SPECIFICATION FOR AUTOMATIC PELLET STACKING AND AUTOMATIC

PELLET LOADING MACHINE

1 Introduction

Two different types of sintered pellets for 19 element and 37 element are manufactured using powder
metallurgy route as per the drawing No: DWG-747-02-DD & DWG-263-13-R0 respectively. These
pellets are placed on a SS rod tray (SS rod tray Dwg. No D-41701E-A-003.) In 20 rows. Aggregate
length of each pellets row are maintained 479.9±1mm and 479.68±0.8mm for 19 element and 37 element
respectively when their faces are touching each other by interchanging the pellets from the same tray or
from another tray is known as a stacking operation. After stacking operation Pellets are inserted in to the
zirconium tubes known as pellet loading operation.

An Automatic pellet stacking and Automatic pellet loading machine have to be developed where the
stacking and loading operation will be fully automatic and accomplished by an intelligent system
equipped with high resolution camera, vision processor, lighting, SCARA robot and linear vibrator.

2 Bidder Qualification criteria:

Supplier should have experience in all the following application

a) Servo based chain conveyor fabrication.

b) Vision integrated SCARA based robotic pick and place application.

c) Vision based dimensional measurement using 8Kor better GIGE interface line scan
camera.

d) Dimensional measurement using LVDT / Laser/ encoder.

Documentary evidence in the form of P.O. copy & commissioning certificate issued by the customer
/ client shall be provided along with the offer for all above experience. Vender not meeting any one of
the above experience will not be considered for evaluation. If required, the manufacturing facility may be
inspected by NFC representative for evaluating the offer.

3 Scope of Supply:

Design, development, fabrication, supply, erection and commissioning of Automatic pellet

Stacking and Automatic pellet loading machine. Scope of supply includes 4 numbers of machines and
two sets of spare mentioned in mandatory spares with following specification.

1) Automatic pellet Stacking machine. Consisting following sub system

a) Input Tray Conveyor

b) Stacking Conveyor

c) Reject Conveyor

d) Pellet Pusher system

e) Pellet Transfer system

 f) Stack Verification System

g) Pick and place system

h) Buffer Tray

i) Machine vision and lighting System

j) Empty tray Accumulator

k) Output Conveyor

l) Enclosure

m) Personal computer ,sequence ,electrical instrumentation and control

2) Automatic Pellet loading system. Consisting following subsystem

a) Tray Conveyor

b) Vibratory System

c) Pusher System

d) Weighing System

e) Vacuum System

f) Sequence ,electrical instrumentation and control

3.1Automatic pellet Stacking machine:

Sintered pellets manufactured using power metallurgy route with minimum standard deviation in length
of 0.2mm are placed randomly on SS rod tray in 20 rows. Each rows consisting number of pellets
between 28 to 37 pellets are to be re-arranged such a way that aggregate length of pellets when there end
face are touching together to be 479.9±1mm and 479.68±0.8mm for 19 elements and 37 elements
respectively. Rearrangement of the pellets should be accomplished automatically by interchanging the
pellets from the present stacking tray and from the buffer tray by an intelligent system equipped with high
resolution camera, vision processor, lighting and a SCARA robot for pick and place of pellet.

3.1.a Input Tray Conveyor : A servo based chain conveyor and power roller system, (two tray
equivalent indexing chain conveyor one tray equivalent power driven roller at entry and exit each) for
accommodating minimum 4 No's of SS rod trays should have capability to index row by row with
high positioning accuracy to meet the requirement. For placement of SS rod tray on the conveyor,
suitable stainless steel rods should be provided between the chain links of conveyor. SS rod tray
containing visually inspected pellets coming from another conveyor will be automatically received by
input conveyor and index row by row to get aligned with pellet transfer system. Pellet transfer system
will transfer pellets on to Stacking Conveyor. Empty SS rod tray coming after pellet transfer will get
accumulated into empty tray accumulator. Input tray conveyor should have tray position sensor at
entry and exit. Conveyor indexing should stop as the tray reaches at exit of the conveyor. At the entry
out of four tray length one tray length of input conveyor should have power roller conveyor to receive
the tray from another conveyor and transfer the same to indexing chain conveyor of input conveyor.
 At the entry side of chain conveyor a sensor should be provided to check tray placement and generate
alarm if tray is not received properly in between the rods of the conveyor and stop further indexing.
At the exit of chain conveyor power roller conveyer capacity to place one tray should be provided to
transfer the tray in to accumulator. Conveyor structure should be made of Powder coated Steel.
Height of the conveyor should be 900mm from the ground with an adjustment of ±50mm in height.
Conveyor should be rigid and grouted through the ground.

