Patent Application
20250201431
The present disclosure is directed to a flow conditioning device for use in a steam generator. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to a flow conditioning device for use in a nuclear power steam generator. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to a flow conditioning device structurally attached to a tube support plate disposed in a tubelane region of a steam generator.
Current steam generator designs for nuclear power plants generate high fluid velocities in the tubelane region. The high fluid velocity may induce tube vibration and wear at the tube support plates in the tubelane region near drilled plate flow holes.
A novel flow conditioning device for use with a broached tube support plate design to address these issues is disclosed herein. The flow conditioning device is disposed in the tubelane region of a steam generator and is distinct from other known designs in performance capability and configuration. The flow conditioning device improves fluid conditions in the vicinity of low radius U-bend tubes portion of the steam generator tube bundle. The flow conditioning device increase the fluid flow resistance, reduces the fluid flow velocity, and reduces vibration and wear at the tube support plates in the tubelane region. Such flow conditioning device for use with a broached tube support plate design is disclosed hereinbelow.
In various instances, the present disclosure provides A flow conditioning device for use in a nuclear power plant steam generator, the flow conditioning device comprising: an outer enclosure defining a plurality of entrance apertures arranged in an array and a plurality of exit apertures arranged in an array; a plurality of baffle plates defined within the outer housing, wherein the baffle plates define flow channels in fluid communication with the entrance and exit apertures, and wherein the flow channels create a flow path of alternating directions; and wherein the flow channels: receive fluid flow from the plurality of entrance apertures; direct the fluid flow from the entrance apertures in alternating directions through the flow channels to impart turning and frictional pressure loss to the fluid flow; and direct exiting fluid flow through the exit apertures into the tubelane region of the steam generator.
In various instances, the present disclosure provides a method for increasing local hydraulic resistance in a tubelane region of a nuclear power plant steam generator, the method comprises a plurality of entrance apertures defined by an outer enclosure receive fluid flow. The entrance apertures are arranged in an array and are in fluid communication with the tubelane region of the steam generator. The fluid flow is directed from the entrance apertures in alternating directions through flow channels defined by a plurality of baffle plates defined within the outer housing. The flow channels impart turning and frictional pressure losses to the fluid flow through the flow channels. Exiting fluid flow is directed through exit apertures into the tubelane region of the steam generator. The plurality of exit apertures are defined by the outer enclosure and are arranged in an array.
The various aspects described herein, both as to organization and methods of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings as follows.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate various disclosed embodiments, in one form, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope thereof in any manner.
Before explaining various aspects of flow conditioning devices disposed in the tubelane region of a nuclear power steam generator in detail, it should be noted that the illustrative examples are not limited in application or use to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings and description. The illustrative examples may be implemented or incorporated in other aspects, variations and modifications, and may be practiced or carried out in various ways. Further, unless otherwise indicated, the terms and expressions employed herein have been chosen for the purpose of describing the illustrative examples for the convenience of the reader and are not for the purpose of limitation of expressions of aspects, and/or examples, can be combined with any one or more of the other following-described aspects, expressions of aspects and/or examples.
For some larger steam generator designs, it has been determined by study that a “drilled plate” flow hole type configuration of a top tube support plate provides insufficient hydraulic resistance to reduce fluid flow velocities in the tubelane region to levels needed to meet design requirements. It has been determined that completely blocking flow in the tubelane region (eliminating flow holes and slots altogether) may create undesirable issues such as vortices and stagnation zones in the tube bundle. The description below discloses a flow conditioning device attached to a broached tube support plate to increase the local hydraulic resistance to reduce the fluid flow velocities in the tubelane region of the steam generator.
The description now turns to
With reference now to
The tubelane region 330 of the TSP 308 (also described below in
With reference to
Still referring to
Still with reference to
In another aspect, the outer enclosure 340 of the FCD 320, may comprise alignment or support features designed to orient, support, or facilitate attachment of the FCD 320 to a TSP 308. In various aspects, the alignment features may comprise support pins, support inlet tubes or matched holes. In various aspects, the support features may comprise contact surfaces on the outer enclosure 340.
In another aspect, the plurality of entrance apertures 336 defined by the outer enclosure 340 of the FCD 320 are configured to align or interface with matching flow holes 332 defined by TSP 308.
