Jackie Schmidt and tuners

R

RStiefel

Guest
I had the opportunity today to have a long chat with the machine shop at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station where I work.
Not taking anything away from the machinists on this forum, but these are guys who work to very exacting and close tolerances every day, all day long. I brought up the "tuner" pros and cons, and this was the answer I received: "we work with the adjustments on tuners quite often that are attached to the steam generators in both containment buildings. We use them to tune out the enormous vibrations created inside the generators".
I also asked about the threading of a gun barrel with the installation of a tuner and it's pros and cons. Though this gentleman could not elaborate on this subject, he did however say he has done some fluting on stainless steel pipes used on critical components in the plant and has found no discernable difference in the ID size before and after the process. The rate of flow and pressure through these components remains the same.
His take on this is that there should be no change to the inside diameter of a barrel be it threaded or fluted. This of course is only the "opinion" of one of the Master Machinists at an operating nuclear plant.

Rich in Ca.
 
having worked in nuclear power for over 10 years, guns for even longer, and some machinist background, i can safely say that the benchrest version of vibration is not the same type or style as in powder plants. there are a few small diameter tubes used in flow measurements, but a bullet down a mostly solid bbl is not the same as liquid/gas flow thru a tube. machining to close tollerances is the same tho.

mike in co

and that plant is just north of where i was born....
 
mike in co said:
having worked in nuclear power for over 10 years, guns for even longer, and some machinist background, i can safely say that the benchrest version of vibration is not the same type or style as in powder plants. there are a few small diameter tubes used in flow measurements, but a bullet down a mostly solid bbl is not the same as liquid/gas flow thru a tube. machining to close tollerances is the same tho.

mike in co

and that plant is just north of where i was born....
Click to expand...

Is San Onofre the one that was built on the San Andreas Fault or is that Diablo Canyon?
Chino69
 
San Onofre

RStiefel said:
Both actually.

Rich in Ca.
Click to expand...

I knew a fellow who worked at San Onofre and was in charge of the rigging and Heavy Loads program. I forgot his name but he was a nice fellow; may have retired by now.

Rich, the type of tuning you are talking about with regards to steam generator vibration and gun barrels, while related, are at different ends of the spectrum.

Chino69
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Chino69

I do realize that, but they use tuners much like the ones discussed here but much larger. They are conrtolled by the techs in the control room.
Something interesting is the method by which this is set up.
They turn down a 2" diameter piece of stainless round stock, bore a small hole through the center to accept the probe, then thread it to screw into the top of the generator at the tubes. Obviously the threading DOES NOT change the bore size. If it did,the probe would not fit and they would have a tremendous amount of airborne radiation floating around in the containment building which would automatically trip the breakers and shut down the Steam Generators.
Mike Love is the honcho over the heavy rigging program.

Rich in Ca.
 
RStiefel said:
I do realize that, but they use tuners much like the ones discussed here but much larger. They are conrtolled by the techs in the control room.
Something interesting is the method by which this is set up.
They turn down a 2" diameter piece of stainless round stock, bore a small hole through the center to accept the probe, then thread it to screw into the top of the generator at the tubes. Obviously the threading DOES NOT change the bore size. If it did,the probe would not fit and they would have a tremendous amount of airborne radiation floating around in the containment building which would automatically trip the breakers and shut down the Steam Generators.
Mike Love is the honcho over the heavy rigging program.

Rich in Ca.
Click to expand...

Rich,
This fellow I'm thinking of would have been in charge of the heavy rigging program in the early 90's. How long have you been in the industry?
Chino69
 
Heavy Rigging

RStiefel said:
I have been working the nuclear plants for close to 30 years.
Have been at SONGS for about 5 years. I'll find out who the Heavy Rigging coordinator was in the 90s and let you know.

Rich in Ca.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rich.
I'll send you an e-mail.
Chino69
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top