3.1.b Stacking conveyor: A servo based chain conveyor system will index row by row with very high
positioning accuracy as per requirement of vision system. In between the chains of stacking conveyor
SS rods will be provided to receive the pellets directly on to the rods coming from input tray
conveyor though pellet transfer system. Conveyor should be designed such a way that it receives
pellet from input tray conveyor smoothly and deliver the same on to output and reject conveyor after
stack verification. Conveyor movement and the pitch between rods should be designed suitable to the
SS rod tray design placed on Input Tray conveyor and as per the requirement of vision system.
Stacking operation will be performed on stacking conveyor. After stacking operation stack length will
be verified with stack length verification system mounted on the stacking conveyer itself. Rejected
stack will be transferred on to reject tray conveyor using pellet transfer system and transferred back to
the stacking conveyor near to the entry using pellet transfer system for restacking. And the “OK”
accepted stack will be transferred on to the SS rod tray placed on to output conveyor. Robot pick &
place system, buffer tray and vision system will be mounted above stacking conveyor. Minimum
100mm gap should be provided in between stacking conveyor and robot structure for ease of
maintenance. Conveyor structure should be made of Powder coated Steel. Its structure should be
robust to withstand robot vibration and should be grouted through the ground. It should be rigidly
fixed with input, Output and reject tray conveyor. Height of the conveyor should be 900mm from the
ground with an adjustment of ±50mm in height. Conveyor should be rigid and grouted through the
ground.

3.1.c Reject Tray Conveyor: A servo based chain conveyor system similar to the stacking conveyor
should be provided for receiving rejected stack from stacking conveyor and transfer the same back to
the stacking conveyor for restacking. Height of the conveyor should be 900mm from the ground with
an adjustment of ±50mm in height. Conveyor should be rigid and grouted through the ground.

3.1.d Pellet Pusher System: Four numbers of pneumatic / electric/ vacuum suction based actuator
should be provided for transferring pellets row from stacking conveyor to Output conveyor, stacking
conveyer to reject conveyor and from reject conveyor to again back to stacking conveyor. System
should be designed considering fragile nature of pellet and should not damage pellet during transfer.

3.1.e Pellet Transfer System: SS rod tray containing randomly placed and filled (between 30% to
100%) pellets coming on to input tray conveyor will be transferred to stacking conveyor using pellet
transfer system. An electric / vacuum suction/ conveyor or combination based actuator should be
provided to transfer the pellets row smoothly on to the stacking conveyor in 100% filled condition (
about 480mm±1 number pellet) in spite of input tray filling variation. System should be designed
considering fragile nature of pellet and should not damage pellet during transfer.

3.1.f Stack verification System: Heavy duty stack verification system based on LVDT/ Encoder
/Laser/LED micromter should be provided on stacking conveyor for verification of stacked row
length. System should verify the length of stacked row for 19 elements & 37 element, 479.9 ± 1mm
 (user defined ) and for 479.68± 0.8mm (user defined) respectively. System should be designed to take
care of pellet dish depth variation for verification. A selector switch should be provided for selection
of 19 or 37 element for stacking operation and stack verification. System should store stack length
into the data base for each row after verification. Two numbers of standard gauge rod (made of SS)
should be provided along with the machine for calibration of stack verification system.

