We successfully performed a removal and replacement of a power busbar stabuli connector on the front end plate where the HTV connects to:

• The middle-lower connector was tested as the others are more straightforward to work with.
• It may be a good idea to use a 3D printed jig to wedge into the connectors without damaging the flexures/pins.
• A longer hex bit on the hot cell torque tool would greatly help this operation.
• Even without special tooling the bottom connector returned and mated back onto the locating features relatively easily with just the manipulators.
• Longer hex bits purchased, 3D printed too left for future.
• Screws and washers are effectively captive in the connectors which helps

Today RH (CF and AK) agreed upon using the following style of gaskets for the ARIEL front ends:

• All metal rings to be used to avoid plastic retaining rings deteriorating due to radiation and leaving bits stuck in the nuts
• Parker style (4 VGR-SS and 8 VGR-SS) gaskets for all VCR joints, except
• For the piston module and hanging water line VCR joints (found in the 'back', these should use SwageLok side-load gaskets (SS-4-VCR-2-ZC-VS and SS-8-VCR-2-ZC-VS)
  • The primary reasons for which are clearance issues to fit normal loading VCR tools in these joints.

Feb 13:

The 'hanging' VCR joint on the driver side was successfully exchanged by hand:

• The adjacent HV shielding had to be removed to do so
• Access to the screws on the shielding is limited so likely the use of a manual ratchet and socket key is required

All other 'mid-height' VCR joints ok for gasket exchange since they are accessible

The driver side upper VCR line was tested:

• Issue with bracket for male side on shield plug, the adapter does not thread in fully
• Flexible hose could be positioned into bracket with manipulators
• Upper VCR lines will be revisited when correction to bracket is made and when the interfering tube on the HTV side is solved.

Covers testing for dealing with KF joints by the gate valve on the FE.

Photos provided in PDF, download and open to view all, ELOG preview not guaranteed to show all.

Feb 20: Tested two KF clamps joints by the gate valve area

• When undoing the KF nuts, recommend starting with torque tool, then undoing by hand to prevent excessive loading in the updated retained design or prevent losing the nut if we decide to not have the nut retained.
• Having a retained design may help by giving the hot cell operator feedback when the nut is brought out as far as it can.
• During testing, we did not capture possible side loads on the 'free' side of the KF joint, though after reviewing the TISA version of the connectors, they may not be as strongly loaded so this is likely not a problem. Instead, the problem will be preventing the 'free' side from being dropped.
• A 'captive' KF gasket may be advantageous to better ensure the joint is re-done properly when servicing and to minimize the risk of the gasket falling out (although during testing this risk seemed minimal).
  • After initial search, an off-the-shelf solution does not seem to exist, would likely have to be modified in house, which is undesirable.
• We were working with 'old' designs for the clamps without captive nut on the clamp and with shorter screw and smaller hex size on the nut.
• The external clamp had a larger nut than the rear, more realistic to what we understand will be implemented in the redesigned clamps.
• For testing both, we used only the clamp body with the bigger nut.
  • To move clamp body from the exterior joint to the interior joint, we had to remove the HV shielding on the back
  • We noticed that the screw on the HV shielding was not captive but we recommend for this to be changed to be captive is possible
• Both KF joints were successfully serviced (undone, gasket accessed, re-done)
  • We did not test replacement of the gaskets, a tool is recommended to aid this
  • Access to clamp nut on exterior joint is ok, interior joint access could be better (orientation not optimal, could be adjusted by rotating the bracket)
  • Larger size KF line that crosses in front of the interior line was not tested due to missing clamp assembly.
  • The larger KF line will likely need to be disconnected and moved out of the way if we need to service the interior KF joint.
  • Again, a caveat with the successful servicing test is that we did not experience any side loads and the 'free' side was held in place by hand when the joint was re done and the clamp closed
    • When holding the 'free' side with the manipulator, it is difficult to position it such that the clamp can close enough to swing the nut back in place (full contact around the gasket difficult)
    • 'Closing' the clamp back up if the lines are aligned and flush is very difficult to do with a single manipulator (if the second manipulator is used to hold the 'free' side in place).
    • Using an allen key to 'fish' the nut on the clamp when re-doing is useful.

