Design Research of Equipment for Pressing Bottom End Plug of Fuel Rods

The equipment pressing the plug is a kind of important machine in which the fuel rod is pressed into the cladding tube before the electron beam or the inert gas tungsten inert gas welding（TIG welding）. The existing equipment pressing the plug can not meet the current demand. Therefore, a new type of equipment pressing the plug is designed and developed. Based on the analysis of the structure and technical requirements of the plug, the design idea of the equipment pressing the plug is determined. This paper introduces the design reason and method of the end plug feeding（storage） mechanism, the feeding end plug mechanism, the plug mechanism, the upper and the lower feeding mechanism and its subsidiary mechanism. The plug pressing process of the new designed equipment shall be able safe, stable, convenient and automatic, and without scratch after the plug is pressed.