• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.713-716
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• 2000

In this study, we present a mobile robot for ultrasonic scanning of weldment. magnetic Caterpillar mechanism is selected in order to travel on the inclined surface and vertical wall. A motion control board and motor driver are developed to control four DC-servo motors. A virtual device driver is also developed for the purpose of communicating between the control board and a host PC with Dual 'port ram. To provide the mobile robot with stable and accurate movement, PID control algorithm is applied to the mobile robot control. And a vision system for detecting the weld-line are developed with laser slit beam as a light source. In the experiments, movement of the mobile robot is tested inclined on a surface and a vertical wall.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.531-539
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• 1996

The research for the classification of the artificial defects in welding parts is performed using the pattern recognition technology of ultrasonic signal. The signal pattern recognition package including the user defined function is developed to perform the digital signal processing, feature extraction, feature selection and classifier selection. The neural network classifier and the statistical classifiers such as the linear discriminant function classifier and the empirical Bayesian classifier are compared and discussed. The pattern recognition technique is applied to the classification of artificial defects such as notchs and a hole. If appropriately learned, the neural network classifier is concluded to be better than the statistical classifiers in the classification of the artificial defects.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.24 no.4_2
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• pp.481-490
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• 2021

In the ultrasonic welding machine, when the load fluctuates, the L and C of the piezo element in the oscillation part change. As a result, the resonant frequency is changed, so it is necessary to match the operating frequency of the ultrasonic welding machine to the new resonant frequency. That is, in order to maximize the output of the oscillation unit of the ultrasonic welding machine, it is inevitable to follow the resonance frequency. Accordingly, many methods for following the resonant frequency are being actively studied. In addition, in order to check the effect of external inductance on the operation of the ultrasonic welding machine, The equivalent circuit of the piezo element was analyzed by including the external inductance for resonance in the equivalent circuit of the piezo element, and the method of selecting an appropriate inductance was described. In this paper, we propose a new system that allows the switching frequency of the inverter to tracking the resonance frequency even if the resonance frequency is changed due to the load of the ultrasonic welding machine.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.20 no.3 s.71
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• pp.14-18
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• 2005

The ultrasonic handy scanner to be developed in this research is a nondestructive inspection equipment with various facility. The ultrasonic inspection is the technique area which apply range is increasing greatly with IT. The purpose of this research is development of a ultrasonic handy scan inspection device with the utility in a work spot. The ultrasonic handy scanner to be developed with portability in this research is able to carry out the spot inspection. It can contribute to the quality improvement, cost reduction and safety design.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.384-389
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• 2004

As the increase of the operation year of nuclear power plants, the probabilities of the degradation of the major facilities and materials in the nuclear power plants are increased. The integrity of those facilities shall be monitored and verified by the non-destructive examination methods with the regulation codes, so called inservice inspection(ISI). The ISI of Yonggwang unit 6 was performed in four different parts, 1) non-destructive examinations for the components, piping weldments and structures, 2) automated ultrasonic examinations for pressure vessels, 3) visual examinations for the interior structures of the reactor, 4) eddy current examinations for the steam generator tubes. As the results, there was no severe indication and all detected indications were evaluated as non-relavent. Especially for the examinations of the piping weldments, PD(Performance Demonstration) was applied as a W examination method defined in the 1995 edition of ASME Code Sec. XI. The implementation of the PD for the piping weld results in an improvement of the reliability of the UT examinations.

• 한국방재학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.184-184
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• 2011

선로의 레일은 재료적인 특성과 현장의 많은 주변 요소에 의한 불확실성이 매우 높은 시스템으로 결함의 위험이 상존한다. 결함 발생과 조치에 따라 영업손실로 이어지므로 레일 결함 발생과 동시에 적절한 조치가 요구된다. 따라서 레일결함 발생 시 레일교환시기를 파악하는 것이 선로관리비용을 줄일 수 있으며 레일교환에 대한 신속한 판단을 위함 관리기준을 정립하는 것이 요구된다. 현재 국내에서 고속선의 경우 관리 기준이 있으나, 일반철도는 없는 실정이다. 본 연구는 차후 일반철도 180km/h 속도상승을 계획하고 있는 현 시점에 국외 관리기준을 분석하여 결함관리기준을 정립에 기여하고자 한다. 국내의 경우, 2004. 4. 1 프랑스 기술을 전수받아 개통한 고속선은 프랑스 레일관리기준을 적용한 "레일손상 등급별 관리기준"을 제정하여 레일관리를 시행하고 있다. 국외의 경우, INNOTRACK프로젝트 안에서 관련된 다른 IM(Infrastructure Managers, 사회기반시설 관리자들)에게 최근의 활동과 변화의 이해를 제공하기 위해서, 선택된 결함들의 최소조치들의 조사가 Network Rail, OBB, Prorail, Banverket 그리고 DB에서 수행되고 있으며 UIC 지침에도 포함되고 있다. 모든 최소조치 원칙은 초음파나 육안에 의해 발견된 길이나 초음파 또는 와류탐상기(eddy current system)를 이용한 깊이에 대한 제한(limits)을 준다. 또한 침목과 이음매 또는 용접부에 관한 위치에 관한 결함의 제한이 있다. 명시된 기간은 즉각적일 수도 있으며, 보통 속도 제한이나 비상 죔쇠(Clamps)같은 경감시키는 수단에 적용될 수 있으며, 또는 더 긴 기간이 될 수도 있다. 더 긴 기간들은 수리나 레일 교체를 통하여 선로로부터 결함이 제거되어야 하는 최대의 시간이다. 본 연구에서는 Transverse Breaks, Squats, Head Checks 3가지 결함 유형에 대해 각 국에서 사용하는 최소 조치를 비교하여 분석하였다. 분석결과, 유럽에서는 레일결함에 대하여 깊이 있는 연구를 통하여 관리기준을 정하여 관리하고 있으며 이에 따라 상세하고 구체적인 레일 관리가 가능하므로 효율적이며 안전성이 제고되는 것으로 판단된다. 차후 일반철도의 180km/h 속도상승을 계획하고 있는 현 시점에서 국내철도 일반선 여건에 적합한 레일결함관리기준을 정립하기 위한 추가적인 연구가 필요할 것으로 판단된다.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.20-27
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• 2010

