UNLV Transmutation Research Program Proposal Year III: Design and Evaluation of Processes for Fuel Fabrication

The objective of this project is the design and evaluation of manufacturing processes for transmuter fuel fabrication. The large-scale deployment of remote fabrication and refabrication processes will be required for all transmutation scenarios. Current program emphasis is on a five-year effort to determine the feasibility of transmutation as a technology to limit the need for repository storage of spent commercial fuel. The evaluation of the fabrication processes will create a decision support data base to document design, operations, and costs. Fabrication processes required for different fuel types differ in terms of equipment types, throughput, and cost. Differential cost Implications of various fuel choices will be assessed. The ongoing year 1 project has been focusing on collecting information on existing technologies, equipment costs, and material throughput. Another aspect during years 1 and 2 has been the assessment of robotic technology and robot supervision and control, and the simulation of material handling operations using 3-D simulation tools with view towards the development of a fully automated and reliable, autonomous manufacturing process. Such development has the potential to decrease the cost of remote fuel fabrication and to make transmutation a more economically viable process. An added benefit would be the potential for exposure dose reductions to workers. This project is being conducted in close cooperation with the fabrication development group at Argonne National Lab. Year 3 of the project will be devoted to developing further data and knowledge regarding the cost and feasibility of automated fuel manufacture in a hot cell. The detailed simulation of manufacturing processes (as robotic operations supervised by remote operators and as virtual mock-up facilities) will be continued. Both normal operations as well as failure scenarios will be investigated, analyzed, and simulated. The results of this study will be documented in detail. The results of the simulations will be used by Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) program personnel to perform sensitivity studies on the impact of different fuel types on AFCI system operation. Conceptual designs for plant designs and the accompanying supervision and control systems will be developed. Impacts on transmutation system capital cost, economics of operation, estimates of process loss, and environmental and safety issues will be estimated in further detail, continuing the work from year 2

Improved performance in aluminium oxide tool inserts via post sintering using hybrid microwave energy

This research investigates the effect of hybrid microwave energy toward the enhancement of tool life in Al₂O₃ inserts. Post sintering was done using conventional and hybrid microwave sintering at 600°C for 15 mins and compared the findings with the original available commercial inserts. Mechanical testing such as density, hardness and compression strength were performed together with the micro structural analysis using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was done. Tool life of these Al₂O₃ inserts were analysed through dry machining using three different cutting speeds ( 245, 305 and 381 m/min) at the feed rate of 0.2 mm/rev and depth of cut of 0.2 mm. Two different workpieces were used in this research; T6061 Aluminium Alloy and Hardened Steel. Results have shown that the density and hardness remain quite similar with or without the post sintering effect. However, the material became slightly more brittle upon post sintering where conventional sintering produced a compression strength of 0.07 MPa while the hybrid microwave sintering produced a compression strength of 0.21 MPa. Tool life of Al₂O₃ inserts in dry machining of T6061 Aluminium alloy and Hardened Steel has increased by 27.0-40.0 % and 30.6-39.1 % respectively for the hybrid microwave post sintering

Accretion Control in Sponge Iron Production Kiln using Fuzzy Logic

Sponge iron is the product generated by direct reduction of iron ore with aid of either carbon or natural gas under controlled temperatures and pressures within a rotary kiln. However the performance of rotary kilns is usually adversely affected by the formation of accretion. This accumulation of sintered solid particles which form rings along the length of the kiln hinders material flow, lowers productivity and life span of the kiln. To maintain the quality of sponge iron and improve on performance of rotary kilns, there is need to minimize accretion build up in the kiln. However due to the nonlinear nature of the reduction process dynamics, it is difficult to control accretion build up in the kiln. This paper proposes the control of accretion build up through the application of Fuzzy Logic control. The controller receives partial and imprecise data from field instruments and is able to maintain product quality under dynamic process conditions. MATLAB Fuzzy-Toolbox was used to model and simulate the design. A comparison is made between the designed Fuzzy system and the PID controller. Simulation results show that it is possible to reduce accretion build up from 27 % when using PID controller to 14.6 % with the use of Fuzzy control. Keywords: Accretion, Fuzzy Logic, Kiln, Sponge iro

Prediction Model of Smelting Endpoint of Fuming Furnace Based on Grey Neural Network

Since grey theory and neural network could improve prediction precision, the technology of combination prediction was proposed in this study. Then the algorithm was simulated by Matlab using practical data of a fuming furnace. The results reveal that the smelting endpoint of fuming furnace could be accurately predicted with this model by referring to small sample and information. Therefore, GNN model is effective with the advantages of high precision, fewer samples required and simple calculation

Computer applications in steel industry

An overview of the current status of computer applicat-ions in the steel industry has been presented from the point of view of process automation and control. Specific areas covered range from sintering to rolling - including energy and transport management. It has been concluded that development of more intelligent man-machine interface for computer aided analysis, simulation and implementation of control system coupled with advances in software engi-neering, parallel processing, high performance graphics and artificial intelligence based systems have led to cons-iderable advancement in all areas as evidenced by signi-ficant improvement in both the plant productivity and pro-duct quality, the world over. Efforts being made in India in general and at R&D Centre of SAIL in particular have been highlighted. In this context, generation of our own technology and a rational and intelligent selection and adoption of various technical advances has been emphasised

Advanced Knowledge Application in Practice

The integration and interdependency of the world economy leads towards the creation of a global market that offers more opportunities, but is also more complex and competitive than ever before. Therefore widespread research activity is necessary if one is to remain successful on the market. This book is the result of research and development activities from a number of researchers worldwide, covering concrete fields of research