Westinghouse Electric Company LLC

Clinton B Armstrong

Edward Jean Lahoda

Lyman J Petrosky

Yasir Arafat

Jurie Van Wyk

Matthew R Heisel

Jeffrey Shoup

Jurie J Van Wyk

A transition piece for joining heat pipe segments in a joining process is provided. The transition piece comprises a head section, a body section, a tail section and alignment tabs configured to facilitate a rotational alignment of an end of the body section and an end of a heat pipe segment during the joining process. The body section comprises a wick and an outer wall. Each of the alignment tabs comprises an end portion axially extending away from the body section. The body section and the alignment tabs are configured as an integral structure. A method for producing a transition piece of a heat pipe and a method for joining segments of a heat pipe are also provided.

Advanced manufacturing heat pipe segment with integral printed wick

A block style heat exchanger for a heat pipe reactor having a plurality of heat pipes extending from a reactor core. The heat exchanger includes a plurality of primary channels, each for receiving heat transferred from the core via one of the heat pipes. The primary channels extending within a block of one or more materials. The heat exchanger also includes a plurality of secondary channels defined within the block for transmitting a flow of the secondary heat transfer medium through the heat exchanger from an inlet to an outlet. The block is formed from one or both of: a plurality of plates bonded together, with each plate defining at least a portion of one or more of the plurality of primary channels and/or the plurality of secondary channels, and/or a unitary piece of material formed from an additive manufacturing process.

Block style heat exchanger for heat pipe reactor

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Slippery Rock, PA, United States of America

Clinton B Armstrong