Deployment analysis and remote accessibility verification for a maintenance task in a PRIDE digital mock-up

This study introduces an advanced modeling and simulation system that can verify and optimize a maintenance procedure at the early design stage of a virtual engineering system. System architecture, which is composed of modules used to analyze deployment of devices that deal with radioactive materials in a digital mock-up, and modules used to simulate accessibility of a remote manipulator for maintenance tasks, are discussed. Based on this architecture, new technology that enables a maintenance analyst to analyze pyroprocessing is proposed. Workspace analysis for remote manipulators, which can optimize a maintenance task at the radiation control area, is introduced. The mathematical background, with respect to the forward and inverse kinematics for a virtual manipulator accessing devices in a virtual environment, is described to establish a remote accessibility. Virtual prototyping is illustrated to carry out an experiment on the deployment analysis of devices and remote accessibility by a haptic device.