Control Unit of Helium Mass Spectrometer Leak Detector Applied to Nuke Industry

A novel type of automatic control unit was developed for helium mass spectrometer leak detector, dedicated to leak detection of nuclear fuel rods for assemble line in manufacturing nuclear fuel. The programmable logic controller (PLC), ABB's AC500 series, was adopted in the newly-developed control unit and Fame View's configuration software was employed in real time monitoring. In debugging, the main technical problems, including, but not limited to the takt time control, reliability control, detection control and barcode scanning control, were solved. The novel automatic control unit was evaluated in experimental simulation and tested in production line. The results show that the new automatic control unit meets the stringent requirements of nuke industry.