Fuel transfer machine
AssigneeCombustion Engineering, Inc.
InventorIrving Bernstein
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nuclear fuel transfer machine for transferring fuel assemblies through the fuel transfer tube of a nuclear power generating plant containment structure. A conventional reversible drive cable is attached to the fuel transfer carriage to drive it horizontally through the tube. A shuttle carrying a sheave at each end is arranged in parallel with the carriage to also travel into the tube. The cable cooperating with the sheaves permit driving a relatively short fuel transfer carriage a large distance without manually installing sheaves or drive apparatus in the tunnel.
Claims8
A telescoping nuclear fuel transfer system for transferring fuel bundles from the near side to the far side of a barrier, said transfer system comprising:
- a. a first path extending from the near side to the far side of the barrier;
- b. an elongated fuel transfer carriage translatable in the direction of its longitudinal axis along said first path from said near side to said far side, said carriage having near and far ends corresponding to the near and far sides of the barrier and said carriage having means for receiving fuel assemblies and for carrying the fuel assemblies in a position substantially parallel to the direction of said carriage's longitudinal axis;
- c. a second path substantially parallel to said first path;
- d. an elongated shuttle translatable along said second path in the direction of said carriage's longitudinal axis, said shuttle having near and far ends corresponding to the near and far sides of the barrier;
- e. a first sheave fixedly located at the near side of the barrier;
- f. a second sheave secured to said near end of said shuttle;
- g. a third sheave secured to said far end of said shuttle;
- h. a drive cable serially passing over said first, second, and third sheaves, in that order, and thereafter being affixed to said near end of said fuel transfer carriage;
- and
- i. means operating on said cable for driving said cable.
In a fuel transfer system adapted to transfer nuclear fuel from the near side to the far side of a barrier, the fuel transfer system including a first path extending from the near side to the far side of the barrier, a fuel transfer carriage translatable along the first path for carrying nuclear fuel, a second path substantially parallel to the first path, an elongated shuttle translatable along the second path, means operating on the shuttle and between the shuttle and the fuel transfer carriage for driving the fuel transfer carriage and the shuttle back and forth along the first and second paths respectively, the method of transferring the fuel from the near side to the far side of the barrier comprising the steps of:
- a. coupling said fuel transfer carriage to said shuttle;
- b. driving the shuttle in a forward direction along the second path from a first shuttle position on the near side of the barrier to the second shuttle position in which one end of the shuttle remains on the near side of the barrier and the other end of the shuttle projects at least partially into an opening in the barrier or all the way through the barrier whereby the fuel transfer carriage is translated from a first carriage position to a position intermediate the first carriage position and a second carriage position;
- c. uncoupling the fuel transfer carriage from the shuttle;
- d. driving the fuel transfer carriage in a forward direction along the first path from said intermediate carriage position to the second carriage position in which at least one end of the nuclear fuel projects through the opening in the barrier to the far side of the barrier, said step of driving the nuclear fuel transfer carriage being accomplished by means working between the fuel transfer carriage and the shuttle;
- and
- e. driving the fuel transfer carriage from its intermediate position to the second carriage position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.