Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Thomas B Huggins

Elwyn Roberts

Wade H Widener

David V Lambert

Kenneth K Klapper

John T DiGrande

Peter H Beuchel

Theodore E Raymond

George E Vining

John Haynes

Melvin O Edmunds

Fred S Breeland, Jr

A loading device for picking up and repositioning a plurality of upright cylinders arranged in a rectangular array includes a rectangular-shaped frame and a lift mechanism for raising and lowering the frame. A first fixed wall depends from a first end of the frame, and a second fixed wall depends from a second end of the frame adjacent the first end. A first movable wall adjacent a third end of the frame opposes the first fixed wall, and a second movable wall adjacent a fourth end of the frame opposes the second fixed wall. The first and second fixed walls and the first and second movable walls surround a rectangular-shaped enclosed area. A first motive mechanism couples the frame and the first movable wall for moving the first movable wall in a first direction, normal to the first fixed wall, for clamping the array between the first movable wall and the first fixed wall while maintaining the first movable wall vertical. A second motive mechanism couples the frame and the second movable wall for rotating the second movable wall about an axis of rotation parallel to the first direction for clamping the array between the second movable wall and the second fixed wall. A resilient surface on at least one of the walls enables the device to gently load fissile fuel pellets having an annular cross section into a sintering boat.

Pellet loader

An adjustable powder flow gate for a rotary pellet press has a movable gate wherein one dimensional motion of the gate across an opening in a powder flow feed frame on the rotating turret of the press is effected with a rotatable shaft having a screw connection to a member attached to the gate. The shaft is maintained in a selected rotational position with a bias member that is movable between an engaged and a disengaged position. The bias member is adapted to engage a selected detent on a member attached to the shaft having several circumferentially spaced detents when the bias member is in the engaged position. The shaft can freely rotate when the bias member is in the disengaged position. An operator can easily adjust the size of the opening by first disengaging the bias member from the selected detent, turning the shaft to move the gate to the desired position, and then engaging the bias member into a newly selected detent.

Adjustable powder flow gate for a rotary pellet press

An inspection system has a pellet diameter inspecting station and an apparatus for transferring pellets past the station. The apparatus includes a stationary support track for aligning and guiding pellets in a row along a linear path, and a transfer mechanism operable through forward and reverse strokes. The transfer mechanism has first and second grippers actuatable between pellet gripping and releasing positions and operable to grip respective rearmost pellets in a first row of pellets to be advanced past the inspecting station and in a second row of pellets previously advanced past the inspecting station. The transfer mechanism is operable to move from an initial position through the forward stroke to advance the pellets at a constant velocity along the linear path. The transfer mechanism actuates the second gripper from its releasing to gripping position before actuating the first gripper from its releasing to gripping position and starts movement from the initial position along the forward stroke before the first gripper is so actuated such that a gap is formed between the previously advanced row of pellets and the row of pellets to be advanced so as to prevent buckling of pellets in the latter row. The transfer mechanism is also operable to actuate the grippers to release the pellets and move through the return stroke relative to the released pellets back to the initial position.

Pellet transfer apparatus and method

A pellet escalator in a pellet loading apparatus for loading nuclear fuel pellets from a pellet press into a sintering boat includes a conveyor in the form of an elongated arm for moving pellets and being pivotable to vertically move its discharge end toward and away from a sintering boat. The arm has an elongated recessed channel through which travels the upper run of an endless flexible conveying belt for transporting pellets from a receiving end to the discharge end of the conveyor. A chute is mounted to the arm at its discharge end and extends therebelow such that the chute is carried by the arm at its discharge end for vertical movement therewith toward and away from the sintering boat. Resiliently-flexible, deflectable bristled brushes are attached to the chute in opposing vertical rows. The brushes in one row are oppositely inclined and vertically offset from brushes in the other row for defining a gravity feed flow path of non-linear configuration between adjacent inner brush ends for transferring pellets downwardly through the chute along the flow path at a drop rate controlled by brush deflections. A stop finger mounted to the arm at its discharge end is actuatable between blocking and unblocking positions in which it respectively stops and permits pellet discharge from the upper run of the belt in the arm channel.

