LaserPipe - Remote in-bore laser welding of nuclear pipelines

Completed

Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Nuclear supporting technologies)

Applied Research and Development

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
Oliver Crispin Robotics Limited

Feasibility Study

Innovate UK

01 January 2015

31 January 2016

13 months

£101,128

South West

Competition Call: 1403_FS_ENE_GEN_DCNS - Developing the civil nuclear supply chain FS. Activity Developing the civil nuclear supply chain

Project Contact, Oliver Crispin Robotics Limited

Project Contact, TWI Technology Centre

Nuclear sites require regular maintenance to replace and/or repair corroded/deteriorated pipes. A result of the challenging environment, confined space and limited external access is that external orbital cutting and welding processes are not viable for many applications, and, consequently, in-bore remote processing has generated significant interest in recent years. The LaserPipe project will develop a compact in-bore laser welding head and investigate the procedures for an all positional laser welding process. The resulting in-bore processing system will integrate the compact laser welding head to a snake-arm robot, to demonstrate remote locating of weld joint, aligning laser beam path and perform in-bore laser welding. The same tool can also be employed for in-bore laser cutting and pre/post-weld heat-treatment, thus reducing the capital investment necessary for in-bore pipe processing operations, and improving related productivity.Nuclear sites require regular maintenance to replace and/or repair corroded/deteriorated pipes. A result of the challenging environment, confined space and limited external access is that external orbital cutting and welding processes are not viable for many applications, and, consequently, in-bore remote processing has generated significant interest in recent years. The LaserPipe project will develop a compact in-bore laser welding head and investigate the procedures for an all positional laser welding process. The resulting in-bore processing system will integrate the compact laser welding head to a snake-arm robot, to demonstrate remote locating of weld joint, aligning laser beam path and perform in-bore laser welding. The same tool can also be employed for in-bore laser cutting and pre/post-weld heat-treatment, thus reducing the capital investment necessary for in-bore pipe processing operations, and improving related productivity.

06/10/15