code: def _clean_listofcomponents_tuples(listofcomponents_tuples):
      
      def to3tuple(item):
          """return a 3 item tuple"""
          if len(item) == 3:
              return item
          else:
              return (item[0], item[1], None)
      return [to3tuple(item) for item in listofcomponents_tuples]
docs: force 3 items in the tuple