3.1.g Pick & place System: SCARA based Pick & Place system should be provided along with teach
pendent for picking pellets from the stacking conveyor to the buffer tray or vice versa. Robot work
envelop should cover full stacking tray. An intelligent feed back based pneumatic suction cup should
be provided along with auto cutoff vacuum pump for picking 30g weight pellet as a end effecter of
the robot. Suction cup should be provided with minimum 35mm of height compensator. A vacuum
pump and reservoir should be provided to hold the pellet (minimum for 10 minutes) in case of power
failure condition. An air filter should be provided before the reservoir in the suction line for filtration
along with a digital pressure gauge. For robot calibration standard rigid points should be made
available as per requirements. All the programming should be done with reference to these points
only.

3.1.h Buffer tray: A tray having capacity of storing minimum 400 pellets (user defined) will be
provided for keeping the buffer pellets. Rows and columns should be permanently marked on the
buffer tray for easy identification of buffer pellet. Two buffer trays should be supplied for ease of
buffer replacement. A buffer replace alarm should be generated by the machine in case of buffer
sigma goes bellow certain limit (user defined say 0.2mm).

3.1.i Machine Vision and lighting System: High resolution industrial line scan Camera (minimum
12K, GigE interface), suitable lens and heavy duty lighting system should be supplied for capturing
image of the pellets placed on stacking conveyor. A suitable rigid camera mounting structure should
be provided with fine adjustment facility in all direction. Machine vision system should transfer the
coordinate and dimension of the pellets to PC for running the algorithm for stacking operation and
buffer making. After running the algorithm PC will communicate with robot for interchanging the
pellets with in the same tray or from the buffer to stack and from stack to the buffer. After
interchange the aggregate length of the row should be between 478.9 to 480.9 mm for 19 element and
478.88 to 480.48mm for 37 element. Stack limit and number of pellets to be interchange for stacking
should be user defined. For positioning of lighting system a graded angle scale should be provided for
fine angle adjustment. Lighting system should be provided minimum 50mm above the pellets top
surface. For camera calibration standard powder quoted MS/SS minimum 5 number pellets should be
provided with the machine.

3.1.j Empty Tray accumulator: A vertical chain conveyor / ball screw based accumulator should be
provided in between output and input conveyor to store minimum 10 empty SS rod trays coming from
input conveyor and deliver to the out put conveyor on demand basis.

3.1.k Output Conveyor : A servo based chain conveyor and power roller system, (two tray equivalent
indexing chain conveyor one tray equivalent power driven roller) mounted after empty tray
accumulator should accommodate minimum 3 No's of SS rod trays and should have capability to
index row by row with high positioning accuracy to meet the requirement. SS rod tray received from
tray accumulator will get aligned with stacking conveyor to receive “OK” stacked row from stacking
conveyor using pellet pusher system and index row by row to receive another stacked row. For
 placement of SS rod tray on the conveyor, suitable stainless steel rods should be provided between the
chain links of conveyor. OK stacked filled SS rod tray will get indexed and received by power roller
conveyor to transfer the tray to another washing unit (not in the scope) Input tray conveyor should
have tray position sensor at entry and exit for hand shaking of system with other units. As the tray is
sensed by the sensor mounted at exit, a “Stacked tray full alarm should be generated. Conveyor
structure should be made of Powder coated Steel. Height of the conveyor should be 900mm from the
ground with an adjustment of ±50mm in height. Conveyor should be rigid and grouted through the
ground.

3.1.l Enclosure: Robot, camera and lighting system should be enclosed in an enclosure. Enclosure
should have door from all side for ease of maintenance. Safety door interlock should be provided in
all doors.

