Remote Handling (RH) is an absolute required feature of ITER not only during nominal operation, but also during rescue and recovery situations. Among the various RH systems and sub-systems, a Cask and Plug Remote Handling System (CPRHS) has been adopted as the reference solution for the transportation of casks (containing divertors and blankets) to/from vacuum vessel ports in all levels of the Tokamak Building (TB) and ports in the Hot Cell Building (HCB).
The CPRHS is composed by a cask that enclosures the load, a pallet that holds the cask and an Cask Transfer System (CTS) that acts as a mobile platform with a double set of pivoting drive wheels powered by electric motors, air-bearings and batteries on-board. The CTS, when underneath the pallet, can transport the entire CPRHS, but it can also move independently of the pallet and cask.

This present grant continues the work of the past one (F4E-2008-GRT-016), and aims at generating optimized paths for the CPRHS and CTS in the two buildings of ITER, the Tokamak Building (TB) and the Hot Cell Building (HCB). All types of CPRHS, CTS and rescue casks will be considered for all the VV ports in TB and all the docking ports in HCB. Additionally, the grant will generate paths for the parking locations in the HCB. Path optimization will consider:
i) that both wheels of the CTS will follow the same path, maximizing the length of the common parts of the paths for different missions;
ii) exploring the full flexibility of the rhombic configuration of the CTS having each wheel following different paths.

For each path, a set of information parameters will be provided:

3D models swept by the CPRHS and CTS (when moving alone) along each trajectory provided in CATIA,
Minimum distance to the closest obstacle along the entire trajectory,
Estimation of time execution for the mission associated with the trajectory,
Identification of potential clashes along the trajectory,
Identification of critical zones with potential conflicts between the CPRHS or the CTS and the buildings and surrounding environment elements inside the areas of remote handling operation,
Configuration Management Models (CMM) / CATIA models of the buildings modified according to changes proposals (if applicable), and
The optimized 2D trajectories above referred, obtained in the software tool developed in MATLAB, will be validated by an alternative tool/process based on 3D Virtual Models in order to ensure the quality of the so obtained 2D trajectories.