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US 5,392,626 AGranted
Flexible hydraulic expansion mandrel
AssigneeThe Babcock & Wilcox Company
InventorsMark Blezard, Keirouz Diab
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flexible mandrel for expanding a tube in a tubesheet comprises a length of flexible wire which is placed within a tube. A hydraulic seal is located at each end of the length of flexible wire for sealing a section of the tube and is connected to the flexible wire by a connector. A fluid inlet is provided at the rear end of the mandrel for providing fluid to the mandrel between the sealed section of the tube.
Claims6
A flexible mandrel for expanding a tube in a tubesheet of a steam generator, the mandrel comprising:
- a length of flexible wire for being placed within a tube inside a tube sheet of a steam generator;
- sealing means at each end of the length of flexible wire for sealing a section of the tube;
- a connector at each end of said flexible wire for connecting the sealing means to the length of flexible wire;
- and
- a single fluid inlet at one end of the mandrel for providing fluid into the section of the tube for sealing and expanding the tube within the tube sheet.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.