JPH0499994A - Robot for repair of in core components in fast breeder reactor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable inspection and repair of in core components in a high temperature sodium environment or a sodium vapour environment by providing a robot for repair of incore components with a freely movable manipulator maintained to be leak tight and coolable with a bellows tube. CONSTITUTION:On the lower part of robot's main body 5 adjustable of vertical position, a manipulator 13 is set with the use of a shoulder 14 so that it is accessible to an arbitrary position above the core 4 in accordance with the rotation of rotating plug. The manipulator 13 together with a multitude of arms 15, a link driver unit 16 and a rotation unit 17, is constituted with a link drive device 18 which is three-dimensionally movable. The device 18 is covered with a flexible bellow tube 20 for sealing and cooling so that it is usable in sodium liquid and cover gas above the core of which temperature is ca. 150 - 200 deg.C. Therefore, the object components can be arbitrarily grasped with the nails 19 at the tip of the manipulator 13 even in the high temperature core cover gas or coolant sodium, and place it a necessary point for inspection and repair.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention enables a series of maintenance and repair work to be performed, starting from confirmation and inspection of internal equipment of a fast breeder reactor for abnormalities. Concerning robots for repairing equipment inside fast breeder reactors.

(Prior Art) In fast breeder reactors, there is relatively little experience of long-term operation, and Na, which is a liquid metal, is used as a coolant. Since this Na is an active material and requires a completely airtight structure, it is difficult to access the inside of the furnace, so the equipment inside the furnace is designed and manufactured with a maintenance-free concept in mind.

Also, I have no experience of having to repair equipment inside the furnace.
Therefore, there is currently no commonly usable repair equipment available for repairing equipment inside the reactor.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) In the future, as fast breeder reactors progress toward practical use,
It is thought that it will be necessary to take measures in the event that an abnormality occurs in the equipment inside the reactor, but there is a problem in that the robotic devices commonly developed for fast breeder reactors, which have significantly different environmental conditions, cannot be used as is.

Among conventional general inspection and repair robots, there is no robot that can be used under the conditions of high temperature Na or Na vapor atmosphere inside a fast breeder reactor.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a repair robot capable of performing a series of inspections and repairs on in-core equipment of a fast breeder reactor.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, a robot for repairing in-reactor equipment of a fast breeder reactor according to the present invention includes a robot main body installed in a plug covering the upper part of a reactor vessel, and a It has a manipulator attached to the lower part of the main body and equipped with a gripping means at the tip that can attach and detach the target device, and equipment such as a plurality of observation eyes and inspection tools that are selectively operated by the manipulator, The manipulator has a three-dimensionally movable link drive, which is housed in a flexible bellows tube in an airtight and coolable manner.

(Function) This fast breeder reactor internal equipment repair robot is equipped with a manipulator that can move freely while maintaining airtightness and cooling with a flexible bellows tube.
Even in the cover gas or coolant Na in the high-temperature furnace, the manipulator in the brackets can be used to freely grasp instruments such as an observation eye stored inside the furnace and move them to the required location inside the furnace. A series of tasks such as positioning, observation, inspection, and repair can be performed.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the reactor structure in a fast breeder reactor, with the free liquid level 2a of the Na liquid 2 in the reactor vessel 1 lowered to the maintenance level and the repair robot 3 installed. This shows that.

The fast breeder reactor consists of a reactor core 4 housed in a reactor vessel 1, a core upper mechanism 6 disposed directly above the reactor core 4, a rotating plug 7 that holds and rotates the core upper mechanism 6, and a rotary plug 7 that holds and rotates the core upper mechanism 6. It mainly consists of a supporting fixed shielding plug 8, and has functions such as keeping a coolant Na boundary and a cover gas airtight.

The Na liquid 2 is stored inside the reactor vessel 1, and an inner cylinder 9 is installed inside the reactor vessel 1 with fixing bolts 10. Above this inner cylinder 9 is a hanging bolt 1.
ripple prevention plate 12 connected to the shielding plug 8 via 1;
is arranged to prevent the Na liquid 2 as a coolant from rippling.

For example, in a situation where deformation or change in natural frequency of a structure is detected during a periodic inspection inside a fast breeder reactor, the following operations are required.

■ Confirmation of the abnormal condition and investigation of the cause ■ Identification of the location and range of the abnormality ■ Determination of the repair method and repair ■ Inspection and function confirmation The methods for these operations vary greatly depending on the nature of the abnormality, but the basic techniques are common. There are many things that can be used as tools, and by combining them, it is possible to handle most types of work.

In repair work, the first thing that is required is to approach the object to be repaired, and for this reason, the above-mentioned repair robot 3
is the robot body 5 installed at an eccentric position of the rotating plug 7
A manipulator (manipulator hand) 13 is attached to the lower part of the robot body 5 via a shoulder 14.

At least the lower part of the robot body 5 moves vertically (
It can be moved up and down, and in conjunction with the rotation of the rotary plug 7, it can approach any position in the reactor above the reactor core 5.

As shown in FIG. 1, the manipulator 13 has a link drive device 18 constructed by combining a plurality of arms 15, a link drive unit 16, and a rotation unit 17 that constitute a link mechanism, and is capable of three-dimensional movement. It is configured so that it can be carried out arbitrarily, and a claw 19 is provided at the tip as a gripping means that can freely grip the target equipment.

Each link drive unit 16 constituting the link drive device 18 of manipulator ↑3 has a temperature of 15% at the upper part of the core 4.
In order to enable use in Na liquid 2 or cover gas at 0 to 200°C, it is covered with a flexible bellows tube 2o to ensure airtightness and to actively flow cooling liquid when necessary. ing.

