Making a pivot look easy
The component is heavier than a fully loaded Boeing 747 airliner, but you wouldn't know it watching the pivot operation that took place last week in the ITER Assembly Hall, where the specialized tooling makes the operation look (almost) easy.
Thick cables connect the overhead bridge cranes to the four corners of the upending tool—the sturdy steel cradle that has been designed to raise some of ITER's heaviest components to vertical. Little by little, as the cables strain, the cradle leaves the ground with sector #8 lashed securely inside. As it hovers overhead it begins to pivot slowly, bringing the load—in mid-air—to a vertical orientation. Finally, the cables lengthen once again and the upending tool is lowered back, in its new position, to reception pads on the shop floor.
Watch this video that was posted to the ITER Organization Facebook page, which condenses the 1.5-hour operation into just 1.5 minutes.
In the next phase of the operation, the clamps on the tool will be opened to allow sector #8 to be lifted by the overhead cranes and transferred to the tokamak pit where it can be rotated 180 degrees. When it returns to the cradle tool for "downending," its opposite side will be exposed—a necessary step to completing repairs.
