JPH0366637B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a nuclear fuel pellet end face inspection device for inspecting the end face of nuclear fuel pellets.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Nuclear fuel pellets for nuclear reactors are mainly _UO2 ,
It is a cylindrical ceramic body made by molding and sintering PuO ₂ , neutron absorbing material, and other powders.

By the way, in the manufacturing process of such nuclear fuel pellets, defects such as chips, metal inclusions, cracks, and pits may occur on the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder and the cylinder end surface, and if these defects exceed a predetermined standard value. In this case, it is necessary to remove it as a defective product.

Therefore, in the final stage of the manufacturing process of such nuclear fuel pellets, it is necessary to inspect the cylinder outer peripheral surface and cylinder end surface of all nuclear fuel pellets, and an inspection device such as the one described in JP-A-53-125057 is used as an inspection device. Something has also been proposed.

However, the method described in the above publication handles pellets one by one, so there are problems such as the processing speed is low in order to prevent impact from being applied to the pellets, and the device itself is quite large. .

[Purpose of the invention]

In view of these points, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel pellet end face inspection device which can inspect the end faces of a large number of nuclear fuel pellets at high speed and which can make the entire device compact.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention holds nuclear fuel pellets separated row by row from the first row from a large number of nuclear fuel pellet columns arranged in rows and columns, with their axes parallel to each other, and A pallet movable in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the nuclear fuel pellets, and a first end surface of the nuclear fuel pellets held by the pallet provided on one side of the pallet movement path while the pallet is moving. a second end surface inspection device that is installed on the other side of the pallet movement path and that inspects the second end surface of the nuclear fuel pellet in a non-contact state while the pallet is moving; It is characterized by having a plurality of nuclear fuel pellets mounted and held on a pallet with their axes parallel to each other, and by moving the pallet in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the nuclear fuel pellets. The end face of each nuclear fuel pellet is sequentially inspected.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 2 is a plan view schematically showing the arrangement of the apparatus of the present invention, and the reference numeral in the figure indicates a loader stacker that stores a plurality of trays loaded with a large number of nuclear fuel pellets before inspection. A tray conveying device 2 for conveying the trays sequentially taken out from the loader stacker 1 is provided on the side,
At the other end of the tray conveying device 2, an unloader stacker 3 for storing trays loaded with inspected nuclear fuel pellets is provided.

Incidentally, at the end of the tray conveying device 2 near the loader stacker 1, a fuel pellet tray for inspection is received from the loader stacker 1, and the fuel pellets for inspection are transferred from the tray onto an alignment tray 4 disposed in front of the tray conveying device 2. A transfer section 5 is formed for transferring. Further, in the front part of the alignment tray 4, there is a separation device 6 for separating the first row of nuclear fuel pellets arranged in multiple rows on the alignment tray 4. A separation station is provided for retaining rows of nuclear fuel pellets on a first pallet 7.

The first pallet 7 is movable left and right in the figure between the separation station and a transfer station that transfers the nuclear fuel pellets to the second pallet 8, and the first end surface of the nuclear fuel pellet is moved between the separation station and the transfer station. A first end surface inspection device 9 for inspecting the front end surface (front end surface) in a non-contact manner is provided. On the other hand, the second pallet 8 is also movable from side to side in the figure between the delivery station and the discharge station, and the second end face (rear end face) of the nuclear fuel pellet is placed in a non-contact state at the rear of the movement path. A second end face inspection device 10 is provided.

The discharge station also includes a pass/fail sorting section 11 for receiving inspected nuclear fuel pellets discharged from the second pallet 8 and sorting the inspected nuclear fuel pellets, and a collection tray 12 for collecting non-defective pellets. It is arranged. The nuclear fuel pellets moved onto the collection tray 12 are loaded onto an empty tray that has been moved to the collection position 13 at the other end of the tray transport device 2, and then stored in the unloader stacker 3. It is composed of

Incidentally, above the transfer section 5 of the tray conveying device 2, a belt 21 is stretched in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the tray conveying device 2 and is driven by a motor 20. A transfer pusher 24 is attached to the belt 21 and engages with the rear end of the row of nuclear fuel pellets 23 on the tray placed in the transfer section 5.

When a tray loaded with a large number of nuclear fuel pellets 23 is taken out from the loader stacker 1 and placed on the transfer unit 5 of the tray transport device 2, the transfer pusher 24 is transferred via the motor 20 and belt 21. is activated, and the rows of nuclear fuel pellets 23 on the tray are pushed onto the alignment tray 4.

