General Electric Company

William Masaitis

Robert O Canada

Bruce J Kaiser

Leonard N Grossman

Harold B King

Frederick C Schoenig, Jr

James D Landry

George W Tunnell

Edward S Walker

Gerald W McKenzie

Ching C Lai

Ernest Ippisch

Albert E Chinn

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 electronic circuit provides various accurate counts of detected neutrons to enable the assaying of fissile material in a neutron emitting radioactive source. The circuit develops a time correlated window associated with each detected neutron, and delays these windows to develop uncorrelated windows. These windows are used to develop separate detected neutron counts which distinguish between time correlated fission neutron detections and time uncorrelated singular neutron detections. The circuit also develops a count of all detected neutrons.

Neutron event counting circuit

A method and system for quality control of nuclear fuel materials, said system including amplifier/integrator circuitry, signal processors, and drift control feedback circuitry. The invention permits the qualitative and quantitative measurement of paramagnetic additives such as gadolinium for example in a paramagnetic base nuclear fuel material including ferromagnetic impurities. Drift problems relating to temperature and other effects are solved electrically and mechanically. Analysis can be conducted irrespective of the form or composition of the nuclear fuel.

System for the analysis of nuclear fuel rods

Elongated members such as nuclear fuel end plugs are provided to a robot by a vibratory feeder. The robot singly inserts the members into a character stamper or marker and then removes them and drops them down a chute to an inspection site. The member is inserted into a character reader and inspected. Unacceptably stamped members are rejected and for each accepted member the stamper is advanced to a next character. Thus, a next member is stamped with the next character, or permutation of characters, the robot already having provided a new member to the stamper.

Serialization of elongated members

A system and method are disclosed for optically reading out one or more discrete line patterns from a pattern-carrying medium under a range of different conditions. The patterns may constitute alphanumeric characters arranged in serial alignment on the medium or a variety of other types of line patterns, or a single line pattern. In accordance with the present invention, the disclosed system is capable of successively reading out the patterns with a high degree of reliability, notwithstanding variations in their size, orientation and location, or variations in the color and reflectivity of the pattern-carrying medium surface. Further, the disclosed system and method are tolerant of the presence of blotches, scratches and other surface marks, and of irregularities in the otherwise uniform planar or curved surface of the medium. The invention is applicable to the readout of patterns that are printed on the surface, stamped or otherwise impressed onto it, or raised above it by embossing or the like.

System and method for pattern recognition

An automated inspection station comprises a pair of rotating rollers for supporting a collected group of pellets. A pusher drops in behind the group to urge the entire group forward. The rotating rollers cause the entire group of pellets to spin in unison as the pellets pass through an optical inspection station. The optical inspection station comprises a light source, diverging and collimating lenses to illuminate each rotating pellet in turn. Signals are generated by at least two arrays of photodiodes in response to light reflected from the surface of the pellets. Circuitry normalizes the signals of the respective diodes for variations unrelated to pellet surface features. The signals are analyzed to ascertain conformance of each pellet to length, cylindricality diameter and surface reflectivity requirements. A pellet sorter diverts unacceptable pellets from the path, while the acceptable pellets are transported to a collection station. Additional circuitry generates known timing pulses which control the axial speed of the pellets advancing past the inspection station, as well as for synchronizing and correlating the collected data with the respective advancing pellets. The number of threshold changes and their location on the pellet help determine conformance to the above criteria.

Growing community of inventors

Castle Hayne, NC, United States of America

William Masaitis