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:
Oct. 28, 1986
Filed:
May. 07, 1985
Douglas G Harman, Pensacola Beach, FL (US);
Richard A Green, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Bruce W Bevilacqua, Penn Township, Westmoreland County, PA (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A rigid peening spindle for rotopeening the inside wall of a tube is disclosed herein. Generally, the peening spindle comprises a rotatable housing insertable within a tube, a mandrel disposed within the housing and having a plurality of peening flappers connected thereto, and a pair of bearings for rotatably mounting the mandrel within the housing in an off-center orientation relative to the longitudinal axis of the housing so that the peening flappers rotate and orbit within the tube when the mandrel and housing are simultaneously rotated. The housing includes a cage formed from an open section and a ligment, and the mandrel is rotatably mounted within the housing so that the peening flappers may engage the inside wall of the tube through the open section of the cage. Finally, each of the bearings which rotatably mount the mandrel in an off-center manner preferably have an outer diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the housing so that they may engage the inside wall of the tube in a running engagement within fairly tight tolerances, and thereby control the stand-off distance between the peening flappers and the inside wall of the tube. The bearings are preferably made from a self-lubricating plastic material. The invention is particularly useful in rotopeening the interior walls of the heat exchange tubes of a nuclear steam generator in order to prevent stress corrosion cracking in the tubes.