Patent Number: 048572608
Section: claims

1. Automated apparatus for welding a separate end plug to one open end of each of a succession of nuclear fuel cladding tubes and for inspecting each end plug weld, said apparatus comprising, in combination: A. a welding station including:  B. a serial number reader station for reading a unique serial number imprinted on each end plug;  C. a weld inspection station for inspecting each end plug weld and for generating weld inspection data indicative of the weld characteristics;  D. data acquisition means linked with said serial number reader station and said weld inspection station and operating to correlate the weld inspection data with the associated end plug serial number for each end plug weld;  E. an input queue for holding a quantity of tubes; and  F. a tube transporter for periodically picking individual tubes from said input queue and conveying said tubes successively to said welding station,  A. a welding station including  B. a cooldown station for cooling each end plug weld in an inert gas atmosphere;  C. a serial number reader station for reading a unique serial number inprinted on each end plug;  D. a first weld inspection station for inspecting each end plug weld and for generating first weld inspection data indicative of the weld internal characteristics;  E. a second weld inspection station for inspecting each end plug weld and generating second weld inspection data indicative of the weld external characteristics;  F. a computer system linked with said serial number reader and said first and second weld inspection stations, said computer system operating to correlate said first and second weld inspection data with the associated end plug serial number for each end plug weld and processing said inspection data to determine whether each end plug weld meets established engineering standards pursuant to issuing appropriate accept/reject signals in correlation with the associated end plug serial number;  G. an input queue for holding a plurality of tubes;  H. a tube transporter for periodically picking individual tubes from said input queque and conveying the tubes in a direction transverse to their tube axis in indexing steps to index positions respectively axially aligned with said welding, serial number reader, and first and second weld inspection stations, said tube transporter including separate drive means positioned at said index positions for axially reciprocating the tubes into and out of said welding, serial number reader, and first and second weld inspection stations; and  I. a sorter positioned at an output end of said tube transporter and operating in response to said accept/reject signals from said computer system to sort the tubes successively transported thereto into separate accept and reject lots. 2. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein said tube transporter conveys the tubes in a direction transverse to their tube axis in indexing steps to index positions respective axially aligned with said stations, said transporter further including separate drive means positioned at said index positions for axially reciprocating the tubes into and out of said stations. 3. The apparatus defined in claim 2, wherein said tube transporter further includes a plurality of parallel spaced, endless conveyor chains carrying grooved rollers at corresponding spaced intervals, each tube being supported on an aligned set of said rollers. 4. The apparatus defined in claim 3, wherein each said drive means includes a bidirectionally driven pinch roller coacting with one of said grooved rollers to axially reciprocate a tube positioned therebetween. 5. The apparatus defined in claim 2, wherein said welding station includes a weld box enclosing said welder and into which the one open end of each tube is successively positioned by said drive means, said end plug handling means includes a manipulator and a mating ram carrying an adapter at one end, said manipulator picking individual end plugs from said supply and placing same in said adapter, and motive means for driving said ram into said weld box to mate the end plug held by said adapter with the tube open end positioned therein. 6. The apparatus defined in claim 5, wherein said welding station further includes means for commonly rotating said tube and said ram during the welding of the mated end plug to the tube. 7. The apparatus defined in claim 6, wherein said welder is a tungsten electrode-inert gas welder. 8. The apparatus defined in claim 7, wherein said weld station further includes a TV camera for imaging the interior of said weld box to provide a visual aid in the proper positioning of said welder electrode. 9. The apparatus defined in claim 7, wherein said weld station further includes means selectively operable to preheat said end plug-holding adapter prior to a end plug welding operation. 10. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein said weld station further includes means for generating weld parameter data pertaining to each end plug weld for correlation with the serial number of the associated end plug by said data acquisition means. 11. The apparatus defined in claim 5, which further includes a cooldown station having an enclosure into which the end plug welded end of each tube is immediately introduced by said tube transporter upon withdrawal from said weld station by said drive means, said cooldown station including means within said enclosure for bathing the end plug welds with streams of an inert cooling gas as the tubes are indexed therethrough by said tube transporter. 12. The apparatus defined in claim 11, wherein cooldown station enclosure is at least two tube index positions in length. 13. The apparatus defined in claim 2, wherein said weld inspection station includes an ultrasonic transducer for inspecting each end plug weld. 14. The apparatus defined in claim 13, wherein said weld inspection station further includes a bubbler of ultrasonic energy couplant liquid in which each end plug weld is positioned. 15. The apparatus defined in claim 14, wherein said weld inspection station further includes a live centering stop against which the end plug end of each tube is engaged when inserted into said weld inspection station by said tube transporter drive means, and means for rotating each tube to unltrasonically scan its end plug weld. 16. The apparatus defined in claim 15, wherein said weld inspection station further includes means for jointly incrementing said bubbler and transducer in a direction parallel to the tube axis to perform a spiral scan of the end plug weld. 17. The apparatus defined in claim 16, wherein said weld inspection station further includes a TV camera for imaging the end plug serial number to enable manual entry thereof into said data acquisition means in the event said serial number reader station fails to correctly read the serial number. 