Structural Deflection Analysis of Robot Manipulator for Removing Nuclear Fuel Rod in Nuclear Reactor Vessel

원자로내 핵연료봉 제거 로봇 구조물의 휨변형구조해석

In this study, the structural deflection analysis of robot manipulator for removing nuclear fuel rod from nuclear reactor vessel is performed by using general purpose finite element code (ANSYS). The structural deflection analysis results reported in this study is very required for the accurate design of robot system. The structural deflection analysis for the manipulator's structural status at which the gripper grasps and draws up the nuclear fuel rod is done, For this beginning structural status of robot manipulator's removing motion, the reaction forces at each joint have static maximum values as reported in the reference(6), and so these forces may cause the maximum deflection of robot structure. The structural deflection analysis is performed for selected four working cases of the proposed structural model and results on deformation, stress for the manipulator's solid body and the deflection at the end of robot manipulator's gripper are calculated. And further, the same analysis is performed for the slenderer manipulator with cross section reduced by one-fifth of each side length of proposed model. The analysis is performed not only for the nuclear fuel rod with weight load of 300kg but also for nuclear fuel rods with weight loads of 100kg, 200kg, 400kg and 500kg. The static structural deflection analysis results show that the deflection value increases as the load increases and the largest value (corresponding to the weight load of 500kg in case 1) is much smaller than the gap distance between nuclear fuel rods. but the largest value for the slenderer manipulator is almost as large as the gap distance, Hence, conclusively, the proposed manipulator's structural model is acceptably safe for mechanical design of robot system.