Patents Assigned to Framatome ANP, Inc.
  • Patent number: 7464670
    Abstract: A system for delivering tooling around the annulus of a steam generator without damaging any part of the steam generator is provided where the tooling delivery device travels between the tube bundle and the vessel shell and delivers tooling for cleaning, inspection, retrieval and repair. The device has various types of locomotion system including treads, rollers, magnets and vacuum. The cleaning device has multiple high pressure nozzles that rotate 180 degrees about a horizontal axis and 360 degrees about a vertical axis enabling the device to sweep multiple lanes of tubes simultaneously and also clean the front and back of the annulus floor and tube sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2008
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Leon Hermamdez, George Vick Owen, Kert David Klahn
  • Patent number: 7304301
    Abstract: The invention provides a method and tool to perform an analysis of CRUD on a nuclear fuel rod. The method recites providing a nuclear fuel rod with a layer of CRUD on an exterior of the fuel rod, scraping the CRUD from the fuel rod with a CRUD scraping tool and collecting CRUD flakes from the CRUD scraping tool. The method also provides for sorting the CRUD flakes into particle fractions, and analyzing the CRUD with a scanning electron microscope, wherein the scraping tool has a blade with a rigidity that is matched to an anticipated CRUD deposit shear strength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2007
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventors: Mihai G. M. Pop, Brian G. Lockamon, Laurence S. Lamanna, John T. Willse
  • Patent number: 7302917
    Abstract: A Nuclear Steam Supply Stem (NSSS) Mode 5 Steam Generator Chemical Cleaning system is disclosed which applies chemical cleaning solvent (formulated to remove SG deposits) to the secondary side of the SG using primary side supplied heat during NSS Mode 5 shutdown to maintain the desired application temperature. Mixing is achieved via nitrogen sparging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2007
    Assignee: Framatome Anp, Inc.
    Inventors: John F. Remark, Sarah E. Evans
  • Patent number: 7239683
    Abstract: A device and method to move a fuel assembly of a nuclear reactor, wherein the device eliminates the potential for dropping the fuel assembly due to stress corrosion cracking of the upper guide thimble sleeves that attach the top nozzle to guide thimbles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2007
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventors: George S. Pabis, Darel R. Clark, Anthony A. Pugh, Raymond A. King
  • Patent number: 7195131
    Abstract: A drum closure which establishes a connection between the body of a drum and lid, wherein the connection will prevent separation of the lid from the body under severe loading conditions such as dropping the drum from a height of thirty (30) feet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventor: James Bryant
  • Patent number: 7162981
    Abstract: A system is provided for delivering tooling, suction pickup, and alignment platforms to a stay dome region of a stem generator or the tube-free lane regions adjacent to the stay dome region and includes a suction device positioned in the stay dome region of a steam generator capable of rotating 360° about a vertical axis which also acts as a platform for mounting inter-bundle tooling and alignment devices used to position the suction device radially at any given tube location around the stay dome region to align it with an annulus based spray nozzle tube cleaning system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2007
    Assignee: Framatome Anp, Inc.
    Inventor: Eric Leon Hernandez
  • Patent number: 7139353
    Abstract: A lifting support for a boiling water reactor nuclear fuel assembly comprising a grappling head configured to allow attachment to a lifting device, a body with an upper end and a lower end, the upper end connected to the grappling head, the body configured to be inserted into a water channel of a boiling water reactor nuclear fuel assembly, and an end connected to the lower end, the end configured to be accepted by the nuclear fuel assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2006
    Assignee: Framatome ANP Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Smith
  • Patent number: 7132651
    Abstract: The invention provides a method and tool to perform an analysis of CRUD on a nuclear fuel rod. The method recites providing a nuclear fuel rod with a layer of CRUD on an exterior of the fuel rod, scraping the CRUD from the fuel rod with a CRUD scraping tool and collecting CRUD flakes from the CRUD scraping tool. The method also provides for sorting the CRUD flakes into particle fractions, and analyzing the CRUD with a scanning electron microscope, wherein the scraping tool has a blade with a rigidity that is matched to an anticipated CRUD deposit shear strength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2006
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventors: Mihai G. M. Pop, Brian G. Lockamon, Laurence S. Lamanna, John T. Willse
  • Patent number: 7046032
    Abstract: The present invention provides a motor signature measuring system comprising three current transformers which are placed around the power cables leading to the high voltage motor, an E-Plug module connected to the current transformers and located in a motor control case to reduce the motor voltage from 600V RMS to 5V RMS, jack connectors for connecting the 5V output of the module to a connector mounted through the door of the motor control enclosure, and a cable connector for connecting the door connector to a monitoring system conducting the motor signature testing operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: Framatome Anp, Inc.
