General Electric Company

Other

George W Tunnell

Frederick C Schoenig, Jr

Donald F Butzin

Edward W Meeka

Harold B King

Bruce J Kaiser

Edward S Walker

William Masaitis

Fred C Schoenig

David G Tashjian

Richard G Patterson

Sharon G Glendinning

David R McLemore

Jack P Gregg

Archie C Lamb

Edgar E Salvo, Jr

Charles L Pomernacki

Barry S Guilliams

Martin S Zucker

Disclosed is a device for measuring dimensional characteristics of an elongate component which comprises:

Device for dimensionally characterizing elongate components

To measure the dimensional characteristics of elongated flow channels for nuclear fuel rod assemblies at the manufacturing site, an upender is utilized to swing a flow channel from a horizontal loading orientation to an upright pre-measurement position and then to shift the flow channel laterally into a measurement position where it is engaged and held by reciprocatingly mounted upper and lower endplugs while its dimensional characteristics are acquired by a measurement carrige mounted for vertical scanning movement along the entire flow channel length.

Quality assurance apparatus for dimensionally inspecting elongated

Pellet trays bearing rows of fuel pellets of known enrichment concentrations are retrieved from selected storage elevators and successively conveyed to a zone makeup machine. Parallel rows of pellets are raked from each tray and advanced over a longitudinally elongated, grooved loading surface into abutment with a selectively longitudinally positioned stop. A zone makeup carriage makes up the pellet rows to a prescribed, common zone length, which are then weighted and advanced in parallel by a vibratory loader into a plurality of cladding tubes arranged in parallel loading positions by tube handling apparatus. Overall operation is coordinated by a system controller to concurrently load the cladding tubes with multiple pellet zones of varying enrichments and lengths in automated fashion.

Multizone automated nuclear fuel rod loading system

A monitor for detecting airborne radioactive particulates is disclosed. An elongate strip of filter paper is fed across first and second air inlet ports of a collection chamber. Ambient air is selectively drawn into the chamber through a selected one of the inlet ports and out an through outlet port. Particulates trapped on an area of the filter paper in alignment with the open inlet port are detected after advancing the strip area into alignment with the closed inlet port. A radiation detector mounted on a movable arm is selectively positioned over the closed inlet port to detect the trapped radioactive particulates, while a new sample is collected at the open inlet port. Exposure of the detector surface to corrosive materials is avoided and the detector can be positioned close to the filter strip to maximize counting efficiency and energy resolution. A microprocessor controls the functions of the monitor and allows continuous unattended operation.

Monitor for airborne radioactive particles

An apparatus is provided for the automatic assembly of nuclear fuel rod bundles in a predetermined coordinate array. Each fuel rod is identified during its travel and positioned according to an identifying code carried on its lower end plug which designates the fuel enrichment and additive level of the rod.

Fuel bundle assembly machine

Apparatus and method are provided for permitting human voice control of a welding system. A human operator, remote from a welding power supply, uses a welding torch connected by a power line to the welding power supply. The human operator is provided with an audio transmitter which permits the operator to adjust the welding power supply through verbal commands. The verbal commands are issued by the human operator, and are transmitted through a receiver, a voice recognition unit, and a computer, which is electrically connected to deliver power control signals to the welding power supply to thereby adjust the power delivered to the welding torch. The operator may also issue verbal commands to start and stop an internal combustion engine which drives the welding power supply, when such an engine is used. Additionally, when the welding process incorporates a consumable wire electrode, the operator may verbally alter the speed at which the wire electrode is fed through the welding torch. A major advantage of the system is that changes are made without interrupting the welding process.

Voice controlled welding system

A system for determining the radioactive materials content of the ash or residue from an incinerator of contaminated materials contained in cans. The system includes can handling apparatus, a neutron source for activating the material and neutron and gamma ray detectors for detecting emissions from the materials by which fissile/fertile material content is determined.

Automated monitoring of fissile and fertile materials in incinerator

Growing community of inventors

Foster City, CA, United States of America

George W Tunnell