JP4592283B2 - In-reactor inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to nuclear reactor inspection equipment for inspecting reactor pressure vessel internal structures and the reactor internal component such as a shroud.

  In general, an in-reactor inspection apparatus is used for inspecting a reactor pressure vessel and structures inside the reactor. The inspection is particularly targeted at the weld lines of the shrouds, which are the main welded structures in the reactor. Such an inspection operation is performed by mounting various inspection devices on an underwater vehicle in order to perform an inspection as widely as possible in a short time.

  As such an in-reactor inspection apparatus, an underwater remote control vehicle is provided with a forward / reverse / swivel thruster and an elevating / traverse thruster, and a pivotable arm mechanism is attached. There is an example in which various inspection means such as an ultrasonic inspection means, a radiation-resistant television camera, and an infrared camera are detachably attached to the tip of the mechanism (see Patent Document 1 below).

  In this example, an XY scanner mechanism is provided at the tip of the arm mechanism, and various inspection means are attached to the XY scanner mechanism. As the inspection operation, the arm mechanism and various inspection means are moved to the inspection site by the thruster of the underwater remote control vehicle, the XY scanner mechanism is pressed near the inspection site, and the inspection means is scanned by the degree of freedom of operation. And inspect it.

  As another example of in-reactor inspection equipment, an underwater mobile trolley that moves without a track while adsorbing to an underwater wall to remotely detect and remove defects generated on the inner wall of a reactor pressure vessel, etc. There is a device provided with a device arm that reciprocally moves in a uniaxial direction along its width direction, and this device arm is provided with a monitoring means for a defective portion and a grinding means (see Patent Document 2 below).

The apparatus includes a slide rail that is slidably attached to the device arm, and a cylinder that moves the slide rail close to and away from the wall surface. It is possible to work on the wall surface even when is stopped and moving.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-14784 JP-A-11-21878

  In the conventional in-reactor inspection apparatus as described above, when inspecting the reactor pressure vessel or in-reactor structure in the in-reactor water, especially when inspecting the weld line of each structure, swimming Inspection work can be carried out by mounting an inspection sensor for inspection on a moving or suction traveling vehicle, and carrying and positioning along a welding line. When using a non-contact type sensor, it moves while adsorbing on the internal structure of the furnace such as the shroud by the adsorption traveling vehicle, and attaches a roller or a free wheel to the holder of the installed inspection sensor, and attaches it to the shroud wall or By pressing against the furnace internal structure, the distance and posture between the inspection sensor and the weld line to be inspected can be made constant.

  However, the pressing state of the roller and the free wheel may change, and the relative distance and posture between the inspection sensor and the weld line may shift. In actual inspection, there is a high demand for fine adjustment of the inspection sensor mounting state while checking the output state of the inspection sensor. In order to correct such a deviation, it is necessary to adjust the mounting position by lifting the vehicle from the water each time. However, when the inspection device has entered a narrow area, the lifting work itself is difficult and time consuming, and the equipment is contaminated in the furnace, so equipment such as a hood mask is required for adjustment work. Since workability is poor, adjustment is difficult. As a result, there is a problem that it takes time for adjustment of the sensor mounting position and work setup, and the time for the entire inspection work increases.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and can remotely control the position and posture of an inspection sensor for inspecting the inside of a nuclear reactor, and easily perform adjustment and setup for inspection. and to provide a nuclear reactor inspection equipment capable of.

The invention of claim 1 includes an underwater vehicle that moves in a three-dimensional direction within a nuclear reactor, an inspection sensor that obtains information by inspecting the inside of the nuclear reactor, and a position and posture of the inspection sensor that are held with respect to the underwater vehicle. Inspection sensor driving device for adjusting the operation of the vehicle, a vehicle control operation unit for controlling the operation of the underwater vehicle provided outside the reactor, and an inspection sensor for controlling the operation of the inspection sensor driving device provided outside the reactor A driving device control operation unit; and an inspection sensor output signal processing unit that inputs and processes an output signal of the inspection sensor that is provided outside the reactor and corresponds to the inspection information. A position adjusting mechanism configured by connecting three linear motion mechanisms that adjust the mounting position of the inspection sensor in the three orthogonal axes with respect to the underwater vehicle; and Attached to parts, and a said inspection position adjustment mechanism posture adjusting the sensor around the three orthogonal axes, the posture adjustment mechanism to counter the installed two driving bevel gears, two follower bevel gear Is engaged with each of the driving bevel gears, and the rotation shafts are orthogonally disposed opposite to each other, and the driven side is rotated around the two orthogonal axes by combining the rotation directions of the driving bevel gears. To do.

