Patent Number: 039388450
Section: summary

In core reactors it is necessary from time to time to exchange the rod shaped fuel elements which means that it is necessary to pull out burned-off fuel elements from the reactor core, to convey the same to a storage place and there to place the same into a storage frame whereas new fuel elements have to be withdrawn from the storage place, conveyed to the core reactor and inserted into the same. Moreover, the control bars inserted in bores of fuel elements have to be pulled out from time to time from the burned-off fuel elements and to be inserted into other fuel elements. A charging device intended for this purpose has become disclosed in German Pat. No. 1,764,176 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 3,691,011--Kruger issued Sept. 12, 1972. This known device is characterized primarily by a vertically movable double gripper with an automatically operable control rod gripper and with a fuel element gripper. The fuel element gripper head is located at the lower end of a control bar guiding insert which is in vertical direction displaceably guided in a centering bell. This centering bell is in its turn vertically displaceably guided in a guiding post which extends downwardly from the carriage frame of the charging device. Within the guiding insert for the control bar there is vertically displaceably guided a control rod gripper lever system having at its lower end provided a control bar gripper head. The upper end of said control rod gripper lever system is engaged by a cable winch. By lifting said lever system by means of said winch, the control bar guiding insert which in this instance rests with its upper flange upon the control bar gripper head is lifted, while after a certain stroke, the centering bell is taken along. It is an object of the present invention to provide a gripper device of a lifting device for longitudinally extending bodies which pertain to at least two different groups with different functions, especially in a core reactor, for depositing and picking up fuel elements and control bars in a particularly simple and thus relatively inexpensive manner which is also practically foolproof.