The ITER Organization has begun deploying software that allows people to walk around the site and compare as-is work to as-designed 3D models on their tablets and smartphones.  Using an off-the-shelf augmented reality application called Gamma AR, engineers and technicians at ITER can now see if an installed component fits in the way it was planned during design—and much more. The software is similar to the app that allows IKEA customers to see what a piece of furniture would look like in their house or office. “You have as-built in front of you, and you can project the as-designed version on top of that,” says Lucas Scherrer, building integration manager in the Integration and CAD Support Section. “Several features of the application help you spot any differences.”Lucas and his colleagues worked with the surveillance and field design teams to estimate the benefits of the application, which they expect to include savings in both cost and time. A single rework costs thousands of euros—and when the problem isn’t spotted early, the costs rise sharply. Other equipment can be added on top of a faulty layout, making it more difficult to reach and fix the problem area, or a mistake may not be noticed before a contractor finishes work on the site, making it necessary to assign a different contractor to fix it. “It could take months to spot an error without the application,” says Scherrer. “With the new AR capability, you see it in minutes.”“With the tablet, you have your 3D model overlaid on reality,” he explains. “If you spot an issue, you can click on the components on your screen and the application retrieves more information about the equipment, including identification. You can add a description of what you’re looking at. The application creates what’s called an ‘issue,’ which you can then assign to someone to be solved.” The tool allows site operators to compare the "as-built" position of components to the planned design. Overlaying a 3D model on reality facilitates the identification of issues. The tool not only helps find problems, but it also helps find solutions, by making it easy to determine what needs to be corrected. “Once you get the location, you can go back to your office and retrieve the 3D model directly from Navisworks,” says Scherrer. “You can move images around to try to find better fits.”To begin deployment of the application, Integration and CAD Support bought 10 “ruggedized” (durable) tablets for the surveillance and field design teams, its first set of target users. Several other groups are also interested in applying the capabilities to other use cases. For example, the same AR application can let users see what future installations will look like on top of the real components in front of them—something teams who are about to install equipment will find useful.The same capability can also be used to show visitors what the site will look like. “We have a VR room where we can show the finished facility,” says Scherrer. “But now that assembly is going fast, it’s nice to bring people on site to show them the future in situ. Ultimately, we plan to spread the new application widely among ITER staff.” Surveillance and field design teams are making use of the first 10 "ruggedized" tablets; other augmented reality use cases are also planned. Developing a solution and procedures around the appGamma AR is widely used by other companies doing construction and assembly with more or less the same surveillance needs as ITER. “The only thing we had to do was set up the workflow that takes the 3D models from Navisworks and makes them available to the app,” says Scherrer. “This was done by ITER IT and the Design Office.”Because Apple hardware and iOS deliver the processing power needed to render complex images quickly and smoothly, the app is optimized to run on iPhones and iPads. Moreover, the Pro versions of both include an embedded Lidar, which helps the app align with the structures in front of the user.There will be two ways for users to align the model with what is in front of them onsite. The first is the direct approach. The Lidar scans the floor, and the application displays an image on which the user can select one point and an edge, allowing the software to align. The second approach, which has not yet been installed on the site, will allow subsequent users to align by clicking on a QR code glued on the wall by a more technically savvy user who followed the direct procedure. The QR code solution is expected to be made available in April.Once the app aligns with the as-is layout it can overlay the appropriate 3D models, very much like how popular astronomy apps like Sky Map or SkySafari can overlay stars and constellations on a quadrant of night sky. “The maturity of the technology has allowed us to implement a very intuitive visual solution that will significantly reduce the time to repair, improve the quality of installation, and save everybody a lot of time,” says Scherrer.See the related video in this issue of Newsline.

The tokamak assembly pit, a vast cylindrical space that is 30 metres deep and 30 metres in diameter, was not meant to be used as a temporary storage facility. It came in handy, however, when the need arose to find a solution to “flip” 440-tonne vacuum vessel sector #8 in order to complete repairs on its otherwise inaccessible side.  For approximately one year, teams had been busy rectifying the massive component’s geometry along its joint surfaces (bevels) in order to recover nominal dimensions. Lying horizontally on its frame, the sector could only present one of its sides to the machining tools, automated welding machines or operators at work in the former Cryostat Workshop. In order to access the opposite side, the component needed to be flipped—a momentous task for a highly-sophisticated chunk of steel as heavy as a jumbo jet and as tall as a five-storey building.In early February this year, a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) moved the half-repaired component to the Assembly Hall, where it was lifted, placed in the upending tool, turned to vertical and eventually deposited inside the tokamak assembly pit. As the twin sector sub-assembly tools (SSAT 1 and 2) are both occupied, and as the upending tool needed to be adapted in order to receive vacuum vessel sector #8 once it had been rotated, temporary storage inside the tokamak pit was the only available option. The coming months will see a flurry of activity in the assembly theatre, with sector module #7 (left, inside SSAT 1) scheduled to be installed in the pit in April, followed by sector module #6 in July. At about the same date, sector module #8, by then fully repaired, will be placed in SSAT 2 for assembly. Adaptations to the upending tool consisted of changing the lifting frame attached to the tool and installing bespoke pads and attachments. On Tuesday 18 March the tool was ready, and vacuum vessel sector #8 was extracted from the tokamak pit and positioned vertically in the upending tool—this time with its unrepaired side facing outward. This week, the exact reverse of February’s operation will be performed and the component will be returned to the former Cryostat Workshop. Three to four months of repairs on the second side will now ensue.The coming months will see a flurry of activity in the ITER assembly theatre, with sector module #7 scheduled to be installed in the tokamak pit in April, followed by sector module #6 in July. At about the same date, the fully repaired sector module #8 will be placed in SSAT 2 for sub-assembly with its thermal shield and two toroidal field coils. As for the remaining vacuum vessel sectors to be equipped and installed, their handling will be greatly facilitated by the availability of a second, more versatile upending tool set to be delivered to ITER in the coming days.

In the “room that will be seen around the world,” as former ITER Deputy Head of the Construction Project Tim Luce put it when the ITER main control room issued its first command three months ago, 30 operator stations are now equipped with keyboards, mice and computer screens. In late May/early June, once final power and HVAC are delivered, the temporary control rooms distributed over the site will be folded into this central “nerve centre,” tasked with monitoring the millions of plasma, tokamak and plant system parameters contributing to ITER operation. The present configuration, seen here from the second-floor visitors gallery, will cover ITER's needs for the coming seven to eight years. In the early 2030s, as tokamak operation ramps up, some 50 stations will be added and the two large composite screens will be replaced by a 120-square-metre mosaic of screens covering the better part of the wall facing the operators. Raising their eyes from their individual computer screens, operators will be able to take in every beat and pulse of the entire ITER installation.