• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.1160-1167
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• 2018

Detectability of the loose parts (LPs) in steam generator (SG) was studied with eddy current testing technique such as X-probe, bobbin and rotating coils ($MRPC^{(R)}$) as a function of LP size and spacing between LP and tube or between LP and support structures. SG mockup simulating SG tube and support structures with LP was fabricated. The X-probe showed slightly better detectability than $MRPC^{(R)}$ for LP of ferrous (F-LP) material and vice versa for LP of nonferrous (NF-LP) material. In terms of feasibility, inspection rate and other predictable features of the SG tubing inspections, X-probe can be used reliably for monitoring the LPs and the flaws formed by LPs on SG tubes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.393-397
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• 2007

Eddy current standard including an artificial slot for the calibration of absolute type surface probe was fabricated. Developed eddy current standard has the electric conductivity and dimensions, and contains artificial slot as established in ASTM E 1629. The width and depth of artificial slot are 0.1 mm and 0.5 mm respectively. This slot was only possible to measure the depth on the two side edges, and impossible for the middle part with general measurement tools. The ultrasonic test method was applied for measuring depth of the middle part of the artificial slot in the standard. Using this method the dimension could be measured successfully with uncertainty about $15\;{\mu}m$. Calibration of eddy current standard for the absolute probe can be performed by this technique.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.697-699
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• 2002

In this paper, the characteristics analysis of the eddy current sensor by using boundary element method package is presented. For the boundary element analysis. Faraday, which is the commercial package of the integrated engineering software, is used. To observe the impedance characteristic of the eddy current senor with the sensor position and lift-off, the eddy current testing analysis is performed on the ferromagnetic plate with defect. Considering the skin depth of the ferromagnetic specimen, the 800(Hz) driving source is chosen. The result shows that electro motive force is reduced as the probe moves to near the defect and the lift-off of the probe increases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.10 s.241
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• pp.1336-1343
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• 2005

The detection mechanism of the flaw for the nondestructive testing using eddy current is related to the interaction of the induced eddy currents in the test specimen with flaws and the coupling of these interaction effects with the moving test probe. In this study, the two-dimensional electromagnetic finite element analysis(FEM) fur the eddy current signals of the aluminum plate with different depth of surface cracks is described and the comparison is also made between experimental and predicted signals analyzed by FEM. In addition, the characteristics of attenuation of the eddy current density due to the variation of the depth of a conductor are evaluated. The effective parameters for the application of eddy current technique to evaluate surface cracks are discussed by analyzing the characteristics of the eddy current signals due to the variation of crack depths.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.622-634
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• 2003

This paper is concerned with a computational method for recovering a crack shape of steam generator tubes of nuclear plants. Problems on the shape identification are discussed arising in the characterization of a structural defect in a conductor using data of eddy current inspection. A surface defect on the generator tube ran be detected as a probe impedance trajectory by scanning a pancake type coil. First, a mathematical model of the inspection process is derived from the Maxwell's equation. Second, the input and output relation is given by the approximate model by virtue of the hybrid use of the finite element and boundary element method. In that model, the crack shape is characterized by the unknown coefficients of the B-spline function which approximates the crack shape geometry. Finally, a parameter estimation technique is proposed for recovering the crack shape using data from the probe coil. The computational experiments were successfully tested with the laboratory data.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.348-354
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• 1989

The metallurgical transformation ratios of metals have been evaluated by the eddy current method. Eddy current probes have been designed and applied to various standard samples. The equivalent impedance estimated from the eddy current measurement is closely related to the variation of transformation ratios in metals. It has been found that the variation of the impedance is relatively large in the samples where the transformation ratios of the samples are small. Both reactance and resistance increase when the transformation ratio is large. Sensitivities of eddy current test is increased with increasing frequencies and by inserting ferrite core the solenoid eddy probe. Our results have shown the implementation of eddy current measurement to the one-line nondestructive testing of metals.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2003

An eddy current testing system was developed for detection of flaws in the ferromagnetic steel tubes. Because the eddy current signals from the ferromagnetic steel tubes could be distorted easily due to an irregularity of magnetic permeability, magnetic saturation is required to suppress this variation of magnetic fields. A magnetic saturation probe with the Hemholtz coil was designed for the inspection of the steel tubes. The bandwidth pass filters were adapted to minimize the noise from the DC magnetization. When using the designed test probe, the flaw signals could be discriminated from the noise. The system was tested at the production line and showed a capability of detecting flaws, like a drilled hole of the diameter of 2.0mm at the moving speed of 1m/sec.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.156-161
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• 1997

The eddy current probe was designed for the test of fin tubes that have uneven outer and inner surfaces to enhance the efficiency of heat emission. Because of the surface roughness of the fin tube, it needs much care to detect flaws in the tube employing eddy current test(ECT). We made ECT probes with different coil lengths and performed eddy current test using these probes for artificially flawed specimens. By the fast Fourier transform and digital filtering, signals from these probes were processed to characterize frequency spectra. From the analysis of eddy current signals and their frequency spectra, we concluded that, for the effective testing of the tubes with the fins of 1mm pitch, 4mm coil length gave the highest S/N ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.398-408
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• 2007

For better evaluation of material thickness by using the reflection type pulsed eddy current method, various probe models are designed and their response signals, characteristics, and sensitivities to thickness variation are investigated by a numerical analysis method. Since the sensor needs to detect magnetic fields from eddy currents induced in a test material, not from the exciter coil, two types of models that are shielded by the combination of copper and ferrite and only by ferrite are considered. By studying response signals from these shielded probe models, the peak value and the zero crossing time are selected as useful signal features for the evaluation of material thickness. Investigation of sensitivities of these two features shows that the sensitivity of peak value is more useful than that of zero crossing time and that the probe shielded only by ferrite gives much better sensitivity to thickness variation.

• 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.