MAHATMA GANDHI MISSION’S

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
& TECHNOLOGY, NOIDA
TECHNICAL SEMINAR
ON
“ROBOTICS IN RADIOACTIVE ENVIORNMENT”
Under The Guidance: Presented By:
Mr. Ram Prakash AMAN SHARMA
Associate Professor TT- ME
(Department of Mechanical Engineering)
1609540006
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Definition of robot
• Basic components of robot
• Need of robots in radioactive environment
• Types of robots used in radioactive environment
• Removal of fallen objects inside Pwr vessel
• Teleperated And Robotized system for maintenance operation In
nuclear power plant vessel(TRON)
• Snake like robots (MOCASINII)
•Robots in steam generators
•Need of robots in reactor cavity
•Need of robots in reactor head vessel
•Need of robots in internal pipe inspection
•Advantage of robots
•Application of robots
•Robot in India (RHINO-XR3)
•Conclusion
•Reference
 INTRODUCTION
•Robots are used to prevent exposure
of humans to radiations in Nuclear
Power plants.
• Robots are developed to be used in
areas inaccessible to human beings.
• Radioactive environment is one in
which high energy radiations like α, β
and γ radiations are emitted by
radioactive materials.
 DEFINITION OF ROBOT

• An automatic device that perform functions

ordinarily described to human beings”.

• Robot is a programmable multifunctional

manipulator designed to move materials,
parts, tools etc. through variable
programmed motion of the performance of
a variety of tasks.
 BASIC COMPONENT OF A ROBOT
• Manipulator
• Controller
• Power supply
 MANIPULATOR
•A Manipulator is a device used to manipulate materials without direct
contact. The manipulator is a mechanical unit that provides motion
similar to that of a human arm.
• Its primary function is to provide the specific motions that will unable
the tooling at the end Robots in radioactive environment.
 CONTROLLER
The controller is a communication and information processing device that
initiates ,terminates and coordinates the motions and sequence of robot. The
input and output section of a control system must provide a Communication
interface between the robot controller computer and the Following parts:
• Feed back sensors
•Production sensors
• Production machine tools
• Teaching devices
• Program storage devices
• Other computer device hardware
FIGURE CONTROLLER

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 POWER SUPPLY
•The function of the power supply is to provide and regulate the energy that is required for a robot to
be operated.
• The three basic types of power supplies are electric, hydraulic and pneumatic. Electricity is the
Most common source of power and is used extensively with industrial Robots. The second most
common is pneumatic and the least common is Hydraulic.
 NEED OF ROBOTS IN RADIOACTIVE
ENVIRONMENT
• Professional workers are few in numbers and require extensive training
and years of experience.
• The no. of working hours that the men works in the radioactive
environment is limited by international regulations.
• The above lead to the discontinuous use of human resources and
discontinuous nature of work which lead to ineffective and inefficient
working.
TYPES OF ROBOTS USED IN RADIOACTIVE
ENVIRONMENT

• REMOTELY OPERATED SERVICE ARM(ROSA)

• INSPECTION AND RETRIVING VEHICLE(IRV)
• CLEANING AND RETRIEVING VEHICLE (CRV)
REMOTELY OPERATED SERVICE ARM(ROSA)

• Rosa is used to maintain the

SG jobs involving complex
tasks like water cleaning, eddy
current inspection mechanical
plugging and unplugging etc.
• The arm is equipped with a
remote quick connector to
facilitate the assembly and
dismantle of operations.
INSPECTION AND RETRIVING VEHICLE(IRV)

• It is highly robust & fail safe.

• During maintenance operations
inside the SG channel heads,
objects may accidentally fall
inside the primary circuit
nozzle.
• Tools are often handled by
jumpers from the channel head
nozzle, so the accumulated
doses are very high.
CLEANING AND RETRIEVING VEHICLE (CRV)
•The robot arm mounted on a
mobile base checking leaks of
drums filled with radioactive
substance.
• The CRV is a teleported vehicle
that works underwater.
•It is equipped with a rotating
brush to pick up the dirt and a
pump to remove it to an external
shielded filter.
 REMOVAL OF FALLEN OBJECTS INSIDE PWR
VESSEL
• Parts of tools may fall inside
vessel during refilling because
of human error
TELEPERATED AND ROBOTIZED SYSTEM FOR
MAINTENANCE OPERATION IN NUCLEAR
POWER PLANT VESSEL(TRON)
• It comprises of jointed pole ,end
effectors and computer vision navigation
system.
• It is a four joint robotized pole Used to
retrieve the fallen objects from the
pressurized water reactor (PWR) vessel.
• It also inspects the lower internal zone
and recover the objects without the core
having to be dismantled.
SNAKE LIKE ROBOTS (MOCASINII)

