Robotic solution for BLM detector maintenance in high radiation areas

CERN’s Beam Loss Monitoring (BLM) system is essential for the protection of machine elements against energy deposition due to beam losses. The protection function relies on approximately 5000 ionisation chamber type detectors installed along all of CERN's accelerators. Some of the areas where the detectors are installed have a high background dose (above 2mSv/h). Installation and maintenance times must be minimised to ensure person-nel safety. For this reason, a new solution was designed that allows the manipulation of detectors and their sup-ports by robotic action. Every aspect of the solution has been designed to reduce intervention time, using a rapid locking mechanism and the possibility of transporting the material by robot. The paper presents the design, prototype characterisation results, identified issues, and mitigation methods developed for the automated manipulation of these detectors.