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:
May. 21, 2002
Filed:
Nov. 12, 1999
Dong-Seok Oh, Taejon-si, KR;
Tae-Hyun Chun, Taejon-si, KR;
Wang-Kee In, Taejon-si, KR;
Kee-Nam Song, Taejon-si, KR;
Hyung-Kyu Kim, Taejon-si, KR;
Heung-Seok Kang, Taejon-si, KR;
Kyung-Ho Yoon, Taejon-si, KR;
Youn-Ho Jung, Taejon-si, KR;
Other;
Abstract
A duct-type spacer grid for nuclear fuel assemblies is disclosed. In this spacer grid, a plurality of duct-shaped grid elements, individually having an octagonal cell, are closely arranged in parallel and are welded together, thus forming a matrix structure. The grid elements do not pass across the center of the subchannel of the assembly, thus effectively reducing pressure loss. Each of the grid elements is formed as an independent cell, and so they effectively resist against a lateral impact. A plurality of integral type swirl flow vanes, having different heights or same height, axially extend from the top of the grid to be positioned within each subchannel. The swirl flow vanes are bent outwardly, and so they do not contact the fuel rods during an insertion of the fuel rods into the cells. In the spacer grid, the fuel rods are supported within the cells by line contact springs without using any dimple. The spacer grid thus uniformly distributes its spring force on the fuel rods and almost completely prevents damage of the fuel rods due to fretting wear.