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:
Jun. 01, 1982
Filed:
Feb. 21, 1979
Robert O Crosgrove, Chatsworth, CA (US);
Edward Moody, Simi, CA (US);
Harold L Sletten, Northridge, CA (US);
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A failed element detection and location system for use in a nuclear reactor, for example, a liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR), which utilizes a large number of fuel pins in an active core and which circulates a continuous stream of liquid metal heat exchanging fluid such as liquid sodium past the pins is disclosed herein. This system first collects a combined sample of the fluid just as the latter passes through at least a selected group of containers, each housing a plurality of the fuel pins. This combined sample is detected for the presence or absence of a predetermined contaminant, specifically neutrons, resulting from the failure (break) in one or more of the fuel pins. In the event that the contaminant is detected in the combined sample, individual samples of fluid are collected, one at a time, as the fluid just passes through the selected group of containers. These individual samples are also detected for the presence or absence of the contaminant, thereby indicating the fuel pin container or containers responsible for the presence of the contaminant.