GB1281507A - Improvements in and relating to apparatus for orientating prismatic elements - Google Patents

Abstract

1281507 Orienting articles SOC POUR L'INDUSTRIE ATOMIQUE 15 June 1970 [13 June 1969] 28889/70 Heading B8S [Also in Division G6] Apparatus for orienting a prismatic element, e.g. a graphite block forming part of the core of a nuclear reactor, comprises a number of flaps 17 distributed around the periphery of a vertical guide tube 8 and actuatable by synchronized control means which operate to pivot the flaps 17 inside the tube 8 about spindles 19 so that they co-operate via their ends remote from the spindles with the lateral faces of a prismatic element 13 disposed in the tube 8. The tube 8 is borne by the carriage 2 of a handling machine 1 movable above the reactor core on rollers 4 along a horizontal beam 3 of a rotary gantry, and is rotatable on bearings 6, 7 by a motor 11 mounted on the carriage 2 via gear-wheels 9, 10. A prismatic element 13 being loaded into the reactor core is suspended inside the tube 8 by a grab 14 engaging with a head 15 on the upper end of the element, the grab 14 being controlled by means of a winch (not shown) on which a cable 16 connected to the grab is wound. The inner end of each flap 17 comprises a roller 20 while its opposite end has a fork 21 by means of which it is articulated to the rod 23 of a pneumatic or electromagnetic jack whose frame 24 is articulated to an upper collar 26 of the tube 8. In order to correctly orientate the element 13 in the tube 8, the flaps 17 are tilted synchronously and their rollers 20 contact alternate faces of the element which is thus rotated until the rollers are parallel with the faces they contact. In order that the apparatus will operate correctly in the case where edges of the element 13 are adjacent the centre of each flap 17, an ancillary apparatus allows a preliminary feeling of the element 13 and enables it to be given a relative rotation. adequate to prevent the flaps 17 from acting on the edges of the element. The feeling apparatus comprises three feeling members 27-29, the displacements of which depend upon the position of the element 13 and which are determined by electromagnetic pick-ups connected to an electric circuit 30. Once the element 13 has been correctly orientated in the tube 8, the tube is rotated by just the right amount for the element to register accurately with the recess in the core after the rotation of the rotary gantry beam.