• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.10c
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• pp.53-55
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• 2005

The signals of the eddy current testing(ECT) for the examination of the steam generator(SG) tubes in the nuclear power plant(NPP) determine the existence, size, and kind of defects using the variation of impedance signals when a testing coil, driven by alternating current, passes through the SG tube contains defects. The aim of this paper is building a database of the RPC probe signals on the basis of the sizes variation of defects and frequency variation of probe. In this paper 3-D numerical analysis of the ECT signals using the finite element method is performed. Through this study, it is shown variation of magnitude and phase of impedance according to variation of defect size and frequency. From the result of this paper, we can obtain the information which is useful in defect discrimination of SG tube in nuclear power plant.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.43-50
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• 2000

Design and experiments of a nondestructive testing system with a solenoid eddy current sensor to inspect deterioration of ASCR-OC (ACSR Outdoor Cross-linked Polyethylene Insulated Wires) usually used in HV overhead distribution lines in domestic areas in presented in this paper. Through corrosion mechanisms and deterioration results for ACSR-OC conductors are examined, it is shown that corrosion may lead to the reduction of the effective cross section area of conductors is proposed. The measurement system consisting of a constant current source with a RF frequency, a signal processing unit and a motor driver/ controller is designed and implemented. This instrument has such capabilities as detecting the sensor output and estimating diameter change of the testing conductors, continuously. As a result, it was verified that such corrosion detector system with an eddy current sensor can be shown good effectiveness for estimating the serious faults due to deterioration in overhead distribution lines and giving an early warming before severe aged conductor may lead to fail.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.650-657
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• 2001

This paper explains the process of designing a shielded encircling remote field eddy current (RFEC) probe to inspect nuclear fuel cladding tubes and investigates resulting signal characteristics. To force electromagnetic energy from exciter coil to penetrate into the tube, exciter coil is shielded outside by laminations of iron insulated electrically from each other. Effects of shielding and the proper operating frequency are studied by the finite element analysis and the location for sensor coil is decided. However, numerically simulated signals using the designed probe do not clearly show the defect indication when the sensor passes a defect and the other indication appeared as the exciter passes the defect is affected by the shape of shielding structure, which demonstrates that the sensor is directly affected by exciter fields. For this reason, the sensor is also shielded outside and this shielding dramatically improves signal characteristics. Numerical modeling with the finally designed probe shows very similar signal characteristics to those of inner diameter RFEC probe. That is, phase signals show almost equal sensitivity to inner diameter and outer diameter defects and the linear relationship between phase signal strength and defect depth is observed.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.144-146
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• 2005

Dual electromagnetic sensor is used for sensing the weld line. The sensor consists of excitation and two sensing coil wound over the ferro-magnetic core. By using the dual sensor, the effect of noise is minimized. It is based on the generation of eddy currents in the welding plate by passing current through the excitation coil. The sensor can be used to track the butt joints having no gap between them, where a vision based sensor fails to track. Sensor sensitivity depends on the number of coil turns, frequency of excitation, distance of a sensor from the work piece, diameter of core, etc. The whole system consists of a sensor, a signal processing board, a motion controller and a personnel computer (PC). The raw sensor signal is processed using the signal processing board. It consists of amplification, rectification, filtering, averaging, offset adjustment, etc. Based on sensor data, the motion controller adjusts the position of a welding torch.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.164-170
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• 2004

Liquid Injection Nozzle(LIN) tube and Calandria tube(CT) in pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) are .ross-aligned horizontally. These neighboring tubes can contact each other due to the sag of the calandria tube resulting from the irradiation creep and thermal creep, and fuel load, etc. In order to judge the contact which might be the safety concern, the remote field eddy current (RFEC) technology is applied for the gap measurement in this paper. LIN can be detected by inserting the RFEC probe into pressure tube (PT) at the crossing point directly. To obtain the optimal conditions of the RFEC inspection, the sensitivity, penetration and noise signals are considered simultaneously. The optimal frequency and coil spacing are 1kHz and 200mm respectively. Possible noises during LIN signal acquisition are caused by lift-off, PT thickness variation, and gap variation between PT and CT. The simulated noise signals were investigated by the Volume Integral Method(VIM). Signal analysis on the voltage plane describes the amplitude and shape of LIN and possible defects at several frequencies. All the RFEC measurements in the laboratory were done in variance with the CT/LIN gap and showed the relationship between the LIN gap and the signal parameters by analyzing the voltage plane signals.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2007

