METHOD TO MANUFACTURE SPACING GRID OF NUCLEAR REACTOR FUEL ASSEMBLY Russian patent published in 2012 - IPC G21C3/34 

FIELD: power engineering.

SUBSTANCE: method to manufacture a spacing grid of a fuel assembly of a nuclear reactor includes detection of the average wall thickness of thin-walled pipes from a zirconium alloy, cutting of thin-walled pipes into metering blanks, stamping, arrangement and spot welding of figure cells between each other to form a field of cells for fuel elements passing via them, making composite parts of a hexahedral rim of a spacing grid and their fixation by means of spot welding to peripheral figure cells of the arranged field. Calculation of the average thickness of a thin-walled wall is carried out separately for each pipe from a batch, further thin-walled pipes are combined into groups by wall thickness with assignment of a number to a group. Each group is released into metering blanks, baskets with blanks are forwarded for stamping with preservation of group numbers, a punch is adjusted for each group of blanks separately, and assembly of the field of cells prior to welding is carried out from cells of from one group.

EFFECT: higher accuracy of grid manufacturing, optimised fit of fuel element - cell connection in a fuel assembly, reduced force of axial displacement of a fuel element in cells, higher quality of welding.

4 dwg, 4 tbl