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:
Sep. 16, 1997
Filed:
Nov. 07, 1995
Gary E Dix, Saratoga, CA (US);
Bruce Matzner, San Jose, CA (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
A deflector is disposed in a steam vent region above the upper ends of part-length fuel rods to deflect upwardly flowing liquid laterally outwardly into the interstices of the full-length fuel rods adjacent the steam vent region. The deflector is supported by a spacer or from the upper tie plate and can be removed from the fuel bundle for access to the part-length fuel rods. The deflector may comprise a flat plate, an inverted pyramid, an inverted cone, a multi-sided pyramidal configuration or a swirl device wherein the horizontally projected area of the deflector is substantially coextensive with the horizontal cross-sectional area of the steam vent area. In this manner, a higher density liquid is provided in the interstices of the full-length rods while the lower density steam flows into the steam vent volume for flow upwardly out of the fuel bundle.