3.1.m Personal computer , electrical instrumentation and controls:

1.0 Personal Computer: A high end PC loaded with latest configuration software and hardware
should be supplied for the following operation along with UPS. PC system should be mounted
with in a AC control panel.

a. To display the image captured during stacking.

b. Finding out the pellet length and its co ordinate.
c. For running algorithm for finding the suitable pellet or combination of pellets for interchanging.
d. Communication with the robot for interchanging of pellet during stacking.
e. Communication with PLC for performing the required operation.
f. For storing the data of pellet length and stack length, lot no, boat no, furnace number for each
stacking tray for 150 trays per day for minimum 3 month.
g. System should generate the report for stacked row length before stacking, after stacking and after
verification along with number of pellet interchanged.
h. Screen of the software should show individual pellet length, its coordinate, number of pellets and
its standard deviation, range, maximum & minimum pellet length in the buffer pellets and being
stacked rows. Raw image, processed image of stack length before stacking and after staking along
with individual pellet length and number of pellets. It should also show standard deviation, range,
and maximum and minimum pellet length of the row or rows. It should also show the number of
pellets to be interchanged from buffer to current stacking row and current stacking row to buffer
in color indication. It should also indicate the length verification accepted or reject with value.

2.0 Sequence of operation

 Sintered ground pellets arranged in SS rod tray will be automatically received by input tray
conveyor.
 Pellets from SS rod tray will be transferred row by row or multiple rows to stacking conveyor
with the help of pellet transfer system.
 Empty trays after pellet discharging will be stored into tray accumulator and will be delivered to
output conveyor for feeding ok stacked row .
  A high resolution camera placed above stacking conveyor will capture the image of the pellets
placed on stacking conveyor.
 Captured image will be processed by an intelligent system to find out the individual pellet length
and row length.
 With the help of pick and place system pellets will be picked and placed in a buffer tray for
creating a buffer for stacking operation, (capacity minimum 400 pellets storage).
 After buffer making camera will again capture the image of one row or multiple row and the
intelligent system will run a algorithm to find the suitable pellet or combination of the pellets
required for completing the stacking operation either from the buffer or current staking row
 Pick and place system will receive the signal from intelligent system to interchange the suitable
pellets to complete the stacking.
 After completion of stacking operation stack length of each stacked row will be verified using
length verification system mounted on Stacking conveyor.
 Stack qualifying the desired stack length will be transferred in to the empty tray coming from
empty tray accumulator. Rejected stack will be transferred in to the rejected tray conveyor and re-
circulated on to the stacking conveyor for restacking.

3.0 Electrical instrumentation and control should be designed for meeting above requirements as
per the attached annexure1.

3.2 Automatic Pellet loading system

Pellets coming from washing and drying machine after stacking operation in SS rod trays are inserted in a
hollow Zirconium tube of 485 mm length having internal diameter 50 micrometer more than pellet
Outside Diameter for both 19 and 37 element pellet. Pellets having nominal diameter 14.3mm for 19
element and 12.16mm for 37 elements are center less ground within 25 micron tolerance and length (1-
1.2 times of diameter). Detailed drawings for pellets are as per drawing no: DWG-263-13-R0,DWG-747-
02-DD-REV-0). Insertion of UO2 Pellets in the hollow Zirconium tube is called pellet loading operation.
Presently this operation is done manually by aligning empty hollow tube with stacked pellet row placed
on SS rod tray one by one

An automatic pellet loading machine has to be developed where the complete operation will be
automatic. Machine will be having an indexing chain conveyor and roller conveyor at inlet and outlet side
to receive and deliver the tray for another machine. Stacked tray containing 20 rows of stacked pellets
will be received from washing and drying unit placed in between automatic pellet stacking and loading
machine. A pusher system will be used for pushing stacked 20 rows at a time on to linear vibrator tray.
Vibrator tray will have "V" grove for keeping stacked pellets and for keeping empty tubes as per
schematic drawing attached. System should have provision for mounting a weighing balance bellow the
empty tube station for weighing empty tubes weight before loading and total weight after loading (tube
and pellet). Vibratory tray will be mounted on the linear vibrator which will vibrate and feed the pellet
axially in to the tube. Loading machine will be placed 6m away from the stacking machine.

3.2.a Tray Conveyor : A chain conveyor and power roller conveyor having capacity of
accommodating 5No's of SS Rod trays ( 1 tray power roller conveyor at entry and exit and 3 tray capacity
chain conveyor) filled with ground pellets(approximate weight 25Kg loaded trays) in horizontal
arrangement, should be able to index row by row very precisely (within accuracy of ± 0.25mm). Indexing
of the conveyor should be stopped once the empty tray reached at the end of the conveyor. SS tubes
should be used at a fixed interval for placing SS rod tray. It should have provision for chain tightening.
Details of the SS Rod tray are shown in drawing No -D-41701E-A-00-01.

