Sliding Cover Access Port for Reactor Vessel Working Platform
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for maintaining reactor vessels require waterproof devices, leading to increased volume and weight, making handling difficult, and necessitate a device to open and close access ports within a limited space to access nozzle stubs from a working platform inside a reactor vessel.
Innovation Solution
An opening and closing device that includes a slidable cover along the outer or inner peripheral surface of a working platform, with a moving device to open and close access ports, allowing for minimal installation space and efficient operation of multiple ports using a single cover, which can move vertically or circumferentially and includes a sealing unit to ensure reliable sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a waterproof device is used to perform maintenance under water, then the device can operate in the cooling water environment, but the volume and weight of the device increase, making handling difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into two separate environments: the working platform interior (atmospheric environment) and the reactor vessel exterior (water environment). The access port cover acts as a boundary that separates these environments, allowing lightweight non-waterproof equipment to be used inside the platform while maintaining waterproof integrity at the boundary interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The access port cover serves as an intermediary element that interfaces between the atmospheric environment inside the working platform and the water environment outside. By placing the sealing function at this intermediary boundary rather than requiring the entire device to be waterproof, the system achieves waterproof capability without increasing device weight.
2Area of stationary object
If the access port cover slides along the outer peripheral surface of the working platform, then the installation space is minimized, but the sealing reliability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing structure is nested within the access port cover assembly itself. The cover includes integrated sealing elements (such as gaskets or seals) that are positioned at the interface between the cover and the working platform opening. This nested configuration allows the sealing function to be incorporated within the minimal space required by the sliding cover mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing mechanism utilizes flexible sealing elements (such as rubber gaskets or elastomeric seals) that can deform to maintain contact between the sliding cover and the working platform opening. These flexible elements compensate for minor misalignments and ensure reliable sealing even when the cover slides along the outer peripheral surface with minimal installation space.
Data Source
AI summary
An opening and closing device that opens and closes an access port opened from a substantially cylindrical working platform disposed inside a reactor vessel and used to access a nozzle stub of the reactor vessel from the inside of the working platform, the opening and closing device includes: a cover that is slidable along an outer peripheral surface or an inner peripheral surface of the working platform from a closing position where the access port is closed to an opening position where the access port is opened; and moving device for sliding the cover.