    Inventors: Vedat T. Ataman, Donald V. Ferree, Lew C. McKeague
  • Patent number: 6991731
    Abstract: The liquid effluent from solvent extraction contains radioactive thorium Th-231 and Th-234. This invention uses an ion exchange process to remove and concentrate the thorium. The process is designed so that the thorium remains on the ion exchange column until it decays to uranium and protactinium. These decay products are subsequently replaced by additional thorium. Therefore, the thorium never reaches break-through and the column can be used continuously without regeneration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2006
    Assignee: Framatome ANP Inc.
    Inventor: Sydney Koegler
  • Patent number: 6934351
    Abstract: An fuel assembly with a connection between a fuel channel and a lower tie plate to allow the fuel channel to be removed from an internal fuel rod assembly without the necessity of moving interior fuel rods during removal of the fuel channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Framatome ANP Inc.
    Inventor: Adolfo Reparaz
  • Patent number: 6895067
    Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed for smoothly inserting a fuel rod loader through the skeleton of a fuel cell and then for pulling an attached fuel rod into the fuel rod skeleton while keeping the fuel rod under constant tension and preventing the bowing of the fuel rod. The pulling mechanism comprises a smooth collet with a smooth bullet end cap for guiding the puller mechanism into and through the skeleton where the bullet end cap is removed and the fuel rod is attached with a unique ball and slide mechanism actuated by a long puller rod that grabs the end of the fuel rod by a forward motion of the puller rod and is easily removed from the fuel rod by reversing this motion once the fuel rod is in place.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2005
    Assignee: Framatome Anp, Inc.
    Inventors: George Borum, Michael Ryan
  • Patent number: 6856662
    Abstract: A combined laser and infra red sensing camera is located beneath the reactor head in the vicinity of the closure head tube welds by manipulating known robotic device handling the laser which is used to heat a line along the surface thereby generating a thermal wave that propagates over the one to two square inch test area where the increased thermal resistance of cracks and anomalies makes the surface temperature profile gradient greater at a crack or anomaly. An IR camera captures the test area image of interest as the thermal wave propagates across the target inspection area and the image is processed and enhanced to show cracks and other anomalies as a sharp drop in the thermal scan at the point of the crack using known Photo Thermal NDE technology to convert the scan into a pictorial representation of the scanned surface clearly showing any cracks therein. This process is repeated sequentially until the entire circumference of the weld is scanned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2005
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventors: Samuel W. Glass, Elton Crisman
  • Patent number: 6772638
    Abstract: A method for sizing cracks is disclosed using a combination of depth crack sizing methods to improve crack sizing accuracy for thin walled tubing and tight crack surface openings less than 0.001 inches for cracks of any depth. The tube or plate wall can consist of a single material or multiple metallic electrodeposited or otherwise intimately bonded layers of materials with different magnetic properties and the sizing method comprises known depth sizing methods such as shear wave, time of flight and the selective use of two unique depth sizing methods designated as Mode Converted Signal (MCS) and Full Skip Normalization (FSN) which provide correction factors for the known sizing methods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Framatome Anp, Inc.
