JP2896195B2 - Sampling inspection device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a sampling inspection device, and more particularly, to a sampling inspection device.
For example, the present invention relates to a sampling inspection apparatus used for sampling inspection of nuclear fuel pellets as a large number of inspection objects performed during a nuclear fuel pellet manufacturing process.

[Prior art] Generally, the process of manufacturing nuclear fuel pellets involves sintering in a high-temperature (about 1,700 ° C) reducing atmosphere to form UO ₂ powder into green pellets of a predetermined size and density using a press machine and further increase the density. To a sintered pellet, and further, the outer diameter of the sintered pellet is ground to obtain a finished nuclear fuel pellet.

In such a nuclear fuel pellet manufacturing process, the dimensions and density of the nuclear fuel pellets are important control items.

For this reason, in order to inspect the size and density of the nuclear fuel pellets during the nuclear fuel manufacturing process, at each stage of the manufacturing process, for example, sampling inspection of some nuclear fuel pellets arranged irregularly by means such as image analysis is performed. ing.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, the sintering process of the green pellets described above
As described above, a molybdenum tray is usually used because the reaction is performed in a high temperature (about 1700 ° C.) reducing atmosphere (in hydrogen gas).
However, this molybdenum tray is not always flat because it is gradually deformed due to repeated use. Also, even if the green pellets are regularly placed on the molybdenum tray after press molding, such as shrinking during the sintering process or slightly moving due to the vibration of the tray being conveyed in the baking furnace, the sintering process may not be sufficient. Since the rules are lost, there is a problem that it is not easy to carry out the inspection for extracting the green pellets on the molybdenum tray by means such as the image analysis described above.

In addition, there has been a problem that the means such as image analysis requires much time for measuring the dimensions and density and increases the inspection cost.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sampling inspection apparatus that can efficiently extract an inspection object and can contribute to a reduction in processing time and a reduction in inspection cost.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention is a sampling inspection apparatus that performs sampling inspection of a large number of inspection objects arranged irregularly and densely, wherein a protruding end is located between the inspection object group. A pair of symmetrically disposed gripping pieces provided with a protrusion formed at a predetermined angle capable of invading the support and a gripping recess following the protrusion are openably and closably mounted on the support, and the two gripping pieces are opened in a state where both gripping pieces are opened. Gripping means for forming a gripping region of the inspection object between the concave portions; detecting means disposed at the protruding portion of the gripping means; vertically moving drive of the gripping means; A driving unit that performs opening and closing driving; and a control unit that controls each of the driving operations of the driving unit based on a detection result of the detection unit. Operation, opening and closing operation And a specific inspection object is extracted from the inspection object group by a combination of the vertical movement operation.

[Operation] The driving means in the sampling inspection apparatus having the above-described configuration first moves the gripping means irregularly and toward a large number of inspection objects arranged densely. Then, the protruding portion of the gripping means enters between the inspection object groups, and at this time, the detection means detects a specific inspection object and sends a detection signal to the control means.

Control means, based on the detection signal,
The open control signal, the forward control signal, the close control signal, the reverse control signal, and the upward control signal are sequentially transmitted.

As a result, the two gripping pieces of the gripping means are opened to remove peripheral inspection objects other than the specific inspection object, and then, after the gripping concave portions of both gripping pieces have advanced to both sides of the specific inspection object, The specific inspection object is gripped in the gripping region by the closing operation of the piece, the gripping unit is further retracted in this state, and finally the gripping unit is raised to perform the extraction.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail.

A sampling inspection apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an apparatus main body 2 having a rotatable robot arm 3 and a robot arm 3
Tray 4 and measuring instrument table 5 arranged so as to sandwich the main body of the apparatus in the rotation area of the device, molybdenum tray 6 arranged on tray placing table 4, weight measuring instrument 7 arranged on measuring instrument 5 and measuring instrument And a long device 8.

At the protruding end of the robot arm 3, an up-and-down driving unit 11 composed of, for example, a hydraulic cylinder 9 and a cylinder rod 10 is arranged. A hand 12 as a gripping means as shown in FIG. Installed in horizontal arrangement.

On the molybdenum tray table 6, for example,
As shown in FIG. 1A, a large number of sintered pellets 13 as inspection objects are arranged irregularly and densely.

A tray sensor (not shown in FIG. 1) is provided on the tray mounting table 4 to detect a mounting state of the molybdenum tray 6.
14 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, the hand 12 has a rectangular parallelepiped support 15 connected to the thin rod 10, and
15 is provided with a pair of symmetrically-shaped gripping pieces 16A and 16B attached to the slide 15 so as to be opened and closed by a slide mechanism.

The two gripping pieces 16A, 16B are respectively formed with projections 17A, 17B having projection ends formed at an angle β, and gripping recesses 18A, 18B formed following the projections 17A, 17B and facing each other.
The gripping region 19 for the sintered pellet 13 is formed by the two gripping recesses 18A and 18B.

The angle β, the projections 17A, 17B of both gripping pieces 16A, 16B penetrate between a number of sintered pellets 13 as described below, and when the gripping pieces 16A, 16B are opened, the outer sides 20A, 20B cause The peripheral sintered pellets 13 are selected so that they can be pushed laterally.

The angle α between the inner sides 21A and 21B of the protrusions 20A and 20B and the holding recesses 18A and 18B is determined when the specific sintered pellet 13 is held in the holding area 19. The angle is selected so that other sintered pellets 13 behind the sintered pellet 13 are not simultaneously gripped.

Further, each of the protrusions 17A and 17B has a sintered pellet.
13 Pellet sensors 22A, 22B such as electrostatic sensors for detection
Is arranged.

