GB1442189A - Lifting and transporting apparatus for fuel elements and control ro in a nuclear reactor - Google Patents

Abstract

1442189 Handling device for nuclear fuel elements and control rods EISENWERK WESERHUTTE AG 25 Oct 1973 [20 Jan 1973] 49700/73 Heading B8H A handling device, for lifting, lowering and transporting fuel elements and control rods in a nuclear reactor, comprises respective grippers for the fuel elements and control rods mounted in a telescopic tube and controlled such that when one is operative the other is inoperative. The telescopic tube 1, 2 is suspended from an overhead hoist carriage (not shown) and the grippers from part of a head 3 rotatably mounted on a plate 9 suspended within the tube by cables 6 connected to the winch carriage. Further cables 7, also connected to the winch carriage, are connected to a lever 11 to pivot same about its mounting on the plate 9 between two end positions corresponding respectively to the operative positions of the grippers. The lever 11 is connected through a swivel head 21 to a coaxial sleeve 22 and rod 23 which actuate the fuel element gripper and the control rod gripper respectively. The sleeve 22 is connected to a cam 30 which in the end positions of the lever 11 engages respective followers on pivoted arm 12 to move same to operative or inoperative positions such that hooks 33, 34 thereon can be engaged or disengaged from a fuel element 13. Pins 36 on the arms co-operate with catches 37 on a control rod guide 35 to release same from engagement with the tube in order that the guide can be lifted with the fuel element. The rod 23, on the other hand, co-operates with balls 15 in radial bores in a tube 16 to urge same, in its operative position, into an annular groove in a control rod head 14. A sleeve 19 slidable on the tube 16 ensures that the balls remain in the radial bores when the tube is disengaged from a head 14 and also ensures that the balls are in alignment with the annular groove in the head 14 when the tube is inserted therein. The sleeve 19 is coupled to a disc 25 which is locked to the rod 23 in the end position of the lever 11 by farther balls 28 and has apertures to receive a pin 29 mounted on the arms 12 to lock the latter in the operative or inoperative positions. For maintenance of the grippers the head can be raised whereupon the lever 11 contacts lugs (54), Fig. 1 (not shown) to retract the telescopic tube. Pins (52) can then be inserted to retain the tube in its retracted condition and a dummy fuel element and control rod head used to list the head 3.