Testing will likely be revisited when we receive the updated clamps, specifically that for the larger, untested, KF joint.

Wednesday, March 05, 2025, 13:00

Implemented and tested travel zone restrictions for the 1000kg crane to prevent collision with the manipulator arms. West operator station is currently occupied so testing was done and confirmed functional for the East operator station.

Movement of the crane is restricted and limited to only moving out of the zone in the following coordinates. Referencing the X and Y position to calibrate the encoder will bypass the zone restriction interlocks.

East Operator Station restriction Zones:

3048mm < X < 4601mm

1550mm < Y < 1680mm

Restrict +X When: 

3048mm < X < Mid point (3824mm)

1550mm < Y < 1680mm

Restrict -X When:

Mid point (3824mm) < X < 4601mm

1550mm < Y < 1680mm

Restrict +Y When:

3048mm < X < 4601mm

1550mm < Y < 1680mm

-Y is not restricted because it is always a safe operation.

West Operator Station restriction Zones:

(TO BE ADDED LATER)

Photos compiled in pdf, download to view in case ELOG preview truncates.

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The HV shield covering the beam dump, on the peripheral side of the FE plate was taken off an on successfully with the manipulators:

• The operation was completed without reorienting the FE towards the HC window and we were still able to perform the removal/installation operations.

The 'helmet' shield on top of the FE plate was successfully exchanged:

• Rough steps: pull the helmet up and back to release from its seated position
• Both manipulators used during operation
• The threaded hole to install grabbing features has 'fine pitch' threads
• Fortunately we were able to replace this shield without the need for additional handling features
• We moved the helmet out towards the gamma dump direction, but to prevent scraping against ceramic standoffs it may be a good idea to pull out the helmet shield from the other direction, though there's an elevated dropping risk (drop onto service tray) and the manipulators will have to reach farther in
• The exchange test was completed with the FE plate facing parallel with the HC window, in practice we would like to reorient the FE maybe 15 degrees CW from this orientation
• Rotating the FE slightly will help with some interference between the left manipulator arm and the shield plug (see photo)
• Adjacent VCR lines may interfere with reinsertion if not done up

HVFT shield was picked up successfully with two manipulators without much issue:

• Found that the manipulator handling cutout on the shields was a bit too large, a smaller gap across the width of the fingers will make is less necessary to grip tightly to keep the shield in line with the gripper
• The above observation applies generally to all HV shielding cutouts
• captive screws where possible on the HV shielding is generally a good idea, the screw on this shield could be captive

The HV shield obstructing exchange of a VCR gasket on the driver side was removed with issues:

• Access to button head screws obstructed by ceramic cylinder, risk of damaging cylinder when accessing these screws with tool, to prevent damage should move position of screws farther away
• Far screw difficult to see from operator window
• Raising the turntable/FE up helps with access
• Remote camera view helpful but due to location, difficult to get head on view of the screws for checking key engagement
• Caveat: ceramic standoffs that would have further obstructed the screws were not installed (final picture)
• Changing design to incorporate slots into the screw holes, similar to the gamma dump HV shield would be greatly beneficial
• Alternatively mount to standoffs to a different plate or add an intermediate adapter plate to make removal and installation of this HV shield easier.

Service tray HV shield on multi-pin connector cable side was tested:

• Existing shield has protrustion that prevents engagement with threaded standoffs and cannot be installed
• Some change required for this HV shield

We did not test the HV shields by the KF clamps for the extraction electrode, we will assume that the KF joint will be made serviceable without needing to remove the shielding and that the VCR joint by that area will never need to be serviced.

Testing on other HV shields to resume in following session.

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UPDATE April 09:

We ran into some issues turning the East and West turntables.

We tested mounting the service tray shielding by hand and foresee no issues.