According to the present invention, the position and orientation of the inspection sensors to inspect the reactor can be controlled remotely, provides coordination and reactor inspection equipment capable of easily performed that the setup for inspection be able to.

It will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, embodiments of the nuclear reactor inspection equipment according to the present invention.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a case where an inner shell and a lower shell inner surface of a shroud 62 which is a reactor internal structure in a boiling water reactor are inspected by an in-reactor inspection apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a cable 4 is connected to an underwater vehicle 1 on which an inspection sensor 2 and an inspection sensor driving device 3 are mounted. The cable 4 is installed on an operation floor 70 or a fuel changer 71. The control operation unit 5a, the inspection sensor drive device control operation unit 5b, and the inspection sensor output processing unit 6 are connected. Further, the vehicle control operation unit 5a, the inspection sensor drive device control operation unit 5b, and the inspection sensor output processing unit 6 are connected to each other in order to exchange information such as inspection position data.

  For example, when the inspection of the lower part of the reactor is performed, the inspection sensor 2 and the inspection sensor driving device 3 are mounted on the underwater vehicle 1, and the reactor pressure vessel 61 is introduced into the reactor from above and submerged while swimming in the reactor water 60. It passes through the upper lattice plate 63 and the core support plate 64 and reaches the lower part of the furnace. Then, the inspection sensor 2 is transported to the inspection location by the underwater vehicle 1 to perform the inspection.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the underwater vehicle 1. That is, a pair of upper and lower thrusters 7 are disposed at the same angle at the upper left and right of the underwater vehicle 1, and a pair of horizontal thrusters 8 are disposed at the center. In order to travel along the surface of the shroud 62, the ball caster 12 is provided on one side, and two traveling wheels 9 and two distance measuring rollers 10 are disposed on the opposite side of the ball caster 12. As the inspection sensor 2, for example, a visual inspection camera, a volume inspection ultrasonic sensor, an eddy current inspection sensor, or the like can be used. In this embodiment, a laser UT (Ultrasonic Testing ) probe is used. ing. The laser UT probe projects two types of laser light, flaw detection laser light and reception laser light, onto a region to be inspected for crack inspection.

  The inspection sensor 2 is attached to the lower part of the underwater vehicle 1 by an inspection sensor driving device 3. Then, the inspection sensor driving device 3 adjusts the scanning operation and the position and posture of the inspection sensor 2 with respect to the inspection target part. The position and orientation of the inspection sensor 2 with respect to the shroud 62 are adjusted by measuring the distance to the shroud 62 with the ultrasonic sensors 15 and 16 attached to the mounting bracket 17 of the inspection sensor 2.

  The pair of upper and lower thrusters 7 swims the underwater vehicle 1 in an arbitrary direction such as diving, floating, and left and right by operating the respective rotating directions and combining the directions of water flow. Further, the pair of horizontal thrusters 8 cause the underwater vehicle 1 to move forward, backward and turn about the vertical axis. A float 14 is disposed at the upper part of the underwater vehicle 1. By adjusting the underwater vehicle 1 so that its own weight and buoyancy in water are balanced, after passing through the upper lattice plate 63 and the core support plate 64, it swims to the side and shrouds. 62 Can go to the inner surface. Since the center of buoyancy is higher than the center of gravity in the water, the inspection sensor 2 is always held downward when stopped, and the posture during swimming by the upper and lower thrusters 7 and the horizontal thruster 8 is maintained. It can be stabilized.

  The underwater vehicle 1 swims in the reactor water 60, reaches the vicinity of the inspection location in the reactor pressure vessel 61, and then generates a water flow from the front side of the vehicle to the rear side by the horizontal thruster 8, thereby the shroud 62 to be inspected. The ball caster 12, the traveling wheel 9 and the distance measuring roller 10 are brought into contact with the shroud 62. In this state, the inclination of the vehicle is measured by the inclination sensor 13, and when it is inclined, the upper and lower traveling wheels 9 are driven in opposite directions by a wheel drive motor (not shown) to vertically correct the attitude of the underwater vehicle 1. .