The bobbin probe examination is basic and the important method among other ECT techniques for the steam generator tube integrity assesment that is practiced during each plant outage. The bobbin probe is one of the essential components which consist of the whole ECT examination system, and provides us a decisive data for the evaluation of tube integrity in compliance with acceptance criteria described in specific procedures. The selection of examination probe is especially important because the quality of acquired ECT data is determined by the probe design characteristics, such as geometry and operation frequency, and has enormous effects on examination results. In this study, An optimal differential bobbin probe is designed for the steam generator tube inspection in nuclear power plants(NPPs). Based on the test results for electrical and ECT signal characteristics, the prototype bobbin probe satisfies all the criteria.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.262-269
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• 1997

An eddy current probe ($8{\times}1$ multiple-element, surface scan) was successfully designed and fabricated at the KEPRI using the impedance equivalent circuit theory. The probe is intended for the detection of circumferential deformations (cross-section view) of the heat exchanger tubing that can occur due to corrosion, erosion, and denting. Optimum design parameters providing the highest sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio, such as the coil dimensions, electrical characteristics, and test frequencies, were determined based on initial laboratory experiments conducted on the test specimen (SS304 tubing: OD : 9.68mm, wall-thickness : 0.47mm) containing artificial flaws (e.g., dents and corroded surface on tube OD) using the available Zetec-made probe. Using this parameters, a new probe was made and tested on an unknown specimen. The result indicated that the new probe is capable of detecting the circumferential deformation with the error of ${\pm}0.2%$ (0.022mm) of the tube O.D.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1996 no.11
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• pp.307-309
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• 1996

A new design scheme of actively-shielded x,y-gradient coils for Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) is proposed. An actively-shielded x-gradient coil has been designed as an example and the results are presented. In MRI, gradient coils are needed for spatial selection and position coding to obtain the position information of the NMR signal. They are usually switched on and off during imaging and the eddy current induced by the current switching usually degrades the final image quality To reduce or remove this kind of problems, the active shielding has been proposed few years ago. In this paper, a new design scheme for actively-shielded x,y-gradient coils, namely, a minimum-power design scheme using current-loop elements, has been proposed. Its utility in designing MRI gradient coils has been shown by using simulation. The design scheme seems to be useful for actively-shielded transverse gradient coils, even of non-cylindrical or of arbitrary-selected shapes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.231-234
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• 2007

The magnetic sensor using electromagnetic principle. which transfers magnatic into electric. is the electric component.It has been widely applied to the industry, university and the reseach. However there are some problems. Not only the korean domestic sensor manufacture skills are still lower then the advanced manufacture's but also production of sensor is not well organized yet. Due to cahnging excitation cvurrent, excitation freq and the rate magnetic permeability core, there sometimes would be distorted phenomena or loaded phenomena which result in limited measurment range. Therefore, the signal conversion device should support to receive undistorted and nice output. This paper focuses on both the design of signal transform circuit using inductive proximity sensor and the signal transfer equipment (Z device) which detects thickness of painted material.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.70-73
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• 2010

A magnetic phase is partly produced in a steam generator tube due to stress and heat, because steam generator tubes are exposed to high temperature, high pressure and radioactivity conditions. This adversely affects the safety of steam generator tubes. However, it is difficult to detect it using conventional eddy current methods. Therefore, a new type of probe is needed to separate the signals from the defects and magnetic phases. In this study, a new U-type yoke, which contained two types of coils, a magnetizing coil and detecting coil, was designed. In addition, the signal induced by the magnetic phase and defect in an Inconel 600 plate were simulated.