On the upper surface of the alignment tray 4, extending in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the tray conveying device 2,
A large number of V-grooves 4a are formed which correspond to the rows of nuclear fuel pellets on the tray. In addition, each of the above V
Inside the groove 4a, a pellet protrudes from below into the V-groove 4a, engages with the rear end surface of the nuclear fuel pellet row within the V-groove 4a, and is movable along the V-groove 4a.
Further, an individual pusher 25 is provided which stops moving when a predetermined load is applied (see FIG. 3). Furthermore, at the front end of the alignment tray 4,
A separating device 6 is provided for separating the leading nuclear fuel pellets arranged in each V-groove 4a of the alignment tray 4 from the row. As shown in FIG. 3, the separation device 6 has a large number of recesses 6a at positions corresponding to each V-groove 4a of the alignment tray 4, which can accommodate only the first pellet of the nuclear fuel pellet row on the V-groove. A through hole 6b is provided in the bottom wall of the recess 6a. In addition, the separation device 6
is capable of rotating 180° from the position shown by the solid line in FIG. A separation pusher 28 is provided which is biased forward and has a pusher rod 27 that can be inserted into the through hole 6b of the separation device 6.

On the other hand, in front of the separation device 6, a first pallet 7 is provided which is movable in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the V-groove 4a of the alignment tray 4. That is,
A rail 31 extending in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the V-groove 4a of the alignment tray 4 is laid on the base 30, and a first pallet 7 having an L-shaped cross section is placed on the rail 31 so as to be movable. ing. The bottom of the first pallet 7 is screwed onto a screw shaft 32 disposed parallel to the rail 31, and the screw shaft 32 is operatively connected to a motor 34 via a transmission 33. The first pallet 7 can be moved by the rotation of the screw shaft 32.

By the way, on the top of the first palette 7,
In FIG. 3, the same number of grooves 35 as the recesses 6a of the separation device 6 are provided in parallel on the same axis in correspondence with each recess 6a of the separation device 6 rotated to the dotted line position, and further above the recesses 6a of the separation device 6. A holding member 37 is provided facing each groove 35 and has a holding pin 36 urged downward by a spring, and is movable up and down by a cylinder device 38.

Further, a first
On the side of the pallet 7 opposite to the separating device 6, there is a facing plate 39 that comes into contact with and aligns the first end surface (front end surface) of the nuclear fuel pellets placed on the groove 35 of the first pallet 7. is arranged on the support plate 40 so as to be finely adjustable forward and backward.

The first pallet 7 can reciprocate between the separation station and the delivery station as described above, but between the delivery station and the discharge station, the first pallet 7
A second pallet 8 having the same configuration as shown in FIG.

The first pallet 7 and the second pallet 8
are movable parallel to each other, and in the delivery station, the respective grooves of both are adjacent to each other and located on the same axis,
The first station located at the above delivery station
A delivery pusher 43 having the same structure as the separation pusher 28 is arranged on the front side of the pallet 7 (on the same side as the facing plate 39).
Furthermore, a matching plate 44 is provided on the rear side of the second pallet 8. Further, between the separation station and the delivery station, a first inspection station is installed on the front side of the movement path of the first pallet 7 to inspect the first end (front side) of the nuclear fuel pellets held on the first pallet 7. An end face inspection device 9 is provided,
Furthermore, between the delivery station and the discharge station, a second end surface inspection device is installed on the rear side of the movement path of the second pallet 8 to inspect the second end surface (rear surface) of the nuclear fuel pellets held on the second pallet 8. 10 are arranged.

By the way, in the discharge station, a discharge pusher 45 having a structure similar to that of the separation pusher 28 is provided on the front side of the second pallet 8 that has been moved to the discharge station, and a discharge pusher 45 having the same configuration as the separation pusher 28 is provided on the opposite side. A pass/fail sorting section 11 supports and sorts the nuclear fuel pellets discharged from the second pallet 8 by the pellets 45.
is installed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the pass/fail selecting section 11
The same number of V-shaped groove plates 46 as the grooves of the second pallet 8
Each groove plate 46 is supported separately on a base 47 by a support 48 and a cylinder 49.

A collection tray 12 is disposed between the pass/fail sorting section 11 and the collection position 13 of the tray transport device 2, and above the collection tray 12, there are particles that engage with the end surfaces of the nuclear fuel pellets on the collection tray. together,
A recovery pusher 5 moves the nuclear fuel pellets onto the tray that has been moved to the recovery position 13.
0 is set. In addition, the reference numeral 51 in the figure is a motor for driving the collection pusher 50.

