Efficiency Improvements - 2016

June

Dual-Purpose Positioner Installed on NIF

NIF’s new Target and Diagnostic Manipulator (TANDM), the first of two new combination diagnostic instrument manipulator (DIM) and warm target positioners, was installed in the NIF Target Bay during the first week of June.

Along with the current target positioner (TarPos) and cryogenic TarPos, the third target inserter will enhance NIF’s efficiency by allowing the Cryo TarPos to remain dedicated to growing cryogenically cooled target layers, while the other two target inserters alternate between cryogenic and warm target experiments. This is an important element in achieving the productivity goals established in the “120-Day Study” of NIF efficiency improvements while increasing the rate of integrated experiments with cryogenic fuel layers. The installation was part of the June NIF Facility Maintenance & Reconfiguration (FMR) period.

(Above) Diagnostic technician John Borgman (left) and positioner engineer Arlen Rowe review the installation of the TANDM carriage rails and ball screw drive linear bearing support in the TANDM enclosure during its assembly in the Bldg. 490 Integration and Test Facility earlier this year. (Below) The offline TANDM mechanical assembly nears completion.

“This is an exciting new capability for NIF,” said Facility Manager Doug Larson, “that simultaneously improves efficiency, enables more cryo layered shots, and increases our flexibility and capacity to diagnose experiments.”

TANDM will provide substantially better access for exchanging diagnostics between NIF shots than the current DIMs, while also providing the ability to transition into a target positioner in less than four hours. The design is expected to support diagnostic exchanges in less than one hour and snout exchanges in less than 20 minutes from when the door is opened.

Riggers from the Laboratory’s Maintenance & Utility Services Department lift the 13,000-pound TANDM enclosure into the NIF Operations Support Building on June 2 under the supervision of lead rigger Lee Stanley and systems mechanical engineer Ray Sadre. On June 3, the TANDM was transported to the Target Bay for mounting on the Target Chamber.

The TANDM will be commissioned as a target inserter by the end of September and as a diagnostic inserter in Fiscal Year 2017.