The tray sensor 14 and the pellet sensors 22A and 22B constitute a detecting means 23.

The apparatus main body 2 includes a rotation drive unit 24 using a motor or the like that drives the robot arm 2 to rotate, and an advance / retreat drive unit 25 that advances / retreats the robot arm 2 and the hand 12 with respect to the molybdenum tray 6.

Further, both gripping arms 16A, 16B of the hand 12 are
It is designed to be opened and closed by an opening and closing drive unit using a motor, a speed reducer, and the like.

FIG. 3 shows a control system of the sampling inspection apparatus 1. That is, the sampling inspection apparatus 1 includes a control unit 29 including a program memory 27 and a control unit 28.

The controller 28 includes a tray sensor 14, a pellet sensor
22A and 22B, the weight measuring device 7 and the length measuring device 8 are connected respectively.

Further, the control unit 28 controls the driving unit 30 including the vertical drive unit 11, the rotation drive unit 24, the forward / backward drive unit 25, and the open / close drive unit 26.
Is controlled.

Further, an interface 31 is connected to the control unit 28, and information is transmitted to, for example, a host computer 32 connected via a communication line 32.

Next, the operation of the above-described sampling inspection apparatus 1 will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (d), focusing on the operation of extracting the sintered pellet 13. FIG.

When the molybdenum tray 6 on which a large number of sintered pellets 13 are irregularly and densely placed is placed on the tray table 4, a detection signal is sent from the tracer 14 to the control unit 28. The control unit 28 controls the open / close drive unit 26 based on the detection signal.
And the advance control of the forward / backward drive unit 25.

Thereby, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the hand 12 advances toward the sintered pellet 13 in the direction of the arrow. At this time, since the protruding ends of the protruding portions 17A and 17B of the hand 12 have the angle β as described above, the inner side portions 21A and 21B correspond to the specific sintered pellet 13 as shown in FIG. Touching the outer circumference,
Further, the outer sides 20A and 20B are in contact with the outer periphery of the respective sintered pellets 13 on the side.

In this state, a detection signal is sent from both of the pellet sensors 22A and 22B to the control unit 28, whereby the control unit 28 controls the stop of the advance / retreat drive unit 25 to stop the hand 12.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 28
By the opening control of 26, both gripping pieces 16A and 16B are opened evenly. Thereby, the sintered pellets 13 on both sides are respectively outer side portions 20A, 2A.
It is pushed to the side and pushed away from the specific sintered pellet 13.

Next, the control unit 28 controls the advance / retreat driving unit 25 while the hand 12 is open, and the deepest portions of the holding concave portions 18A and 18B are moved to the sintered pellet 13 as shown in FIG. Is advanced to a position corresponding to the diameter portion of, and the hand 12 is stopped here.

Further, the control unit 28 controls the opening / closing drive unit 26 to close,
As shown in FIG. (D), the specific sintered pellet 13 is held in the holding area.
Hold in 19 At this time, since the angle α is appropriately selected, other sintered pellets 13 located behind the specific sintered pellet 13 are not gripped together.

Next, the control unit 28 controls the raising and lowering of the vertical drive unit 11, and raises the hand 12 holding the sintered pellet 13.

With the above operation, the specific sintered pellet 13 can be easily and automatically extracted from the molybdenum tray 6.

After the end of the extracting operation, the control unit 28 controls the rotation driving unit 24 to transfer the hand 12 to the weight measuring device 7.
The weight measuring device 7 measures the weight of the transferred sintered pellets 13 and sends measurement data to the control unit 28.

Next, the sintered pellet 13 is sent to the length measuring device 8 and the measurement data for measuring the outer diameter and height thereof is sent to the control unit 28.

The two measurement data are sent to the host computer 32 via the interface 31, where the density and the like of the sintered pellet 13 are calculated and used as process control data.

The present invention can be variously modified within the scope of the gist, in addition to the embodiments described above.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case of extracting the sintered pellets has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to the rearrangement of irregularly arranged cylindrical objects.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention described in detail above, it is possible to efficiently and quickly extract an inspection object with a simple configuration, thereby shortening the extraction processing time and reducing the inspection cost. It is possible to provide a sampling inspection device that can contribute to reduction of the number of samples.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a front view of the apparatus of the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a hand in the apparatus, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of the apparatus, and FIGS. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a extracting operation by a hand. 1 ... sampling inspection device, 2 ... device body, 12 ... hand, 13
... Sintered pellets, 16A, 16B ... Grip pieces, 17A, 17B ... Protrusions, 18A, 18B ... Grip recesses, 19 ... Grip areas, 23 ... Detection means, 29 ... Control means, 30 ... Drive means.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sampling inspection apparatus for performing sampling inspection of a large number of inspection objects arranged irregularly and densely, wherein a protruding end is formed at a predetermined angle capable of entering between the inspection object groups. A pair of symmetrically disposed gripping pieces having a projected portion and a gripping recess following the projecting portion are attached to the support so as to be openable and closable, and the inspection object is located between the gripping recesses with both gripping pieces open. Gripping means for forming a gripping region; detecting means disposed on the protruding portion of the gripping means; vertically moving drive of the gripping means; a driving means for moving forward and backward with respect to the inspection object group; and a driving means for opening and closing the two gripping pieces. Control means for controlling each of the driving operations of the driving means based on the detection results of the detection means, wherein the gripping means moves forward and backward with respect to the inspection object, opens and closes, and vertically moves based on the detection results of the detection means For a combination of actions Ri sampling inspection apparatus being characterized in that so as to extract the particular test object from the test object group.