A method is provided for enhancing image resolution for sequences of 2-D images of additively manufactured products. For each of a plurality of additive manufacturing processes, the process obtains a respective plurality of sequenced low-resolution 2-D images of a respective product during the respective additive manufacturing process and obtains a respective high-resolution 3-D image of the respective product after completion of the respective additive manufacturing process. The process selects tiling maps that subdivide the low-resolution 2-D images and the high-resolution 3-D images into low-resolution tiles and high-resolution tiles, respectively. The process also builds an image enhancement generator iteratively in a generative adversarial network using training inputs that includes ordered pairs of low-resolution and high-resolution tiles. The process stores the image enhancement generator for subsequent use to enhance sequences of low-resolution 2-D images captured for products during additive manufacturing.
Additive manufacturing compositions include low-absorbing particles or non-absorbing particles that have an absorbance for wavelengths of 300 nm to 700 nm that is equal to or greater than 0 Au and is less 1.0 Au, such as 0.001 Au ? absorbance ? 0.7 Au. Slurries including such particles and an uranium-containing particle and that are used in additive manufacturing processes have an increased penetration depth for curative radiation. Removal of low-absorbing particles or non-absorbing particles during post-processing of as-manufactured products results in pores that create porosity in the as-manufactured product that provide a volume accommodating fission gases and/or can enhance wicking of certain heat pipe coolant liquids. Low-absorbing particles or non-absorbing particles can be functionalized for improved properties, for example, with fissionable material for improved ceramic yields, with burnable poisons or stabilizers for increased homogeneity, with stabilizers for localized delivery of the stabilizer, or with combinations thereof.
B29C 64/165 - Processes of additive manufacturing using a combination of solid and fluid materials, e.g. a powder selectively bound by a liquid binder, catalyst, inhibitor or energy absorber
3.
CARBIDE-BASED FUEL ASSEMBLY FOR THERMAL PROPULSION APPLICATIONS
Carbide-based fuel assembly includes outer structural member of ceramic matrix composite material (e.g., SiC-SiC composite), insulation layer of porous refractory ceramic material (e.g., zirconium carbide with open-cell foam structure or fibrous zirconium carbide), and interior structural member of refractory ceramic-graphite composite material (e.g., zirconium carbide-graphite or niobium carbide-graphite). Spacer structures between various layers provide a defined and controlled spacing relationship. A fuel element bundle positioned between support meshes includes a plurality of distributively arranged fuel elements or a solid, unitary fuel element with coolant channels, each having a fuel composition including high assay, low enriched uranium (HALEU). Fuel assemblies are distributively arranged in a moderator block and the upper end of the outer structural member is attached to a metallic inlet tube for hydrogen propellant and the lower end of the outer structural member is interfaced with a support plate, forming a NTP reactor.
Carbide-based fuel assembly includes outer structural member of ceramic matrix composite material, the interior surface of which is lined in higher temperature regions with an insulation layer of porous refractory ceramic material. A continuous insulation layer extends the length of the fuel assembly or separate insulation layer sections have a thickness increasing step-wise along the length of the fuel assembly from upper (inlet) section towards bottom (outlet) section. A fuel element positioned inward of the insulation layer and between support meshes has a fuel composition including HALEU and has the form of a plurality of individual elongated fuel bodies or one or more fuel monolith bodies containing coolant flow channels. Fuel assemblies are distributively arranged in a moderator block, with upper end of the outer structural member attached to an inlet for propellant and lower end of the outer structural member operatively interfaced with a nozzle forming a NTP reactor.
CERMET fuel element includes a fuel meat of consolidated ceramic fuel particles (preferably refractory-metal coated HALEU fuel kernels) and an array of axially-oriented coolant flow channels. Formation and lateral positions of coolant flow channels in the fuel meat are controlled during manufacturing by spacer structures that include ceramic fuel particles. In one embodiment, a coating on a sacrificial rod (the rod being subsequently removed) forms the coolant channel and the spacer structures are affixed to the coating; in a second embodiment, a metal tube forms the coolant channel and the spacer structures are affixed to the metal tube. The spacer structures laterally position the coolant channels in spaced-apart relation and are consolidated with the ceramic fuel particles to form CERMET fuel meat of a fuel element, which are subsequently incorporated into fuel assemblies that are distributively arranged in a moderator block within a nuclear fission reactor, in particular for propulsion.
A dual shut-off valve including a valve body defining an interior cavity and a flow tube passing therethrough, an outer cylinder including a body portion defining an interior cavity and a through hole passing therethrough, the outer cylinder being rotatably disposed within the interior cavity of the valve body, and an inner cylinder including a body portion defining a through hole passing therethrough, the inner cylinder being rotatably disposed within the interior cavity of the outer cylinder, wherein the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder are both rotatable between a first position in which the through holes of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder are aligned with the flow tube and a second position in which the through holes of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder are transverse to the flow tube.