3.2.b Vibratory System:"V" groove tray for keeping 20 rows of pellets and 20 empty tubes will be
mounted on one or multiple linear vibratory system for vibrating the whole assembly linearly. Linear
vibration will axially feed the pellets in to empty tubes. Radial clearance between pellet and tube is
minimum 25 micrometer, hence the linear vibrator should be selected such that it should have minimal
lateral amplitude. Basic sketch of "V" groove tray and tube back support is shown in Drawing No:.E42-
08-379-R0-A-1/7 and E42-08-379-R0-A-2/7. V groove tray should aligned with the SS rod tray placed
over tray conveyor to receive the pellet from SS rod tray pushed through pusher system."V" groove tray
should have provision for measuring Empty tube weight before pellet loading and gross weight after
loading using load cell of 1 gram accuracy. For alignment of tube axis with the pellet axis some height
adjusted facility or different "V groove should be provided for loading different diameter of pellets. There
are five different size of the pellet from 0.561 inch to 0.565 inch for 19 elements and 0.476 inch to 0.480
inch for 37 elements hence different "V" groove should be designed for different size of the pellet.
Diameter variation among the pellet is 15-20 micron and diameter variation with in pellet 10 micron. The
minimum redial gap between tube ID and maximum pellet OD is 25 micron. Tube holder "V” grove should be
designed separately for individual tube holding. A firm tube clamping should also be designed for clamping the
tube while vibration. Some special alignment tools fitted with dial gauge indicator should be provided for aligning
tube axis with pellet axis for different size of pellets and tube.

3.2.c Pusher System: A Pushing system having 4 or more numbers of electric actuator fitted with
multiple spring loaded sensor mounted end effecter for pushing the complete stacked pellets 20 row in to
SS rod tray tube simultaneously passing through vibratory "V" groove tray. An intelligent feedback based
row jamming sensing should be mounted on end effecter which will sense jamming of the pellet row due
to miss alignment, oversized pellet etc and stops the particular rod less cylinder except remaining
cylinder and generates an alarm. The system will continue to push all the other actuator except jammed
row. System will be mounted on the tray conveyor. System should be designed considering ease of
operation and maintenance.

3.2.d Weighing System: Weighing balance should be provided bellow the tube placement position
where tubes weight will be measured before loading of the pellet and after loading of pellets. Weighing
balance should have maximum weighing capacity of 35 Kg and accuracy of 1grm. It should have RS232
communication for transferring the data to other devices like Personal computer. Weighing balance
should be mounted on a stationary structure and should move only during weighing.

3.2.e Vacuum system: Since the radial clearance between tube and pellet is 25 micro meter hence a
high vacuum suction should be provided at the end of the tube to pull the pellet and air gap between
pellets. Vacuum system should consist vacuum pump, particle filter, Vacuum reservoir fitted with
vacuum gauge. Vacuum system should be interlock with the vibrator.

3.2.f Control sequence, electrical instrumentation and control :

I. Control Sequence: As the tray coming from stacking machine is sensed by sensor placed at entry of
tray conveyor will index the tray up to the linear vibrator and wait for operator signal. After placement
and clamping of 20 empty tube on to the "V" groove tray placed over linear vibrator, loading operation
will be started by pressing start switch by the operator. Then pusher system will start pushing the
stacked tray on "V" groove tray. Once the complete stacks are transferred from chain conveyor to the
 vibratory "V" groove tray, vibratory tray will starts vibrating and pellets will get inserted in to the tube.
Simultaneously vacuum will be applied at the last end of tubs for pulling the pellet. At the same time
pusher will also continue to push till the last of the pellet got inserted in to the tube. After completion of
full loading of pellets, vibrator and vacuum will stop and pusher goes back to its home position. And
chain conveyor will index forwards by one tray and will wait for the signal from the operator to start.

