Westinghouse Electric Corporation

The United States of America As Represented by the United States

Robert Shaffer

Phillip E Miller

Edward H Smith

Stanley R Spiegelman

Richard L Stiller

Ronald M Blaushild

Robert D Burack

David E Flinchbaugh

Stephan L Abbott

Thomas R Wagner

Regis R Vollmer

Raymond R Hill

A shipping device for a heater unit assembly (23), the heater unit assembly (23) including a cylindrical wall (25) and a top plate (31) secured to the cylindrical wall (25) and having a flange portion which projects radially beyond the outer surface of the cylindrical wall (25), and the shipping device including: a cylindrical container (3) having a closed bottom (13); a support member (47) secured to the container (3) and having an inwardly directed flange for supporting the flange portion of the top plate (31); a supplemental supporting system (1) for positioning the heater unit assembly (23) in the container (3) at a spaced relation from the inner surface and bottom wall (13) of the container (3); a cover (15) for closing the top of the container (3); and a container supporting structure (5,7,8) supporting the container (3) in a manner to permit the container (3) to be moved, relative to the supporting structure (5,7,8 ), between a vertical position for loading and unloading the assembly (23) and a horizontal position for transport of the assembly (23). A seal (57) is interposed between the container (3) and the cover (15) for sealing the interior of the container (3) from the environment. An abutment member (41) is mounted on the container supporting structure (5,7,8) for supporting the container bottom (13), when the container (3) is in the vertical position, to prevent the container (3) from moving past the vertical position in the direction away from the horizontal position, and a retainer member (55) is secured within the cover (15) for retaining the assembly top plate (31) in contact with the support member (47) when the cover (15) closes the top of the container (3).

Shipping device for heater unit assembly

Two sets of heater support members angularly distributed around a central vertical member are radially extendable individually or in groups to position heater elements within a preset distance of the cylindrical walls of any one of a series of pressure vessels having a range of diameters. A convex bottom heater support member is provided for each diameter vessel and is axially telescoped into the central vertical member so that an additional set of heater support members can be installed between the first mentioned two sets of heater support members and the bottom heater support member to accommodate for varying depths of the vessels in the series. Thermocouples are extended from the annealing device by actuators which use a spring or pneumatic pressure to press the thermocouple against the vessel wall with a preset constant force for accurate temperature measurements. The actuators use pneumatic pressure to retract the thermocouples to preclude damage during withdrawal of the annealing device from the vessel.

Apparatus for in situ annealing of a pressure vessel

Thermocouple apparatus for in situ annealing of a pressure vessel

The electric actuator comprises a deep cup harmonic drive gear train member with an electric motor, brake, tachometer, and resolver disposed therein. The arrangement and coupling of the components provides a high torque-to-weight ratio actuator that is capable of more than 360.degree. rotation.

Harmonic electric actuator

An apparatus for actuating a tube guide expander device inserted in a tube end and extracting it therefrom subsequent to tube expansion induced by guide-expander actuation. The apparatus includes inner and outer sleeve structures which are independently axially displaceable relative to the tube and guide-expander. The outer sleeve structure is engageable with a first compression structure of the device to secure it and its engaged tube in place during relative axial displacement of a second compression structure of the device. Selectively coupling the inner sleeve structure to the device's second compression structure and axial displacement of both axially compresses a radial expansion element situated between the compression structures and expands the enclosing tube. A series of balls are radially displaceable from an outer unobstructing position through radial openings in the inner sleeve structure and an intermediate sleeve structure to an inner obstructing position protruding into the inner sleeve structure's bore so as to axially engage a portion of the second compression structure and prevent its extraction from the bore during axial displacement of the inner sleeve structure. Radial displacement of the balls is provided by selective axial displacement of the intermediate sleeve structure arranged about the inner sleeve structure. Simultaneous axial displacement of the inner and outer sleeve structures away from the tube with the balls in obstructing position subsequent to the tube's expansion enables extraction of the guide-expander from the tube.

Apparatus for actuating and extracting a tube guide-expander

The machine comprises a first assembly including a vertical post and a carriage track with a movable carriage thereon, the carriage track being pivotally secured to the upper end portion of the post so that the assembly can be collapsed to a size permitting entry into the channel head through a manway, with the assembly being sufficiently light in weight to permit its installation in the channel head by no more than two individuals, the machine further including a separate horizontal support beam and a separate curved track which are independently separably secured to the vertical post and to the outer end of the carriage track so that a generally quadrantally shaped frame is provided, the carriage track carrying an adjustable decontamination blaster means, and means are provided for moving the carriage along the carriage track and for swinging the carriage track both horizontally and vertically in the frame so that the decontamination means has the capability of sweeping past substantially all of the interiorly facing walls in the channel head. The method of carrying out the decontamination of all of the interiorly facing walls in the space in the channel head is accomplished by traversing the areas to be decontaminated by energizing selective drive means for successive sweeps at rates corresponding to the area to be traversed and then stepping the blaster means to different positions and varying the sweep rate in accordance with the different position.

Machine and method for decontaminating nuclear steam generator channel

A method for inserting a tube through a tubesheet aperture and expanding it into contact with the aperture's wall. A tube guide-expander device is assembled in an open end of a tube with a portion of the device protruding from the tube. The guide-expander includes a distally protruding tip portion tapered to diverge in a direction toward the tube so as to facilitate insertion of the guide-expander and engaged tube through apertures in spatially separated tube supports and tubesheet. The guide-expander and tube engaged therewith are axially displaced relative to the tubesheet until the desired relative configuration is obtained. Expansion of the tube results from expanding the assembled tube guide-expander and driving the housing tube in the radial direction against the tubesheet aperture's wall. Such guide-expander expansion obtains from relatively axially displacing two structural components and compressing an interposed, radially expansible structure.

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Swissvale, PA, United States of America

Robert Shaffer