    Inventors: Russell M. Matney, Mihai G. Pop, Joseph R. Wyatt, III
  • Patent number: 6732425
    Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for expanding the ends of a sleeve that has previously been installed into a defective section of inaccessibly located soft metal heat exchanger tubing. The sleeve ends are expanded using an apparatus of a plastic bladder connected to a series of connectable sections of sufficient length to reach the ends of the installed sleeve. The expansion is performed by locating the plastic bladder inside the sleeve at one end and hydraulically compressing the plastic bladder and forcing it to expand in diameter as a function of Poisson's ratio to thus expand the sleeve end into the tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2004
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventor: Bruce W. Schafer
  • Patent number: 6682287
    Abstract: The present invention is drawn to an incremental link robot mast for vacuuming nuclear waste from a storage silo. The mast is made of incrementally linked segments that are clamshell in construction to enclose and shield the working cables of the vacuuming robot. Each segment is linked together as needed by a transverse hinge pin and two hydraulic connecting pins. The clamshell is hinged and latched together by an array of screws. The robot comprises a linked clamshell mast and a master-slave robot arm on the end of the mast which includes tools for viewing and breaking up the waste and vacuuming same to a removal area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2004
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventors: Samuel W. Glass, Frank C. Klahn, Dennis W. Saville
  • Patent number: 6676039
    Abstract: The present invention provides an improved abrasive delivery system for delivering an abrasive material to a waterjet cutting nozzle which has no external pressure effects on the orifice metering the flow of abrasive material from a container for the material by using air pressure to transport the abrasive material to the cutting nozzle through a standard metering orifice where equal pressure is maintained above and below the orifice to provide a constant volume of abrasive material flow to the cutting nozzle which is located up to 100 feet or more from the metering device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2004
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventors: Orville L. Lindsey, Michael C. Gould
  • Patent number: 6678344
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for optimizing the production of Pu-238 in a nuclear reactor during normal reactor operation is disclosed wherein the production of Pu-238 is confined to one or more selectively replaced fuel cells with target cells located in the inside of the active volume of the reactor core to maximize the neutron flux for target irradiation. The target cells are modified existing nuclear fuel assembly cells having some fuel rods replaced with target rods of Np-237 forming a cluster array and having rings of water filled rods surrounding the target cluster to produce the desired optimal Pu-238 production.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2004
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick O'Leary, Claude W. Mays
  • Patent number: 6636578
    Abstract: The invention comprises an apparatus to repair a fuel assembly to accomplish a load lift comprising a main body, an upper section, a connection configured between the main body and the upper section and a lower section connected to the main body. The invention also comprises an inner adjusting body with a top and a bottom wherein a mandrel is connected to the bottom, the mandrel configured to actuate a holding body upon actuation of the inner adjusting body, the inner adjusting body positioned inside the upper section, the main body and the lower section and an actuator connected to the upper section, the actuator configured to actuate the inner adjusting body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2003
    Assignee: Framatome ANP Inc.
    Inventor: Darel Ray Clark
  • Patent number: 6633327
    Abstract: An environmental monitoring system for a hazardous work area, such as a nuclear power plant, which monitors the radiation exposure of personnel working in the nuclear power plant and overlays a visual representation of the exposure data onto a video display of the location the personnel are working in. The apparatus includes a video source, such as a plurality of PTZ cameras, for providing video image signals of the work area. In the preferred embodiment, individual radiation exposure sensors provide signals representative of the radiation received by each worker in the work area. A computer, outside of the work area, is connected to the sensors for converting the sensor signals to a visual video representation of the sensor measurements. A gen/lock overlay unit is connected to the computer for combining the video image signals and the visual video representation of the sensor measurements wherein the visual video representations are overlaid onto the video images of the work area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2003
    Assignee: Framatome ANP, Inc.
    Inventors: Don Ronald Williams, Scot Rodney Wilson, Gerald Stewart Burk, Clifford John Maunz