Design of robotic tools for pipe handling in EU-DEMO fusion reactor remote maintenance

Abstract

This thesis presents the design and engineering verification of two robotic pipe-handling tools for remote maintenance of cooling supply pipes in the equatorial port of the EU-DEMO fusion reactor. The equatorial port contains 22 pipes with 3 different diameters. A single-pipe gripper driven by a NEMA 23 stepper motor with a 15:1 planetary gearbox delivers 70.2 N per jaw, while a passive grouped-pipe clamp holds two adjacent pipes together during cutting operations. Both tools use SS 316L(N) with Cr₂O₃ plasma-sprayed contact surfaces. The designs were verified through analytical hand calculations and finite element analysis in Ansys Workbench 2025 R2. All safety factors exceed the minimum requirement of 2.0.