Pellet-press-to-sintering-boat nuclear fuel pellet loading system
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorGeorge D. Bucher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for loading friable nuclear fuel pellets into sintering boats from a pellet press which ejects newly made pellets. A chute receives the ejected pellets and discharges them into an upright bowl at a location towards the top of the bowl near its inner surface with a tangential horizontal component of velocity. The bowl, which has an open smaller diameter bottom, is rotated such that the bowl near the pellet-discharge location has a velocity which generally matches the magnitude and direction of the horizontal component of the velocity of the pellets at the discharge location. A conveyor moves a line of adjacently positioned boats horizontally beneath the bottom of the bowl. A flexible strap which cushions the pellets as they enter a sintering boat also acts as a seal between boats.
Claims10
A system for loading nuclear fuel pellets into a sintering boat from a pellet press which ejects newly made said pellets from a pellet press die table surface, said system comprising:
- (a) a bowl having an inner surface, a longitudinal axis, an open and generally circular top of larger diameter, and an open and generally circular bottom of smaller diameter;
- (b) means for supporting said bowl in a generally upright position such that said bowl is rotatable about its said longitudinal axis;
- (c) means for receiving the ejected said pellets proximate said die table surface of said pellet press and for discharging the received said pellets into said bowl at a location proximate said inner surface towards said top of said bowl with a pellet velocity having a horizontal component which is generally tangent to said inner surface of said bowl proximate said location;
- (d) means for rotating said bowl about said longitudinal axis such that said bowl proximate said location has a velocity generally equal, in magnitude and direction, to said horizontal component of said pellet velocity at said location;
- and
- (e) means for moving said sintering boat generally horizontally beneath and proximate said bottom of said bowl.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.