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:
Apr. 05, 1994
Filed:
Aug. 03, 1992
William J Bryan, Granby, CT (US);
Patrick A Perrotti, Newington, CT (US);
Combustion Engineering, Inc., Windsor, CT (US);
Abstract
A method for sputter coating the inside surface (30) of a fuel assembly tubular component (10) such as a control rod guide tube (200) with wear or corrosion resistant material. The steps include supporting the component tube in a fixture (12,14) and supporting a source tube (100,300) of e.g., wear resistant material, coaxially within the component tube, thereby defining a cylindrical annulus (24) between the tubes. The annular space is evacuated and backfilled with an inert working gas (26) such as argon, to a pressure sufficient to sustain a plasma discharge. The component tube is positively biased (36) as an anode, and the source tube is negatively biased (34) as a cathode, such that a plasma of the working gas is established in the annular space. A circumferential magnetic field is generated around the source tube to confine and shape the plasma whereby the source tube is bombarded with ions from the plasma substantially uniformly over the length of the source tube. Wear resistant material is thereby sputtered substantially uniformly from the source tube onto the inside surface of the component tube, to form a coating thereon.