Development of an Automated Guided Vehicle System for Large Scale Materials Handling of Optics in the National Ignition Facility

摘要

The National Ignition Facility is a high-power laser facility used for research in inertial confinement fusion. It will help resolve issues about the performance of nuclear weapons and reproduce conditions that exist in stars. When completed, the NIF will house 192 beamlines that contain 8,000 large (40 cm square) optical components, packaged into "line replaceable units (LRUs) and more than 15,000 smaller ones. The NIF Operations Engineering Group is tasked with installation, run-time transport and handling of many of these LRUs. In addition to the sheer number of LRUs, these precisely aligned optics packages weigh hundreds of pounds and must be delivered, via relatively narrow corridors, to numerous locations in cleanroom containers (or delivery systems) within prescribed vibration limits. The unique combination of all of these requirements precludes the use of most manual delivery techniques. Hence, NIF Operations has adopted the use of a system of automated guided vehicles or Laser Bay Transport System (LBTS). The LBTS consists of two primary components: a configureable commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) traffic management system and several custom automated guided vehicles or transporters. The traffic management system processes LRU material handling information, coordinates and monitors transporter activities, and archives traffic and transporter information for system querying and trending analyses. The transporters are responsible for implementing material handling commands, route guidance, accurate/repeatable transporter parking, delivery system docking and alignment. The transporters also communicate with the traffic management computer for command and status information, implement local collision avoidance, and provide utility connections for the delivery systems. Additionally, the LBTS has been incorporated into a multilayered distributed control architecture. Critical integration tasks involve coordinating transporter control maneuvers with its delivery system cargo, interfacing the transporter with other supervisory control system applications, and ensuring compatibility with the NIF wireless local area network. The resulting LBTS design is a modular, scaleable flexible automation environment aptly suited for the 30-year life expectancy of NIF.