The shielding covering the rear busbar connection with ribbon connector by the water service lines to the HTV was tested by hand:

• There are no locating features to position this shield where it needs to be screwed down.
• The mounting screws (mount to FE) should be made captive. or employ a similar approach as the ionization dump shielding (slots in and keeps the shielding in place)
• The threaded holes for mounting grabbing features could be improved by adding additional locating features to 'clock' the grabbing features in the desired orientation, without needing to torque down the screw.
• The above recommendations apply to all shielding as appropriate.

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UPDATE Apr 20:

After the East and West turntables were fixed, we were able to test the removal and replacement of the HV shield covering the rear busbar connection (ATA3540).

• 3D printed H-handles were attached to both grabbing feature holes on the shield
• The H-handles rotated with ease despite the screws being moderately tightened, making rotational positioning of the shield difficult
• It may also be a good idea to add a slight angle to the H-profile on the handles to better clear the manipulator wrist from interfering with other FE structures (see photo)
• The air ratchet was used with a short socket key to remove the screws on the shielding
• FE rotated such that the non-gate valve side opening faces the hot cell window
• The FE was not raised far enough and prevented the left manipulator from accessing the second 3D printed h-handle on the gate-valve-side opening
• When removing, there was no need to keep the shielding retained since it could not 'drop' and damage anything
• When returning, it was difficult to tell whether the shield was seated properly, may
  
  • The shield does not stay engaged on the mating nubs on the FE without the screws tightened
  • Returning the shield onto the FE will likely require two manipulators: one to keep it in place, another to reinsert the screw
  • We would strongly recommend changing the screws on this shield to be captive since dropping a screw in this location will cause it to be stuck deep in the service tray
  • Also, if the mounting design could be modified such that the shield stays put when in place and does not drop, it would be a great help
    • some ideas: substituting One of the screws with a pin, having the slot design that's present on some of the other HV shields, or adding more locating features in the mating interface
• When doing-up the screws, with the air ratchet (or smaller electrical tool in the future), it was relatively easy for the tool to slip and turn onto the ceramic components.
• In the real deal, it is imperative for protective impact covers to be placed over the ceramics first.

We tested removal and returning the patch panel shielding by hand:

• the main thing to note would be that the manipulator handle to be installed may need to be made horizontal with side access

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.

 Repairs were done on the North door that would not close. Due to the weight on the hinge pintle and gudgeon repairs were only possible with a Hydraulic power pack and ram to lift the door into position. Door is held closed with single Stainless bolt as top bolt hole would no longer line up. If the door is needed to swing open, recommendation is to use Hydraulic power pack to take some of the weight to facilitate ease. See attached bolt hole photo for misalignment reference.

 Previously prepped - A. Kong, S. Liu, A. Tam

• Gate valve assembly put together
•  All bolts torqued to >=55Nm
• Gate valve Cart moved into hotcell

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April 23, 2025 - A. Kong, C. Fisher, S. Liu, M. Genix, A. Tam 

• Moved standoffs to the taller position on the cart
• Weight added to cart to bring CG towards centre of cart.
  • Cart rolling away and hitting lip of lift table could tip (especially with gate valve in higher position)
• Gate valve moved onto cart via 1000kg crane
  • Sling used between openings in gate valve assembly frame members
• Complete gate valve assembly with hard stop and bellows movement retainer
• Dust cover removed, sealing (o-ring) flange removed,
• vacuum and sealing surfaces cleaned,
• hard stops (gate valve – shield plug) installed, bellows limit brackets installed
• Bagged all items removed to keep them clean
  

QDS seal installed BY HAND onto gate valve tapered flange

• Seal tabs align with a cutout feature on the flange (3 tabs, 120O spacing @ 10:00, 2:00, 6:00)
• These cutouts allow the tabs to bend towards the flange without obstructing sealing surfaces

RH Assumptions (UNTESTED)

