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:
Dec. 25, 1990
Filed:
Feb. 06, 1990
Louis L Aiello, Castle Hayne, NC (US);
James E Charnley, Gilroy, CA (US);
James A Mees, Wilmington, NC (US);
Robert C Dixon, Morgan Hill, CA (US);
General Electric Company, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and process for the construction of a cruciformed section control rod is disclosed. The control rod is characterized by having square exterior sectioned tubes with central cylindrical volumes for the containment of neutron absorbing poisons. In the process, these tubes are welded together at the corners of the square sections to form the planar members of the cruciformed shaped rods. An apparatus and process is disclosed in which the rods are all held by a jig in the same configuration as is ultimately fabricated. Thereafter, the jig is drawn through fixtures, which fixtures accurately guide the rods to be joined by welding past paired and opposed laser welding heads. By the expedient of positioning the laser and rapidly drawing the braced together tubes by the laser, control rod fabrication occurs. There results a solid, integral control rod constituting a suitable pressure vessel for neutron absorbers for control of nuclear reactions.