Author: claimsbot

1. An apparatus comprising:
a fuel assembly including:
a plurality of fuel rods comprising fissile material;
a plurality of guide tubes interspersed amongst the fuel rods,
an upper end fitting connected with upper ends of guide tubes,
a lower end fitting,
end plugs connected with the lower ends of the guide tubes and having threaded male shafts extending from the lower ends of the guide tubes and passing through openings of the lower end fitting, and
female lock nuts threaded onto the threaded male shafts of the end plugs and locked with the lower end fitting to secure the lower end fitting to the lower ends of the guide tubes.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
dashpot tubes disposed in the lower ends of the guide tubes and connected to the end plugs, the female lock nuts not engaging the dashpot tubes.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the female lock nuts have swaged locking portions engaging recesses of the lower end fitting.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the female lock nuts have locking portions outwardly deformed into recesses of the lower end fitting.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the locking portions comprise portions of outboard annular walls of the female lock nuts that are outwardly deformed into recesses of the lower end fitting.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the locking portions comprise two locking portions of outboard annular walls of the female lock nuts that are outwardly deformed into recesses of the lower end fitting.
7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the locking portions comprise N locking portions arranged with N-fold symmetry around the female lock nut that are outwardly deformed into recesses of the lower end fitting.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the end plugs are welded to the lower ends of the guide tubes.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a tool configured to rotate a female lock nut to thread it onto a threaded male shaft of an end plug connected with the lower end of a guide tube and to swage the female lock nut to form swaged locking portions of the lock nut that engage recesses of the lower end fitting to lock the lock nut with the lower end fitting.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a pressure vessel containing a reactor core comprising an array of said fuel assemblies.
11. An apparatus comprising:
an end plug configured to connect with the lower end of a guide tube of a nuclear reactor fuel assembly, the end plug having a threaded male shaft that extends away from the lower end of the guide tube when the end plug is connected with the lower end of the guide tube, the threaded male shaft being sized to pass through an opening of a nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting; and
a female lock nut configured to thread onto the threaded male shaft of the end plug, the female lock nut having a deformable side wall configured to be swaged into a recess of the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting to lock the female lock nut with the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting.
12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:
a tool configured to rotate a female lock nut to thread it onto the threaded male shaft of an end plug connected with the lower end of a guide tube and to swage the female lock nut to form the swaged locking portions engaging recesses of the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting .
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the tool is configured to connect with a torque wrench.
14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the deformable side wall of the female lock nut comprises an annular deformable sidewall that is outwardly deformable into one or more recesses of the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting to lock the female lock nut with the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting.
15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the deformable side wall is configured to be swaged into N recesses of the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting having N-fold rotational symmetry around the female lock nut to lock the female lock nut with the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting.
16. A method comprising:
inserting a threaded male shaft of an end plug connected with the lower end of a guide tube of a nuclear reactor fuel assembly through an opening of a nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting;
installing a female lock nut onto the inserted threaded male shaft of the end plug by rotating the female lock nut in a tightening direction to secure the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting to the lower end of the guide tube; and
deforming a locking portion of the female lock nut into a recess of the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting to lock the female lock nut with the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:
connecting the end plug to the lower end of the guide tube.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the connecting comprises:
welding the end plug to the lower end of the guide tube.
19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:
connecting a dashpot tube to the end plug; and
inserting the dashpot tube into the end plug.
20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:
after the deforming, removing the female lock nut from the threaded male shaft by rotating the female lock nut in a loosening direction using rotational force sufficient to break the lock with the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting provided by the deformed locking portion.
21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:
installing the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting on the lower end of a fuel assembly frame including a plurality of guide tubes by performing the inserting, installing, and deforming for each guide tube of the fuel assembly frame; and
loading fuel rods comprising fissile material into the fuel assembly frame with the installed nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting.
