JPH0422871A - Sampling inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sample a material body to be inspected with high efficiency by performing the forward/backward moving operation, the opening/closing operation, and the upward/downward moving operation of a holding means for the material body to be inspected with a control means based on a result detected by a detecting means provided at the protrusive part of the holding means. CONSTITUTION:When a hand 12 is progressed advancing a large number of sintering pellets arranged in mass formation irregularly by a forward/backward driving part 25, the protrusive parts 17A, 17B of the hand 12 invade among the pellet group. At this time, pellet sensors 22a, 22b provided at the protrusive parts detect a specific pellet, and send a detection signal to a control part 28. The control part 28 sends each signal for opening, forward movement, closing backward movement, and ascent to a driving means 30 based on the detection signal. Thereby, peripheral pellets other than the specific pellet can be eliminated by opening the holding pieces 16A, 16B of the hand 12, and after recessed parts 18A, 18B for holding progress to both sides of the specific pellet, the specific pellet can be held with a holding area 19 by the closing operation of the holding pieces 16A, 16B. The hand 12 is moved backward keeping such state, and finally, the hand 12 is ascended, then sampling is completed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a sampling inspection device, and more particularly, to a sampling inspection device for nuclear fuel pellets as a large number of inspection objects performed during the manufacturing process of nuclear fuel pellets. The present invention relates to a sampling inspection device used.

[Prior Art] In general, the manufacturing process for nuclear fuel pellets involves molding UO2 powder into green pellets with predetermined dimensions and density using a press machine, and in order to further reduce the density, high temperatures (approximately 1,700°C) are used.
A sintering treatment is performed in a reducing atmosphere to form a sintered pellet, and the outer diameter of the sintered pellet is finished by grinding to form a completed nuclear fuel pellet.

In the manufacturing process of such nuclear fuel pellets, the dimensions and density of the nuclear fuel pellets are major control items.

For this reason, in order to inspect the dimensions and density of the nuclear fuel pellets during the nuclear fuel manufacturing process, at each stage of the manufacturing process, a number of irregularly arranged nuclear fuel pellets are sampled and inspected using, for example, image analysis. ing.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] By the way, the above-mentioned sintering process of the clean pellet is carried out at a high temperature (approximately 1700°C) in a reducing atmosphere (in hydrogen gas), so a molybdenum tray is usually used. . However, because this molybdenum tray is used repeatedly, it gradually becomes deformed and is not necessarily flat. In addition, clean pellets may shrink during the sintering process, or may move slightly due to the vibration of conveying the tray in the sintering furnace. Since this rule has been lost, there is a problem in that it is not easy to conduct a sampling inspection of the green pellets on the molybdenum tray by means such as the above-mentioned image analysis.

Furthermore, with image analysis and other means, there is a problem in that it takes a great deal of time to measure dimensions and density and increases inspection costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sampling inspection apparatus that can efficiently sample inspection objects and contribute to shortening processing time and reducing inspection costs.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention includes a sampling inspection device that performs sampling inspection of a large number of irregularly and densely arranged inspection objects, wherein a protruding end is located between the groups of inspection objects. A protrusion formed at a predetermined angle that can be penetrated into the support body, and a pair of symmetrically arranged gripping pieces each having a gripping recess are attached to the protrusion so that they can be opened and closed, and when both gripping pieces are in the open state, the a gripping means that forms a gripping area for the inspection object between both gripping recesses; a detection means disposed on the protrusion of the gripping means; a vertical movement drive of the gripping means; driving the gripping means forward and backward with respect to the group of test objects; a drive means for driving the opening and closing of the piece; and a control means for controlling each of the drive operations of the drive means based on the detection result of the detection means, and the object to be inspected by the gripping means based on the detection result of the detection means. A specific object to be inspected is extracted from a group of objects to be inspected by a combination of forward/backward movements, opening/closing operations, and vertical movements.

[Function] The driving means in the sampling inspection device having the above configuration,
First, the gripping means is advanced toward a large number of inspection objects arranged irregularly and closely together.

Then, the protrusion of the gripping means enters between the group of test objects, and at this time, the detection means detects a specific test object and sends a detection signal to the control means.

Based on the detection signal, the control wf, stage controls the drive means to:
Sequentially sends an open control signal, a forward control signal, a close control signal, a reverse control signal, and a lift control signal.

