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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Pump assembly for circulation of coolant in boiling water reactors or the like

Patent ·
OSTI ID:7364699
A pump assembly for circulation of liquid coolant in boiling water reactors has a thin-walled spherical pump body for an impeller which rotates about a vertical axis and an electric motor which drives the impeller and has an upright housing with a heat barrier at its upper end. The heat barrier has a thin-walled neck portion which surrounds the impeller shaft below an opening in the lower part of the pump body and a ring-shaped surface which is biased against a complementary surface of the pump body around the opening by several heat-expansible bolts which separably couple the housing to the pump body. The heat barrier has an annular air space surrounding the neck portion and being surrounded by an annulus of cooling ribs, an upper flange which abuts against the pump body and has one or more compartments for a circulating coolant, and a lower flange with one or more compartments for a circulating coolant. The area of contact between the surfaces of the pump body and the upper flange of the heat barrier is small so that the heat barrier prevents excessive transfer of heat between the pump body and the motor housing.
Assignee:
Klein, Schanzlin and Becker Aktiengesellschaft
Patent Number(s):
US 3947154
OSTI ID:
7364699
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English