22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:
after the installing and loading, unloading the fuel rods except for a broken fuel rod from the fuel assembly frame;
removing the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting from the lower end of the fuel assembly frame by removing the female lock nuts from the threaded male shafts by rotating the female lock nuts in a loosening direction using rotational force sufficient to break the locks provided by the deformed locking portions of the female lock nuts; and
with the nuclear reactor fuel assembly lower end fitting removed, extracting a lower portion of the broken fuel rod from the fuel assembly frame via the lower end of the fuel assembly frame.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A communication device, comprising:
a ground element; and
an antenna element, disposed adjacent to an edge of the ground element, wherein the antenna element has a projection on the edge, the projection has a predetermined length, and the antenna element comprises:
a radiation element, having a first end and a second end, wherein the second end is open, and the radiation element has a plurality of bends, such that the second end is adjacent to the first end;
a feeding element, having a third end and a fourth end, wherein the third end is coupled through a capacitive element to a connection point on the radiation element, the connection point is positioned at or adjacent to the first end, the fourth end is coupled to a signal source, the feeding element comprises a first segment, the first segment is substantially parallel to the edge, and a length of the first segment is at least 0.2 times the predetermined length; and
a shorting element, having a fifth end and a sixth end, wherein the fifth end is coupled to a shorting point on the radiation element, the shorting point is adjacent to the connection point, the sixth end is coupled to the ground element, the shorting element comprises a second segment, the second segment is substantially parallel to the edge, and a length of the second segment is at least 0.2 times the predetermined length.
2. The communication device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the radiation element further comprises a first inductive element, the first inductive element is predetermined position and the first end is longer than 0.2 times the predetermined length, and the shorting point is positioned between the connection point and the predetermined position.
3. The communication device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the radiation element substantially has an inverted U-shape, or substantially extends to surround a rectangular region.
4. The communication device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the second segment is disposed between the first segment and the radiation element.
5. The communication device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the feeding element is further coupled through a second inductive element to the signal source.
6. The communication device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the antenna element at least operates in a first band and a second band, and frequencies of the first band are lower than frequencies of the second band.
7. The communication device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the radiation element is excited to generate a first resonant mode in the first band and at least a second resonant mode in the second band.
8. The communication device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the predetermined position is at or adjacent to a surface current null of the second resonant mode.
9. The communication device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the antenna element has a loop resonant path formed between the feeding element and the shorting element, the loop resonant path is excited to generate a third resonant mode in the second band, and the third resonant mode is arranged to increase bandwidth of the second band.
10. The communication device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the capacitive element causes excitation of the antenna element to further generate a fourth resonant mode in the first band, and the fourth resonant mode is arranged to increase bandwidth of the first band.

1. A data creating device comprising:
a data storing portion that stores data that is used by an applicable instrument that is connected through a network;
a displaying portion that displays visibly data that is stored in the data storing portion;
a data inputting portion that receives changed data that changes data that is stored in the data storing portion;
a composite data creating portion that creates a copy of the data that is stored in the data storing portion and creates composite data by applying the changed data that has been inputted through the data inputting portion;
a comparing portion that compares the composite data created by the composite data creating portion and the data that is stored in the data storing portion to extract from the composite data the parts that are different from the data; and
a display controlling portion that displays, on the displaying portion, the data that is stored in the data storing portion along with the composite data, in a form wherein it is possible to identify the parts in the composite data that are different, extracted by the comparing portion, and the parts that are the same.
2. The data creating device as set forth in claim 1, wherein:
the display controlling portion displays, on the displaying portion, composite data wherein the display colors are different for the parts that are different and the parts that are the same.
3. The data creating device as set forth in claim 1, wherein:
the comparing portion extracts, from the composite data, parts wherein the data is changed and parts that are new wherein there was no data, as parts that are different; and
the display controlling portion displays, on the displaying portion, the composite data in a form wherein the parts that have been changed and the parts that are new in the composite data, extracted by the comparing portion, and the parts that are the same can each be identified.
4. The data creating device as set forth in claim 3, wherein:
the display controlling portion displays the composite data wherein parts that have been changed, parts that are new, and parts that are the same are each displayed in different colors.
5. The data creating device as set forth in claim 1, comprising:
a data setting portion that receives an instruction for applying a change and applies, to the data that is stored in the data storing device, changed data that has been received from the data inputting portion.
