound managed by supervisor software.

The speakers each carry a transmitter whose signal is identified and its propagation time measured by a series of receivers previously installed on the model or the training facility.

These measurements are transmitted to the supervisor software for calculation by triangulation of its coordinates in three dimensions, and which compares them with their location on a previously established plan of the installation.

Each position at a given time is therefore known as a function of its environment, which makes it possible to associate therewith the values of the simulated irradiating "sources" to which the operator is subject.

This last information is then sent back to him, generally in the form of an alphanumeric display in every respect conforming to what he expects to find on his measuring and control devices.

All this information being managed by the supervisor, it is therefore stored in memory and can be restored in different forms depending on the desired goal: pedagogy, archiving, individual or collective assessments, comparisons, etc.

This provision therefore allows:
- very simply simulate restrictive working conditions
on any training or test facility;
- to involve the stakeholders by reproducing their working conditions in the most realistic way possible; - simulate incident situations in real time; - to control in real time and deferred the attitude of the participants to deduce the necessary corrective actions.

Description:
Each individual (or each mobile) carries an ultrasonic transmitter (US)
autonomous associated with a wireless communication system (for example by
infrared IR).

The working area in which it operates is covered by a number
US receivers, each equipped with the same communication system and
connected by cable to a microcomputer (PC) fulfilling the role of supervisor.

The mobile transmits a US signal, the propagation time of which is measured by
the different receptors. These measurements are transmitted to the supervisor who
determines the coordinates of the mobile by triangulation.

Simulation software illustrates the room covered by the receivers, and
allows to localize there by computer various fictitious radioactive sources
with their own parameters (nature, power, diffusion, distribution).

Each calculated position of the mobile therefore corresponds to a position in the
local accompanied by a certain number of values depending on the different
influential sources.

 For each particular transmitter, the software will therefore keep in memory for all time T its position and the values of the different sources to which it is subjected.

 The US transmitter and the communication system are connected to or concealed in the individual control device of each participant, which permanently displays the values to which it is subject, retransmitted from the supervisor through the network of receivers. The same is true for collective control systems.

 The positions being calculated at least once per second, these control devices therefore react identically to the actual devices of which they have the form and the presentation.

This structure also makes it possible, from the supervisor, to follow and influence in real time all the intervention, to integrate progressively the precautionary measures taken by the interveners (isolation of dangerous areas, installation of protective screens , ...) with the help of a simple video relay, to trigger on-demand or programmed incident situations (increase in activity of a source, creation of a new source, simulation of failures ,. ..).

Finally, the supervisor keeping in memory on a temporal basis all the parameters of a given training, it is relatively simple to program on demand the type of restitution which one wishes to obtain according to whether one wants to study the individual behavior or group of each carrier of a transmitter, follow their evolution by comparison with other training, check reflexes in incident situations, combine measurements with video monitoring, etc.

Claims (8)

CLAIMS: 1- Procedure for simulating interventions in environments subject to harmful radiation, and in particular to ionizing radiation on nuclear sites, allowing, from a computer supervisor associated with a spatial tracking device by triangulation and a wireless communication system, harmlessly reproduce the actual working conditions of operators on any training or test facility. 2- Process according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that it is completely invisible for the participants subjected to training, by using a spatial tracking device by ultrasonic propagation measurement managed by a supervisor computer. 3- A method according to claim 2, characterized in that each participant carries an autonomous ultrasonic transmitter and operates in a training area covered by ultrasonic receivers fixed on its periphery and connected by cables to the supervisor computer, and that the Measurements of the propagation time of the ultrasonic signals between the transmitters and the receivers allow the supervisor to calculate by triangulation the position of each participant in this area. 4- Method according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the plane of the training area is previously entered on a computer program of the supervisor to make it correspond in real time to the calculated positions of the different transmitters. 5- Method according to claims 1, 3 and 4, characterized in that the computer program allows to simulate on demand the presence and characteristics of irradiating sources by locating them on the area plane, and that the supervisor matches each position of an emitter values from different sources that concerns it. 6- A method according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the transmitters are hidden in the individual control devices worn by the speakers as well as in their collective control devices, and that these devices are the most exact copy possible with those that they use on construction sites. 7- A method according to claims 1, 5 and 6, characterized in that the transmitters and receivers are also equipped with a wireless communication system allowing the supervisor to retransmit in real time the exposure values to which the émeffeurs are subjected. depending on their locations - in the training area, so as to realistically simulate the operation of the control devices in which it is hidden. 8- Method according to claims 1,5 and 7, where the supervisor allows access to the computer program at any time in order to adjust the training conditions according to the preventive actions taken by the interveners, or to simulate incident situations from fictitious sources.