Development of maintenance machine for heat exchanger tubes by laser technology

Terada, Takaya; Nishimura, Akihiko  ; Oka, Kiyoshi; Toyama, Ryoji*; Kitsunai, Daisuke*

A prototype of maintenance machine for heat exchanger tubes was developed. It was based on the bench top size device which had been specially designed to have dual functions for fiber inspection and laser cladding in JAEA. A laser processing head was improved mechanically in 2 motions of axial translation and circumferential rotation to insert the heat exchanger tubes. Laser scattering monitoring was also discussed for the purpose of detecting small defects at the inner wall of the heat exchanger tubes.