Metal Sampling Inside a Tube

Project information

Possible technologies involved:
Microcontrollers, laser cutting, 3D printing.
Project Type: General
Expected prototype budget: $100
Expected project cost: $100

Client Information

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Project background

The nuclear sector often deals with high radiation and low access environments. Developing tooling for these situations can be challenging which is why this client is interested in ideas to obtain a metal sample from inside a tube at a large distance from the inlet. This is important in order to test the conditions of the infrastructure.

Your task is to design a device to obtain a metal sample from the inside of a tube 4.572 m (15 ft) from the tube inlet. The tube has an inside diameter of 101.6 mm (4 inches). The tube’s orientation can be either horizontal or vertical. Here are some requirements for the device:

When the sample is removed from the tube, it must be stored in a suitable container such that direct contact between the tool operator and the sample does not occur.
The tooling shall provide a method for adjusting the sample retrieval process and/or mechanism to ensure the metal sample is between 30 and 80 mg.
The tool shall provide feedback to the operator to confirm the tool and process status.
The tooling shall be designed to be fail-safe, such that all equipment can be removed from the tube in the event of equipment failure.
All sampling equipment shall be modular in nature to have the capability to be broken down into man-portable sizes.
Any necessary power sources shall be included in the design of the system.

Past attempts

CNL and other companies have developed solutions to various degrees of success for similar problems but there is always an opportunity to do things better/different than before.