6. A data creating method comprising:
a data storing step for storing data that is used by an applicable instrument that is connected through a network;
a data inputting step for receiving changed data that changes data that was stored in the data storing step;
a composite data creating step for creating a copy of the data that was stored in the data storing step and creating composite data by applying the changed data that has been inputted in the data inputting step;
a comparing step for comparing the composite data created in the composite data creating step and the data that was stored in the data storing step to extract from the composite data the parts that are different from the data; and
a display controlling step for displaying the data that was stored in the data storing step along with the composite data, in a form wherein it is possible to identify the parts in the composite data that are different, extracted in the comparing step, and the parts that are the same.
7. The data creating method as set forth in claim 6, wherein:
in the display controlling step, composite data wherein the display colors are different for the parts that are different and the parts that are the same are displayed.
8. The data creating method as set forth in claim 6, wherein:
in the comparing step, parts wherein the data is changed and parts that are new wherein there was no data, as parts that are different are extracted, from the composite data; and
in the display controlling step, the composite data is displayed in a form wherein the parts that have been changed and the parts that are new in the composite data, extracted by the comparing portion, and the parts that are the same can each be identified.
9. The data creating method as set forth in claim 8, wherein:
in the display controlling step, composite data is displayed wherein parts that have been changed, parts that are new, and parts that are the same are each displayed in different colors.
10. The data creating method as set forth in claim 6, comprising:
a data setting step for receiving an instruction for applying a change, and for applying, to the data that was stored in the data storing step, changed data that was received in the data inputting portion.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for adjusting an area ink coverage, produced using a volume of an ink transferred to a print substrate by an inking unit of a printing press and having at least one ink forme roller including:
reaching a final phase of a first printing process carried out by the printing press;
at least one of disengaging and interrupting an ink feed to the inking unit in at least one of several zones in the inking unit;
selecting a target value for the area ink coverage as being equal to an area ink coverage for the same ink and predefined for a pre-print run of a second printing process;
continuing to transfer a volume of ink remaining on the print substrate side of the inking unit after the one of disengagement and interruption of the ink feed in the inking unit in the final phase of the first printing process being executed in the printing press until the area ink coverage produced with the volume of ink transferred to the print substrate (02) equals the target value for the area ink coverage;
providing an automatically running control process;
changing over the printing press from the first printing process running in said printing press to the second printing process using the control process that runs automatically;
transferring the same ink from the inking unit to the print substrate in the second printing process as in the first printing process; and
carrying out the changing over of the printing process using the control process and reaching the predefined target value for the area ink coverage predefined for the pre-print run of the second printing process.
2. The method according to claim 1 further including providing a first printing forme, inked by the inking unit in the printing press for the purpose of executing the first printing process, and replacing the first printing forme by another printing forme which is provided for the purpose of executing the second printing process only after the area ink coverage produced on the print substrate with the volume of ink remaining in the inking unit equals the target value for area ink coverage predefined for the pre-print run of the second printing process.
3. The method according to claim 1 further including providing a control unit and using the control unit for comparing the area ink coverage detected during the pre-print run of the second printing process as an actual value with a target value for the area coverage predefined for said pre-print run, which target valve is stored in a memory unit.
4. The method according to claim 3, further including providing a computer unit and using the computer unit for making at least the comparison, carried out by the control unit, of the actual value for the detected area coverage with the target value thereof, predefined for the pre-print run of the second printing process, and calculating a number of sheets of the print substrate, with this number of sheets indicating how many additional sheets must be printed with the volume of ink remaining in the inking unit until the area ink coverage equals the target value for area coverage predefined for the pre-print run of the second printing process.
5. The method according to claim 4 further including calculating one of the number of sheets and a number of printed images, taking into consideration at least one of a rotational velocity of an ink fountain roller belonging to the respective inking unit and at least one time constant for at least one of building up and reducing an ink layer thickness in one of the respective inking unit and the printing couple.
6. The method according to claim 4 further including providing a display device and displaying the calculated one of number of sheets and printed images on the display device.
