Project Details
[Return to Previous Page]Remote Hydraulic Tension Assembly
Company: Westinghouse Electric Company
Major(s):
Primary: ME
Secondary: EE
Optional: CMPSC, EGEE
Non-Disclosure Agreement: YES
Intellectual Property: YES
In the nuclear industry there are often applications requiring remotely operated tooling to be used due to high levels of ionizing radiation that prevent workers from interacting with the components directly. For this application, a large bolted flange consisting of several studs and nuts needs to be opened. Due to the level of ionization radiation in the vicinity of the flange, workers will not be able to interact with stud and nut hardware and the work must be completed with remotely operated tooling. A stud tensioning process is the industry standard method for achieving a reliable connection for both installing and removing bolted connection hardware. The stud tensioning process removes uncertainty in the bolt tension that can be introduced from friction when using traditional torquing methods. Although the hydraulic tensioning process is well understood and implemented in various industries, a fully remote operated solution is much less common due to the added complexities of the tool. There is a need to design a custom remote operated stud tensioning tool to operate in the high ionizing radiation environment that is present in nuclear applications. The design challenge can be broken down into three (3) unique projects. Figure 1-2: Typical Tool Design Project 1: Tool Design The goal is to design a tool that the entire process of installing, operating and removing the tool can be accomplished with remote operation. All components near the canister must be constructed using radiation hardened components and all electronics must operate reliably in an ionizing radiation environment. Project 2: Remote Alignment The goal is to design an alignment mechanism for the stud tensioning tool that can operate remotely in an ionizing radiation environment. Alignment of the tool with respect to the bolt location is a non-trivial design component that must be considered. The tensioning tool will be delivered using remotely operated robots or purpose-built tooling axis of motion located near the closure head assembly. Due to the ionizing radiation environment, the operation must be completed remotely. Use of cameras, or other optical sensing/measuring devices that might be typical of an automated alignment system are not options. For this reason, the design solution for this tool will need to consider how the tool will be installed onto the stud/nut assembly. Project 3: Nut retrieval The goal is to develop a remote nut removal and retention mechanism that can operate reliably in an ionizing radiation environment. In a typical application when using a hydraulic tensioning tool, the nuts are loosened but not removed by the tool. In a non-radiation environment, the final removal of the nut from the stud is done by hand. For application in a radiation environment manual removal is not an option. Therefore, there is a need to design this system to both remove the nut from the stud and deposit the nut in a radiologically sealed and shielded container.
