A POSITION CONTROL SYSTEM OF AN INTEGRAL FAST REMOTE HANDLING SYSTEM USING OMNIDIRECTIONAL VIEWING

DOE'S INTEGRAL FAST REACTOR (IFR) SYSTEM IS A MAJOR COMPONENT OF THE DEPARTMENT'S ADVANCED REACTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. TO BE SUCCESSFUL, THE RECYCLE FACILITY FOR THE IFRMETAL FUEL REQUIRES REMOTE OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE. WORLDWIDE RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT HIGH PERFORMANCE, FORCE-REFLECTING SERVOMANIPULATOR SYSTEMS PROVIDE THE MOST EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE REMOTE HANDLING (RH). TO DEMONSTRATE THIS TECHNOLOGY FOR THE IFR RECYCLE FACILITY, A POSITION CONTROL SYSTEM IS NEEDED BASED ON TARGET ACQUISITION FROM EXISTING PROCESS EQUIPMENT IN THE HOT FUEL EXAMINATION FACILITY-SOUTH (HFEF-S). THIS PROJECT AIMS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF AN INNOVATIVE POSITION CONTROL SYSTEM USING A PROPRIETARY, PATENT-PENDING OMNIDIRECTIONAL VIEWING SYSTEM THAT PROVIDES AN UNDISTORTED VIEW OF AN ENTIRE HEMISPHERE (180-DEGREE FIELD OF VIEW). THE IMAGE PROCESSING ALGORITHMS IN THIS SYSTEM CONTAIN THE ORIENTATION VECTOR FOR ANY POINT WITHIN THIS HEMISPHERICAL VIEW. THEREFORE, A POSITION CONTROL SYSTEM COULD BE DEVELOPED THAT DETERMINES THE ORIENTATION OF A POINT OF INTEREST IN THE FIELD OF VIEW RELATIVE TO THE CAMERA POSITION BY SIMPLY SELECTING THAT POINT. THE ACTUAL POSITION (ORIENTATION PLUS THE DISTANCE) OF THE POINT COULD THEN BE DETERMINED USING TRIANGULATION, RELATIVE IMAGE SIZE,OR A SECOND OMNIVIEWING SYSTEM. FROM THIS POSITION INFORMATION, THE RH SLAVE END EFFECTOR COULD BE DRIVEN TO THE SELECTED POINT USING THE INVERSE TRANSFORMATIONS FOR THESLAVE ARM. THIS PROJECT SPECIFICALLY AIMS TO DEVELOP THE IMAGE PROCESSING ALGORITHMS TO OUTPUT THE POSITION ORIENTATION AND DISTANCE, AND THE SOFTWARE TO CONTROL A SLAVE ARM. DESIGN OF A REMOTE HANDLING SYSTEM THAT USES OMNIDIRECTIONAL VIEWING FOR SUPERVISORY POSITION CONTROL OF A SERVOMANIPULATOR IS INCLUDED IN THE PHASE I EFFORT.