Progress of Cryogenics and Isotopes Separation , ISSN: 1582-2575
2017, Volume 20, Issue 1

High precision vacuum telescopic manipulator

Abstract

The present work describes the design, manufacturing and testing of a targets manipulator system for (high) vacuum. The system is dedicated to the Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) project. The main driving reason is the request to provide maximum beam time for experiments, hence the need/request of loading several target frames at a time in the interaction chamber without losing the (high) vacuum. The target frames will be exposed and retracted into/from the interaction chamber individually and independently with high level of repeatability (3 microns). Up to three target frames could be used during one experiment. Several severe spatial constraints were surpassed and a new technique of moving the target frames was tailored, i.e. three axes and two planes translations. Additional constraints were faced and overcome regarding the availability of standardized sub-systems in terms of translation length and adjustment mechanisms. The project concluded with test trials in-the-house and fully commissioned at the customer site