Note that the heat insulation effect can be enhanced by attaching a highly elastic heat insulating material to the inside of the bellows tube 2o.

In addition to picking up loose parts that come into contact with the object to be repaired, the mold 19 is also used to pick up equipment such as inspection tools that are stored in the lower part of the robot body 5 of the repair robot 3 as needed, as shown in FIG. 21 and can be installed at the location to be repaired. A strain gauge (not shown) is attached to the driving part of the claw 19, and the load applied to the claw 19 is inspected using this strain gauge, and the attachment/detachment/gripping operation can be performed using force as required.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, an observation camera 22 serving as an observation eye is housed inside the repair robot 3. This is because when performing repairs, detailed observation and inspection of the object to be repaired is essential, and it is necessary to bring the observation camera 22 close to the most suitable position to view the part.
This will be explained based on FIG.

This observation camera 22 is removably housed in a storage box 24 partitioned off by a shutter 23 at the bottom of the repair robot 3, and is also housed in a flexible tube 25 so that it can follow the movement of the observation camera 22. Connected to the cable. Furthermore, this observation camera 21 is held inside a camera holder 26, and a window glass 27 is provided on the front surface of this camera holder 26.
is located.

The observation camera 22 is preferably either a CCD camera or a fiberscope, and is configured such that a cooling fluid can be introduced into the flexible tube 25 to ensure cooling of the observation camera 22.

Furthermore, although not shown, the repair robot 3 is equipped with an Na medium fluoroscopy device as an observation eye for observing the repair target under the liquid level 2a of the Na solution 2. This Na medium fluoroscopy device, for example, transmits ultrasonic waves in a Na liquid and captures the reflected waves to obtain an image of the object.In order to obtain three-dimensional information, multiple transmitters and It consists of a receiving transducer.

When repairing equipment in a furnace, it is necessary to remove Na from the object to be repaired. For this reason, the repair robot 3 can be provided with, for example, the following equipment.

That is, first of all, in order to wash the surface on which impurities are attached, such as near the Na liquid level, there is an equipment that can perform cleaning by spraying high-temperature Na. This equipment can be constructed by installing an electromagnetic pump at the bottom of the repair robot 3, sucking liquid Na in the furnace, heating the sucked-in heater, and ejecting it from a nozzle through a flexible tube. . Here, the tip of this nozzle is held by the manipulator arm 13 of the repair robot 3 and brought close to the object.

Next, high-temperature Ar gas was blown as an inert gas, and Na
Examples include equipment that can evaporate and remove the In this equipment, an inert gas supply line such as Ar gas, a heater, and a flexible tube are arranged inside the repair robot 3, and high-temperature Ar gas (inert gas) is passed through these.
It can be constructed such that it is sprayed onto the object from the tip of the nozzle. The tip of this nozzle, like the Na injection nozzle, is held by the manipulator 13 of the repair robot 3 and brought close to the object.

Furthermore, the repair robot 3 can store the following tools, and the manipulator 13 can be installed as needed.
You can take it out and position it at the location to be repaired.

■ Vibrators and accelerometers: Apply vibration to the target location, check its natural frequency, and check for abnormalities.

■ Bolt load meter: A bolt stress measuring device using ultrasonic waves.
Measure the load on the bolt and check for looseness in the bolt joint.

■ Crack detector, UT (ultrasonic testing machine) or E
A structural material crack detector using MAT will be used to check for abnormalities before and after repair.

■ Bolt tightening tool: Retighten any loose bolts using a port tightening tool such as a bolt tensioner.

■ Cutting and beveling machine: It has a grinder to remove abnormal parts and a suction hose to prevent and collect chips from scattering.

■ Welding machine: This is an automatic welding machine that can perform welding repairs according to the groove processed above, and the torch part is positioned using a manipulator.

Next, an example of use of the above embodiment will be explained.

The repair robot 3 is equipped with a manipulator 13 that can move freely while maintaining airtightness and cooling with a flexible bellows tube 20, so it can move freely even in cover gas or coolant Na in a high-temperature furnace. It becomes available for use.

On the other hand, a cooled observation camera 22 or a high-temperature Na medium fluoroscopy device is housed in the repair robot 3.
This is grasped by the claws 19 of the manipulator 13, positioned at a required location in the furnace, and observed, inspected, and visually inspected.

Note that Na cleaning is performed by first spraying high-purity Na at high temperature to remove impurities in the gas such as the cover gas area and N.
It is possible to remove impurities from the surface to which a is attached, and then blow a high temperature inert gas to evaporate and remove Na.

Then, a manipulator is used to take out various pieces of equipment, either singly or in multiple pieces, and take appropriate measures to deal with the various situations that occur during repair.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention has the above-described configuration, it can be manufactured and assembled relatively easily, and moreover, Na
It is possible to take appropriate action over a wide range of areas inside the furnace, from checking for abnormalities to processing according to the situation.

This makes it possible to quickly start work on the initial stage of an abnormality.In particular, by confirming the abnormal situation early and widely, anxiety can be suppressed, and subsequent work can be clarified, reducing lost time in repair work. can be shortened.

Furthermore, since the inside of a fast breeder reactor is in a high temperature atmosphere that requires airtightness, the workability of repair work is generally significantly hindered, but by using the work robot of the present invention,
This has the effect of improving work efficiency and contributing to reducing radiation exposure.

···Flexible Tube.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A robot body installed on a plug covering the top of the reactor vessel, a manipulator attached to the bottom of the robot body and equipped with a gripping means at the tip that can detachably grip target equipment, and a manipulator that can be selectively operated by this manipulator. The manipulator has a link drive device that can move in three dimensions, and this link drive device is housed in a flexible bellows tube in an airtight and coolable manner. A robot for repairing equipment inside a fast breeder reactor.