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. 22, 1992
Filed:
Sep. 27, 1991
Daniel Merkovsky, Trafford, PA (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A flux thimble removal tool includes two basic units: a lower pulling unit 20 and a cutting/storage unit 22 which sits atop the lower pulling unit. Pulling unit 20 houses a gripper unit 30a, drive motor 68, gears 32, 66, helix drive shaft 40a, guide bar 26a, slide bar 24a, and guide tube 36, all of which are adapted to gradually extract neutron flux thimbles 38 one at a time from the reactor vessel 74 of a nuclear reactor, and to feed each thimble to the cutting/storage unit 22. The cutting/storage unit 32 further extracts the thimble, then severs the further extracted portion. The operation is continued until the thimble is fully extracted from the reactor vessel and reduced to a pile of easily-disposable segments.