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:
Jan. 30, 1996
Filed:
Jul. 13, 1994
Eric B Johansson, Wrightsville Beach, NC (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
Spring assemblies are employed in adjoining ferrules of a spacer in a nuclear fuel bundle to bias the fuel rods against stops and hence position the fuel rods in the spacer. The spring assemblies in one form include back-to-back spring bodies having central leaves with forward projections extending through rectilinear openings in adjacent ferrules to engage fuel rods to bias the rods against stops at the opposite sides of the ferrules. Outer pairs of leaves straddle the central leaf and project rearwardly and join the spring bodies one with the other whereby the central leaves, end portions of the springs connected to the central and outer leaves, and the outer leaves act as paired springs in series, providing a low spring constant. In another form, a single spring body has a central leaf with a projection extending through an aperture of a ferrule to bias the fuel rod. The outer leaves bear against the outer surface of the adjoining ferrule. In this latter form, pins may be used to compress the springs to facilitate insertion of the fuel rods into the ferrules.