Commissariat a L'energie Atomique

Paul Marchal

Jean Vertut

Jean-Marie Detriche

Daniel Francois

Pierre Lemercier

Jean-Claude Germond

Claude Bourdois

Jean Cornu

Michel Ferard

Pierre L Balligand

Dominique Biava

Maurice Decolle

Yves Corfa

Richard Galera

Bernard Tiret

Charles Glachet

Alain Micaelli

Gilles Clement

Jean-Pierre Moreau

Michel Petit

Claude Moreau

Yves-Paul Corfa

Theodore Le Mouee

Victor Roussel

Silviu Vais

Henri Ligozat

Francois Danel

Henri Nicollet

Marc Robin

Gerard Jorge

Pierre Gil

Jack Guittet

Remote manipulating assembly of the type comprising a movable platform carrying a telescopic supporting or carrying assembly at the end of which a remote manipulation arm can be displaced within an enclosure, wherein the platform is located within a wall of the enclosure, at least one opening being provided in the wall to permit the introduction of the telescopic carrying assembly of axis AA into the enclosure, and wherein the platform is provided with a hood within which the telescopic carrying assembly and the remote manipulation arm can be completely contained, the hood also being provided in its opening part with means for the tight connection to the wall of the enclosure cooperating with sealing means provided in the opening, and having at its other end means for controlling the displacements of the telescopic carrying assembly, while also having connection and supply means for the displacements of the remote manipulation arm, together with its operation and the operation of its tools. The invention also relates to a process for connecting a remote manipulation assembly to the opening of an enlcosure. The present remote manipulation assembly is intended for working in hostile or dangerous environments, particularly in the nuclear field.

Remote manipulation assembly

A force return servosystem between a master actuator and a slave actuator connected by transmission lines, which introduce a delay, .tau.. At the master actuator, the servocontrol is realized by means of two devices supplying force signals, where the smaller is applied to the master actuator, but having the polarity of the signal supplied by a first servocontrol device. The latter compares, in a known manner the position signal .theta.(t) of the master actuator with the delay position signal .theta.'(t-.tau.) of the slave actuator, whereas a second servocontrol device compares the delayed position signal .theta.(t-2.tau.) with signal .theta.'(t-.tau.). The invention may be used in manipulators, the control of the flying of a missile and any other control requiring the proportioning of the force controlling a movement of a machine.

Servosystem between a master actuator and a slave actuator

Process for the lateral positioning of a member relative to a joint formed between two metal surfaces and having discontinuities and using at least one eddy current probe, wherein the signal supplied by each of the probes are processed to obtain at least one positioning signal varying with the displacement of the axis of the corresponding probe relative to the axis of the joint and at least one signal indicating the presence of a discontinuity and transmitted when the corresponding probe faces a discontinuity of the joint, wherein the member is laterally displaced as a function of variations of the positioning signal and wherein the control of the displacement of said member is interrupted as a function of variations of the positioning signal when a signal indicating the presence of a discontinuity is transmitted. The invention also relates to an apparatus for performing this process.

Process and apparatus for the lateral positioning of a member relative

The invention relates to a system for detecting and locating surface discontinuity by a light beam; it is more particularly intended for detecting any discontinuity forming a line on this surface, or any discontinuity forming two opposite lines on this surface. In the latter case, this discontinuity may, for example, be the join defined by the opposite edges of two metal sheets to be welded.

System for detecting and locating surface discontinuity by a light beam

The invention relates to an automatic and self-adapting process for fusion-welding a joint between two surfaces, with the aid of a welding head which essentially comprises a joint detector and a torch supported by a carrier mobile along the joint. This welding head is mobile in rotation about a main axis related to the carrier and substantially perpendicular to the plane tangential to the surfaces to be welded at the location of the joint, and mobile in translation along this main axis. The torch and the detector are mobile in rotation about a secondary axis related to the head and parallel to the main axis and the torch is able to pass through the main axis in the course of its rotation about the secondary axis. A reference direction for all the degrees of freedom of the head is defined when the above-mentioned axes as well as the axes of the torch and the detector are in the same plane. This process is characterized in that it consists:

Automatic and self-adapting process for fusion-welding a joint between

A submarine vehicle for collecting and raising materials resting on the sea bed at great depths, of the type comprising a load-bearing structure, collecting elements for the materials, storage silos for storing the materials collected and/or the ballast material, transfer means between said collecting elements and said silos, and main propellers for advancing the vehicle on the sea bed, said vehicle being characterized in that said load-bearing structure is made of a buoyancy material, said structure being in the form of a ring having a longitudinal plane of symmetry and defining the stem, stern and sides of said vehicle, and defining between them a free central space, the outer surface of said structure forming the hull of said vehicle, said storage silos being arranged in the free central space and fixed to said load-bearing structure, said collecting elements being arranged in front of and below said stem, said main propellers also being fixed to the lower surface of said load-bearing structure.

