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:
Apr. 26, 2016
Filed:
Feb. 21, 2014
Applicant:
United States Department of Energy, Washington, DC (US);
Inventors:
Bernard R. Wernsman, Jefferson Hills, PA (US);
Raymond J. Blasi, North Huntingdon, PA (US);
Bernhard R. Tittman, State College, PA (US);
David A. Parks, Tulsa, OK (US);
Assignee:
U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01K 11/22 (2006.01); G01N 29/24 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01K 11/22 (2013.01); G01N 29/245 (2013.01);
Abstract
An aluminum nitride piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer successfully operates at temperatures of up to 1000° C. and fast (>1 MeV) neutron fluencies of more than 10n/cm. The transducer comprises a transparent, nitrogen rich aluminum nitride (AlN) crystal wafer that is coupled to an aluminum cylinder for pulse-echo measurements. The transducer has the capability to measure in situ gamma heating within the core of a nuclear reactor.