The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 18, 1978
Filed:
Sep. 15, 1976
Robert Duncan, Fork, SC (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A process for welding the adjacent ends of frame members peripherally surrounding the interleaved straps of a fuel assembly grid which includes placing the assembled grid and its frame members into a fixture made to substantially the same dimensions as the outside dimensions of the grid. The side members of the frame are arranged such that a space appears at each of the four corners and a special tool placed in each of the four corner cells of the grid is designed to have an opening which corresponds to the openings formed on each corner of the fixture. After the tooling is placed in each of the four corner cells, the assembled grid and fixture is then placed in welding apparatus such that a welding tip thereof is placed in the tool located in a corner cell. Since the opening in the tool and between the plates of the fixture and at each corner are in alignment, the welding tip accordingly moves through the openings and into contact with the overlapping ends of the frame members placed on the peripheral surface of the grid. The upper welding tip is then brought into contact with the other side of the overlapping ends and a spot weld accordingly applied to the frame member overlapping ends.