Patents by Inventor Gerhard Wetzka

Gerhard Wetzka has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5011651
    Abstract: The invention is directed to an arrangement for transferring irradiated f rods from a trough-shaped receptacle into a canister intended for terminal storage. The canister is docked at a pass-through opening formed in a partition wall of a nuclear facility. The arrangement includes a trough-shaped insert which is movable out of the terminal storage canister while empty and through the pass-through opening into the trough-shaped receptacle whereat it is filled with the irradiated fuel rods and then returned back through the opening and into the terminal storage canister. In this way, and with little effort, a transfer of fuel rods is achieved without components disposed between the receptacle and canister becoming contaminated by radioactive particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 1989
    Date of Patent: April 30, 1991
    Assignee: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Wiederaufarbeitung von Kernbrennstoffen mbH
    Inventors: Norbert Hardt, Hakan Sterner, Gerhard Wetzka, Burkart Schulte
  • Patent number: 5007213
    Abstract: The invention is directed to a lock system for permitting objects to be ped from a contaminated chamber into a container which is disposed in a contamination-free chamber and docked to the lock system. The lock system of the invention includes a displaceable insert mounted on a partition wall separating the chambers. The insert is in the form of a round disc rotatable about its center point. The disc includes lock openings having different cross sections which are arranged on a circle concentric to the center of the disc. The lock system of the invention permits objects of different shape and size to be passed through the lock along only one removal path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 1989
    Date of Patent: April 16, 1991
    Assignee: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Wiederaufarbeitung von Kernbrennstoffen mbH
    Inventors: Burkart Schulte, Hakan Sterner, Gerhard Wetzka, Norbert Hardt