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. 28, 1987
Filed:
Sep. 09, 1985
William R Carlson, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Robert K Gjertsen, Monroeville, PA (US);
John V Miller, Munhall, PA (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A fuel assembly includes top and bottom nozzles, elongated hollow control rod guide thimbles extending longitudinally between and rigidly interconnecting the top and bottom nozzles such that together they form a rigid structural skeleton of the fuel assembly, transverse grids being supported on the guide thimbles at axially spaced locations therealong between the top and bottom nozzles, fuel rods extending through and being supported by the grids between the top and bottom nozzles so as to extend in generally side-by-side spaced relation to one another and to the guide thimbles, and elongated solid tie rods extending longitudinally between the top and bottom nozzles and through and rigidly interconnected with the grids so as to extend in generally side-by-side spaced relation to one another, to the fuel rods and to the guide thimbles so as to bolster the stiffness of the structural skeleton of the fuel assembly. Each of the guide thimbles has a cross-sectional size which occupies a position in the fuel assembly substantially equivalent to the positions of more than one of the fuel rods, whereas each of the tie rods has a cross-sectional size which occupies a position in the fuel assembly substantially equivalent to the position of only one of the fuel rods. While each guide thimble has a cross-sectional size which is larger than the cross-sectional size of each tie rods, the cross-sectional area of the tie rod is substantially equal to the cross-sectional area of the guide thimble.