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:
Nov. 07, 1978
Filed:
Oct. 03, 1974
Helmut Bezold, Erlangen, DE;
Kraftwerk Union Aktiengesellschaft, Mulheim (Ruhr), DE;
Abstract
A nuclear fuel rod assembly support structure has top and bottom end pieces, and a plurality of fuel rod spacer grids and control-rod guide tubes having top and bottom ends respectively fastened to the top and bottom end pieces to hold these pieces interspaced, the guide tubes being inserted slidably through the openings in the spacer grids and the latter being positioned between the end pieces of the support structure. It is necessary to fix the spacer grids to the guide tubes to maintain the spacer grids at properly interspaced positions and to provide a support structure that is as rigid as possible. For reasons of nuclear physics, the guide tubes and spacer grids are made of different metals or alloys which are difficult to fix together by the use of solidified molten metal using presently known welding and soldering techniques. To overcome this problem, sleeves are used through which the guide tubes are inserted with the spacer grids positioned between these sleeves and with the sleeves axially engaging th spacer grids, the sleeves being fixed to the guide tubes by the solidified molten metal. This overcomes the problem because the sleeves and the guide tubes may be made of the same metals or alloys which can be welded or soldered together easily.