A method for enabling real-time structural deformation in remote handling control system by utilizing offline simulation results and 3D model morphing

A full scale physical test facility, DTP2 (Divertor Test Platform 2) has been established in Finland for demonstrating and refining the Remote Handling (RH) equipment designs for ITER. The first prototype RH equipment at DTP2 is the Cassette Multifunctional Mover (CMM) equipped with Second Cassette End Effector (SCEE) delivered to DTP2 in October 2008. The purpose is to prove that CMM/SCEE prototype can be used successfully for the 2nd cassette RH operations. At the end of F4E grant “DTP2 test facility operation and upgrade preparation”, the RH operations of the 2nd cassette were successfully demonstrated to the representatives of Fusion For Energy (F4E).Due to its design, the CMM/SCEE robot has relatively large mechanical flexibilities when the robot carries the nine-ton-weighting 2nd Cassette on the 3.6-m long lever. This leads into a poor absolute accuracy and into the situation where the 3D model, which is used in the control system, does not reflect the actual deformed state of the CMM/SCEE robot. To improve the accuracy, the new method has been developed in order to handle the flexibilities within the control system's virtual environment. The effect of the load on the CMM/SCEE has been measured and minimized in the load compensation model, which is implemented in the control system software. The proposed method accounts for the structural deformations of the robot in the control system through the 3D model morphing by utilizing the finite element method (FEM) analysis for morph targets. This resulted in a considerable improvement of the CMM/SCEE absolute accuracy and the adequacy of the 3D model, which is crucially important in the RH applications, where the visual information of the controlled device in the surrounding environment is limited.