7. The method according to claim 1 further including providing the printing press having a plurality of printing couples each having at least one printing forme with each printing couple being assigned its own inking unit and using at least two of these printing couples for transferring different inks to the same print substrate being transported through the printing press.
8. The method according to claim 7 further including using a computer unit and calculating, for each of the plurality of the printing couples a specific number of sheets of the print substrate and indicating how many additional sheets must be printed with the volume of the particular ink remaining in the respective inking unit until the area coverage produced in connection with the respective inking unit equals the target value, predefined for the pre-print run of the second print process, for the area coverage to be produced in connection with each respective inking unit.
9. The method according to claim 7 further including disengaging, in the respective inking unit, the at least one ink forme roller thereof from the printing forme inked in the relevant printing couple as soon as a number of sheets, that are required before the area coverage produced in connection with the respective inking unit equals the target value for the area coverage to be produced in connection with the respective inking unit, and predefined for the pre-print run of the subsequent printing process, have been imprinted in the relevant printing couple.
10. The method according to claim 1, further including transferring the ink in the printing press to one of a sheet-type and a web-type print substrate.
11. The method according to claim 1, further including adjusting the area ink coverage with respect to one a total area of the printed image and with respect to a partial area thereof.
12. The method according to claim 1 further including adjusting the area ink coverage with respect to a plurality of different partial areas of the same printed image, and wherein, for each of a plurality of these partial areas, the associated area coverage is adjusted.
13. The method according to claim 1 further including adjusting the area ink coverage in each case by an ink dosing system having a plurality of dosing elements that act in zones, and wherein a plurality of ink zones are arranged side by side, transversely to a transport direction of the print substrate that is transported through the printing press.
14. The method according to claim 1 further including disengaging the ink feed to the inking unit at least in zones by actuating an ink dosing system, and wherein at least one dosing element of the ink dosing system is closed by this actuation.
15. The method according to claim 14 further including actuating the ink dosing system and closing the dosing element, which is active in at least one ink zone, of the ink dosing system, which ink dosing system comprises a plurality of ink zones arranged in a row transversely to a direction of transport of the print substrate.
16. The method according to claim 1 further including interrupting the ink feed in one of the inking unit and in the respective inking unit in each case by disengaging a ductor roller.
17. The method according to claim 1 further including producing an ink measuring strip on the print substrate in the pre-print run of the second printing process.
18. The method according to claim 1 further including detecting at least during the pre-print run of the second printing process, an ink density of the area coverage produced on the print substrate.
19. The method according to claim 18 further including detecting the ink density within the printing press by using at least one sensing device.
20. The method according to claim 18 further including detecting the ink density by using an inline inspection system.
21. A method for adjusting an area ink coverage and usable for execution in a printing press comprising a plurality of printing couples including:
using the plurality of printing couples and applying at least two different inks to a print substrate being transported along a transport path thereof through the printing press for producing a printed image on the print substrate;
providing an ink controller and using the ink controller for calculating how many additional printed images must be imprinted by each of the respective printing couples involved in producing these printed images, following at least one of a zonal disengagement and an interruption of an ink feed in each of these printing couples until a volume of ink remaining on a print substrate side in each respective printing couple and forming an area ink coverage produced in each of the printing couples, using the volume of ink transferred to the print substrate, equals a target value for an area ink coverage;
producing the area coverage, in each case, by transferring a volume of ink to the print substrate by an inking unit belonging to the respective printing couple;
replacing, in the respective printing couple, at least one printing forme, inked by the inking unit for the purpose of executing a first printing process, by another printing forme provided for the purpose of executing a second printing process only after the area ink coverage produced on the print substrate with the volume of ink remaining in the relevant inking unit equals the target value for area ink coverage;
carrying out a changeover of the printing press from the first printing process currently running in said printing press to the second printing process in a control process that runs automatically;
transferring ink to the print substrate in the second printing process from each of the inking units involved in executing the second printing process as in the first printing process;
defining a respective target value for the area ink coverage being equal in each case to the area ink coverage predefined for a pre-print run of the second printing process; and
carrying out the changing over of the printing press using the control process executed by the ink controller and reaching the respective predefined target value for the area ink coverage predefined for the pre-print run of the second printing process.