  Further, the traveling wheel 9 is rotated and moved by the wheel drive motor. At this time, the underwater vehicle 1 is in contact with the shroud 62 at three points, and can move horizontally while keeping the distance from the shroud 62 constant. At this time, the inclination of the vehicle is measured by the inclination sensor 13, and when the vehicle is inclined, the vehicle can be moved horizontally while maintaining the vertical posture by adjusting and controlling the rotational speed of the upper and lower traveling wheels 9. Further, the underwater vehicle 1 can be moved in the vertical direction by tilting and moving while turning. Since the distance measuring roller 10 rotates together with the traveling wheel 9 during traveling, the traveling distance of the underwater vehicle 1 relative to the attracted shroud 62, that is, the relative movement amount of the inspection sensor 2 can be measured by the rotation sensor 11 such as an encoder.

  Next, the configuration and operation of the inspection sensor driving device 3 will be described with reference to FIG. A Z-axis base 20 is attached to the lower part of the underwater vehicle 1. The Y-axis base 22 is connected to the Z-axis base 20 via a linear guide 21 and is driven up and down by a timing belt 24 and a ball screw 25 using a Z-axis drive motor 23 as a drive source. The X-axis base 27 is connected to the Y-axis base 22 via a linear guide 26 combined in two stages, and is driven back and forth by a timing belt 29 and a rack and pinion 30 using a Y-axis drive motor 28 as a drive source. .

  Further, the θ and φ axis bases 31 which are the bases of the attitude adjusting mechanism are connected to the X axis base 27 via a linear guide 32, and left and right by a bevel gear 34 and a timing belt 35 using an X axis drive motor 33 as a drive source. Driven. That is, the inspection sensor 2 can be operated in three orthogonal directions, with the left-right direction as the X-axis, the up-down direction as the Z-axis, and the front-back direction as the Y-axis. The above is the degree of freedom of movement in the translation direction. With respect to the degree of freedom of operation in the rotational direction, the ψ-axis base 38 is connected to the θ and φ-axis base 31 via a two-axis orthogonal rotation mechanism 45 and is driven by θ and φ-axis drive motors 36 and 37. The inspection sensor 2 is rotationally driven around the ψ axis by the bevel gear 40 with the ψ axis drive motor 39 as a drive source with respect to the ψ axis base 38.

  Next, the configuration and operation of the biaxial orthogonal rotation mechanism 45 related to the attitude adjustment freedom of the inspection sensor 2 will be described with reference to FIG. The two driven bevel gears 48 and 49 are respectively connected to the bevel gears 46 and 47 with respect to the two drive bevel gears 46 and 47 that are attached to and opposed to the output shafts of the θ and φ axis drive motors 36 and 37. At the same time as the gears are engaged, the rotation axes are orthogonally placed opposite each other. The shaft 51 is fixedly connected to the ψ-axis base 38 and the driven bevel gear 48, but the shaft 52 fixed to the driven bevel wheel 49 is rotatably supported by the ψ-axis base 38.

  Now, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the driving bevel gears 46 and 47 are rotated in the same direction, the driven bevel gears 48 and 49 rotate together around the θ axis without rotating relatively. Further, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the driving bevel gears 46 and 47 are rotated in the opposite direction, the driven bevel gears 48 and 49 are relatively rotated. Therefore, the ψ axis fixed to the driven bevel gear 48 is used. The base 38 rotates around the φ axis. That is, it rotates right and left as shown in FIG.

