Upon powering on the crane today and attempting to use the main hoist, the following faults were present:

1. Main Hoist East Drum North Motor Drive Fault (700VFD)
2. Main Hoist West Drum South Motor Drive Fault (900VFD)
3. Main Hoist East Drum North Motor Drive Not Ready (700VFD)

Note that the auxiliary hoists functioned as normal.

Upon power cycling the crane to reset, the faults disappeared, and the main hoist functioned normally again. The root cause of the issue is unknown. It is suspected to be related to either prolonged inactivity, improper safety reset sequence, or the battery being removed from the pendant. This issue will be monitored for re-occurrence.

The spacer flanges were installed on both turntables today.

See photos and information in the following DocuShare Collection: Collection-39816

Important note: the fitment was quite tight due to interference with universal joints and grease nipples. The flanges were still able to be installed with a bit of difficulty. They are not posing any immediate issues, but it is predicted that the adapter flanges will certainly interfere with drive system components. It is necessary to change the design of the adapter flanges to allow for the appropriate clearance.

A safety walkaround was completed for the ARIEL Hot Cell area.

The resulting spreadsheet can be found on DocuShare as Document-242733.

No major deficiencies identified.

It was reported that the hot cell turntables would not rotate and the access hatch could not be operated. The turntables' elevation motion was working normally, and other cell functions were working.

Upon investigation, after going online with the PLC and checking the interlocks for the turntable, it was determined that motion was being prevented because the turntables were in the "critical position" in which they could interfere with the access hatch raising/lowering. However, the access hatch was fully closed, so this logic should not have been actively preventing motion. After inspecting the target access hatch limit switches, it was determined that the upper limit switch's Normally Open contacts were behaving normally, but the Normally Closed ones were not. When the switch was toggled, the NO contacts did not switch over. Thus, the sensor was in an unknown state causing conflicting logic in the PLC (the program thought the access hatch was in an intermediate state between opened and closed, thus preventing motion... and the access hatch could not move because the turntables were in the "critical position"). After testing the switch multiple times, jiggling the wiring/contacts, and rewiring one of the screw terminals, the NO contacts started working normally again. It is suspected that a wire was loose. 

The issue has been resolved and tested - the access hatch logic is functioning regularly and both turntables can fully rotate and elevate.

After a recent power cycle, the y-axis referencing was lost for the 1000 kg crane. The position readout was also incorrect, somewhere on the order of > 30,000 mm. On 2024-11-29, A. Newsome re-referenced the y-axis. The position readout correctly reset to zero, and both +y and -y motion is functioning correctly, but the y-axis position readout on the HMI constantly displays 0 and does not change. To be investigated.

Update 2024-12-02:

After going online with the PLC, it was determined that the reason for the display of 0 as the position is that the two values used for calibration of the +y and -y limits were actually the same, meaning the scaling factor (the difference between these two values) was 0, which resulted in the displayed value being 0. The root cause of this is that the encoder was not functioning correctly so its value was not changing when the crane moved and it was stuck at one value. Upon investigation of the encoder input card, the red "ERR" light was on. This indicates the encoder signals are not properly reaching the input card. Once this was discovered, it was remembered that this happened in July 2024 as well (no e-log was written). In July, the root cause was identified as being a loose encoder signal wire in a junction box. Junction box CJB1-BC, located on the bridge crane near its disconnects, was opened and investigated. Upon checking each wire, it was determined that the red wire seemed not to be making full contact. The wire was removed and re-inserted, and the "ERR" indicator on the encoder card turned off. The crane's +y and -y limits were re-referenced. The crane is functioning normally after re-referencing. (Note: if something like this happens again, during the re-referencing process, the displayed value on the HMI will be incorrect.. this is because the PLC's scaling factor is not fully adjusted until both +y and -y limits are reached. The actual encoder measurement taken at those limits is used for the scaling factor. This is not an ideal way to program the system, but this is how it works with all ARIEL hot cell subsystems. So incorrectly displayed values can be ignored, in general, until full referencing is completed).

Two externally mounted jib cranes were installed on the ARIEL hot cell - one on the West side above the tool port, and one on the North side above the tool port. These cranes are supplied by AC DC Cranes (see attached quote for info). They are 250 kg WLL, 2 m span, powered hoist, manual pivot. They were mounted using M24x3 x 50mm bolts.

