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Light Duty Utility Arm Deployment System
The Project
US DOE nuclear sites have tank farms with hundreds of large diameter underground tanks containing a wide assortment of radioactive wastes. Before remediation options can be specified, the contents of these tanks must be surveyed and the waste characterized. The only access to some tanks is via 10" diameter riser pipes. Downward travel distance is up to 48 feet, and there are numerous internal obstacles to avoid enroute to the tank locations where characterization activities are to be performed.
Light Duty Utility Arm Deployment System (Rear)
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The Solution
The Light Duty Utility Arm (LDUA) is a multi jointed remote arm supplied by Spar Aerospace. It is essentially a gravity friendly version of the Space Shuttle CANADA ARM.
The LDUA Deployment System consists of a Vertical Positioning System and a Mast Deployment System. The Vertical positioning system includes a customized vehicle with an X-Y positioning system built into the truck bed. It provides all utilities and controls for positioning and stabilizing the vehicle at the tank riser, erecting and positioning the Mast Deployment System at a tank riser glove box, and operating the deployment mast to lower the LDUA.
The Mast Deployment System uses a multistage telescopic arm to deliver the LDUA into the tank for an ultimate positioning accuracy of 0.2 ". The mast arm has custom designed joints to meet the specific requirements of structural integrity and spatial constraints of this application.
After use the LDUA is returned to the sealed mast housing to prevent the spread of contamination.
Light Duty Utility Arm
Deployment System (Front)
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Light Duty Utility Arm
Deployment System (Tank)
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Project Responsibility Highlights
Working in conjunction with Spar, Numet prepared engineering "trade-off" studies for some key design considerations, and then completed the preliminary engineering & design work for the Mast Deployment System and the Vertical Positioning Mast for the LDUA system shown in these images.
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