As a result, both gripping pieces of the gripping means open to remove surrounding inspection objects other than the specific inspection object, and then proceed to both gripping recesses of the two gripping pieces or both sides of the specific inspection object. The closing operation of the gripping piece grips a specific inspection object in the gripping area, the gripping means retreats in this state, and finally the gripping means is raised to perform extraction.

[Example code] Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below.

The sampling inspection device 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a device main body 2 equipped with a rotatable robot arm 3, a tray mounting table 4 and a measuring instrument stand 5 arranged so as to sandwich the device main body within the rotation area of the robot arm 3. , a mortar ladle tray 6 placed on a tray placement stand 4, and a weight measuring device 7 and a length measuring device 8 placed on the measuring device 5.

At the protruding end of the robot arm 3, there is a vertical drive unit 11 that includes, for example, a hydraulic cylinder 9 and a cylinder rod 10.
A hunt 12 as a gripping means as shown in FIG. 2 is horizontally attached to the lower end of the cylinder rod 10.

Further, on the molybdenum tray stand 6, as shown in FIG. 4(a), for example, a large number of sintered pellets 13 as inspection objects are arranged irregularly and densely.

Incidentally, the tray placement table 4 is provided with a tray sensor (not shown in FIG. 1) 1 for detecting the placement state of the molybdenum tray 6.
4 is provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, the hunt 12 includes a rectangular parallelepiped support 15 connected to the cylinder rod 10, and a pair of symmetrical gripping pieces attached to the support 5 so as to be openable and closable by a slide mechanism. 16A and 16B.

The re-gripping parts 16A and 16B have protruding parts 17A and 17B each having a protruding end formed at an angle β, and each protruding part 17A and 17
Continuing from B, four gripping parts 18A and 18B are formed to face each other, and four regripping parts 18^ are provided.
, 18B provide a gripping area 19 for said sintered pellet 13.
is formed.

The angle β is the protrusion of the re-grasping parts 16A and 16B +7A.
, 17B enters between a large number of sintered pellets 13 as will be described later, and when the re-gripping portions 16A and 15B are opened, the outer side portions 20A and 20B can push the surrounding sintered pellets 13 to the side. It has been selected as follows.

Moreover, the inner sides 21A, 2 of the protrusions 20A, 20B
18 and the four gripping parts 18A, 18B are:
The angle is selected such that when a particular sintered pellet 13 is gripped within the gripping area 19, other sintered pellets 13 located behind this particular sintered pellet 13 are not gripped at the same time.

Furthermore, a pellet sensor 2 such as an electrostatic sensor for detecting the sintered pellet 13 is provided on each of the protrusions 17A and 17B.
2A and 22B are arranged.

The tray sensor 14 and the pellet sensors 22A, 22
B constitutes the detection means 23.

The apparatus main body 2 includes a rotary drive section z4 using a motor or the like that rotationally drives the robot arm 2, and a forward/backward drive section 25 that moves the robot arm 2 and the hunt 12 forward and backward relative to the molybdenum tray stand 6.

Further, the regripping arms 16A, 16 of the hunt 12
B is driven to open and close by an opening and closing drive section using a motor, a speed reducer, and the like.

FIG. 3 shows the control system of the sampling inspection device 1. That is, this sampling inspection device 1 is equipped with a programmable memory 27 and a control means 29 in which a control section 28 operates.

The tray sensor 14, pellet sensors 22A, 22B, weight measuring device 7, and length measuring device 8 are connected to the control section 28, respectively.

Further, the control section 28 controls the drive means 30, which includes the vertical movement drive section 11, the rotation drive section 24, the advance/retraction drive section 25, and the opening/closing drive section 26.

Further, an interface 31 is connected to the control unit 28, and information is transmitted to a host computer 32 connected via a communication line 32, for example.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned sampling inspection device 1 will be mainly focused on the operation of sampling the sintered pellet 13 as shown in FIGS. 4(a) to 4(d).
).

When a molybdenum tray 6 on which a large number of sintered bellets (13) are irregularly and densely placed is placed on the tray 4, a detection signal or Hjl is emitted from the L-ray sensor 14.
The first copy is sent to 28. The control unit 28 controls the closing of the opening/closing drive unit 26 and the advancement control of the forward/backward drive unit 25 based on the detection signal.

As a result, the hunt 12 moves forward in the direction of the arrow toward the sintered pellet 13, as shown in FIG. 4(a). At this time, since each of the protruding ends of the hunt 12, 7A, and 17B has the angle β as described above, as shown in FIG. 1
3, and the outer side portions 2OA and 20B contact the outer circumferences of the respective sintered pellets 13 on the sides.