Engineering analysis and BC P Eng sign off for the design of these cranes has been handled by ROBATEL Industries as part of the ARIEL hot cell contract. TRIUMF scope of work included procurement and installation of the cranes.

At the time of writing this e-log, the cranes have not been powered and therefore have not been tested. They are not considered commissioned and operational at this point and must not be used. Facility coordinators have been informed.

Future work (to be done by A. Newsome): coordinate electrical services to supply power to the cranes, perform initial functionality and load testing, add cranes to calibration/inspection index, and include the logbook and list of qualified operators down in the hot cell area.

December 12, 2024 - Chad Fisher, Albert Kong, Aaron Tam 

Tests:

Gas lines removal: 

• Starting with the most exterior connection, VCR connection loosened off with open ended conventional wrench
• Once loose, the nut can be un threaded with manipulator finger (rolling nut technique) 
• Once gas line unhooked, gasket removed by bringing female end outside the service tray footprint and jiggling until the gasket was removed
  • Also possible to use a pick if needed
• The same procedure was conducted for the interior VCR connection

Gas lines installation: 

• Starting with the inner most connection
• Gasket placed on 3D printed tool and clipped into position on VCR male end
• At first an M10 bolt was inserted into the elbow below VCR connection, but without rotational authority, the makeshift handle is not worth using
• Griping the elbow with one manipulator and rolling the nut onto the threads with the other proved successful
• Nut was tightened using conventional open ended 19mm wrench

Observations/Notes:

• Service Tray was not in a fully connected position, so even less space will be afforded.
  • This may affect the ability to get 2 manipulators on the same connection
• Piston modules were missing some limit wires on the side. These constrain movement horizontally and will either need to be removed as part of the procedure or, make the procedure more difficult
• Mass markers and various other connectors not installed, and these could slightly restrict movement as well
• Service tray pin was restricting the movement of the left manipulator during install
• Lighting was inadequate under the piston 

Recommendations/follow up items/questions:

• All metal Parker VGR style gaskets to replace plastic retainer versions
  • This is so that the degraded plastic doesn't break off and end up in the gas lines (upside down connections)
• A modified wrench with flats for handles and with more length would make the above procedures easier 
• Along with raising and lower the service tray, the service tray pin being oriented towards the beam entry direction, would make life easier 
• Still need to test gasket install on "other" Piston gas line connection
  • Chad will redesign some new gasket tools to be tested
    • side load and axial load gaskets, low and high clearance, aluminum construction 
• Lighting positioned to flood the service tray area will be needed
• labeling the gas lines with a more permanent solution will be needed
• Once the high voltage feed-through parts have come in, we can re-test and see if the piston module can be lowered to aid in target removal situations
• Aaron will test Parker style seals to see if they can be removed as easily once brought up to specified torque 

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 December 16, 2024

• Upon inspecting the piston modules on AETE in TISA, we became aware of how the wires are arranged for the limit switches, it may be a good idea to look into how these wires are handled when using the piston module jig.

 December 12, 2024 - Chad Fisher, Albert Kong, Aaron Tam, Austin Hagen

Tests:

Loose piece connection and removal 

• By hand, the two connections were brought together and removed carefully

Observation/notes:

• Copper extensions are fragile and can bend when removing extraction electrode. 
  • This makes this part fairly limited in its capacity to be re-used
  • Copper extensions will need to be tuned before inserting into hotcell for replacement 

Recommendations/follow up items/questions:

• Bigger lead-ins would be appreciated
• What is the exchange frequency?
• the flexible nature of the copper extensions makes re-use limited
• How many connections can we expect from the aluminum fingers?
• Would a closer locating feature specific to the pins help?

December 12, 2024 - Michael Genix, Aaron Tam 

• Guide pins for the extraction electrode contact before the banana plugs
  • As these pins are low tolerance, this will act as the guiding for the plugs
  • Copper extensions have a much smaller diameter than the plugs, so positioning can be less precise in this area 
• Exchange frequency is still TBD
• Pin and plug life is still TBD
• Potentially the copper extensions can be tuned in the hotcell