  The inspection sensor driving device 3 can adjust the scanning operation and the position and orientation of the inspection sensor 2 by combining the above-described translational freedom and rotational freedom. That is, the underwater vehicle 1 can be sucked and fixed to the shroud 62, for example, and the tip of the inspection sensor 2 can be operated in a square wave shape in a plane parallel to the suction wall surface (X-axis direction and Z-axis direction in FIG. 3). The position and orientation of the inspection sensor 2 with respect to the shroud 62 are adjusted by detecting the distance to the shroud 62 by the ultrasonic sensors 15 and 16.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the ultrasonic sensor 15 on the left side of the inspection sensor 2 and the ultrasonic sensor 16 on the right side are attached at different positions in the vertical direction. Each ultrasonic sensor 15, 16 measures the distance to the shroud 62 and adjusts the θ axis and the ψ axis so that these two values are equal, so that the inspection sensor 2 is parallel to the shroud 62. Can be adjusted. Further, the distance of the inspection sensor 2 with respect to the shroud 62 can be adjusted by adjusting the position in the Y-axis direction (front-rear direction) so that these two values are set in advance. By using the ultrasonic sensors 15 and 16 in this manner, the parallelism with respect to the shroud 62 when scanning in the form of a square wave up and down and left and right (in the X-axis direction and the Z-axis direction in FIG. 3) with respect to the shroud 62 is achieved. A distance can be secured.

  It is also possible to operate the tip of the inspection sensor 2 in a square wave shape within a plane orthogonal to the suction wall surface (X-axis direction and Y-axis direction in FIG. 3). For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the inspection sensor 2 is scanned with respect to the shroud support plate 77 which is a horizontal plane in an annulus portion sandwiched between the reactor pressure vessel 61 and the shroud 62. In this case, the same scanning as described above can be performed by changing the direction in which the ultrasonic sensors 15 and 16 are attached and measuring in the vertical direction.

  The scanning method of the inspection sensor 2 described above is when the underwater vehicle 1 is fixed. However, the inspection sensor 2 is moved horizontally by the traveling function of the underwater vehicle 1 by adjusting the relative posture of the inspection sensor 2 with respect to the suction wall surface. By carrying it, it is also possible to inspect the weld line continuously.

  FIG. 5 shows a working situation by the in-reactor inspection apparatus of the present embodiment in the annulus portion sandwiched between the reactor pressure vessel 61 and the shroud 62. That is, for example, when the weld line inspection of the reactor pressure vessel 61 and the shroud support plate 77 is performed, the underwater vehicle 1 is adsorbed on the inner surface of the reactor pressure vessel 61 and the inspection sensor driving device 3 and the inspection sensor attached to the lower part are attached. 2 is carried and positioned along the weld line. In this case, it is possible to inspect the weld line by scanning only the inspection sensor 2 while the underwater vehicle 1 is stopped. In addition, the inspection sensor 2 and the underwater vehicle 1 continuously inspect while moving horizontally. It is also possible. Further, the weld line inspection of the shroud support cylinder 76 and the shroud support plate 77 can be performed by the same configuration and method. As shown in FIG. 3, since the inspection sensor driving device can be configured to be thin, it is easy to adapt to the inspection work of the weld line at the bottom of the annulus portion with a narrow and limited allowable dimension as shown in FIG.

  The operations of the underwater vehicle 1 and the inspection sensor driving device 3 described above are performed by operating the vehicle control operation unit 5a and the inspection sensor driving device control operation unit 5b while viewing the display of the inspection sensor output processing unit 6 installed on the operation floor 70. Operate and control.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the inspection of the reactor pressure vessel 61 and the internal structure of the reactor, the inspection sensor 2 is moved while the underwater vehicle 1 is adsorbed to the internal structure of the reactor such as the shroud 62 and moved. When the inspection is performed by the inspection sensor driving device 3, the position and orientation of the inspection sensor 2 can be remotely adjusted and kept appropriate. As a result, the time required for the setup and adjustment for inspection can be reduced, the work time can be shortened, and the work can be performed efficiently. Further, since the position and orientation of the inspection sensor 2 can be adjusted according to the output of the inspection sensor 2, the inspection quality can be improved.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The in-reactor inspection apparatus of the present embodiment uses a shaft motor in place of the drive motor, the timing belt, and the ball screw that constitute the linear motion mechanism provided in the inspection sensor drive apparatus 3 in the first embodiment described above. . A shaft motor is one of linear actuators in which a shaft passes through a mover having a built-in coil, and this shaft is directly operated in the axial direction by a magnetic force.