Thus, from the loader stacker 1, a tray loaded with a large number of nuclear fuel pellets arranged in rows and columns becomes 1.
When the nuclear fuel pellets are taken out one by one to the transfer section 5, all rows of nuclear fuel pellets are simultaneously transferred from the tray onto the alignment tray 4 by the transfer pusher 24 at this position, and the empty trays that have been transferred are transferred to the tray. The device 2 sends it to a collection location 13 .

In this way, the nuclear fuel tray 2 is placed on the alignment tray 4.
When the nuclear fuel pellets 3 are transferred, each nuclear fuel pellet 23 is aligned in the V groove 4a of the alignment tray, and then the nuclear fuel pellets in each row are pushed toward the separating device 6 by the individual pusher 25, and each nuclear fuel pellet 23 is The nuclear fuel pellet at the head of the column is inserted into the corresponding recess 6a of the separation device 6 (FIG. 3). Then, when it is confirmed that the nuclear fuel pellet at the head of each row has entered the recess 6a, the separation device 6 is moved to the position shown by the dotted line in FIG. 3 by a drive mechanism (not shown).
Rotated 180°. When it is confirmed that the first pallet 7 is present at the separation station facing the separation device 6 and that the pressing member 37 of the first pallet 7 is raised, the separation pusher 28 is moved forward. , the nuclear fuel pellets 23 are pushed out from the separator 6 toward the first pallet 7 by the tip of the pusher rod 27, and stop at the position where they come into contact with the facing plate 39 on the opposite side. It is placed on the groove 35. In this case, since the pusher rod 27 is urged in the protruding direction by the spring 28, the impact when the nuclear fuel pellet abuts against the matching plate 39 is reduced, and the matching accuracy is improved.

In this way, the first line of nuclear fuel pellets
When the pellets are inserted into the grooves 35 of the pallet 7, the presser member 37 is lowered and each pellet is fixedly held by the presser pins 36 (Fig. 5), and the separating pusher 28 is then retreated to its initial position. I am forced to do it. Therefore, the first pallet 7 is connected to the motor 34.
and the screw shaft 32 etc. to the delivery station at a constant speed, and during this movement, when passing in front of the first end surface inspection device 9 arranged parallel to the facing plate 39, the first The first end surface (front surface) of the nuclear fuel pellets held on the first pallet 7 is inspected by the end surface inspection device 9.

The first pallet 7 that has passed in front of the first end surface inspection device 9 is stopped at a delivery station. At this delivery station, the second pallet 8 overlaps the first pallet 7,
Both pallets 7 and 8 are stopped so that the axes of the grooves 35 are aligned with each other (see Fig. 7), and when the first pallet 7 stops as described above, the holding members 37 of both pallets rise. Then, the pellet is released from being held down, and the holding pin 36 is completely separated from the circumferential surface of the nuclear fuel pellet. Therefore, the delivery pusher 43 is connected to the separation pusher 2.
8, and as shown in FIG.
Push the nuclear fuel pellets 23 until they come into contact with the first pallet 7 and transfer each nuclear fuel pellet from the first pallet 7 to the second pallet 8. The second end faces of the sides are matched.

When the transfer and face matching of the nuclear fuel pellets is completed, the transfer pusher 43 retreats and returns to its original position, and the holding member 37 of the second pallet 8 is lowered to fix the nuclear fuel pellets.

The first pellet was empty after the pellet delivery was completed.
The pallet 7 is moved at a predetermined speed to the separation station to receive the first pellet in the array of nuclear fuel pellets on the next alignment tray 4.

On the other hand, the second pallet 8 is moved at a constant speed toward the discharge station via the motor 41, screw shaft 42, etc., and during this movement, the second pallet 8 is detected by the second end face detector 10. A second end face of the nuclear fuel pellet held in the nuclear fuel pellet is inspected. The second pallet 8 that has passed through the front surface of the second end surface inspection device 10 stops at a discharge station, where it is held in the second pallet 8 by a discharge pusher 45 similar to the separation pusher 28 and the like. The nuclear fuel pellets that have been stored are transferred to a pass/fail sorting section 11.

In this way, the nuclear fuel pellets from the second pallet 8 are passed through the V-shaped groove plates 46 of the pass/fail sorting section 11.
When the nuclear fuel pellet is transferred to the top, the base 47 is lowered, and then, based on a pass/fail signal from a computer (not shown), the cylinder 49 supporting the groove plate 46 on which the nuclear fuel pellet that has been determined to be defective is placed. When activated, nuclear fuel pellets determined to be defective are selectively dropped into a recovery container (not shown).