Nuclear fuel pellet transfer escalator

A nuclear fuel pellet unloading apparatus includes a transfer housing pivotally movable between an upright position remote from a pellet deposit site and an inverted position adjacent to the deposit site, and convertable between opened and closed conditions. In its upright position and closed condition, the housing receives a sintering boat loaded with nuclear fuel pellets and holds the boat while retaining the pellets within the boat as the boat is moved from upright to inverted orientations upon pivoting of the housing from its upright to inverted position. An actuator is operated for causing pivoting of the housing from its upright to inverted position and back to its upright position. A latch member latches the housing in its closed condition when the housing is disposed in its upright position and as the housing is pivoted from its upright position toward its inverted position. A release member actuates the latch member as the housing reaches its inverted position to unlatch the housing and render it capable thereafter of converting from closed to opened condition upon reverse pivoting of the housing from the inverted position back toward the upright position by operating the actuator, thereby allowing dispensing of pellets from the opened housing and open top of the boat to the pellets deposit site.

Nuclear fuel pellet sintering boat unloading apparatus and method

A positive drive mechanism is provided to operate an internal tube cutter. The tube cutter has a body insertable into a tube to be severed, and a wedge-shaped slide supporting a cutting wheel on a forward portion of the cutter body. The slide and cutting wheel are movable toward and away from the tube. An elongated member is mounted through the cutter body for movement longitudinally thereof in one direction to cause outward radial movement of the slide and advancement of the cutting wheel toward and into contact with the tube to cause severing of the same upon rotation of the cutter body and in an opposite direction to permit inward radial movement of the slide and retraction of the cutting wheel away from and out of contact with the tube. The positive drive mechanism includes a housing rotatably mounting the cutter body, a cutter body drive portion mounted to the housing and drivingly interconnected to the cutter body for rotating or counterrotating the same, and a cutter wheel feed portion engaged with the elongated member of the cutter at a rear portion of the cutter body and operable to intermittently move the elongated member in the one direction toward the slide or permit intermittent movement of the elongated member in the opposite direction away from the slide during each rotation cycle of the cutter body.

Positive drive mechanism for uniform feed of internal tube cutter

Apparatus for loading friable nuclear fuel pellets into a sintering boat from a pellet press which ejects newly made pellets. An inclined pellet chute (preferably a tube) receives the ejected pellets and discharges them against a first resilient brush which reflects the pellets downwardly to a second resilient brush. The brush tips are spaced apart such that a pellet moving downward along the second brush contacts the flexible brush tip of the first brush before dropping off the second brush (preferably with near-zero velocity) into the sintering boat.

Pellet-press-to-sintering-boat nuclear fuel pellet loading apparatus

A system for loading nuclear fuel pellets into a sintering boat from a pellet press which discharges newly-made pellets. The loading system includes apparatus for receiving the pellets from the press and inserting them into an upward vertically positioned channel, a horizontally positioned rotatable drum with at least one longitudinally aligned circumferential channel, previously mentioned, for holding a row of pellets, a drum rotating mechanism, a device for pushing the pellets out of a below-horizontally positioned channel, an incline to receive the pushed out pellets, a sintering boat/incline positioner to allow the pellets to leave the incline adjacent the position in the sintering boat of the next-to-be-stacked pellet row, and a controller to coordinate system component operation.

Nuclear fuel pellet sintering boat loading system

This invention provides a loading mechanism for directing nuclear fuel pellets from one elevation to a lower container via gravity. The mechanism includes a loading chute into which the pellets are deposited and a vertically movable platform therebelow supporting a replaceable container to receive the pellets from the chute. The chute includes a plurality of generally oppositely downwardly angled resiliently covered plates defining a zig-zag path through the chute to limit the accumulation of momentum to the pellets, and the platform is spring-biased against the accumulated weight of the pellets and container so as to be continuously lowered as the weight thereof increases as the pellets are deposited in the container.

Nuclear fuel pellet loading apparatus

Apparatus for feeding nuclear fuel pellets at a uniform, predetermined rate between pellet centering and grinding apparatus and a tray used for loading pellets into a nuclear fuel rod. Pellets discharged from the grinder are conveyed by a woven wire belt to a drive wheel which develops a force available to be applied to pellets preceding it on the belt. The pellets pass under the drive wheel which adds additional weight acting vertically on each pellet. This total weight of pellet and drive wheel coupled with wire belt linear movement acts to push a line of about 36 pellets onto a pellet dumping mechanism. As the dumping mechanism is actuated to dump the pellets on to a loading tray, the pellets moving toward the mechanism are clamped in a stationary position and the drive wheel simultaneously is lifted from its pellet contacting position until the pellet dumping process is completed. The clamping device is then lifted from its pellet and the drive wheel simultaneously is lowered into a pellet contacting position.

Growing community of inventors

Columbia, SC, United States of America

Thomas B Huggins