Applied Kinetics summoned to design specialized NDE inspection tooling for a challenging piping system in a high-radiation environment.
Design of an automated NDE inspection tool that is able to navigate challenging geometry in a high radiation environment.
Challenge: A piping system in a nuclear reactor required inspection to monitor corrosion. The piping system consisted of a large primary pipe with multiple bends including a 1D bend. A smaller secondary pipe with multiple bends was connected to the primary pipe by an elbolet. Due to the location and high radiation levels, the pipe wall had to be inspected from the inside and human inspection was not an option.
Working as part of a team, Applied Kinetics was challenged with designing a remote tooling system for performing NDE inspections of the piping system.
Solution: In collaboration with our client, Applied Kinetics designed a remote tooling system capable of performing NDE inspection of the piping system. The delivery system was capable of remotely navigating and positioning tools in the primary pipe. Features of the tooling system included the ability to place a FME Barrier in the primary pipe, a NDE inspection tool capable of scanning the interior surface of the primary pipe, and a NDE inspection tool capable of delivering an inspection probe into the secondary pipe.
Key Design Challenges:
- To navigate and operate in the complex pipe geometries, Applied Kinetics used space effectively to provide the required range of motion and an innovative tool layout to fit all the tool features and with Foreign Material Exclusion (FME) principles applied.
Engineered Equipment:
- Pipe Crawler Delivery System
- FME Barrier Deployment Tool
- NDE Inspection Tool
- In-Vault Tool Cart
- Mockups
- Proof of Concept Tools
Key Services:
- Sales Support
- Concept Development
- Mechanical Engineering
- 3D CAD Modeling
- Mechanical Design
- Project Technical Lead
- Mechanical Drawings
- Design Calculation Reports
- Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
- Kinematic Motion Analysis
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Support
- Manufacturing & Assembly Support
- On-Site Testing Support
- On-Site Outage Execution Support
Client Benifits:
- Team: Applied Kinetics provided our client with an engineering team that performed efficiently from the start to achieve aggressive schedules. Our client benefited from our flexibility to expand or contract the engineering team to meet project milestones and budgets.
- Experience: With thousands of engineering hours on nuclear projects, our engineers used their experience to develop an effective solution to this challenging problem.
- Sales: Applied Kinetics’ innovative concept to this challenging problem was important for our client’s successful project bid.
