• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.207-207
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• 2006

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.465-471
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• 2013

A steam generator in nuclear power plant is a heatexchager which is used to convert water into steam from heat produced in a nuclear reactor core, and the steam produced in steam generator is delivered to the turbine to generate electricity. Because of damage to steam generator tubing may impair its ability to adequately perform required safety functions in terms of both structural integrity and leakage integrity, eddy current testing is periodically performed to evaluate the integrity of tubes in steam generator. This assessment is normally performed during a reactor refueling outage. Currently, the eddy current testing for steam generator of nuclear power plant in Korea is performed in accordance with KEPIC & ASME Code requirements, the eddy current testing system is consists of remote data acquisition unit and data analysis program to evaluate the acquired data. The KEPIC & ASME Code require that the electrical properties of remote data acquisition unit, such as total harmonic distortion, input & output impedance, amplifier linearity & stability, phase linearity, bandwidth & demodulation filter response, analog-to-digital conversion, and channel crosstalk shall be measured in accordance with the KEPIC & ASME Code requirements. In this paper, the measurement requirements of electrical properties for eddy current testing instrument described in KEPIC & ASME Code are presented, and the measurement results of newly developed eddy current testing instrument by KHNP(Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., LTD) are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.171-178
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• 2014

Remote Field Eddy Current Testing (RFECT), one of the ways which is a nondestructive testing using electromagnetic fields, can make up for Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) weaknesses and general Eddy Current Testing (ECT) weaknesses which is an occurrence of a huge friction force or disadvantage of detecting defects on the outer wall. So many of institutes and laboratories have studied on RFECT for the past 50 years. But There is a lack of discussion about a study on eddy current and magnetic field distributions in a pipe wall and designing of RFECT exciter coil. In this paper, eddy current and magnetic field distributions in a pipe wall and influence of altering variables are analyzed. Also, the optimal design algorithm about the RFECT Exciter coil are proposed, and influence on defect signals caused by alteration of its shape is analyzed.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.65-69
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• 2011

This paper introduces the multi-coil eddy current sensor and its characteristic in magnetic material gas turbine rotor. In the past, magnetic particle inspection method was used for qualitative defect evaluation in magnetic material gas turbine rotor. And the ultrasonic inspection method was used for quantitative defect evaluation. Nowadays, eddy current method is used in magnetic gas turbine rotor inspection due to advanced sensor design technology. We developed multi-coil eddy current sensor for the rotor dovetail inspection. At first, rotor stress is analyzed for the determination of sensor position and number. The sensor coils are designed to cover the stress concentration area of rotor dovetail. We select optimum frequency according to material standard penetration data and experiment results. The rotor mock-up and artificial defects were made for the signal detection and resolution analysis of multi-coil eddy current sensor. The results show that signal detection and resolution capabilities are enhanced in comparison to the commercialized sensor enough for the gas turbine rotor inspection. So, this developed multi-coil eddy current sensor substituted for commercialized one and it applied in real gas turbine rotor inspection.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2013

The capacity factor of nuclear power plant in Korea is the highest level in the world. However, the integrity assessment of nuclear power plant is depended on foreign country. Especially, most eddy current testing systems for inspecting steam generators in nuclear power plant are currently imported from USA, Canada, and so on. Therefore, the eddy current testing system can react more active and adaptive from economic and managerial standpoint for actual nuclear power plants in Korea is required. In this paper, an eddy current testing system for inspecting steam generators in nuclear power plants is introduced. Frequency generator, analog circuit, analog digital converter circuit, and digital control circuit are composed in eddy current testing system. A benchmarking of acquisition system and acquisition software, eddynet 11i made by Zetec, and modifications are carried out based on the test environment of Korea nuclear power plants. Finally, all eddy current apparatus are integrated to inspect steam generator tubes in nuclear power plants.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.374-382
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• 2009

