Patent Number: 053135059
Section: description

DRAWING REFERENCE NUMERALS ______________________________________ 1. Main View, FIG. 1 31. Eject Ramp Stop Plate 2. Main Mounting Plate 32. Conveyor Chain 3. Conveyor Mounting Plate 33. Conveyor Support Bracket 4. Conveyor V-block 34. Nuclar Fuel Rod 5. Conveyor Servomotor 35. Lift Plate Clamp Block 6. Conveyor Drive Shaft 36. Leveling Pad 7. Lift Plate 37. Conveyor 8. Lift Plate V-block 38. 9. Lift Plate Shaft 39. Drive Motor Gear Reducer 10. Lift Plate Bearing Block 40. Slide Rod 11. Lift Plate Servomotor 41. Drive Gear 12. Lift Plate Gear Reducer 42. Driven Rack 13. Right Angle Drive 43. Heating Treater Unit Stand 14. Lift Plate Drive Shaft 44. End Guide Plate 15. Eccentric Arm 16. Connecting Rod 17. Heating Treater Unit 18. Eject Stop Plate 19. Drive Motor 20. Slide Bearing 21. Conveyor Motor Mounting Plt 22. Infeed Ramp 23. Infeed Ramp Finger 24. Eject Ramp 25. Rigid support Post 26. Conveyor Gear Reducer 27. Conveyor Sprocket 28. Lift Shaft Clamp Block 29. Receptacle 30. Load Coil ______________________________________ DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT To promote an understanding of the principles of the invention, I refer to the embodiment shown in the drawings and to the particular language employed in the description with no intent to limit the range of the invention. This includes any modification of the portrayed apparatus and any further changes or applications of the basis of the invention as shown therein being normally considered to the skilled in the art related to this invention. This embodiment relates to the heat treating of nuclear fuel rods, hereinafter called rods, which are used in the core of nuclear reactors. While these are actually thin walled tubes, they are called rods in the nuclear industry. FIG. 1 is a plan of my invention, ROD HANDLING APPARATUS, main view 1, which can process multiple rods simultaneously and present the relationship of the main components of the system which are a conveyor 37, conveyor chains 32, conveyor V-blocks 4 running parallel with each other, spaced according to the length of rods 34 being processed. The number of conveyor chains 32 and conveyor V-blocks 4 depends on the length of rods 34. Various length rods 34 can be processed at the same time. In this case there are four conveyor chains 32 used, to keep the rod straight and to limit flexing and bending. Alongside of the conveyor chains 32 are lift plates 7, with lift plate V-blocks 8. They are positioned so that each pair of conveyor chains 32 has two lift plates 7 running parallel and outside of each pair of conveyor chains 32. The lift plates 7 are mounted on the conveyor mounting plate 3, which also holds conveyor support brackets 33, conveyor servomotor 5, conveyor gear reducer 26, conveyor drive shaft 6 and conveyor sprockets 27. Shown on the conveyor are four different length rods 34 that can be processed through the system. Also shown in this view is a lift plate servomotor II, lift plate gear reducer 12, right angle drives 13, and lift plate drive shafts 14. All this is mounted on a main mounting plate 2, with its leveling pads 36. To the right of the conveyor chains 32, opposite servomotors 5, 11, heat treater units 17, load coils 30 and receptacles 29, are mounted on stand 43, along with a drive motor 19 and drive motor gear reducer 39. FIG. 2 shows the elevated side view relationship between the parallel spaced conveyor chains 32, conveyor V-blocks 4, conveyor mounting plates 3, conveyor support brackets 33, along with the lift plates 7 and lift plate V-blocks 8. All of these are supported on conveyor mounting plates 3, mounted on rigid support posts 25, which in turn are secured to the main mounting plate 2. The conveyor servomotor 5, and the lift plate servomotor 11, can be seen in their relationship to the structure. The conveyor servomotor 5, is mounted on a conveyor motor mounting plate 21, on the end conveyor mounting plate 3 while the lift plate servomotor 11 is mounted on the main mounting plate 2. Also shown in detail are the lift plate parts. These are shown in a vertical attitude next to and below the conveyor chains 32. They consist of lift plate shafts 9, lift plate bearing blocks 10, lift plate clamp blocks 35, lift plate servomotor 11, lift plate gear reducer 12, right angle drives 13, lift plate drive shaft 14, eccentric arm 15, connecting rods 16, and lift shaft clamp block 28. The lift plate servomotor 11 raises and lowers all the lift plates 7 in unison due to the design and positioning of the eccentric arm 15. The conveyor chain V-blocks 4, are on a higher level than the lift plate V-blocks 8. This is required in order to transfer the rods through the system without lifting and lowering them on each advance cycle as in a walking beam design. To the right of the conveyor chains 32 and lift plates 7, opposite the servomotors 5, 11, the heat treater units 17, with the load coils 30, and receptacles 29, are mounted on their own stand 43, along with a drive motor 19, drive motor gear reducer 39, slide bearing 20, slide rod 40, drive gear 41 and a driven