F16K 1/30 - Lift valves, i.e. cut-off apparatus with closure members having at least a component of their opening and closing motion perpendicular to the closing faces specially adapted for pressure containers
A method inspects weld quality in-situ. The method obtains a plurality of sequenced images of an in-progress welding process and generates a multi-dimensional data input based on the plurality of sequenced images and/or one or more weld process control parameters. The parameters may include: (i) shield gas flow rate, temperature, and pressure; (ii) voltage, amperage, wire feed rate and temperature (if applicable); (iii) part preheat/inter-pass temperature; and (iv) part and weld torch relative velocity). The method generates defect probability and analytics information by applying one or more computer vision techniques on the multi-dimensional data input. The analytics information includes predictive insights on quality features of the in-progress welding process. The method then generates a 3-D visualization of one or more as-welded regions, based on the analytics information, and the plurality of sequenced images. The 3-D visualization displays the quality features for virtual inspection and/or for determining weld quality.
B23K 31/02 - Processes relevant to this subclass, specially adapted for particular articles or purposes, but not covered by any single one of main groups relating to soldering or welding
8.
OPTIMIZATION OF EXPENSIVE COST FUNCTIONS SUBJECT TO COMPLEX MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONSTRAINTS
A method is used to design nuclear reactors using design variables and metric variables. A user specifies ranges for the design variables and target values for the metric variables. A set of design parameter samples are selected. For each sample, the method runs three processes, which compute metric variables to thermal-hydraulics, neutronics, and stress. The method applies a cost function to each sample to compute an aggregate residual of the metric variables compared to the target values. The method trains a machine learning model using the samples and the computed aggregate residuals. The method shrinks the range for each design variable according to correlation between the respective design variable and estimated residuals using the machine learning model. These steps are repeated until a sample having a smallest residual is unchanged for multiple iterations. The method then uses the final machine learning model to assess relative importance of each design variable.
Methods to in-situ monitor production of additive manufacturing products collects images from the deposition process on a layer-by-layer basis, including a void image of the pattern left in a slurry layer after deposition of a layer and a displacement image formed by immersing the just-deposited layer in a renewed slurry layer. Image properties of the void image and displacement image are corrected and then compared to a binary expected image from a computer generated model to identify defects in the just-deposited layer on a layer-by-layer basis. Additional methods use the output from the comparison to form a 3D model corresponding to at least a portion of the additive manufacturing product. Components to control the additive manufacturing operation based on digital model data and to in-situ monitor successive layers for manufacturing defects can be embodied in a computer system or computer-aided machine, such as a computer controlled additive manufacturing machine.
B05C 13/02 - Means for manipulating or holding work, e.g. for separate articles for particular articles
B05D 7/22 - Processes, other than flocking, specially adapted for applying liquids or other fluent materials to particular surfaces or for applying particular liquids or other fluent materials to internal surfaces, e.g. of tubes
10.
ROBUST NUCLEAR PROPULSION FISSION REACTOR WITH TRI-PITCH PATTERNED CORE AND DRUM ABSORBERS
Nuclear propulsion fission reactor structure has an active core region including fuel element structures, a reflector with rotatable neutron absorber structures (such as drum absorbers), and a core former conformal mating the outer surface of the fuel element structures to the reflector. Fuel element structures are arranged abutting nearest neighbor fuel element structures in a tri-pitch design. Cladding bodies defining coolant channels are inserted into and joined to upper and lower core plates to from a continuous structure that is a first portion of the containment structure. The nuclear propulsion fission reactor structure can be incorporated into a nuclear thermal propulsion engine for propulsion applications, such as space propulsion.
Plurality of layers form a nuclear fission reactor structure, each layer having an inner segment body, an intermediate segment body, and an outer segment body (each segment body separated by an interface). The layers include a plurality of cladding arms having involute curve shapes that spirally radiate outward from a radially inner end to a radially outer end. Chambers in the involute curve shaped cladding arm contain fuel compositions (and/or other materials such as moderators and poisons). The design of the involute curve shaped cladding arms and the composition of the materials conform to neutronic and thermal management requirements for the nuclear fission reactor and are of sufficiently common design and/or have sufficiently few variations as to reduce manufacturing complexity and manufacturing variability.
Nuclear propulsion fission reactor structure has an active core region including fuel element structures, a reflector with rotatable neutron absorber structures (such as drum absorbers), and a core former conformal mating the outer surface of the fuel element structures to the reflector. Fuel element structures are arranged abutting nearest neighbor fuel element structures in a tri-pitch design. Cladding bodies defining coolant channels are inserted into and joined to lower and upper core plates to from a continuous structure that is a first portion of the containment structure. The nuclear propulsion fission reactor structure can be incorporated into a nuclear thermal propulsion engine for propulsion applications, such as space propulsion.
Additive manufacturing methods use a surrogate slurry to iteratively develop an additive manufacturing protocol and then substitutes a final slurry composition to then additively manufacture a final component using the developed additive manufacturing protocol. In the nuclear reactor component context, the final slurry composition is a nuclear fuel slurry having a composition: 30-45 vol.% monomer resin, 30-70 vol.% plurality of particles of uranium-containing material, >0-7 vol.% dispersant, photoactivated dye, photoabsorber, photoinitiator, and 0-18 vol.% (as a balance) diluent. The surrogate slurry has a similar composition, but a plurality of surrogate particles selected to represent a uranium-containing material are substituted for the particles of uranium-containing material. The method provides a means for in-situ monitoring of characteristics of the final component during manufacture as well as in-situ volumetric inspection. Compositions of surrogate slurries and nuclear fuel slurries are also disclosed.
