Pressure pulse cleaning apparatus

摘要

An apparatus for loosening and removing sludge and other impurities from the interior of a heat exchanger vessel which may be the secondary side of a nuclear steam generator is disclosed herein. The apparatus generally comprises a nozzle having a first end that is detachably mountable into an access opening such as a sludge lance port in the secondary side of the generator, and a second end that extends into the interior of the secondary side at a 30 degree downward angle relative to the tubesheet in the vessel for minimizing the stresses applied to the heat exchanger tubes, and for uniformly reflecting the pulse back up toward the upper portions of the secondary side. A pulse generator is operably connected to the nozzle which has a controller for controlling the power level of the pulses generated. To further minimize such peak tube stresses, the pulse generator includes a pulse flattener, and the second end of the nozzle is aligned down the main tube lane.