Framatome Gmbh

Jean-Paul Gaffard

Jacques Griffaton

Genevieve Chabassier

Robert Ravelet

The alignment apparatus is intended for repairing welds using infrared radiation and a weldhead (30) inside a heat exchanger tube (14) in the water box (20) of a steam generator associated with a nuclear reactor. A power beam (PE, PL, PS) is transported to the axis (24) of a tube (14) to be treated via two motor-driven light deflectors referred to as an 'emitter' (11) fixed adjacent to an access hole into the water box, and as a 'receiver' (12) carried by a 'carrier' (22) at the entrance to the tube to be treated. The power beam is surrounded coaxially by a visible beam (AE, AL, AS) which is used for establishing and maintaining an optical connection between the emitter and the receiver by means of retroreflectors (15) and an autocollimation mirror (17) carried by the receiver (12) and by detectors (16, 18) carried by the emitter (11).

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Fontainbleau, France

Jean-Paul Gaffard