Input shaping control of a nuclear power plant's fuel transport system

In this paper, the residual vibration control problem of a nuclear power plant's fuel-transport system is discussed. The purpose of the system is to transport fuel rods to the target position within the minimum time. But according to observations, the rods oscillate at the end of the maneuver, causing an undesirable delay in the operation and affecting the system's performance in terms both of productivity and of safety. In the present study, a mathematical model of the system was developed to simulate the under-water sway response of the rod while keeping in view the effects of the hydrodynamic forces imposed by the surrounding water. Experiments were performed to validate the model's correctness. Further, simulation results were used to design the input shaping control that generates shaped velocity commands for transport of the fuel rods to the target position with the minimum residual vibration. It was observed that due to the under-water maneuvering, the fuel-handling system behaves as a highly damped process and that the generated shaped velocity commands fail to effect the desired suppression of the residual vibration. Therefore, keeping in view the highly damped nature of the system, a modified shaped command was generated that transported the fuel rods to the target position with the minimum residual vibration.