Crane system with remote actuation mechanism for use in argon compartment in ACPF hot cell

The Advanced spent fuel Conditioning Process Facility (ACPF) at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has recently been successfully renovated. One of the highlights of this renovation project was the installation of a small argon compartment within the atmospheric hot cell of the facility. Even though a crane system was considered necessary for the remote handling of the processing equipment inside the argon compartment, no suitable commercial cranes were available. This was because a limited amount of space had been reserved for the installation of the crane. Moreover, a master-slave manipulator (MSM), the only available means of maintenance of the crane, was unable to reach it in the limited workspace. To address the difficulties in the design of this crane, in this study, a remote actuation mechanism is devised where the mechanical and electrical parts of the crane system are separated, positioned far away from each other, and connected through power transmission shafts. This approach has two main advantages. First, the electrical parts can be placed inside the workspace of the MSM, hence allowing for remote maintenance. Second, the space occupied by the electrical parts and their cables, which are separate from the crane in the proposed design, can be considered and exploited in designing the mechanical parts of the crane. This enables the construction of a short, special crane in order to maximize the workspace. Furthermore, the mechanical parts for the MSM located outside the workspace are designed to possess a high safety margin to ensure durability. An accurate servo-control system is also developed based on absolute positioning measurement. This allows for the safer performance of perform through automatic operation.