Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for performing preventive maintenance on the bottom portion of a reactor pressure vessel using cavitation bubbles

US5749384A · kind A · utility

11Cited by
10References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignees

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 24, 1995
Grant dateMay 12, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 24, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY02E30/30
  • WIPO fieldChemical engineering
  • WIPO sectorChemistry

Abstract

An apparatus preventive maintenance having a driving mechanism capable of driving a jet nozzle 24 to cause it to travel upward-and-downward, to rotate and to swing is settled on the top of a housing in the bottom portion of a reactor pressure vessel and on a hole for a fuel support piece, water pumped by a high pressure pump is spouted from a jet nozzle, and cavitation bubbles generated during the spouting are supplied to the positions to be treated for preventive maintenance, such as housings in the bottom portion of the reactor pressure vessel. Therewith, the residual tensile stress in the position to be treated is improved in a releasing direction by the energy generated by the collapsing of the cavitation bubbles.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.