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. 20, 1992
Filed:
Sep. 17, 1991
Applicant:
Inventors:
Michael O Robertson, Hurt, VA (US);
Donald M Stevens, Lovingston, VA (US);
Hubert L Whaley, Lynchburg, VA (US);
Assignee:
The Babcock & Wilcox Company, New Orleans, LA (US);
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G21C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
376245 ; 376261 ; 73 12 ; 73579 ; 7315 / ; 209599 ; 209656 ; 209908 ;
Abstract
An apparatus and method are disclosed for determining the integrity of coated fuel particles via acoustic characterization. Particle supply means (4) drops the nuclear fuel particles (2) individually onto the face (6) of a transducer (8). The generated signal which is indicative of the integrity of the coating on the dropped particle is analyzed with analyzing means (26, 28, 30) for discriminating between a flawed and an unflawed particle.