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:
Aug. 04, 1998
Filed:
Nov. 29, 1995
Applicant:
Inventor:
Richard G McClelland, Richland, WA (US);
Assignee:
Siemens Power Corporation, Richland, WA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G21C / ; G21C / ; G01N / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
376252 ; 376245 ; 376250 ; 376251 ; 73577 ; 73622 ; 73624 ;
Abstract
A system and method of the present invention measures the relative stress in the cladding of a nuclear fuel rod caused by the internal gas pressure of the rod. This is done by determining the attenuation ratio of two specific frequencies from a broadband low frequency acoustic energy spectrum. Relative pressure differentials are measurable and therefore any loss of fuel rod gas pressure is a direct indication of fuel rod cladding failure.