18. The apparatus defined in claim 2, which further includes a barrier detection station into which the other open end of tube is reciprocated by said tube transporter drive means, said barrier detection station including means for detecting the presence and sensing the thickness of any zirconium barrier on the interior surface of each tube, said barrier detection station linked with said data acquisition means to enter barrier data for correlation with the associated end plug serial number. 19. The apparatus defined in claim 18, wherein said barrier detection station includes an eddy current probe and means for articulating said probe into barrier sensing relation with each tube propelled into and out of said barrier detection station by said tube transporter drive means. 20. The apparatus defined in claim 2, which further includes a second end plug weld inspection station into which each tube is reciprocated by said tube transporter drive means, said second weld inspection station including means for gauging whether each end plug weld outer diameter exceeds a predetermined limit. 21. The apparatus defined in claim 20, wherein said gauging means includes a ring gauge, means for positioning said ring gauge in the tube entry path into said second weld inspection station, and a sensor responsive to the failure of a welded end plug to pass through said ring gauge for signalling said positioning means to remove said ring gauge from said tube entry path and thus permit full inspection of the tube into said second weld inspection station by said tube transporter drive means. 22. The apparatus defined in claim 21, wherein said second weld inspection station further includes means to check for any nonparallelism between the end plug and tube axes of each tube fully inserted into said second weld inspection station. 23. The apparatus defined in claim 2, which further includes means linked with said data acquisition means for processing said weld inspection data to determine whether each end plug weld meets established engineering standards and to issue appropriate accept/reject signals in correlation with the associated end plug serial number, and a sorter operating in response to said accept/reject signals for separating accepted tubes from rejected tubes. 24. The apparatus defined in claim 23, which further includes a tube conveyor for conveying accepted tubes successively away from said sorter, a visual inspection station capable of accepting a predetermined plurality of tubes in parallel, side-by-side relation, and an output queuing conveyor for successively conveying accepted tubes from said tube conveyor to fill said visual inspection station with said predetermined number of tubes. 25. The apparatus defined in claim 24, which further includes an off-load transfer mechanism for transferring those tubes passing visual inspection as a group from said visual inspection station to an accepted tube tray conveyor. 26. Automated apparatus for welding a separate end plug to one open end of each of a succession of nuclear fuel cladding tubes and for inspecting each end plug weld, said apparatus comprising, in combination: 27. The apparatus defined in claim 26, wherein said welding station includes a weld box enclosing said welder and into which the one open end of each tube is successively positioned by said tube transporter drive means, said end plug handling means including a manipulator and a mating ram carrying an adapter at one end, said manipulator picking individual end plugs from said supply and placing same in said adapter, and means for driving said ram into said weld box to mate the end plug held by said adapter with the tube open end position therein. 28. The apparatus defined in claim 27, wherein said welding station further includes means for commonly rotating said tube and said ram during the welding of the mated end plug to the tube. 29. The apparatus defined in claim 28, wherein said first weld inspection station includes an ultrasonic transducer for ultrasonically scanning each end plug weld. 30. The apparatus defined in claim 29, wherein said first weld inspection station includes a live centering stop against which the end plug of each tube is engaged when inserted into said first weld inspection station by said tube transporter drive means, means for rotating each inserted tube, and means for incrementing said transducer in a direction parallel to the tube axis to perform a spiral ultrasonic scan of each end plug weld. 31. The apparatus defined in claim 30, wherein said first weld inspection station further includes a TV camera for imaging the end plug serial number of an inserted tube to enable manual entry thereof into said computer system in the event said serial number reader station fails to correctly read the end plug serial number. 32. The apparatus defined in claim 26, which further includes a barrier liner inspection station into which the open end opposite the welded end plug end of each tube is reciprocated by said tube transporter drive means, said barrier liner inspection station including means for detecting the presence and thickness of any barrier liner applied to the tube interior surface. 33. The apparatus defined in claim 32, which further includes a tube conveyor for conveying accepted tubes successively away from said sorter, a visual inspection station capable of accepting a predetermined plurality of tubes in parallel, side-by-side relation, and an output queing conveyor for successively conveying accepted tubes from said tube conveyor to fill said visual inspection station with said predetermined number of tubes. 34. The apparatus defined in claim 33, which further includes an off-load transfer mechanism for transferring those tubes passing visual inspection as a group from said visual inspection station to an accepted tube tray conveyor. 35. The apparatus defined in claim 26, wherein said welding station further includes means for generating weld parameter data pertaining to each end plug weld, said computer system correlating said weld parameter data for each end plug weld with the serial number of the involved end plug.