Steam generator(SG) tube, as a barrier isolating primary to the secondary coolant system of nuclear power plants(NPP), must maintain the structural integrity far the public safety and its efficient power generation capacity. And SG tubes bearing defects must be timely detected and taken repair measures if needed. For the accomplishment of these objectives, SG tubes have been periodically examined by eddy current testing(ECT) on the basis of administrative notices and intensified SG management program(SGMP). Stress corrosion cracking(SCC) on the SG tubes is not easily detected and even missed since it has lower signal amplitude and other disturbing factors against its detection. However once SCC is developed, that can cause detrimental affects to the SG tubes due to its rapid propagation rate. Accordingly SCC is categorized as prime damage mechanism challenging the soundness of the SG tubes. In this study, reproduced EDM notch specimens are examined for the detectability and quantitative characterization of the axial ODSCC by +PT MRPC probe, containing pancake, +PT and shielded pancake coils apart in a single plane around the circumference. The results of this study are assumed to be applicable fur providing key information of engineering evaluation of SCC and improvement of confidence level of ECT on SG tubes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.253-258
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• 2004

To get accurate information about the defect from the test signal, NDT engineers should have a good knowledge on forward problems. Such knowledge is usually obtained by a lot of testing experiences. Another why of obtaining such knowledge is to build a database containing lots of defect information and their corresponding signals. However, the archiving of raw test data would require a lot of storage space. In this paper, an economic way of storing signals is studied by using Fourier descriptors. Instead of saving raw signal data, Fourier descriptors are saved and the storage spare is reduced. Of course, the defect signal can be reconstructed from the stored descriptors. By using differential ECT signals produced by numerical modeling and experiment, the savings of 85% from the original signal and $57{\sim}65%$ from the filtered signal in the storage space were confirmed. The similarity of the reconstructed signal and the original signal was also demonstrated. This Fourier descriptor approach could contribute significantly in building differential signal databases.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.305-308
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• 2006

Magnetic flux leakage (MFL) pigs are traditionally used for the detection of gross corrosion on steel pipelines used for the transmission of natural gas. Alternative nondestructive evaluation (NDE) modalities are required for the detection of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) which tends to exist in colonies oriented axially along the length of the pipeline. This paper describes the use of multiphase rotating magnetic fields in the remote region of the probe as a possible SCC detection mechanism. Details of a prototype pig and test rig are given and the challenges associated with the finite element modeling of the device are discussed. Initial experimental results show that this novel NDE modality is sensitive to axially oriented tight cracks.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.9-15
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• 2010

US NRC issued rulemaking of 10CFR50.55a to perform the Perservice and Inservice inspection for Reactor Vessel Head Penetration Nozzle of US Nuclaer plant. The rulemaking was required the EPRI Demonstration to verify the NDE technique performing special Ultrasonic examination. In order to meet this requirement, the UT and ECT procedures was demonstrated and the NDE personnel were qualified by EPRI. In this paper, the NDE technique and analysis method are described the Preservice inspection for the Palo Verde #1/2/3 Replacement Reactor Vessel Head Penetration Nozzle using the qualified procedures and personnel.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.518-525
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• 2001

As steam generator (SG) tubes have aged, new and subtle flaws have appeared. Most of them start growing from outside the tubes. Since signals from outer diameter (OD) defects are very weak compared to those from inner diameter (ID) defects in the conventional eddy current testing due to skin effect, this paper studies the feasibility of using remote field eddy current (RFEC) technique, which has shown equal sensitivity to ID and OD defects in the ferromagnetic pipe inspection. Finite element modeling studies show that the operating frequency needs to be increased up to a few hundred kHz in order for RFEC effects to occur in the nonmagnetic SG tube. The proper distance between exciter and sensor coils is also found to be about 1.5 OD, which is half the distance used in the ferromagnetic pipe inspection. Defect signals obtained by the designed RFEC probe show equal sensitivity to ID and OD defects and the existence of linear relationship between defect depth and phase signal strength. These results tell us that RFEC inspection is feasible even in nonmagnetic steam generator tubes.