Product category:
Machinery and Production Equipment
News Release from: KMT Waterjet Systems | Subject: Cutting Box Blaster
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 09 December 2005
Nuclear group picks KMT for skip
cleaning
British Nuclear Group chooses robotic cleaning system from KMT Cutting Systems for specialist surface cleaning of contaminated spent nuclear fuel skips.
The British Nuclear Group has chosen a robotic cleaning system from KMT Cutting Systems for specialist surface cleaning of contaminated spent nuclear fuel skips The order is worth about £300,000, and is the first for KMT Cutting Systems in the nuclear industry
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 29 Apr 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Robotic system set to clean up
KMT Cutting Systems (formerly ABB I-R Waterjet Systems) has launched a new robotic system for three-dimensional waterjet cleaning and surface treatment.
Waterjet systems suit nuclear applications
The ultra-high-pressure water cutting technique reduces water consumption considerably.
The cleaning system will be delivered early in 2006.
"The order from British Nuclear Group is of significant strategic importance for us as it represents our entry into the nuclear industry, a new and very important market sector for KMT," said Ulf Andersson, Project Manager at KMT Cutting Systems.
The cleaning system is based on KMT's Cutting Box Blaster, a system for the removal of coatings, grease and other substances from metal surfaces.
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Intensifier upgrades waterjet performance
A Streamline SL-V 50hp intensifier and an AMS I abrasive management system have been retrofitted to a waterjet cutting table at AquaCut.
Waterjet cutting explained
A guide to the technology and benefits of the waterjet cutting process has been introduced by KMT Waterjet Systems.
The machine being built for British Nuclear Group will be used to remove contaminated paint and layers of corrosion from the surface of skips that previously contained spent nuclear fuel.
The process will take the skips back to base metal, converting them into low level nuclear waste, suitable for export and storage at the nuclear waste repository at Drigg in Cumbria.
This should let British Nuclear Group double the number of skips that can be cleaned in a day, while reducing the need for personnel to work in radiation contaminated environments.
The machine is based around one floor-mounted robot, but the Cutting Box Blaster can be equipped with up to two robots, which are normally inverted either in fixed positions or able to move on tracks attached to the ceiling of the cell.
The cleaning jet in the system is produced by forcing a fine jet of water at very high pressure through a multiple set of nozzles in a unit called a rotojet, mounted on the robot arm in the same way as a waterjet cutting head or routing head in other Cutting Box designs.
The rotojet nozzles are mounted within a body that is rotated independently by a pneumatically driven motor.
This produces a cone-shaped cleaning jet that, combined with the movement of the robot or the worktable, provides coverage for cleaning a surface.
Rotating and fixed worktables are available.
Instead of high-pressure steel tubing, the high pressure water entering the rotojet unit is passed through high-pressure flexible hosing to ensure the movement of the robot is flexible for the cleaning process The Cutting Box Blaster can be accessed through clear sliding doors which also give a view of the cleaning operation.
As well as this application in the nuclear industry, the Cutting Box Blaster has other functions, from removing paint on fixtures used in curing ovens for automotive bodies and removing excess polyurethane and other plastics from injection mouldings to cleaning blades in refurbishment work on diesel turbines and aircraft jet engines.
The system also offers the option of abrasive blasting using a mixture of water and sand within the same cell.
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