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. 06, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 09, 2002
John VanOsdol, Fairmont, WV (US);
Steven Woodruff, Morgantown, WV (US);
The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
An optical apparatus for clearly viewing the interior of a containment vessel by applying a transpiration fluid to a volume directly in front of the external surface of the optical element of the optical apparatus. The fluid is provided by an external source and transported by means of an annular tube to a capped end region where the inner tube is perforated. The perforation allows the fluid to stream axially towards the center of the inner tube and then axially away from an optical element which is positioned in the inner tube just prior to the porous sleeve. This arrangement draws any contaminants away from the optical element keeping it free of contaminants. In one of several embodiments, the optical element can be a lens, a viewing port or a laser, and the external source can provide a transpiration fluid having either steady properties or time varying properties.