rack 42. FIG. 3 illustrates the elevated end view of the conveyor system showing an infeed ramp 22, with a end guide plate 44 which evens the ends of the rods 34, infeed ramp finger 23, conveyor chain 32, conveyor V-blocks 4, lift plate 7, and the lift plate V-blocks 8. Also shown is a partial section of the lift mechanism including the lift plate bearing block 10, lift plate drive shafts 14, eccentric arms 15, connecting rods 16, and lift shaft clamp blocks 28. The two lift plate shafts 9, are driven with the lift plate servomotor 11, to rotate the two eccentric arms 15, to a specific angle, for each lift plate 7 so that they raise the lift plates 7 parallel with the conveyor chains 32. All the lift plates 7 are then raised exactly the same for the complete raising and lowering motion. The lift plates 7 raise the rods 34 to a position above the conveyor V-blocks 4 and align all the rod centers to match the centers of the receptacles 29 in the load coils 30. After the rods 34 are processed, the lift plate V-blocks 8 are lowered to return the rods 34 to the conveyor V-blocks 4 and then they are ejected from the conveyor V-blocks 4 in one continuous motion of the conveyor chains 32 to place them on an eject ramp 24 and rest at the eject stop plate 18. FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are elevated side views and illustrates the different position of the rods 34 in the conveyor chain 32, with the conveyor V-blocks 4, and the lift plates 7, with the lift plate V-blocks 8 raising and lowering the rods 34. FIG. 4: This shows the infeed ramp 22, with rods 34, waiting to be loaded into the conveyor V-blocks 4, after the first rod is loaded into one conveyor V-block 4. FIG. 5: This shows that four rods have been loaded into the first four conveyor V-blocks 4. At this point the conveyor chain 32 indexes the distance of two conveyor V-blocks 4 in order to leave one empty conveyor V-block 4 to create the proper spacing for processing. FIG. 6: This show that the next four rods 34, have been loaded into the next four conveyor V-blocks 4, then two more conveyor V-blocks 4 are indexed to skip a conveyor V-block 4, another four rods 34 are loaded making a total of twelve rods 34 for heat treating. Then the conveyor chain 32, is indexed until the conveyor V-blocks 4 loaded with rods 34, come into alignment for heat treating. FIG. 7: This shows that the lift plate 7, with the lift plate V-blocks 8, have lifted the rods from the conveyor V-blocks 4, to the proper height to align the centers of the rods 34 for heat treating. FIG. 8: This depicts, after heat treating, the lift plate 7 lowered and all the rods 34 unloaded from the conveyor V-blocks 4 with all rods 34 on the eject ramp 24 resting against the eject stop plate 18. FIGS. 9 & 10 are elevated side views and illustrate the way the lift plate V-blocks 8 are raised and lowered with the drive mechanism consisting of the eccentric arms 15 and connecting rods 16, raising and lowering the lift plates 7, to accommodate rods 34, of different diameter. FIG. 9: This depicts the lift plates 7, in the raised position aligning the center of rods 34, of small diameter, in the lift plate V-blocks 8 to the center of the receptacles 29. The eccentric arm 15 has rotated 180 degrees to bring the lift plate V-blocks 8 to the highest position. FIG. 10: This depicts the lift plate 7, in the partially raised position aligning the centers of rod 34, of large diameter, in the lift plate V-blocks 8 to the centers of the receptacles 29. Note that the eccentric arm 15, has not rotated completely up to the top of the rotation (less than 180 degrees) as in the lifting of the rods 34, of small diameter. This is because rods 34, of large diameter, don't sit as low in the lift plate V-blocks 8 as rod 34, of smaller diameter. Thus the lift plate V-blocks 8 do not have to be lifted as high to align the centers of the rods 34, of larger diameter, to the centers of the receptacles 29 which always remain at the same elevation. To summarize the process of heat treating, rods 34 are loaded at the in-feed ramp 22, transferred to conveyor V-blocks 4, mounted on the conveyor 37, which moves rods 34 forward to align them below receptacles 29 for heat treating. At this point the conveyor 37 is stopped and the lift plate V-blocks 8 are raised so that the centers of rods 34 are aligned to the center of the receptacles 29. The receptacles 29 move transversely to insert the rods 34 a set distance into the receptacles 29. When the heat treating cycle is completed, the receptacles 29, are retracted. The lift plate V-blocks 8 are lowered to again rest the rods 34 in the conveyor V-blocks 4. The conveyor 37 then moves forward and rods 34 are unloaded to the eject ramp 24. The cycle is then repeated. Although this invention describes heat treating the ends of rods, the same apparatus can be used for other operations such as bar coding, welding, cleaning, polishing or machining, etc., one end or both ends of rods tubes, pipes, bars, etc., and should not be construed as limiting the potential of handling to only one type of operation as shown herein.