In order to prevent the corrosion of component contacted primary water designed alloy 600 material in the nuclear power plant. But the primary water stress corrosion cracking(PWSCC) of alloy 600 and weld area occurs continuously due to the residual stress. The leakage accident resulted from PWSCC in the drain nozzle of the steam generator of domestic power plants. Heater sleeves of the pressurizer are welded with alloy 600 weld material and therefore exposed to the primary water environment. PWSCC occurred in heater sleeve material and weld area of many foreign power plants. The current issue of domestic nuclear power plants are consequently concentrated to PWSCC of similar material. In order to improve the detection and the sizing of the PWSCC in the welding sleeve of the pressurizer, the automatic UT system and multi-directions probe sets have been developed. The experimental studies have been performed using the mock-up block containing artificial reflectors(ID connected EDM notch) and semi-artificial cracks made from thermal fatigue. The automatic UT System is applied in the detection and the length sizing of the ID/OD on the tube and the J-groove weld area of the artificial reflectors and results of the detection and the sizing are compared respectively. Also, the developed automatic UT system is successfully accomplished to inspect the heater sleeve and the J-groove weld area on the pressurizer for the detection of PWSCC.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.504-509
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• 2016

Defects in dissimilar metal welds are reported to be on the increase during the operating lifespan and aging of nuclear power plants. In Korea, reported cases of defects due to dissimilar metal welds include the drain nozzle of a steam generator and RCS hot tube sampling nozzles. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a reliable automated nondestructive inspection technique and a system for the inspection of dissimilar metal welds of small diameter nozzles in a high radiation area of a nuclear power plant. In this study, to ensure effective defect inspection of small diameter nozzles (RCS high-temperature tube sampling nozzle) of a nuclear power plant, three different methods were developed. These include: (1) optimum inspection probe design by beam simulation, (2) multi-directions UT optimum inspection technique for the inspection of small diameters of different welded parts, and (3) remote control automatic inspection system. The developed technique and systems have been verified to be suitable for use in the inspection of defects in smaller diameter nozzles in nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.36-41
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• 2012

General condensers consist of many tubes supported by tube sheets and support plates to prevent the deflection of the condenser tubes. When a fluid at high pressure and temperature runs over the tubes for the purpose of transferring heat from one medium to another, the tubes vibrate and their surface comes into contact with the support plates. This vibration causes damage to the tubes, such as cracks and wear. We propose an ultrasonic guided wave technique to detect the above problems in the support plate region. In the proposed method, the ultrasonic guided wave mode, L(0,1), is excited using an internal transducer probe from a single position at the end of the tube. In this paper, we present a preliminary experimental verification using a super stainless tube and show that the defects can be discriminated from the support signals in the support region.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2010

The stay cylinder weld at the steam generator of Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plants is safety class I component and is subjected to be inspected by the volumetric examination such as ultrasonic method. As accessibility of this area is limited due to the narrow space and high radiation, the existing manual inspection method involves various difficulties. Moreover operators may be exposed to internal contamination by contaminated dust during the surface buffing process to improve the inspection reliability of this area. Recently the new automatic inspection system for stay cylinder welds has been developed. The inspection system basically consists of a driving assembly, data acquisition device and signal processing units. The driving assembly is classified by 1) the scanner for inspecting and buffing the weld, 2) pillars for guiding the scanner and 3) the base frame for loading and supporting pillars. The scanner has 4 sensor modules to inspect in 4 refracted angles and 4 incident directions. These components can be inserted into the skirt of the stay cylinder through the manway hole and assembled easily by one-touch in the skirt. Data acquisition device and signal processing units developed in previous works are also newly upgraded for better processing of data analysis and evaluation. The system has been successfully demonstrated not only in the mock-up but also in the field. In this paper, newly developed inspection system for the stay cylinder weld of the steam generator is introduced and their field applications are discussed.