B29C 64/165 - Processes of additive manufacturing using a combination of solid and fluid materials, e.g. a powder selectively bound by a liquid binder, catalyst, inhibitor or energy absorber
B33Y 70/10 - Composites of different types of material, e.g. mixtures of ceramics and polymers or mixtures of metals and biomaterials
Nuclear propulsion fission reactor structure has an active core region including fuel elernent structures, a reflector with rotatable neutron absorber structures (such as drum absorbers), and a core former conformal mating the outer surface of the fuel element structures to the reflector. Fuel element structures are arranged abutting nearest neighbor fuel element structures in a tri-pitch design. Cladding bodies defining coolant channels are inserted into and joined to lower and upper core plates to from a continuous structure that is a first portion of the containment structure. The nuclear propulsion fission reactor structure can be incorporated into a nuclear thermal propulsion engine for propulsion applications, such as space propulsion.
15.
COMPOSITIONS FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AND METHODS OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, PARTICULARLY OF NUCLEAR REACTOR COMPONENTS
Additive manufacturing methods use a surrogate slurry to iteratively develop an additive manufacturing protocol and then substitutes a final slurry composition to then additively manufacture a final component using the developed additive rnanufacturing protocol. In the nuclear reactor component context, the final slurry composition is a nuclear fuel slurry having a composition: 30-45 vol.% monomer resin, 30-70 vol.% plurality of particles of uranium-containing material, >0-7 vol.% dispersant, photoactivated dye, photoabsorber, photoinitiator, and 0-18 vol.% (as a balance) diluent. The surrogate slurry has a similar composition, but a plurality of surrogate particles selected to represent a uranium-containing material are substituted for the particles of uranium-containing material. The method provides a rneans for in-situ monitoring of characteristics of the final component during manufacture as well as in-situ volumetric inspection. Compositions of surrogate slurries and nuclear fuel slurries are also disclosed.
16.
RAPID DIGITAL NUCLEAR REACTOR DESIGN USING MACHINE LEARNING
A method designs nuclear reactors using design variables and metric variables. A user specifies ranges for the design variables and threshold values for the metric variables and selects design parameter samples. For each sample, the method runs three processes, which compute metric variables for thermal-hydraulics, neutronics, and stress. The method applies a cost function to compute an aggregate residual of the metric variables compared to the threshold values. The method deploys optimization methods, either training a machine learning model using the samples and computed aggregate residuals, or using genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, or differential evolution. When using Bayesian optimization, the method shrinks the range for each design variable according to correlation between the respective design variable and estimated residuals using the machine learning model. These steps are repeated until a sample having a smallest residual is unchanged for multiple iterations. The final model assesses relative importance of each design variable.
Pre-ceramic particle solutions can prepared by a Coordinated-PDC process, a Direct-PDC process or a Coordinated-Direct-PDC process. The pre-ceramic particle solution includes a polymer selected from the group consisting of (i) an organic polymer including a metal or metalloid cation, (ii) a first organometallic polymer and (iii) a second organometallic polymer including a metal or metalloid cation different from a metal in the second organometallic polymer, a plurality of particles selected from the group consisting of (a) a ceramic fuel particle and (b) a moderator particle, a dispersant, and a polymerization initiator. The pre-ceramic particle solution can be supplied to an additive manufacturing process, such as digital light projection, and made into a structure (which is pre-ceramic particle green body) that can then be debinded to form a polymer-derived ceramic sintered body. In some embodiments, the polymer-derived ceramic sintered body is a component or structure for fission reactors.
C04B 35/571 - Fine ceramics obtained from polymer precursors
B29C 64/129 - Processes of additive manufacturing using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material using layers of liquid which are selectively solidified characterised by the energy source therefor, e.g. by global irradiation combined with a mask
B29C 64/135 - Processes of additive manufacturing using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material using layers of liquid which are selectively solidified characterised by the energy source therefor, e.g. by global irradiation combined with a mask the energy source being concentrated, e.g. scanning lasers or focused light sources
B33Y 70/10 - Composites of different types of material, e.g. mixtures of ceramics and polymers or mixtures of metals and biomaterials
18.
NUCLEAR REACTOR FUEL ASSEMBLIES AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION
A nuclear fuel assembly for a nuclear reactor core including at least one fuel cartridge having a lattice structure including an outer wall defining an interior volume, at least one flow channel extending through the interior volume of the lattice structure, at least one lattice site disposed in the interior of the lattice structure; and at least one fuel compact disposed within a corresponding one of the at least one lattice site. A cross-sectional shape of the at least one fuel compact is the same as a cross-sectional shape of the corresponding one of the at least one lattice site.
G21C 3/33 - Supporting or hanging of elements in the bundle; Means forming part of the bundle for inserting it into, or removing it from, the core; Means for coupling adjacent bundles
patents
