Research on precise assembly of large optical components technology
With the rapid development of high-energy solid-state lasers, the demand for efficient and precise assembly of large optical components is growing. Currently the assembly of large optical components is low level of automation and labor-intensive. To achieve high level of automation is a very difficult task. The large optical components are very fragile, heavy and expensive. The high-energy solid-state lasers require the large optical components in high level of cleanness. In this paper, we designed a grasping device and an operating device which are used to complete the precision assembly of large optical components efficiently. The kinematic equations of the operating device are built. Workspace analysis and trajectory planning are completed. Based on the actual assembly process of large optical components, the control system of grasping device and operating device was designed.
Mirror Sub-Assembly End-Effector Design
The Optic Assembly Building (OAB) is a facility where large optical mirror units are assembled and installed into Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) for deployment into the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser system. The New Optics Insertion Device (NOID) is a powered jib crane specially designed to handle large optical assemblies. The NOID arm has three degrees of freedom. it can rotate about the vertical boom, travel up and down the boom, and extend away from and retract in towards the boom. The NOID is used to assist in the assembly of five types of Laser Mirror (LM) LRUs. These five LMs have been creatively named, LM4, LM5, LM6, LM7, and LM8. The LM4 and LM5 LRUs each contain four Mirror Sub-Assemblies (MSAs). The LM6, LM7, and LM8 LRUs each contain 2 MSAs. The MSAs are assembled apart from the LRU and are then installed in the LRU at the LM4-8 workstations. An MSA NOID End-Effector is required to interface with the MSAs and install them into the LRUs. The End-Effector must attach to the robo-hand on the end of the NOID arm. At the time the MSA NOID End-Effector was being designed the NOID, the LM4-5 workstation, and the LM6-8more » workstation were already installed in the OAB. The LRUs and the MSAs designs were also complete. The MSA NOID End-Effector design had to work with the assembly equipment and LRU designs that were already in place.« less
Ignition on the National Ignition Facility: a path towards inertial fusion energy
The National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest and most powerful laser system for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and experiments studying high-energy-density (HED) science, is nearing completion at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). NIF, a 192-beam Nd-glass laser facility, will produce 1.8 MJ, 500 TW of light at the third-harmonic, ultraviolet light of 351 nm. The NIF project is scheduled for completion in March 2009. Currently, all 192 beams have been operationally qualified and have produced over 4.0 MJ of light at the fundamental wavelength of 1053 nm, making NIF the world's first megajoule laser. The principal goal of NIF is to achieve ignition of a deuterium–tritium (DT) fuel capsule and provide access to HED physics regimes needed for experiments related to national security, fusion energy and for broader scientific applications. The plan is to begin 96-beam symmetric indirect-drive ICF experiments early in FY2009. These first experiments represent the next phase of the National Ignition Campaign (NIC). This national effort to achieve fusion ignition is coordinated through a detailed plan that includes the science, technology and equipment such as diagnostics, cryogenic target manipulator and user optics required for ignition experiments. Participants in this effort include LLNL, General Atomics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory and the University of Rochester Laboratory for Energetics (LLE). The primary goal for NIC is to have all of the equipment operational and integrated into the facility soon after project completion and to conduct a credible ignition campaign in 2010. When the NIF is complete, the long-sought goal of achieving self-sustaining nuclear fusion and energy gain in the laboratory will be much closer to realization. Successful demonstration of ignition and net energy gain on NIF will be a major step towards demonstrating the feasibility of inertial fusion energy (IFE) and will likely focus the world's attention on the possibility of an ICF energy option. NIF experiments to demonstrate ignition and gain will use central-hot-spot (CHS) ignition, where a spherical fuel capsule is simultaneously compressed and ignited. The scientific basis for CHS has been intensively developed (Lindl 1998 Inertial Confinement Fusion: the Quest for Ignition and Energy Gain Using Indirect Drive (New York: American Institute of Physics)) and has a high probability of success. Achieving ignition with CHS will open the door for other advanced concepts, such as the use of high-yield pulses of visible wavelength rather than ultraviolet and fast ignition concepts (Tabak et al 1994 Phys. Plasmas 1 1626–34, Tabak et al 2005 Phys. Plasmas 12 057305). Moreover, NIF will have important scientific applications in such diverse fields as astrophysics, nuclear physics and materials science. This paper summarizes the design, performance and status of NIF, experimental plans for NIC, and will present laser inertial confinement fusion–fission energy (LIFE) as a path to achieve carbon-free sustainable energy.