• in the situation of a gate valve assembly replacement:
  • Seal should be pre-installed onto gate valve flange using soft jawed clamps (bought, designed, modified)
  • Assembly should come bagged and bag removed at the point of installation to reduce contamination on  vacuum and sealing surfaces
• if seal replacement on its own (eg. during extraction electrode replacement)
  • Seal should arrive on a clean stand through tool port and oriented in installation position
  • two manips to place seal onto flange; grabbing top two tabs (UNTESTED but confident because of taper on seal retainer)
  • clamps are TBD (bought, designed, modified)               

Installing gate valve assembly proposed sequence of operations:

• Using Hotcell lift table, raise gate valve assembly so that Shield-plug-to-gate-valve screw can engage, leaving ~1/8 inch between Shield-plug and gate-valve-assembly
• Slide gate-valve with cart into rough x-y position (use camera views for alignment)
• Start thread on shield-plug-to-gate-valve screw, until weight is released from cart.
• Release gate valve from cart by unscrewing 2 bolts holding it
• Torque shield-plug-to-gate-valve screw fully to align hard-stop threaded holes
• Lightly install hard-stop screws
• Crack loosen the shield plug-gate valve screws
• Final torque on hardstop screws
• Final torque on shield plug-gate valve screws

Additional Notes:

• Tested manipulator access/reach to the hard-stop screws)
  • (better access may be achieved by lowering torque tool handle)
• Nut housing for shield plug to gate valve assembly screws/nuts not used as final bolts will react differently than test shield-plug

To be tested:

• Gate valve seal chain clamp using torque multiplier and reaction arm.   

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April 30, 2025 - C. Fisher, A. Kong, K. Ng, A. Tam 

Preparations:

• Chad programmed 4 torque ratchet wrench settings in CW (12 Nm & 24 Nm) and CCW (12 Nm & 24 Nm)
• Chad had procured and dry fit Norbar HT3-1000 torque multiplier for this operation

Chain Clamp Sealing/Tightening procedure:

• Shielding on the outside of the RIB side structure needs to be taken off to allow QDS reaction head tool to have access to structural components
• Chain clamp brought together lightly by turning turnbuckle screws lightly by hand (this would be done with a smaller air or electric ratcheting wrench in the future)
  • Using several camera angles to verify that the bellow flange is engaging properly within the chain clamp 
  • A soft tipped tool held by one manipulator can be used to push the flanges together, while the other manipulator starts cinching down on one of the chain clamp turnbuckle screws
• Once positioning had been confirmed, turnbuckle screws were tightened on the first 12 Nm program with the the Norbar HT3-1000 torque multiplier to achieve ~60Nm
  • With the torque multiplier, the right manipulator held onto the torque ratchet wrench and the left manipulator brought the reaction head into contact with structural components on the FE
    
  • Bottom screw reaction against FE kinematic mount, top screw reaction against RIB side of gate valve bracket.
• Once both screws have been tightened to ~60Nm, they were both tightened to their final 120 Nm (24Nm on the electric torque ratchet wrench)
  

Notes:

• torque multiplier is heavy, may be a good idea to use a tool balancer with the torque tool
• Stepping up the torque in a more increments may yield a more even clamp for the gasket to seal 
• As a check, a 20-200Nm click style torque wrench was used to verify that approximately 120Nm was reached 
  • 110 Nm - 120 Nm was required to continue tightening the turnbuckle screws

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.

 Ariel fire detection wire installed on cable tray, ready for junction box connection and electrical tie in.

Test jig ATA6060 was used to evaluate the 1" VCR connections on the APTW Beam Dump Module (ATA5900).  The test jig accurately mimics the space constraints on the real module.  This testing was prescribed as an action item from the design review for the module due to concerns that very high force would be required to make the connections.  The test jig was installed on the east shelf in the hot cell.