II. Electrical instrumentation and control: A PLC based electrical instrumentation and control should
be designed for meeting above requirements as per the attached annexure1. Separate operator panel
should be provided for Automatic pellet loading machine.

4.0 Mandatory Spare :

Following items shall be quoted as mandatory spare items used for total four numbers of supplied
equipments. Only mandatory spares shall be considered for evaluating the offer. Unit price for each item
should be quoted separately. Lump sum price should not be quoted.

Item Unit
S.NO Item Description Quantity
code Price

(a) 195411529 SCARA Robot Controller and card used in manipulator 02 Set.

(b) 193411530 SCARA Robot all joint Belt Set 02 Set.

(c) 193411531 SCARA Robot all joint Motors with encoder 02 Set.

Cables with connector for connecting robot with controller of

(d) 742030010 02 Set.
required length.

5.0 Document: Four set of technical documents in hard and soft copy each required for easy
operation, maintenance and programming user manual with complete description of the system, electrical
wiring diagrams, list of interlocks, list of alarms, I/O list, BOM, pneumatic circuit diagram, Mechanical
component drawings, trouble shooting guidance, PLC & HMI programming procedure, weighing balance
calibration and configuration procedure .etc should be supplied.

6.0 Training : 4 days training should be given to NFC official for complete operation, maintenance
software download & upload and programming and robot calibration.
7.0 Price Evaluation criteria : The price evaluation of technically qualified bids shall be based on
total landing cost of basic machine including mandatory spare listed in Point No. 4 at Kota Rajasthan

8.0 Pre Dispatch Inspection Criteria:

Pre dispatch inspection will be carried out and supplier should be able to demonstrate the accuracy of
stack length, speed as specified in acceptance criteria and complete operation of system for both stacking
and loading machine using dummy mild steel pellets (Length Standard Deviation 0.35 mm maximum)
machined and centerless ground as per the pellet drawing for both 19 and 37 element pellets. Required
numbers of SS rod tray will be provided by NFC, mild steel pellets and two numbers of buffer trays are in
the scope of supplier.

9.0 Acceptance Criteria:

a) Automatic pellet Stacking :

I. The accuracy: The accuracy of the stack length should be mentioned with in 479.9 ± 1
mm for 19 element and for 37 element 479.68± 0.8mm mm or better.

II. Machine should be able to perform stacking and verification of 20 rows in less than 8 min
time.

III.System should run trouble free for four days (8hrs/day) continuous hands off operation
after erection and commissioning at NFC.
b) Automatic Pellet Loading machine :
I. System should be able to load minimum 12 trays (20X20 tubes) in an hour without
damaging tube and pellet.
II. System should qualify above criteria for both 19 and 37 element pellets.
III. System should run trouble free for four days (8hrs/day) continuous hands off operation
after erection and commissioning at NFC.

10.0 Guarantee:

1 year trouble free operation for entire system after meeting the acceptance criteria. If any item is
damaged due to manufacturing defect, party has to replace the same free of cost.

11.0 Delivery period:

a) The complete set of engineering drawings (Mechanical 3D & 2D drawings and electrical as per
Annexure 1) shall be submitted for approval within two months from date of acceptance of Purchase
Order.
b) First Machine should be supplied and commissioned within 12 Months from the dated of acceptance
of Purchase Order and remaining with spares should be supplied and commissioned within 18 month
of the date of acceptance of Purchase Order.

Note:

a) All mechanical drawings, assembly drawings, pneumatic circuit diagram, details of control
scheme, electrical wiring diagram, BOM of all component along with their technical catalogs
should be submitted for approval and after approval only fabrication of component and assembly
of machine should start.
b) Any minor modification related to software / hardware to meet the functional requirement and
easy maintenance during commissioning should be carried by the party without extra cost.
c) Following service will be provided by NFC for erection and commissioning of the machine
1. Electrical power supply :415V, 3 Phase Supply ,50HZ
2. Compressed air :6 Kg/cm2