• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.4166-4178
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• 2021

The Control Rod Drive Mechanism (CRDM) is an essential part of the reactor, which realizes the start-stop and power adjustment of the reactor by lifting and lowering the control rod assembly. As a moving part in CRDM, the latch directly contacts with the control rod assembly, and the life of latch is closely related to the service life of the reactor. In this paper, the relationship between the life of the latch and the step stress, friction stress, and impact stress in the process of movement is analyzed, and the optimization methodology and process of latch life based on the approximate model are proposed. The design variables that affect the life of the latch are studied through the experimental design, and the optimization objective of design variables based on the latch life is established. Based on this, an approximate model of the life of the latch is built, and the multi-objective optimization of the life of the latch is optimized through the NSGA-II algorithm.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.11c
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• pp.567-570
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• 2003

This paper deals with the design, implementation, and test of a CRCS for nuclear power plants. Although CRCS is still classified into non-safety class, much attention on its reliability issue has been given so far because of its importance for the stable operation of the reactor in the plant. In terms of technical aspects, our system adopts a full-duplex configuration to enhance reliability in contrast to the existing systems that are all simplex.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.803-810
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• 2022

The small modular liquid-metal fast reactor (SMFR) is an important component of advanced nuclear systems. SMFRs exhibit relatively low breeding capability and constraint space for control rod installation. Consequently, control rods are deeply inserted at beginning and are withdrawn gradually to compensate for large burnup reactivity loss in a long lifetime. This paper is committed to investigating the impact of control rod compensation operation on core neutronics characteristics. This paper presents a whole core fine depletion model of long lifetime SMFR using OpenMC and the influence of depletion chains is verified. Three control rod position schemes to simulate the compensation process are compared. The results show that the fine simulation of the control rod compensation process impacts significantly the fuel burnup distribution and absorber consumption. A control rod equivalent position scheme proposed in this work is an optimal option in the trade-off between computation time and accuracy. The control position is crucial for accurate power distribution and void feedback coefficients in SMFRs. The results in this paper also show that the pin level power distribution is important due to the heterogeneous distribution in SMFRs. The fuel burnup distribution at the end of core life impacts the worth of control rods.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.593-602
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• 2004

We have developed a digital control rod control system not only to improve its performance but also to improve its reliability and speed of response so that it can replace the old fashioned analog system. However, a new developed digital control system should be tested to prove the validity by using any prototype or mock-up before application. The reliability prediction and the reliability block diagram analysis methods were adopted to verify the reliability of the developed hardware. For the case of software, especially fur a new developed control algorithm it has been tested to prove performances and validation by using a dynamic simulator and mock-up of control rod drive mechanism altogether. Here we want to present some key factors regarding to the new developed digital system with some verification procedures.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.291-292
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• 2007

This paper deals with the design of control cabinet based on safety PLC for Control Rod Control System(CRCS). The CRCS controls the operation of the CRDMs(Control Rod Drive Mechanisms). The CRDM moves the control rods which regulate the reactor power. vertically in the reactor core. The Control Cabinet in CRCS makes and conveys control signals to the power cabinet which provides power to the CRDM. We designed the Control Cabinet, based on POSAFE-Q, safety PLC. The application programs working in PLC can be programmed by pSET(POSAFE-Q Software Engineering Tool), Identified Development Environment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2756-2766
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• 2024

Small rod-controlled pressurized water reactors (PWR) are the ideal energy source for vessel propulsion, benefiting from their high reactivity control efficiency. Since the control rods (CRs) increase the complexity of reactivity control, this paper seeks to study the performance of CRs in small rod-controlled PWRs to extend the lifetime and reduce power offset due to CRs. This study investigates CR grouping, move-in/out strategies, and axially non-uniform design effects on core neutron physics metrics. These metrics include axial offset (AO), core lifetime (CL), fuel utilization (FU), and radial power peaking factor (R-PPF). To simulate the movement of the CRs, a "Critical-CR-burnup" function was developed in OpenMC. In CR designs, the CRs are grouped into three banks to study the simultaneous and prioritized move-in/out strategies. The results show CL extension from 590 effective full power days (EFPDs) to 638-698 EFPDs. A lower-worth prioritized strategy minimizes AO and the extremum values decrease from -0.69 and + 0.81 to -0.28 and + 0.51. Although an axially non-uniform CR design can improve AO at the beginning of cycle (BOC), considering the overall CR worth change is crucial, as a significant decrease can adversely impact axial power distribution during the middle of cycle (MOC).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.342-352
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• 1998

A nuclear design feasibility of soluble boron free(SBF core for the medium-sized(600MWe) PWR was investigated. The result conformed that soluble boron free operation could be performed by using current PWR proven technologies. Westinghouse advanced reactor, AP-600 was chosen as a design prototype. Design modification was applied for the assembly design with burnable poison and control rod absorber material. In order to control excess reactivity, large amount of gadolinia integral burnable poison rods were used and B4C was used as a control rod absorber material. For control of bottom shift axial power shape due to high temperature feedback in SBF core, axial zoning of burnable poison was applied to the fuel assemblies design. The combination of enrichment and rod number zoning for burnable poison could make an excess reactivity swing flat within around 1% and these also led effective control on axial power offset and peak pin power, The safety assessment of the designed core was peformed by the calculation of MTC, FTC and shutdown margin. MTC in designed SBF core was greater around 6 times than one of Ulchin unit 3&4. Utilization of enriched BIO(up to 50w1o) in B4C shutdown control rods provided enough shutdown margin as well as subcriticality at cold refueling condition.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.07d
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• pp.2370-2373
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• 2004

In this paper we describe the design of a Dual-Redundant Power Controller(DRPC) for Control Rod Control System(CRCS). The CRCS also provides information regarding rod motion, rod position, and status of the Rod Control System. It has Hot/Stand-by type, and also has the function of fault detection for controller itself and power modules. We have implemented the various functions with the dual-redundant Power Controller. Due to the developed DRPC, we are assured that the commmecial use by this controller be made before long.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1991.10a
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• pp.1133-1138
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• 1991

A control of nonlinear system is motivated by the fact that all real plants are nonlinear systems and model identification introduces parameter errors. The purpose of this study is to design a Discrete Variable Structure Controller(DVSC) for single-rod hydraulic cylinder system. The model contains uncertain parameters which we known to lie upper and lower bounds. In the design of DVSC, the boundary layer concept was adopted to reduce cattering. The DVSC was evaluated through digital computer simulation and compared with a VSC (analog controller).

• Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.312-321
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• 2016

Dynamic behaviour of a slider-crank mechanism associated with a smart flexible connecting rod is investigated. Effect of various mechanisms' parameters including crank length, flexibility of the connecting rod and the slider's mass on the dynamic behaviour is studied. Two control schemes are proposed for elastodynamic vibration suppression of the flexible connecting rod and also obtaining a constant angular velocity for the crank. The first scheme is based on feedback linearization approach and the second one is based on a sliding mode controller. The input signals are applied by an electric motor located at the crank ground joint, and two layers of piezoelectric film bonded to the top and bottom surfaces of the connecting rod. Both of the controllers successfully suppress the vibrations of the elastic linkage.