Submarine vehicle for dredging and raising minerals resting on the sea

Vehicle able to move by adhesion on a random surface, with a central body defining a pivoting axis which remains substantially perpendicular to a surface and which has two groups of central supports which adhere to the surface; first and second carriages, each provided with two groups of adhesive end supports; first and second members for the guidance in rectilinear translation and without rotation of the first and second carriages in accordance with two directions which remain substantially orthogonal to the pivoting axis. The first and second carriages are displaceable along the guidance members; the first and second guidance members are pivotal about the pivot axis and the groups of central supports are rotatable about the pivot axis.

Vehicle able to move by adhesion on a random surface

Polymetallic nodules are collected by means of a plurality of self-propelled vehicles which move upwards and downwards between the sea floor and a surface platform under the action of excess ballast which is partially and progressively released as the vehicle approaches the bottom. The vehicles are propelled along the sea floor by means of at least two supporting units each having at least one helical propulsion fin, the remainder of the ballast being released in order to return the vehicles upwards for docking, unloading and energy-recharging in the surface platform.

Apparatus for mining nodules beneath the sea

A modular draging unit for collecting solid bodies such as polymetallic nodules on an underwater bed such as a sea floor comprises a plurality of collecting structures and a storage structure which are intended to be applied against the sea floor, means for displacing these structures along the sea floor, for collecting nodules and for transferring the nodules into the storage structure. The collecting structures are located side by side at a front edge of the unit and each collecting structure is coupled to the storage structure by means of at least one link-arm in such a manner as to permit of relative motion with at least two degrees of freedom and to maintain each collecting means in a predetermined position with respect to the sea floor during a nodule-collecting operation.

Modular draging unit for collecting solid bodies on an underwater bed

Process for the pneumatic transfer of a pulverulent material contained in a cylindrical container, wherein it comprises the introduction, via a sealed passage located in the upper part and in the axis of the container, of a suction member which is movable in translation along said axis and having at its suction end located in the container an annular nozzle which is able to direct a gas jet towards the walls of the container so as to ensure the scavenging of said walls during suction, the level of said annular nozzle in the container being maintained constantly above the level of the pulverulent material contained therein until all the material has been sucked out, including that on the bottom of the container. The process is performed by an apparatus for the pneumatic transfer of a pulverulent material comprising a cylindrical container containing the pulverulent material and pneumatic extraction duct for emptying the container. As a result of the invention it is possible to extract all the material contained in a container, particularly when the material is of a clogging or tacky nature.

Process for the pneumatic transfer of a pulverulent material

Apparatus for the separation and recovery of a solid product transported by a gas, wherein said apparatus comprises at least one filter cartridge made from a rigid porous material mounted in a sealed enclosure and defining in the latter a first filter chamber within the at least one cartridge and which communicates by its lower end with a tube for the collection of the separated solid product and a second chamber for the collection of the filtered gas outside the said at least one cartridge, the latter having two large-surface opposite porous walls maintained with an appropriate spacing by spacers fixed on the said walls and disposed in the filter chamber in such a way as to form deflectors, means for introducing the gas transporting the solid product to be separated into the said filter chamber and means for extracting the filtered gas from the collection chamber.

Apparatus for the separation and recovery of a solid product transported

Method and apparatus for mining nodules from beneath the sea

A master-slave manipulator which penetrates an enclosure wall through an opening fitted with a mounting plate has a slave arm and master arm pivoted respectively to each end of a pivotally mounted central cylindrical body and constituted by one or more articulated cylindrical segments in end-to-end relation. A tool or tong unit is fitted at the slave end while a control handle and balance weight are fitted at the master end. The segments of the master arm are in an inverted homothetic relationship with those of the slave arm with respect to the point of intersection of the axis of the central body with the pivotal mounting axis and are in a ratio equal to -k while the weights of the homothetic segments are in a ratio of 1/k. The movements transmitted by the master arm to the slave arm ensure that, at each instant, the angle made by the two homothetic segments of the slave arm are equal and opposite, the dimensions of one segment of the master arm being equal to k times those of the corresponding slave segment.

Balanced articulated manipulator

The movement of rotation of each element of the manipulator arm about the shoulder, elbow and wrist pins is controlled by a motor and a cable consisting of two oppositely-acting lengths by means of a pulley-block which carries at least two lengths, two pairs of pulley-blocks being located within a barrel unit. The length of cable which emerges from each pulley-block is passed over a return pulley carried by the shoulder pin and guided within a stationary manipulator body in a direction parallel to the axis of the barrel unit, each emergent length of cable being actuated by one of the motors mounted on the manipulator body.

Cable-operated power manipulator

The container consists of a shielded body having an internal cavity and of a capsule which can be inserted into the cavity and is capable of sliding motion along the axis of this latter. The front face of the capsule is sealed by means of a removable door and the rear face is attached to an operating rod. The cavity is sealed beyond the front face of the capsule by means of a shielded element for positioning a cover opposite to the removable door of the capsule. The cover cooperates with means for permitting leak-tight coupling or uncoupling of the cover and the capsule by displacing these latter in relative motion.

Growing community of inventors

Gif-sur-Yvette, France

Paul Marchal