Preliminary test:
- 1" VCR seal installed by hand;  Nut turned finger tight, position marked
- Using a crow foot on a 3/4" drive 18" long breaker bar, the nut was turned almost 1/8 turn by hand (not with the manipulators);  The effort to do this was relatively light
- Vacuum was pulled on the test jig, reaching 1.4E-9 Torr*L/s in ~1m
- Helium was applied on the joint and a response registered on the leak detector
- The nut was turned further until fully at 1/8 turn past finger tight
- Leak check was repeated with no response from helium spray
- Torque on the joint was measured to be approximately 88 N*m

Manipulator test:
- New gasket installed
- Nut turned finger tight, position marked
- Using manipulator, nut turned to ~1/8 turn with same tool;  This again required a relatively light effort (as reported by CF)
- Vacuum pumped down to 0.0E-10 Torr*L/s (but slower than previous)
- Helium sprayed: very small response
- Tightened slightly more (again, not a huge effort required)
- Helium sprayed: no response
- Removed nut with manipulator;  Roughly equivalent effort as when torquing

Conclusion:  There were no issues in accessing the VCR joint with the tools used.  Effort required by the hot cell operator was not prohibitive.  No changes to the design are required.
 

JUN 11: We raised and coupled the service tray to the HVFT mock-up and measured the force required to bring all the HVFT-ST connectors together (see photos for setup details).

• Two manual scissor jacks were used.
• A 300kg capacity crane scale in custom bracket was used to measure the compression force. The scale is equipped with a 'HOLD' function that displays the peak force measured.
• We found that the raising/coupling force on the HVFT side would drop if the RIB side jack was inched up. This was observed initially without the 'HOLD' function enabled on the scale.
• The peak coupling force measured by the crane scale was 1737N.
• The force increased gradually as we get more engagement on the bus bars and multilam pin arrays.
• With only the first layers of multilams engaged the force was roughly half at 800-900N.
• The raising operation was done slowly, with one person each operating the scissor jacks and a third person instructing the jack operators to ensure that the service tray is raised level to the FE/HVFT.
• The support post/pin of the service tray could be used as a visual guide for whether the service tray is plane to the FE.
  • Alternatively we could equip the two 'jacks' (base jig + one of the manual jacks in practice) with load sensors to make sure it is loaded evenly.
  • Alternatively we could attach an electronic level sensor to the service tray to make sure that it is being raised up evenly.
• The staubli pins connected together without issue, the lead-in features were sufficient to establish the connection.
• The 48pin connector pins also connected together without issue (at least from a visual inspection all pins seemed to engage fully and properly).
• During coupling we noted that some of the capped VCR lines came under compression and added extra force to the raising operation 'jammed', this should not be a problem in the real operation since the extra height of the caps won't exist.
• The bus bars were left 'loose' on the plate (M6 mounting screws weren't tightened) during the coupling operation. After full coupling we realized that there isn't enough clearance for an allen key to fit and tighten some of these screws.
• We will return after the 'de-coupling' test next week to do up these screws and set the busbar ends in position.
• More work needs to be done to create a setup to properly measure the dropping/de-coupling force for the HVFT-ST connections.

JUN 18: We separated the previously coupled service tray from the HVFT mock-up and measured the required force. 

• A custom setup with the crane scale used previously, an aluminum angle bracket, SST hollow rod, and aircraft cable was used to pull on the HVFT side of the service tray.
• To prevent the service tray from dropping suddenly, the manual scissor jacks were placed at the RIB side and next to the crane scale setup.
• We positioned the lift table slightly elevated (~1ft above from the fully dropped height) and brought the turntable up such that the crane scale becomes almost taught. 
• Then the RIB side jack was brought up to make contact and support the RIB side of the service tray, then the support shaft pin was removed.
• The jack by the crane hook was brought up until it barely made contact with the service tray base.
• The turntable was brought up fully and the crane scale records the peak force measured at each phase.
• The measured peak force was 587N to separate. This occurred shortly after the 48 pin joint separated. The main contributor to the force is likely the busbars and multilam flexures.
• We tightened the M6 screws securing the busbars once the service tray is de-coupled and left the service tray in a hanging position off the suspending aircraft cable and returned the pin to the support shaft.