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...Daniel Webster invented a "bull plow" to pull out tree stumps. It didn't catch on because it was huge and required four oxen to pull it!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7533715 | Tube walker for examination and repair of steam generators An improved manipulator system having a remotely actuated tube walker assembly for reciprocally moving the manipulator along a tube bundle for inspection and repair of the tubes of the tube bundle wherein the tube walker has a movable inner section and an outboard s... | 05/19/2009 |
| 7362568 | Heat spreader with filtering function and electrical apparatus A heat spreader with a filtering function is set in a case of an electrical apparatus. The heat spreader includes a heat sink set and a filter unit. The heat sink set is set in the case. The filter unit is set in the case and is adjacent to the heat sink set. In add... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7336489 | Waterproof thermal management module and portable A waterproof thermal management module for a portable electronic device that including a housing and a heat source is disclosed. The waterproof thermal management module includes a separated chamber, a heat absorber, a radiator, a heat pipe and a fan. The separated ... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7326917 | Wear monitor for turbo-machine A wear determination device for determining vibration in a turbine engine component to reduce wear in a turbine engine. The wear determination device may be capable of measuring vibrations in a turbine engine component. The vibration measurement may be used to deter... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7314343 | Miniature manipulator for servicing the interior of nuclear steam generator tubes A manipulator for servicing tubes extending through a tube sheet having three major components: a base member, a block member, and a foot member. The base member has a holder for supporting tooling or inspection devices. The base member also has at least one gripper... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7270278 | Distributed intelligence control for commercial refrigeration A commercial refrigeration system including a compressor, a condenser, a valve, and an evaporator coil, all of which are in fluid communication. The refrigeration system further including a fixture adapted to be cooled by the evaporator coil, a system controller ope... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7204208 | Method and apparatuses to remove slag A robotic apparatus for the cleaning and maintenance of coal fired boilers, which is designed to operate in the high temperature environment of the combustion gasses to effectively clean and remove slag deposits of the boiler heat transfer surfaces by use of a preci... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7174728 | Remote data acquisition system and method A data acquisition system and method includes monitoring a cooling system having a refrigerant compressor, evaporator, and condenser, and employs a number of sensors to monitor various operating parameters of the system. A database stores predefined operating parame... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7159737 | Internally cooled pressure containment apparatus A pressure containment apparatus includes a shell having a top end and a bottom end forming a pressure chamber. The pressure containment apparatus also includes a liner having an outside diameter larger than an inside diameter of the shell, wherein the liner is remo... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7137465 | Crawler device A crawler device for traversing in a confined environment, searching victims or inspecting defections, comprises an elongated flexible drive shaft extending along a central axis between a proximal end and a distal end, a motor operatively connected to the drive shaf... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7093682 | Multi-combination vehicle incorporating a power trailer A multi-combination vehicle or road-train consisting of a powered prime mover, at least one powered trailer and which may include a number of non-powered trailers. The powered trailer includes a cooling system separated from the engine to provide improved cooling an... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7092477 | BWR inspection manipulator A reactor service manipulator delivery system supported on a remotely operated trolley that travels on top of a track attached to the steam dam of a BWR shroud. The trolley has a mast and pulley system designed to manipulate a TV camera for inspection of various rea... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7086353 | Lance system for inter-tube inspecting and lancing as well as barrel spraying of heat transfer tubes of steam generator in nuclear power plant Disclosed is a lance system for inter-tube inspecting and lancing as well as barrel spraying of heat transfer tubes of a steam generator in a nuclear power plant, so that foreign substances piled up around heat transfer tubes in the steam generator are removed using... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7040387 | Heat transfer device An apparatus for transferring heat from a first fluid to a second fluid, which is separated from the first fluid, having a stack-like or saucer-like structure comprising at least two plies (1, 2, 3), in particular plates (1, 2, 3), whereby each ply ( | 05/09/2006 |
| 7024870 | Method of managing a refrigeration system A method of managing a refrigeration system includes transmitting energy consumption, maintenance indicator, and food condition data from the refrigeration system to a management center; analyzing the energy consumption, maintenance indicator, and food condition dat... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7019520 | Method and system for torsional wave inspection of heat exchanger tubes The invention provides an improved method and device for inspecting heat exchanger tubes from within the tube inside diameter that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art. It adapts a guided-wave probe approach that makes use of a torsional wave mode instead of ... | 03/28/2006 |
| 6981383 | Zone damper fault detection in an HVAC system A zoned HVAC system is provided with a series of dampers. A control for the dampers causes the dampers to each move between open and closed positions while monitoring a system condition. The system condition is selected to be one that should change as the damper mov... | 01/03/2006 |
| 6859669 | Apparatus and method of controlling activation of home automation system An apparatus controlling activation of a home automation system to prevent electric home appliances from being simultaneously activated. The activation control apparatus has an activation control unit receiving an activation instruction for a first electric home app... | 02/22/2005 |
| 6681839 | Heat exchanger exchange-tube cleaning lance positioning system A heat exchanger exchange-tube cleaning lance positioning system that includes a three axis cleaning lance positioning mechanism that is attachable to the end of a heat exchanger and that is controlled by a lance position computer controller that determin... | 01/27/2004 |
