• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.556-560
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• 2001

Remote field eddy current testing (RFECT) with through-wall transmission characteristic is being applied to pipes ranging from small tubes of heat exchanger to natural gas supply pipelines. Cast iron pipes with nominal diameter of 100mm are used primarily as the waterline pipes. The leakage of water occurs due to defects in the pipes caused by vibration of automobiles and corrosion. But, the use of direct inspection methods such as insertion of inspection equipment inside the pipelines has been limited due to its lack of economical efficiency. Economical development of inspection equipments is possible since RFECT method can be easily employed for system integration and quantitative evaluation of both inside and outside defects. In this study, the development of underground pipeline inspection system was tarried out by using RFECT method in consideration of the characteristics of waterline network. This paper specifically describes the design and production of RFECT pipeline inspection pig using centralizer mechanism, development of remote field eddy current signal acquisition and processing software, and review of RFECT system operation procedures.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.526-531
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• 2001

The flow of remote field eddy current energy is studied at nonmagnetic coaxial tubes by using both experiments and finite element calculations based on commercial software package. The results showed that remote field eddy current energy at coaxial tubes flow along over the outer surface of external tube, not through the gap between internal and external tubes. This means that the through wall transmission characteristic of remote field eddy current testing (RFECT) is still valid at tube in tube configurations and the RFECT could be potential nondestructive technique for crack detection, spacer location and gap sizing at the coaxial CANDU fuel channel tubes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.483-489
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• 2016

The typical methods used for inspecting ferromagnetic pipes include the ultrasonic testing (UT) contact method and the following non-contact methods: magnetic flux leakage (MFL), electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMAT), and remote field eddy current testing (RFECT). Among these methods, the RFECT method has the advantage of being able to establish a system smaller than the diameter of a pipe. However, the method has several disadvantages as well, including different sensitivities and difficult-to-repair coil sensors which comprise its array system. Therefore, a giant magneto-resistance (GMR) sensor was applied to address these issues. The GMR sensor is small, easy to replace, and has uniform sensitivity. In this experiment, the GMR sensor was used to measure remote field and defect signal characteristics (in the axial and radial directions) in a ferromagnetic pipe. These characteristics were measured in an effort to investigate standard defects at changing depths within a pipe. The results show that the experiment successfully demonstrated the applicability of the GMR sensor to RFECT signal detection in ferromagnetic pipe.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2019

Thermal power generation accounts for the highest percentage of domestic power generation, among which coal-fired boiler generation accounts for the highest percentage. Coal boilers generate harmful substances and fine dust during coal combustion and have a serious effect on air pollution. So, fluidized-bed boilers have been introduced as eco-friendly coal boilers. It uses a fluid medium which affect the combustion temperature of coal. Because of it fluidized-bed boilers emit less pollutants than original one. Water-wall tubes play an important role in this fluidized bed boiler. Due to the fluid medium, the wall damage is more severe than the existing boiler. However, there is no quantitative maintenance technique in Korea yet. Remote field eddy current testing is a non-destructive evaluation technique that is often used for inspection of inner and outer wall of tube. it can inspect with non-contact and high speed. However, it is an inspection that proceeds from inside the pipe, and the water-wall tube is not able to enter the interior. In this study, we designed and simulated an external remote field eddy current sensor suitable for water-wall tube of a fluidized - bed boiler using simulations. By obtaining a signal similar to the existing remote field eddy current test, the criteria for the external remote field eddy current sensor design can be presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2002

A FEM model of the remote-field eddy current effect is presented for zirconium-2.5 percent niobium(Zr-2.5%Nb) nuclear reactor pressure tubes to demonstrate the important electromagnetic field phenomena. This model is applied to evaluate the optimal operating frequency and detector position. There are many ambiguous experimental results connected with this technique. Finite element calculations can be used in the interpretation of these experimental results even though the electromagnetic fields measured in the remote-field technique are very small.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.187-192
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• 2002

The open-connect type eddy current transducer for the flaw detection in continuously connected pipelines was developed. This eddy current transducer is for the on-line inspection of the tubes in industries, to which commercial encircling probes are not applicable. The excitation coil that consists of a ribbon type cable and a flat connector can be opened and closed on purpose. The sensing coils of this transducer are circumferentially arrayed near the outside of the tube wall but axially displaced from the exciter by about one and half tube diameter. In application to steel tubes, and the performance of this transducer was evaluated as a little behind those of magnetic saturation type in signal to noise ratio and flaw size decision, but usable to detect or to locate large size flaws in steel tubes. Surface cracks deeper than 19% of the tube thickness could be detected with good signal to noise ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.552-559
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• 2011

Recently, the eddy current testing(ECT), alternating current field testing, magnetic flux leakage testing and remote field testing have been used as a nondestructive evaluation method based on the electromagnetic induction phenomenon. The eddy current testing is now widely accepted as a NDE method for the heat exchanger tube in the electric power industry, chemical, shipbuilding, and military. The ECT system mainly consists of the synthesizer module, analog module, analog-to-digital converter, power supplier, and data acquisition and analysis program. In the previous study, the synthesizer module and the analog module which is essential to the ECT system were primarily developed, and in this study the data acquisition and analysis program were developed. The operation system for this program is based on the Windows 7, and optimized for the Korean users, and the specific feature of this program using setup wizard enables inspector to make a setup easily for acquisition and analysis of ECT data. In this paper, the configuration and functions of eddy current data acquisition and analysis program will be introduced.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.155-161
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• 2010

Recently, the electromagnetic techniques of the eddy current testing(ECT), alternating current field testing, magnetic flux leakage testing and remote field testing have been used as a nondestructive evaluation method based on the electromagnetic induction. The eddy current testing is now widely accepted as a NDE method for the heat exchanger tube in the electric power industry, chemical, shipbuilding, and military. The ECT system mainly consists of the synthesizer module, analog module, analog-to-digital converter, power supplier, and data acquisition and analysis program. In this study, the synthesizer module and the analog module which are essential to the ECT system were primarily developed. The developed ECT system is basically a multifrequency type which is able to inject the maximum four frequencies based on the frequency and time domain multiplexing method. Conclusively, we confirmed that the EC signal was processed appropriately in each circuit modules, and the Lissajous EC signal was displayed in the impedance plane.

• 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.