In yet another aspect, the FCD 320 may be attached using an alternate method of attachment such as a hydraulic expansion type designs or interference fit type designs to attach the FCD 320 to the TSP 308 in addition to or instead of using the threaded fasteners 342.
With reference now to
Additional hydraulic resistance can be achieved using the FCD 320 specifically designed for this purpose. The FCD 320 attaches to the top TSP 308 preferably using mechanical hardware (i.e., threaded bolts); although, other suitable qualified structural attachment techniques are also possible. The FCD 320 would increase the local tubelane region 330 hydraulic resistance by incorporating sufficient minor losses to meet the desired local fluid velocity. Minor losses may include but are not limited to: frictional, turning, and change in flow area (i.e., entrance and exit).
In one aspect, the FCD 320 preferably is installed during initial fabrication of the steam generator 300 in the shop but also may be designed for field installation in a fully constructed steam generator 300.
In one aspect, the FCD 320 is designed to have low impact to the overall steam generator 300 thermal-hydraulic performance (i.e., steam pressure, circulation ratio) and targeted impact to the tube gap velocity for the U-bend portion of low row U-bend tubes 322 in the region of the top TSP 308.
In one aspect, as shown in
With reference to
In various aspects, the FCD 320 may be installed in a variety of steam generators used in the nuclear power industry, including, for example, steam generators for PWR type nuclear reactors
Various additional aspects of the subject matter described herein are set out in the following numbered examples:
While several forms have been illustrated and described, it is not the intention of Applicant to restrict or limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Numerous modifications, variations, changes, substitutions, combinations, and equivalents to those forms may be implemented and will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, the structure of each element associated with the described forms can be alternatively described as a means for providing the function performed by the element. Also, where materials are disclosed for certain components, other materials may be used. It is therefore to be understood that the foregoing description and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, combinations, and variations as falling within the scope of the disclosed forms. The appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, variations, changes, substitutions, modifications, and equivalents.
One or more components may be referred to herein as “configured to,” “configurable to,” “operable/operative to,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,” “conformable/conformed to,” etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that “configured to” can generally encompass active-state components and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-state components, unless context requires otherwise.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to claims containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations.
In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that typically a disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms unless context dictates otherwise. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be typically understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
With respect to the appended claims, those skilled in the art will appreciate that recited operations therein may generally be performed in any order. Also, although various operational flow diagrams are presented in a sequence(s), it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. Examples of such alternate orderings may include overlapping, interleaved, interrupted, reordered, incremental, preparatory, supplemental, simultaneous, reverse, or other variant orderings, unless context dictates otherwise. Furthermore, terms like “responsive to,” “related to,” or other past-tense adjectives are generally not intended to exclude such variants, unless context dictates otherwise.
It is worthy to note that any reference to “one aspect,” “an aspect,” “an exemplification,” “one exemplification,” and the like means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the aspect is included in at least one aspect. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one aspect,” “in an aspect,” “in an exemplification,” and “in one exemplification” in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same aspect. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more aspects.
Any patent application, patent, non-patent publication, or other disclosure material referred to in this specification and/or listed in any Application Data Sheet is incorporated by reference herein, to the extent that the incorporated materials is not inconsistent herewith. As such, and to the extent necessary, the disclosure as explicitly set forth herein supersedes any conflicting material incorporated herein by reference. Any material, or portion thereof, that is said to be incorporated by reference herein, but which conflicts with existing definitions, statements, or other disclosure material set forth herein will only be incorporated to the extent that no conflict arises between that incorporated material and the existing disclosure material.
In summary, numerous benefits have been described which result from employing the concepts described herein. The foregoing description of the one or more forms has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting to the precise form disclosed. Modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The one or more forms were chosen and described in order to illustrate principles and practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the various forms and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the claims submitted herewith define the overall scope.
This application is a U.S. National Stage Entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2023/064375, entitled FLOW CONDITIONING DEVICE FOR STEAM GENERATOR, filed Mar. 15, 2023, which claims the benefit of and priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 (e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/269,363 filed Mar. 15, 2022, entitled “FLOW CONDITIONING DEVICE FOR STEAM GENERATOR,” the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety herein.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2023/064375 | 3/15/2023 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63269363 | Mar 2022 | US |
