GB987164A - Improvements in systems for establishing an electrical connection along a channel ofa nuclear reactor - Google Patents

Abstract

987,164. Nuclear reactors. COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE. June 21, 1963 [June 23, 1962], No. 24860/63. Heading G6C. [Also in Division H2] A system for transmitting an electrical signal from jacket to jacket in a nuclear reactor wherein fuel elements are mounted singly or in groups in jackets which are disposed end to end in a fuel channel comprises, at each junction between two jackets across which an electrical connection is to be carried, collector rings or ring segments on one jacket and resiliently mounted contact studs on the other jacket adapted to make electrical contact with the rings or ring segments solely on account of juxtaposition of the jackets, the collector rings or segments and contact studs being mounted against the inner or outer surfaces of the side walls of the jackets or within the thickness of these walls. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2 in which the signal from a thermocouple 12 is transmitted along a fuel channel 2 containing fuel elements 4 housed in jackets 3, 3 1 (the jacket surrounding the thermocouple 12 being referred to by the numeral 3 1 , the remainder by the numeral 3), the upper end of each jacket has two collector rings 8 fixed rigidly to an insulating ring 13 itself mounted in a metallic ring 22 fixed in the bore of the corresponding jacket. At the lower end of each jacket 3 studs 7 are mounted on the ends of flexible longitudinal strips 14 riveted at 15 through an insulating pad 16 to a small metal plate 23 fast with the jacket 3, the rivets being insulated from this plate. The column of jackets 3, 3 1 is surmounted by a jacket 25 (Fig. 1 not shown), perforated laterally to permit the circulation of cooling fluid and capped by a plug. The electrical connection between the rings 8 of the top jacket 3 and the exterior of the plug is effected in any desirable manner, e.g. by means of studs and wires as above described as far as the plug and then by means of wires passing through a tightly sealed passage through the plug. It is possible to transmit simultaneously several signals, corresponding for example to the temperatures at several points along the channel 2, by dividing up the rings 8 into as many segments as there are signals and associating one or more studs 7 and strips 14 with each segment. In an alternative embodiment (Fig. 4), the collector rings 8 are mounted in the thickness of the upper edge of each jacket 3, 3 1 , being inserted in an insulating ring 17 which is fitted into the edge, and the studs 7 are carried by flexible radial strips 18 riveted at 19 to the bottoms of grooves formed radially in the lower edge of each jacket 3. An insulating member 20 prevents the studs 7 shorting to the wall of their jacket 3. Specification 954,777 is referred to.