Nuclear Fuel Canister Up-Ender
During production of nuclear canisters, Columbiana Hi Tech (CHT) needed to rotate a 60,000 lb canister from vertical to horizontal. Solid Engineering was engaged to design a machine to accomplish this task in order to speed up their production and ensure the safety of the operators. By modeling the machine in Creo Parametric, we were able to perform motion and dynamic studies as well as FEA and stiffness analyses to optimize the structure and functionality of the machine. The first video below shows an animation of how a crane operator would install a counterweight to the top of the machine. The second video is from a motion study used to determine the point at which the canister would tip out of the machine so we could properly design the safety features.