ITER articulated inspection arm (AIA): R&d progress on vacuum and temperature technology for remote handling

Abstract

This paper is part of the remote handling (RH) activities for the future fusion reactor ITER. The aim of the R&D program performed under the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) work program is to demonstrate the feasibility of close inspection tasks such as viewing or leak testing of the Divertor cassettes and the Vacuum Vessel (VV) first wall of ITER. It is assumed that a long reach, limited payload carrier penetrates the ITER chamber through the openings evenly distributed around the machine such as In-Vessel Viewing System (IVVS) access or through upper port plugs. To perform an intervention a short time after plasma shut down, the operation of the robot should be realised under ITER conditioning i.e. under high vacuum and temperature conditions (120 °C). The feasibility analysis drove the design of the so-called articulated inspection arm (AIA) which is a 8.2 m long robot made of five modules with a 11 actuated joints kinematics. A single module prototype was designed in detail and manufactured to be tested under ITER realistic conditions at CEA-Cadarache test facility. As well as demonstrating the potential for the application of an AIA type device in ITER, this program is also dedicated to explore the necessary robotic technologies required to ITER's IVVS deployment system. This paper presents the whole AIA robot concept, the first results of the test campaign on the prototype vacuum and temperature demonstrator module.