• It is a segmented robot that looks

like an inchworm. it uses
pneumatics to force padded feet
against the pipe walls.
• It is also found that whenever
there is a explosions the pipes
generally stay intact thus the
snake like robot are ideal and
could navigate through pipes.
 ROBOTS IN STEAM GENERATORS
• Primary tube inspection and
maintenance.
• Channel head cleaning and
decontamination.
• Nozzle dam insertion.
• Sludge lancing secondary side
foreign object removal.
• Foreign object removal in the
primary circuit.
 ROBOTS IN REACTOR CAVITY
•Fuel transfer channel cleaning.
•Fuel transfer channel and underwater inspection.
•Floor and wall area decontamination.
 ROBOTS IN REACTOR VESSEL

•Underwater inspection and repair.

.
•Foreign fallen object removal.
•Lower internal inspection
 ROBOTS IN REACTOR HEAD VESSEL

•Surface decontamination.
•Head inspection.
 ROBOTS IN INTERNAL PIPE INSPECTION
•Internal pipe inspection and object
removal.
•Underwater cleaning of various plant
tanks and vessels.
•Surface decontamination of general
floor areas.
•Underwater inspection of equipment
and spent fuel pools.
•Extraction and welding of the
pressurized heaters.
 ADVANTAGES OF ROBOTS
Following are the advantages of robots.
• Increase productivity, safety, efficiency, quality, and consistency of products.
• Can work in hazardous environments.
• Need no environmental comfort.
• Can work continuously without any human needs and illnesses.
• Have repeatable precision at all times.
• Are more accurate than humans; they may have milli or micro inch accuracy.
• Can have capabilities beyond that of humans.
• Can process multiple stimuli or tasks simultaneously, humans can only one.
• Replace human workers who can create economic problems.
 APPLICATIONS OF ROBOT:
Robots find their applications in variety of tasks namely material
handling, processing and inspection operations.
• MATERIAL-HANDLING APPLICATIONS:
It involves the movement of material or parts from one location to another.
Examples are part placement, palletizing and/or de-palletizing, machine loading
and unloading. 
• PART PLACEMENT:
It is the relatively simple pick-and-place operation. It needs a low-technology
robot of the cylindrical coordinate type.
palletizing and/or De-palletizing: The parts are stacked or Untracked. For
Example, Machine loading and or unloading: Robot transfers parts into and or
from a production machine. 
•PROCESSING OPERATIONS:
In these applications, robot performs a processing procedure on the part. It is
equipped with some type of process tooling at its end effectors Industrial
robot applications in the processing operations include spot welding, arc
Welding, spray painting, machining, metal Cutting, polishing etc.
•INSPECTION OPERATION:
Inspection work requires high precision and patience, and human judgment
is often needed to determine whether a product is within quality
specifications or not.
 ROBOT IN INDIA (RHINO-XR3)
• India has recently built 2 meter high robot with tennis balls for
shoes to be used in case of accidents at its nuclear power plants.
• The remote-controlled machine can climb stairs, step over
obstacles and carry out repairs inside India's 14 nuclear power
plant.
• the robot would be able to go places human workers could not.
• If we attach an arm, it can do maintenance work or turn off
valves in case of an emergency.
 CONCLUSION
With improving technology & growing perception of the
need to keep human workers away from high radiation
area.
Competitive robotics system are increasingly becoming
available.
 REFERENCES
• Alvarez, B.; Iborra, A.; Alonso, A.; de la Puente, J.A.; Pastor, J.A.; “Developing
Multi-application Remote Systems”, Nuclear Engineering Int. vol 45, March
2000.
• Iborra, A; Alvarez, B.; Navarro, P.J.; Fernandez, J.M.; Pastor, J.A: “Robotized
System for Retrieving Fallen Objects Within the Reactor Vessel of a Nuclear
Power Plant”, Intl.Symposium, Industrial Electronics, Mexico; IEEE 2000.
• Pastor, J.A.; Alvarez B.; Iborra, A.; Fernandez, J.M.: “An Underwater Teleported
Vehicle for Inspection and Retrieving”, 1st Intl. Symposium; Brussels, November
1998.
• Keramas James G., “Introduction to Robots” ; McGraw-Hill
• Kim, S; Jung, S.H.; Kim, C.H. , “Preventive Maintenance and Remote Inspection
of Nuclear Power Plants Using Telerobotics” IEEE 1999.