Title
Applying principles of Design For Assembly to ITER maintenance operations
Author
Heemskerk, C.
de Baar, M.
Elzendoorn, B.
Koning, J.
Verhoeven, T.
de Vreede, F.
TNO Industrie en Techniek
Publication year
2009
Abstract
In ITER, maintenance operations in the vessel and in the Hot Cell will be largely done by Remote Handling (RH). Remotely performed maintenance actions tend to be more time-costly than actions performed by direct human access. With a human operator in the control loop and adequate situational feedback, a two-armed master slave manipulator system can mimic direct access with dexterous manipulation, tactile feedback and vision. But even then, turnaround times are still very high. Adapting the design for simplified maintenance operations can yield significant time savings. One of the methods known to produce a simpler, more robust design, which is also better suited for handling with robots, is Design For Assembly (DFA). This paper discusses whether and how the principles of DFA can be applied to simplify maintenance operations for ITER. While DFA is normally used with series-production and ITER is a unique product, it is possible to apply the principles of DFA to ITER maintenance operations. Furthermore, DFA's principles can be applied at different abstraction levels. Combining principles of DFA with Virtual Reality leads to new insights and provides additional value.
Subject
Design For Assembly
DFA
ITER
Maintenance
Remote handling
Upper port plug
Access control
Experimental reactors
Machine design
Manipulators
Materials handling
Remote control
Turnaround time
Virtual reality
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:05d5a893-85dc-434d-a810-df8042ebf3a3
TNO identifier
241576
Publisher
Elsevier, Amsterdam
ISSN
0920-3796
Source
Fusion Engineering and Design, 84 (2-6), 911-914
Document type
article