In this state, detection signals are sent from both of the pellet sensors 22A and 22B to the control section 28, whereby the control section 28 controls the advance/retreat drive section 25 to stop, thereby stopping the hunt 12.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the control section 28 evenly opens both gripping pieces 16A and 16B by controlling the opening C drive section 26 to open. As a result, the sintered pellets 13 on both sides are pushed by the outer side portions 20A and 20B, and are pushed laterally away from the sintered pellet 13 at the bottom.

Next, the control unit 28 controls whether the hunt 12 is open or not.
The forward/backward drive unit 25 is controlled to control the gripping recess 18A18B.
The deepest part of the sintered pallet 13 is as shown in FIG. 4(d).
The hunt 12 is advanced to a position corresponding to the diameter of , and then stopped.

Furthermore, the control unit 28 controls the opening/closing drive unit 26 to close, and grips a specific sintered pellet 13 within the grip area 19 as shown in FIG. 4(d). At this time, because the angle α is appropriately selected, other sintered pellets 13 located behind a specific sintered pellet 13 are not gripped together.

Next, the control unit 28 controls the vertical movement drive unit 11 to move up, and moves the hunt 12 holding the sintered pellet 13 upward A.

With the above operations, a specific sintered pellet 13 can be easily and automatically extracted from the molybdenum tray 6.

After the extraction operation is completed, the control unit 28 controls the rotation drive unit 24 to transfer the hunt 12 to the weight measuring device 7. The weight measuring device 7 measures the weight of the transferred sintered pellet 13 and sends the measurement data to the control section 28.

Next, the sintered pellet 13 is sent to the length measuring device 8, and the measurement data of its outer diameter and height are sent to the control section 28.

The remeasurement data is sent to the host computer 32 via the interface 31, where the sintered pellet 13
The density, etc. is calculated and used as process control data.

In addition to the embodiments described above, the present invention can be modified in various ways within the scope of its gist.

For example, in the above-described embodiments, the case where a sintered pellet is extracted is explained, but it is also possible to apply the present invention to rearrangement of irregularly arranged cylindrical objects.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention described in detail below, the inspection object can be sampled efficiently and in a short time due to its simple configuration, and the sampling processing time can be shortened. In addition, it is possible to provide a sampling inspection device that can contribute to reducing inspection costs.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a front view of the embodiment device, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the hunt in the same device, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the control system of the device, and Figs. 4 (a) to (d) are the same device. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a picking operation by hunting. l...Sampling inspection device, 2...device main body, 12.
...Hunt,]3...Sintered pellet, 16A, 16B
...Gripping pieces 17A, 17B...Protrusion parts, 18A, 1
8B...Gripping recess, 19...Gripping area, 23...
- Detection means, 29... Control means, 30... Drive means. Patent Applicant Nuclear Fuel Industry Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Welfare Naoki JC Basket Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 4 Procedure Auxiliary Device September 12, 1990 [( l, Display of Case 1990 Patent Application No. 127906 2 , Name of the invention Sampling inspection device 3, Patent applicant address 3-23-5 Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo Name Nuclear Fuel Industry Co., Ltd. Representative Shun Shimizu - 4, Agent address 7-18 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo The date of the amendment order No. 20 is August 28, 1990. 6. The number of claims increased by 8 due to the amendment. Contents of the amendment (1) " 4(a) to (d)" are amended to ``Fig. 4(a) to (e).'' (2) Fig. 4 of the drawings in the specification is replaced with Fig. 4 attached in the attached sheet. Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] A sampling inspection device for performing a sampling inspection of a large number of irregularly and densely arranged inspection objects, the protruding end being arranged at a predetermined angle so that it can enter between the group of inspection objects. A pair of symmetrically arranged gripping pieces each having a formed protrusion and a gripping recess following the protrusion are attached to the support so as to be openable and closable, and when both gripping pieces are in an open state, the inspection is carried out between the two gripping recesses. A gripping means that forms a gripping area for an object; a detection means disposed on the protrusion of the gripping means; and a driving means for vertically moving the gripping means, driving the gripping means forward and backward with respect to the inspection object group, and driving the gripping pieces to open and close. and a control means for controlling each of the drive operations of the drive means based on the detection results of the detection means, and the gripping means moves forward and backward, opens and closes, and moves up and down with respect to the inspection object based on the detection results of the detection means. A sampling inspection device characterized in that a specific inspection object is extracted from a group of inspection objects by a combination of motion operations.