Abstract
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) has eight Steam Generators (SG) that transfers the heat from molten sodium to the water and converts the water into super-heated steam. SG is a shell and tube type counter flow heat exchanger, which has 547 steam tubes connecting the top and bottom headers of the SG. These steam tubes are surrounded by Sodium and water/steam will be flowing in the tubes. (i.e. sodium is present in the shell side and water/steam in the tube side). The water/steam pressure will be 172 bar and any breach in one of the tubes (due to crack) will eventually result in water coming in contact with sodium and leading to violent reaction. Hence, all mitigation efforts are to be taken proactively to isolate a degrading tube(s) through proper Pre-Service inspection (PSI) and In-Service inspections (ISI) using Remote Field Eddy Current technique (RFEC). Though PSI is a comprehensive inspection, ISI is generally carried out on 10% of the total heat transfer area, i.e. about 54 tubes, through periodic inspections. A two-axis robotic system called PFBR SG Inspection System (PSGIS) is used to position the probe/cable pusher end effector system to perform the tube inspection with RFEC probe. Since there is no straight forward scheme available to optimally choose the inspection sequence, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the tube inspection order to reduce the duty cycle and total inspection time. In this work, we have developed a genetically evolved optimal inspection algorithm to reduce overall inspection time and the results of the investigations are presented.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Obrutsky, L., Renaud, J., Lakhan, R.: Steam generator inspections: faster, cheaper and better, are we there yet? In: IV Conferencia Panamericana de END, Buenos Aires—Octubre 2007
Joseph Winston, S., Jose, J., Subramaniyan, A., Murugan, S., Bhaduri, A.K.: Rigid Body Transformations for Calibration of Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, Steam Generator Inspection Device. Advancements in Automation, Robotics and Sensing. Springer, Berlin, pp. 23–40 (2016)
Joseph Winston, S., Jose, J., Jagadishan, D., Sakthivel, S., Visweswaran, P., Murugan, S., Amarendra, G., Manivannan, P.V.: Degenerated degree of freedom sensing without loss of accuracy while estimating the rigid body parameters for the calibration of a 2 axis robotic arm for prototype fast breeder reactor, steam generator inspection system. In: Machines, Mechanism and Robotics: Proceedings of iNaCoMM 2017, Lecture Notes in Mechanical engineering, Springer
Sivanandam, S., Deepa, S.: Introduction to particle swarm optimization and ant colony optimization. In: Introduction to Genetic Algorithms. Springer, Berlin (2008)
Gad, A.: Introduction to Optimization with Genetic Algorithm. https://towardsdatascience.com/introduction-to-optimization-with-genetic-algorithm-2f5001d9964b
Xin, J., Zhong, J., Yang, F., Cui, Y., Sheng, J.: An improved genetic algorithm for path-planning of unmanned surface vehicle. Sens. Open Access J. (2019)
Joseph Winston, S., Manivannan, P.V.: Optimal damping factor for the least squares inverse kinematics for the steam generator inspection system. In: Machines, Mechanism and Robotics: Proceedings of iNaCoMM 2017, Lecture Notes in Mechanical engineering, Springer
Jazar, R.N.: Theory of Applied Robotics-Kinematics, Dynamics, and Control, 2nd edn. Springer, Berlin
Peter, C.: Robotics vision and control. In: Fundamental Algorithms in MATLAB. Springer, Berlin
Perone, C.S.: Pyevolve Documentation. http://pyevolve.sourceforge.net/index.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Joseph Winston, S., Manivannan, P.V. (2021). Optimal Path Planning of Steam Generator Tube Inspection System’s Robotic Manipulator Using Genetic Algorithm. In: Deepak, B.B.V.L., Parhi, D.R.K., Biswal, B.B. (eds) Advanced Manufacturing Systems and Innovative Product Design. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9853-1_45
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9853-1_45
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-9852-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-9853-1
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)