• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.7-12
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• 2012

Steam generator tubes are critical boundary of the primary and secondary side in nuclear power plants. Eddy current testing is commonly used as the method of non-destructive testing for the safety and integrity of steam generator tubes in the nuclear power plants. Changes in the geometric shape act as a stress concentration factor likely to cause a defect during the steam generator operation. The mixed-signals with the geometric shape are distorted and attributes that are difficult to detect signals. An example is bending stress due to compression process at a U-bend occurring in the intrados region which has a small radius of curvature. The resulting change in the geometric shape may lead to a dent like occurrences. The dent can cause stress concentration and generates stress corrosion cracks. In this study, the steam generator tubes of nuclear power plant were selected to study for analysis of mixed-signal containing dent and stress corrosion cracks.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.102-104
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• 2001

This paper presents a numerical analysis of the eddy current testing for pipe with axi-symmetric defect according to frequency changes using the finite element method(FEM). The defects used in this analysis are inner and outer axi-symmetric type. In order to obtain the behaviors of the signals by changing the frequency, the defects with different depths are modeled and analyzed using FEM. It is important to choose proper frequency because of the effect of skin depth in eddy current testing. This paper describes signal characteristics of each defects as frequency is changed.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.207-212
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• 2004

Eddy current (EC) testing methods are widely used in a variety of applications including the inspection of steam generator tubes in nuclear power plants, aircraft parts and airframes. A key factor that affects the EC signal is lift-off which means the physical distance between a sensor and a specimen in the testing. In practice, it is difficult to keep track of the actual value of the lift -off during a specific experiment, simulation or testing in the field, which is essential for accurate interpretation of the signal to be used in the following steps. Hence it is necessary to have a scheme to render the EC signal invariant to the effects of lift-off in spite of the changes in the real world. This paper describes a new method for compensating EC signals for variations in lift-off by acquiring an invariance feature using a homomorphic operator and neural network techniques. The signals from various lift-offs are transformed to obtain a zero lift-off equivalent signal that can be subsequently used for defect characterization in the next step.

• 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.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.30 no.4
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• pp.330-337
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• 2010

In this paper, 3-dimensional electromagnetic numerical analysis is performed about the eddy current(EC) array probe characteristic which is the next generation probe for accurate diagnosis of steam generator(SG) in nuclear power plants(NPPs). ASME(American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Standard and X-probe combo calibration standard tube are selected for acquisition of eddy current testing(ECT) signals and this result of compared with the real test signals for reasonability of result. Based on the analysis result of calibration standard tube, ECT signals that are about the defects of pitting, stress corrosion cracking(SCC), multiple SCC and wear is obtained. Material of specimen was Inconel 600 which is usually used for SG tubes in NPPs. The operation frequency of 300 kHz were used. The signal characteristics could be observed according to the various defects. The results in this paper can be helpful when the ECT signals from EC array probe are evaluated and analyzed.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.271-276
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• 2003

Sea level variability and eddy in the Amsterdam-Crozet-Kerguelen region of the South Indian Ocean were studied during 1 year (October 15, 1992~October 15, 1993) using multi-satellite data (Topex/Poseidon, ERS1) produced by signal treatment. We found that sea level variabilities (>10cm) generally exist along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the area of 35$^{\circ}$~46$^{\circ}$S and strong sea level variabilities (20~30cm) were especially occurred from the effects of eddy due to bottom topography in two small area: 49$^{\circ}$~57$^{\circ}$E and 38$^{\circ}$~42$^{\circ}$S, and 58$^{\circ}$~64$^{\circ}$E and 42$^{\circ}$~44$^{\circ}$S.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.563-569
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• 2009

In this paper, four different types of pulsed eddy current(PEC) probe are designed and their performance of detecting wall thickness reduction is compared. By using the backward difference method in time and the finite element method in space, PEC signals from various thickness and materials are numerically calculated and three features of the signal are selected. Since PEC signals and features are obtained by various types and sizes of probe, the comparison is made through the normalized features which reflect the sensitivity of the feature to thickness reduction. The normalized features indicate that the shielded reflection probe provides the best sensitivity to wall thickness reduction for all three signal features. Results show that the best sensitivity to thickness reduction can be achieved by the peak value, but also suggest that the time to peak can be a good candidate because of its linear relationship with the thickness variation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.281-284
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• 1997

In this paper, the eddy current flow meter with 4-coil group is designed and made on the basis of theory, and its characteristics is considered through dry test flow experiments. The biggest output signal varied with wave form and frequency, and 900Hz in rectangular wave, 27.12kHz in sine wave. The conductivity is bigger, the output signal is bigger and has a linearity between both relation, and also The Magnetic Reynolds Number and output characteristics. The flow faster and the output singnal is bigger.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.81-91
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• 1997

In this study, a magnetic sensor to make use of eddy current was developed to detect the weld seam of butt joint in the sheet metal arc welding. This system consist of the sensor device for detecting the weld line, the servo control device for driving the weld torch movement and the control unit. A signal processing was applied to smooth the output signal of the sensor. The weld joint was determined by using a 1st order differential method. To improve tracking accuracy of the system, moving average method which has an effect of proportional and weighted integral control was applied to a series of the weld joint positions obtained above. The weld line for tracking was generated by using data regeneration algorithm. Based on these results, each servo motor was controlled by pulse generator. From experimental results, it was revealed that this system has excellent detecting ability for weld line and seam tracking ability.