After dropping the above defective product, the cylinder 49
At the same time as the pellet returns to its original state, the base 47 rises and the next nuclear fuel pellet is delivered from the second pallet 8. Therefore, the next nuclear fuel pellet is
When passed from the pallet 8 to the pass/fail sorting section 11,
At the same time, the nuclear fuel pellets that were previously placed in the pass/fail sorting section and determined to be good are pushed into the recovery tray 12.

If the above operations from the separation station to the delivery station to the discharge station are repeated for one tray, at the end of the last line,
The nuclear fuel pellets in the last row are placed on the pass/fail sorter in a sorted state, and the rest are on the collection tray 12. Therefore, at this point, the collection pusher 50
operates, and all the nuclear fuel pellets along with those on the collection tray 12 are transferred to the empty tray that has been transferred to the collection position 13 so that the nuclear fuel pellets on the pass/fail sorter 11 are at the end of the line. .
The tray carrying the inspected nuclear fuel pellets that has been transferred in this manner is transferred to the unloader stacker 3 by a conveyor (not shown) or the like, and the inspection operation for one tray is completed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is configured as described above, a plurality of nuclear fuel pellets can be sequentially separated and taken out from a large number of nuclear fuel pellets arranged in rows and columns, and both end faces of the nuclear fuel pellets can be sequentially inspected.
End face inspection of nuclear fuel pellets can be performed quickly and automatically, the time required for inspection can be significantly shortened, and the impact on the pellets can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, since two pallets are moved back and forth, the device can be significantly downsized and the accuracy of the pallets can be easily controlled.
Further, since the movement of the pallet is only a reciprocating movement as described above, by using an appropriate guide device, smooth and high-speed movement is possible, and high efficiency can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the nuclear fuel pellet end face inspection device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the arrangement of each part of the same device, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the main parts of the separation device, and FIGS. Fig. 5 is a front view of the pallet showing the non-holding state and the holding state of nuclear fuel pellets, Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the pass/fail sorting section, and Figs. 7 and 8 are side views of the pallet showing the delivery operation at the delivery station. It is a diagram. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Loader stacker, 2... Tray conveyance device, 3... Unloader stacker, 4... Aligning tray, 6... Separation device, 7... First pallet, 8
...Second pallet, 9...First end surface inspection device,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Second end surface inspection device, 11... Pass/fail sorting unit, 12... Collection tray, 24... Transfer pusher, 25... Individual pusher, 28... Separation pusher, 31... Rail, 32... screw shaft,
37... Pressing member, 39, 44... Facing plate, 4
3...Delivery pusher, 45...Discharge pusher.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Nuclear fuel pellets are sequentially separated row by row from the first row from a large number of nuclear fuel pellet columns arranged in rows and columns, and are placed in a first pallet with their axes parallel to each other. a separation station for holding the nuclear fuel pellets; a discharge station for discharging the end-face inspected nuclear fuel pellets held in the second pallet; and a discharge station for discharging the nuclear fuel pellets of the first pallet in that state. a delivery station that transfers the nuclear fuel pellets to a second pallet as they are; a first pallet that is movable between the separation station and the delivery station in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the held nuclear fuel pellets; and a delivery station and a discharge station. and a second pallet that is movable in parallel to the moving direction of the first pallet, and are provided at the separation station and the delivery station to align the first end faces or second end faces of each row of nuclear fuel pellets held on the pallet. an alignment device; and a first end surface provided on one side of the first pallet movement path for inspecting the first end surface of the nuclear fuel pellets held on the pallet during movement of the first pallet in a non-contact state. An inspection device is provided on the other side of the movement path of the second pallet, and a second one of the nuclear fuel pellets held on the pallet while the second pallet is being moved.
A nuclear fuel pellet end face inspection device comprising a second end face inspection device that inspects the end face in a non-contact manner. 2. The alignment device for aligning the first end face or the second end face is characterized by comprising a facing plate against which each end face of the nuclear fuel pellet is abutted, and a pusher for pressing the nuclear fuel pellet toward the facing plate. The nuclear fuel pellet end face inspection apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The first and second pallets have grooves in which one row of nuclear fuel pellets can be placed in an aligned state, and also have fixtures for fixing each nuclear fuel pellet. Nuclear fuel pellet end face inspection device.