A novel drone endoscope system for near-surface observation in fusion reactor vacuum chambers

作     者：Youzhi Xu Yi Sun Huan Shen Lei Zheng Yong Cheng Shijie Liu Haibing Zhang Guodong Qin Aihong Ji 

作者机构：Lab of Locomotion Bioinspiration and Intelligent Robots the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Nanjing 210016 China Institute of Plasma Physics Chinese Academy of Science Hefei 230031 China Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Bionic Materials and Equipment Nanjing 210016 China State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Nanjing 210016 China 

出 版 物：《Measurement》 

年 卷 期：2025年第256卷

摘      要：This paper presents a novel drone endoscope system (DES) for internal observation in fusion reactors. The system enables autonomous location and mapping in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied and dark environments in narrow, confined vacuum chambers. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation analysis was conducted to investigate the impact of nonlinear airflow interference introduced by internal chamber structural surfaces on the DES. Specifically, the influence of ceiling, ground, and wall surface effects is considered, and the nearest limiting safety distances for near-surface information acquisition are derived. Subsequently, the DES is employed to inspect the 1/8 vacuum chambers of the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR). The system exhibits flight stability with ±0.03 m positional accuracy and ±3° angular error, enabling the acquisition of images of the internal chamber surfaces and three-dimensional reconstruction. This represents a novel approach to the internal observation mission of the fusion reactors.