| 6677748 | Method of discriminating through-wall cracks and measuring through-wall length of cracks in nuclear steam generator tubes using eddy current signals Disclosed herein is a method of discriminating a through-wall crack and measuring the through-wall length of the crack in a steam generator tube of a nuclear power plant. The method of the present invention is characterized in that the through-wall crack ... | 01/13/2004 |
| 6626366 | System for servicing and maintaining heat supply equipment There is provided a system for servicing and maintaining heat supply equipment which ensures reliable analysis and high efficiency. Heat supply equipment 1 is composed of a control unit 5 to be attached to the heat supply equipment 1, and an equipment-sid... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6278903 | Working robot for heat exchangers and method of operating said working robot A robot body (21) is carried into the water chamber (2A) of a condenser (1) and disposed on a tube sheet (4) through which a number of narrow tubes (3) open. Inner nozzles (23) are inserted into narrow tubes (3) from working devices (24) installed on the ... | 08/21/2001 |
| 6145583 | Inspection device A device for inspecting the interior of steam generators capable of visually inspecting interior of tubes in steam generators, including upper portions steam generator tubes, tops and bottoms of support plates, wrapper-to-support plate welds, and other in... | 11/14/2000 |
| 5821747 | Method and apparatus for scanning a plurality of parallel pipes for flaws using tube-to-tube through transmissions A method and apparatus for determining position size and shape of defects in a bundle of heat exchanger tubes are described. An AC current exciter coil is placed in one tube and a detector coil is placed in an adjacent tube. This configuration of exciter ... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5791400 | Linear scan hot spot detection system A hot spot detection system for a rotary regenerative preheater has a linear rail system positionable between the central portion and the casing of the air preheater. The rail assembly has a pair of rails with a carriage movably mounted to each rail. The ... | 08/11/1998 |
| 5762128 | On-line regenerative air preheater fouling sensing system A fouling sensing system monitors fouling of a rotary regenerative preheater having a housing and a rotor rotatably mounted therein. An emitter for emitting energy is positioned at one of the faces of the rotor and emits energy through the rotor. A sensor... | 06/09/1998 |
| 5744952 | Eddy current measurement of tube element spacing A method of electromagnetically measuring the distance between adjacent tube elements in a heat exchanger. A cylindrical, high magnetic permeability ferrite slug is placed in the tube adjacent the spacing to be measured. A bobbin or annular coil type prob... | 04/28/1998 |
| 5638415 | Multiple port probe delivery system A probe delivery system for delivering a bendable probe into a tube bundle is provided. The system uses an elongated guide which is insertable into the tube bundle via the access opening. The guide has a channel for directing the probe therealong and seve... | 06/10/1997 |
| 5615734 | Sludge lance inspection and verification system An apparatus for use with a search device and a foreign object extrication device in a steam generator includes a router having two conduits for routing the search and extrication devices, and a positioning mechanism for positioning the conduits. The extr... | 04/01/1997 |
| 5611391 | Powered guide tubes An apparatus for positioning a search device and a retrieval device in a steam generator includes a guide mechanism for guiding the devices through the annulus to the tube sheet and drive mechanisms for driving the cables of the devices. Alternatively, a ... | 03/18/1997 |
| 5575328 | Debris box A debris box, for use with a search and retrieval device for searching and retrieving a plurality of foreign objects within a heat exchanger, includes a holder mechanism, such as a container, for containing the foreign objects which are retrieved by the s... | 11/19/1996 |
| 5467813 | Robot with suction cup attachment to steam generator partition A robot for carrying out operations in, for example, a chamber of a heat exchanger being divided into two compartments by means of a partition can be attached to said partition by means of suction cups. An accurate vertical movement of the shoulder joint ... | 11/21/1995 |
| 5451135 | Collapsible mobile vehicle A mobile vehicle having a substantially hexagonally-shaped frame member that is movable between a collapsed position to enable the vehicle to enter a vessel opening or an area having constrained access points and a more stable expanded position. Drive app... | 09/19/1995 |
| 5355063 | Robotic system for servicing the heat exchanger tubes of a nuclear steam generator An improved robotic arm system for servicing the tubesheet located within the channel head of a nuclear steam generator is provided. The system includes a robotic arm whose shoulder and elbow joints are rotatable only in the plane parallel to the tubeshee... | 10/11/1994 |
| 5279168 | Probe apparatus A probe assembly for inspection and/or repair of heat exchanger tubing is provided by a sensor deployed by an elongate flexible sensor support cable and a plurality of bushings forming a flexible coaxial sheath about the sensor support cable. Bushing reta... | 01/18/1994 |
| 5265667 | Robotic arm for servicing nuclear steam generators An improved robotic arm which is capable of accurately manipulating a testing device beneath the tube sheet of the steam generator and accurately and consistently return to a selected tube location is provided. The robotic arm includes a base which is ada... | 11/30/1993 |
| 5194215 | Automated robotic equipment for ultrasonic inspection of pressurizer heater wells A robotic device for remotely inspecting pressurizer heater wells is provided which has the advantages of quickly, precisely, and reliably acquiring data at reasonable cost while also reducing radiation exposure of an operator. The device comprises a prob... | 03/16/1993 |
| 5178820 | Tool positioning assembly A tool positioning assembly for use inside a steam generator. A loading tool assembly removably attachable to a support base is used to insert the support base into the steam generator through a manway opening. The support base is removably attached to th... | 01/12/1993 |
| 5165841 | Control system of multi-joint arm robot apparatus A multi-joint arm robot apparatus comprises a multi-joint arm having a plurality of unit arms coupled in tandem with each other through joints, and a movable support for supporting the proximal portion of the multi-joint arm. The multi-joint arm robot app... | 11/24/1992 |
| 5164151 | Manipulator system for an enclosure with a limited access point In an enclosure of a heat exchanger that includes a wall having an opening for access to the enclosure and a nozzle for fluid flow through the wall, an articulate hoist for bringing an articulate manipulator into the enclosure is attached to the wall outs... | 11/17/1992 |
