Apparatus for automated positioning of eddy current test probe
AssigneeBabcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy, Inc.
InventorThomas O'Dell
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Abstract
An apparatus for automated inspection and repair of a tube sheet. The apparatus has a rotating gripper pod, comprising at least one tube gripper, a sliding body portion containing the gripper pod; a housing portion comprising at least one tube gripper and a tool head coupling. The tool head coupling swapably attaches to a eddy current test probe and at least one kind of tube repair tool. Novel, auto-locking tube grippers are also disclosed. A serial bus connects electronic modules within the apparatus and also connects the apparatus to an external controller.
Claims8
An apparatus for automated inspection and delivery of repair tooling to a tube sheet comprising open ended tubes having access to an inner tube diameter, said apparatus comprising:
- a sliding body portion containing a rotating gripper pod;
- said rotating gripper pod comprising three tube grippers,
- a housing portion comprising four tube grippers;
- and
- a tool head coupler, wherein said sliding body portion moves with respect to said housing portion.
An apparatus for automated inspection and delivery of repair tooling to a tube sheet comprising open ended tubes having access to an inner tube diameter, said apparatus comprising:
- a sliding body portion containing a rotating gripper pod;
- said rotating gripper pod comprising at least one tube gripper;
- a housing portion comprising at least one tube gripper;
- and
- a tool head coupler, wherein said sliding body portion moves with respect to said housing portion and wherein said tube gripper comprises:
- gripper shoes;
- and
- spring-loaded retractors in communication with said gripper shoes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.