Vibrating Screen Conveying Device for Nuclear Fuel Pellet Sorting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for aligning and sorting nuclear fuel pellets before insertion into rods face issues with blockages and contamination due to fragments and dust, which increase downtime and reject conforming pellets, as they fail to effectively separate and align cylindrical objects in bulk storage.
Innovation Solution
A conveying device with a vibrating corridor and multiple screens, where the screens are set in motion independently to generate different speeds and are vertically and horizontally offset, allowing for the separation and alignment of cylindrical objects while collecting residues, and a method involving a dual conveying system with vibrating screens to sort and align pellets by removing shards and dust.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional conveyor belt or single-screen system is used to transport and align pellets, then the structure is simple and easy to operate, but blockages occur frequently due to fragments and dust, causing downtime and rejecting conforming pellets
Solution Approach 1:
The conveying system is divided into multiple independent vibrating screens with different mesh sizes, arranged in sequence. Each screen segment handles specific size classification, with the first screen removing large fragments and subsequent screens removing smaller dust particles. This segmentation allows the system to effectively eliminate blockage causes while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single-plane conveyor to a multi-dimensional screening system where vibrations are applied in vertical directions and screens are arranged at different heights and angles. This dimensional expansion enables simultaneous separation of particles by size while maintaining continuous flow, resolving the contradiction between reliability and complexity.
2Manufacturing precision
If pellets are transported without effective separation, then the device complexity is low, but conforming pellets are rejected due to contamination by fragments and dust
Solution Approach 1:
Different screening surfaces with specifically designed mesh sizes are applied at different locations in the conveying path. The first screen has larger openings for fragment removal, while subsequent screens have progressively smaller openings for dust removal. This local differentiation of screening qualities ensures high precision pellet separation without requiring an overly complex unified system.
Solution Approach 2:
The vibrating screens perform preliminary separation of fragments and dust from pellets before the main alignment process. By removing contaminants in advance, the subsequent alignment mechanisms work only with clean pellets, ensuring high manufacturing precision while keeping the overall system complexity manageable through staged processing.
3Measurement precision
If multiple vibrating screens with independent motion are used to separate pellets effectively, then the separation precision is high, but the device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The vibrating screens operate with periodic motions at different frequencies and amplitudes, creating oscillating separation zones that efficiently sort particles by size. The periodic vibration allows particles to jump and reposition themselves according to their size, achieving high separation precision. Energy consumption is optimized by adjusting vibration parameters to minimum effective levels and using the natural resonance characteristics of the screening system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively reduces the risk of blockages and contamination by sorting and aligning pellets efficiently, ensuring only compliant objects are processed, thereby minimizing downtime and improving the production line's efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a conveying device with a vibrating corridor and multiple screens, where the screens are set in motion independently to generate different speeds
Implementation Method 2
a conveying device with a vibrating corridor and multiple screens
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
AI summary
In order to remove fragments and residues from nuclear fuel pellets stored loose in a container, and filling them into rods, a conveying device (10) has a series of two vibrating screens (14, 24) separated vertically by a distance (d) from each other and feeding them to a utilizing bowl. Owing to the presence of the two screens (14, 24), the pellets are separated and turned over, and the fragments are efficiently diverted into a pot (30) so that the system does not become choked.