Application of Remote Handling in the CPS Tunnel

Two hands and a crane are controlled from the ring centre via 300 m long cables and observed with three closed-loop TV chains. This installation, with more than 30 remote controlled functions, is capable of performing work along 40 m of the PS ring tunnel. The second hand, which has been developed at CERN, executes the more delicate work such as disconnecting ordinary water and electrical cornnectors of different types. One test operation was the removal of a vacuum tank with a septum magnet of the ejection system. Althougn this equipment was not designed for remote handling, only the connection to the power cable could not be removed from a distance. All the other work - vacuum connections to chamber and. pumps, electrical and water connections, lifting out onto a chariot - was done with no one present in the ring tunnel.