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:
Mar. 31, 1987
Filed:
Feb. 14, 1984
Frank W Cooper, Jr, Monroeville, PA (US);
Bruce A Howard, Seminole, FL (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
To limit the exposure of personnel to radioactivity within the channel head of a steam generator of a nuclear-reactor plant a cartridge sleeve-blank loader for automatically sleeving a plurality of tubes without the intervention of personnel is provided. The cartridge loader includes a turret or drum which carries a plurality of sleeve blanks around its periphery. A lifter engages the bottom of each sleeve bank in its turn at a sleeve insertion position of the turret and inserts the sleeve blank into a tube. Successive sleeve blanks are indexed to the insertion position for insertion into tubes. The sleeve blanks are slightly bowed or curved so that when a sleeve blank is inserted as a sleeve into a tube, the sleeve, since the tube is linear, exerts a restoring force on the wall of a tube which holds the sleeve in the tube when the lifter is retracted. In inserting the sleeve blank, the lifter moves at a low speed until the leading end of the sleeve enters a tube. Then the speed of insertion is increased. The turret is readily removable from the sleeve loader by use of a unique handle assembly so that any empty turret can be removed in a short time. In the practice of the invention, a loaded cartridge sleeve-blank loader is loaded ready for insertion outside of the channel head. Once all the sleeve blanks on a turret are inserted, an operator enters the manway of the channel head and removes the unloaded turret. The loaded turret is handed to him and he inserts it. The replacing operation can be accomplished by exposing the operator to radiation for no more than about 75 seconds.