That is, in FIG. 3, the Z-axis that moves the Y-axis base 22 up and down is constituted by three mechanical elements, that is, a Z-axis drive motor 23, a timing belt 24, and a ball screw 25. These three structural elements are replaced with a shaft motor. . Thus, in the first embodiment, the drive structure that is operated by converting the rotational motion of the drive motor into the translational motion by the ball screw becomes the drive structure that is directly operated in the translational direction by the shaft motor.
According to the present embodiment, since the configuration of the linear motion mechanism can be simplified, the inspection sensor drive device 3 can be made small and light.

The figure which shows the state which installed the in-reactor inspection apparatus of the 1st Embodiment of this invention in the reactor. The underwater vehicle which comprises the in-reactor inspection apparatus of the 1st Embodiment of this invention is shown, (a) is a front view, (b) is a partial side view. The inspection sensor drive device mounted in the underwater vehicle which comprises the in-reactor inspection apparatus of the 1st Embodiment of this invention is shown, (a) is a front view, (b) is the bb arrow in (a). FIG. The figure explaining operation | movement of the biaxial orthogonal rotation mechanism with which the in-reactor inspection apparatus of the 1st Embodiment of this invention is equipped. The figure which shows the condition which inspects the weld line of a reactor pressure vessel and a shroud support plate by the in-reactor inspection apparatus of the 1st Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Underwater vehicle, 2 ... Inspection sensor, 3 ... Inspection sensor drive device, 4 ... Cable, 5a ... Vehicle control operation part, 5b ... Inspection sensor drive device control operation part, 6 ... Inspection sensor output process part, 7 ... Vertical thruster , 8 ... Horizontal thruster, 9 ... Traveling wheel, 10 ... Distance measuring roller, 11 ... Rotation sensor, 12 ... Ball caster, 13 ... Inclination sensor, 14 ... Float, 15, 16 ... Ultrasonic sensor, 17 ... Mounting bracket, 20 ... Z-axis base, 21 ... Linear guide, 22 ... Y-axis base, 23 ... Z-axis drive motor, 24 ... Timing belt, 25 ... Ball screw, 26 ... Linear guide, 27 ... X-axis base, 28 ... Y-axis drive motor, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 29 ... Timing belt, 30 ... Rack and pinion, 31 ... (theta), (phi) axis base, 32 ... Linear guide, 33 ... X-axis drive motor, 34 ... Bevel gear, 35 ... timing belt, 36, 37 ... θ, φ axis drive motor, 38 ... ψ axis base, 39 ... ψ axis drive motor, 40 ... bevel gear, 45 ... two-axis orthogonal rotation mechanism, 46, 47 ... drive bevel gear, 48, 49 ... driven bevel gear, 51, 52 ... shaft, 60 ... water, 61 ... reactor pressure vessel, 62 ... shroud, 63 ... upper lattice plate, 64 ... core support plate, 65 ... lower mirror, 66 ... stub Tube, 67 ... CRD housing, 70 ... Operation floor, 71 ... Fuel changer, 75 ... Jet pump adapter, 76 ... Shroud support cylinder, 77 ... Shroud support plate.

Claims (1)

An underwater vehicle that moves in a three-dimensional direction within the nuclear reactor, an inspection sensor that inspects the reactor to obtain information, and an inspection sensor drive that holds the inspection sensor with respect to the underwater vehicle and adjusts its position and orientation. An apparatus, a vehicle control operation unit that is provided outside the reactor and controls the operation of the underwater vehicle, an inspection sensor drive device control operation unit that is provided outside the reactor and controls the operation of the inspection sensor drive device, An inspection sensor output signal processing unit that is provided outside the nuclear reactor and inputs and processes an output signal of the inspection sensor corresponding to the inspection information;
The inspection sensor driving device includes: a position adjusting mechanism configured by connecting three linear motion mechanisms that adjust the mounting position of the inspection sensor in three orthogonal axes with respect to the underwater vehicle; and An attitude adjustment mechanism that is attached to the lower part and adjusts the attitude of the inspection sensor around three orthogonal axes ;
The attitude adjusting mechanism is configured so that two driven bevel gears mesh with each of the driving bevel gears and the rotation axis is orthogonally opposed to the two driving bevel gears disposed opposite to each other. An in- reactor inspection apparatus having a structure in which the driven side is rotated about two orthogonal axes by combining the rotation directions of the bevel gears .

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