• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.136-141
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• 2011

In a power plant, an oil and steam leakage is generated once in a while. This is because the operating temperature and pressure of oil are very high. It is very difficult to monitor oil leakage, because oil leakage is almost invisible. Therefore a method to oil leakage detecting quickly and accurately is needs. In this paper, we proposed the method for the detecting oil leakage by using image processing and CCTV. To test the performance of this technique, experiments have been performed for simple case. Results show that the proposed technique is quite powerful in the oil leak detection.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.155-162
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• 2019

To reduce the secondary damage caused by leakage accidents in plant piping systems, a constant surveillance system is necessary. To ensure leaks are promptly addressed, the surveillance system should be able to detect not only the leak itself, but also the location of the leak. Recently, research to develop new methods has been conducted using cameras to detect leakage and to estimate the location of leakage. However, existing methods solely estimate whether a leak exists or not, or only provide two-dimensional coordinates of the leakage location. In this paper, a method using multiple cameras to detect leakage and estimate the three-dimensional coordinates of the leakage location is presented. Leakage is detected by each camera using MADI(Moving Average Differential Image) and histogram analysis. The two-dimensional leakage location is estimated using the detected leakage area. The three-dimensional leakage location is subsequently estimated based on the two-dimensional leakage location. To achieve this, the coordinates (x, z) for the leakage are calculated for a horizontal section (XZ plane) in the monitoring area. Then, the y-coordinate of leakage is calculated using a vertical section from each camera. The method proposed in this paper could accurately estimate the three-dimensional location of a leak using multiple cameras.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2014.04a
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• pp.181-182
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• 2014

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.1677-1688
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• 2020

In the sodium-cooled fast reactor, the steam generator is a heat exchange device between sodium and water, which may cause leakage, resulting in a sodium-water reaction accident, which in turn affects the safe operation of the entire nuclear reactor. To this end, the electromagnetic vortex flowmeter is used to detect leakage of the steam generator and its signal processing method is studied in this paper. The hydraulic experiment was carried out by using water instead of liquid sodium, and the sensor output signal of the electromagnetic vortex flowmeter under different gas injection volumes was collected. The bubble noise signal is reflected by the base line of the sensor output signal. According to the relationship between the proportion of the bubble noise signal in the sensor output signal and the gas injection volume, a signal processing method based on the energy ratio calculation is proposed to detect whether the water contains bubbles. The gas injection experiment of liquid sodium was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the signal processing method in the detection of bubbles in sodium, and the minimum detectable leak rate of water in the steam generator was detected to be 0.2 g/s.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.496-503
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• 2016

Leakages at plant structures of power and petrochemistry plants have led to casualties and economic losses. These leakages are caused by fatigue failure of pipelines and their wall thickness. Vibration measurement methods for plant pipelines mainly use acceleration and laser sensors. These sensors are difficult to install and operate and thus lead to an increase in operational cost especially for wide area surveillance. Recently, measurements of leak and vibration displacements using cameras have attracted the interest of many researchers. This method has advantages such as simple installation, long distance monitoring, and wide area surveillance. Therefore, in this paper, we have developed a system that can measure the leakage and vibrational displacement by using a camera. Furthermore, the developed system was verified with experimental data.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 2016

A thermal power plant has a heat exchanger tube to collect and convert the heat generated from the high temperature and pressure steam to energy, but the tubes are arranged in a complex manner. In the event that a leakage occurs in any of these tubes, the high-pressure steam leaks out and may cause the neighboring tubes to rupture. This leakage can finally stop power generation, and hence there is a dire need to establish a suitable technology capable of detecting tube leaks at an early stage even before it occurs. As shown in this paper, by applying acoustic emission (AE) technology in existing boiler tube leak detection equipment (BTLD), we developed a system that detects these leakages early enough and generates an alarm at an early stage to necessitate action; the developed system works better that the existing system used to detect fine leakages. We verified the usability of the system in a 560MW-class thermal power plant boiler by conducting leak tests by simulating leakages from a variety of hole sizes (ⵁ2, ⵁ5, ⵁ10 mm). Results show that while the existing fine leakage detection system does not detect fine leakages of ⵁ2 mm and ⵁ5 mm, the newly developed system could detect leakages early enough and generate an alarm at an early stage, and it is possible to increase the signal to more than 18 dB.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1217-1225
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• 2010

The possibility of a sodium-water reaction occurring in a conventional single-wall-tube steam generator in an SFR is a major problem. To improve the reliability of a steam generator, a double-wall-tube steam generator that can reduce the possibility of the occurrence of a sodium-water reaction is being developed. Current developments are focusing on improving the heat-transfer capability of a double-wall tube; further, the development of a leak-detection method to detect the occurrence of a sodium-water reaction during the reactor operation is also underway. In this study, new concepts, which will solve the above-mentioned problems, have been developed. Accordingly, a double-wall tube has been designed, fabricated, and mechanically tested for the purpose.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1075-1081
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• 2011

A leak-detection method has been developed by measuring the pressure variation between the inner and outer heattransfer tubes of a double-wall tube steam generator. An experiment was carried out to measure the leak rate in the gap between two surfaces pressed with a hydraulic press in order to simulate the phenomena, and a correlation was determined for the leak rate in a micro gap. However, in the correlation, the gap width and friction coefficient were coupled with the surface roughness, which affects the two parameters. The two parameters were separated using a surface-contact model to develop a correlation for the friction coefficient. The correlation was compared with the existing correlations used for crack analysis. Although the applied ranges of Reynolds numbers were different, the developed correlation for Reynolds numbers of 0.1.0.35 showed similar tendencies to existing correlations used for higher Reynolds numbers.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.295-299
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• 2016

Residual foreign objects at the secondary side (top of the tubesheet and tube support plates) of a steam generator are likely to cause a leak by causing wear in the tube. The extent of wear is significantly affected by the material, shape, and size of the foreign object, and the corrosion properties of the tube. The presence of foreign objects at the top of the tubesheet and tube support plates has been identified using remote visual inspection methods such as the foreign object search and retrieval and eddy current test (ECT). The detection of the residual foreign object at the secondary side of a steam generator has limitations that depend on the material properties and the condition of contact with the tube. In this study, which is vertical and horizontal from the upper tubesheet, the corresponding bobbin ECT signals were collected and analyzed to measure its ability to detect foreign objects.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.435-443
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• 1998

Leak-before-break(LBB) approach has been shown to be both cost effective and risk reductive when applied to high energy Piping in nuclear Power Plants. For the Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR) development, LBB application is considered for the Main Steam Line(MSL) piping inside containment. Unlike the primary system leakages, the MSL leak detection systems must be based on principles other than radioactivity measurements. Among humidity, heat and acoustic noise currently being considered as indicators of leakage, we explored humidity as an effective one and developed ceramic-based humidity sensor which can be qualified for LBB applications. The ceramic material, sintered and annealed MgCr$_2$O$_4$-TiO$_2$, is shown to increase its electrical conductivity drastically upon water vapor adsorption over the entire temperature range of interest. With this ceramic sensor specimen, we suggested installation-inside-the-piping method by which we can detect leakage more rapidly and sensitively. In this paper, we describe the progress in the development and characterization of ceramic humidity sensor for the LBB application to the MSL of KNGR.