{"id":10003,"date":"2020-06-04T12:23:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T10:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pronal.com\/?post_type=projets&#038;p=10003"},"modified":"2020-06-04T12:23:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T10:23:01","slug":"nuclear-lifting-cushions-to-lift-fuel-storage-racks","status":"publish","type":"projets","link":"https:\/\/www.pronal.com\/en\/projects\/nuclear-lifting-cushions-to-lift-fuel-storage-racks\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear lifting cushions to lift fuel storage racks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row content_placement=&#8221;middle&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text css_animation=&#8221;left-to-right&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Project and constraints<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On some sites, the fuel storage racks must be changed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #00a7e1;\"><a style=\"color: #00a7e1; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reelinternational.com\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">REEL<\/a><\/span>, supplier of racks and lifting systems, <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">developed an innovative solution that<\/span><span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\"> moves the unreachable racks by the auxiliary bridge<\/span>. A project on which the company faced various constraints :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>use of <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">the bridge deck<\/span> for controlled horizontal movement,<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the weight of the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #00a7e1;\">17-ton<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\"> racks to lift<\/span> facing the 2-ton footbridge,<\/span><\/li>\n<li>a water depth of <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">14 meters<\/span> to move a rack <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">5 meter in height<\/span>,<\/li>\n<li>surface limited to the footprint of the rack (2.5 x 2 m),<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #00a7e1;\">the radiating and contaminated environment<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The equipment that could be decontaminated, simple, and quick to deploy, with easy storage in a 20 \u2019IP2 container. <span title=\"\">REEL turned to us for the production of <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">nuclear lifting cushions (inflatable balloons)<\/span>.<\/span> <span title=\"\">Indeed, Pronal is recognized for its high-quality products which are quick to deploy.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;9980&#8243; img_size=&#8221;large&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;top-to-bottom&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=&#8221;right-to-left&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The Pronal solution, the nuclear lifting cushions<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>After many exchanges, REEL and Pronal resulted in <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #00a7e1; text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #00a7e1; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reelinternational.com\/en\/actualites\/edf-challenge-innovation-reel-handling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OMPB<\/a><\/span><\/span> (<em>Outillage de Manutention Par Ballon<\/em>) equipment. Based on the Archimedes&#8217; buoyancy, this innovation function thanks to <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">our nuclear lifting cushions<\/span>. 3D woven, this technicality gives them <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">very high dimensional stability<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">great rigidity<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>This dimensional stability was <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">essential<\/span> to avoid the balloons&#8217; volume increasing when the rack is raised. It also allowed stacking several cushions while keeping a rigid set. Otherwise, theses cushions were usually used for heavy loads lifting like planes (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pronal.com\/en\/product\/lifting-cushions\/pneumatic-aircraft-recovery-cushions\/\">PARC<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The nuclear lifting cushions provided for the design of OMPB had for characteristics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span title=\"\">a dimension of <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">3000 x 2040 mm<\/span> for the top cushions,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span title=\"\">a dimension of <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">3000 x 1500 mm<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">3000 x 1000 mm<\/span> for the bottom cushions,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span title=\"\">PMUC tridim fabric,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span title=\"\">a height of <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">450 mm inflated<\/span> (20 mm flat),<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span title=\"\">a lifting force of <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">14 tonnes<\/span>,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span title=\"\">and <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">an inlet on the side<\/span> for air supply.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=&#8221;left-to-right&#8221;]<br \/>\n<span title=\"\">The equipment thus produced, is composed of 2 plates under which <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">2 groups of balloons<\/span> come to bear.<\/span> <span title=\"\">First, the group of 3 balloons under the lower plate, <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">keeps the tools vertical<\/span> once the rudder is clamped under the rack.<\/span> <span title=\"\">Then, the upper plate is detached and then lifted to tension the chains.<\/span> <span title=\"\">The upper cushions are then inflated one by one starting from the upper cushion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span title=\"\">The first plate remains connected to the\u00a0footbridge of 2 T via a spring box.<\/span> <span title=\"\">This maintains <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">a controlled load of around 300 kg<\/span>.<\/span> <span title=\"\">So, during lifting, it is possible to move the rack horizontally and with great precision.<\/span><br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;9990&#8243; img_size=&#8221;large&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;top-to-bottom&#8221;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;9995&#8243; img_size=&#8221;large&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;top-to-bottom&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=&#8221;right-to-left&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Advantages and conclusion<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">The stability<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">the rigidity<\/span> of our inflatable nuclear balloons allowed at the system to achieve its goals. Thank the Archimedes&#8217; buoyancy, <span title=\"\">our inflated air balloons lifted their own weight and floated the entire system.<\/span> <span title=\"\">In addition, once deflated, the cushions allowed<span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\"> the system to fit into an ISO 20 &#8216;container<\/span>.<\/span> <span title=\"\">In this way, <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">it could be transferred to other sites<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">reused<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span title=\"\">The concept was first <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">validated in early 2018<\/span> in the REEL nuclear pool in Nantes, 12m deep, with a load of <span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">17 tonnes<\/span>.<\/span> <span title=\"\">Later, REEL once again used it in the CETIC pool, to move 2 racks of 12-ton.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>REEL\u2019s concept received t<span style=\"color: #00a7e1;\">he award of the EDF Challenge Innovation<\/span>, in 2019 in Paris![\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>REEL and Pronal joined forces to design an inflatable system with nuclear lifting cushions for lifting the unreachable fuel storage racks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9992,"template":"","meta":[],"project_categories":[181],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pronal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/projets\/10003\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pronal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/projets\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pronal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/projets\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pronal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9992\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pronal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=10003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pronal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_categories\/?post=10003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}