• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1995.11a
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• pp.456-458
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• 1995

This paper describes a diagnosis of power transformers by on-line detection of ultrasonic signals. Partial discharge in power transformer generates ultrasonic signals. The trend of the ultrasonic signal number can be measured when partial discharge is generated in HV Winding. The trend of the ultrasonic signal number could easily be distinguished by taking moving average. The insulation failure due to partial discharge in transformers can be predicted based in the trend analysis of the number of ultrasonic signals caused by partial discharge.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.101-105
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• 2001

Due to their elastic anisotropy, ultrasonic testing of austenitic welds, frequently used in nuclear power plants, is much more difficult than that of isotropic elements. For accurate testing of austenitic welds, ultrasonic wave phenomena therein must be full understood. This study uses an accurate and effective numerical model, the mass-spring lattice model, for such phenomena. By comparing the numerical results with the corresponding analytical results, it is shown that the model is capable of accurately predicting the generation, reflection, refraction, and scattering phenomena of ultrasonic waves in anisotropic austenite welds. Therefore, the mass-spring lattice model will provide a very useful tool for simulating ultrasonic testing of austenitic welds, and thus will contribute to the enhancement of reliability of such ultrasonic testing.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.151-161
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• 2018

A new type of cascade sandwiched piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer is presented and studied. The cascade transducer is composed of two traditional longitudinally sandwiched piezoelectric transducers, which are connected together in series mechanically and in parallel electrically. Based on the analytical method, the electromechanical equivalent circuit of the cascade transducer is derived and the resonance/anti-resonance frequency equations are obtained. The impedance characteristics and the vibrational modes of the transducer are analyzed. By means of numerical method, the dependency of the resonance/anti-resonance frequency and the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient on the geometrical dimensions of the cascade transducer are studied and some interesting conclusions are obtained. Two prototypes of the cascade transducers are designed and made; the resonance/anti-resonance frequency is measured. It is shown that the analytical resonance/anti-resonance frequencies are in good agreement with the experimental results. It is expected that this kind of cascade transducer can be used in large power and high intensity ultrasonic applications, such as ultrasonic liquid processing, ultrasonic metal machining and ultrasonic welding and soldering.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.145-152
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• 2009

Currently almost all in-service-inspection techniques, applied in domestic nuclear power plants, are partial to field inspection technique. These kinds of techniques are related to managing nuclear power plants by the operation of foreign-produced inspection devices. There have been so many needsfor development of native in-service-inspection device because there is no native diagnosis device for nuclear power plant inspection yet in Korea. In this research, we developed several core techniques to make an automated ultrasonic pipe inspection system for nuclear power plants. A high performance multi-channel ultrasonic pulser/receiver module, an A/D converter module and a digital main CPU module were developed and the performance of the developed modules was verified. The S/N ratio, noise level and signal acquisition performance of the developed modules showed proper level as we designed in the beginning.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.348-353
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• 2004

This study is aimed for the implementation of ultrasonic method to assess the reliability of turbine bearings. A modified ultrasonic immersion technique was carried out in both laboratory experiment and field application. From the laboratory results, we confirmed that the condition of interface layer between the babbitt and base metal be monitored by the C-Scan. The C-scan image by the ultrasonic immersion test can be used successfully to observe the condition of interface layer. The testing with a focused transducer provides a promising approach for estimating the extent of the damaged region and observing the interface layer effectively. The difference of the ultrasonic reflection ratio between the bonding and debonding area at the interface layer is one of the key parameters for assessing the extent of the damaged area; additionally, the reflection amplitude exhibits a favorable correlation with the overall damage level. The technique developed in this study was applied to the inspection of the turbine bearings at several power plants in Korea whereby the applicability in the field can be ascertained.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.317-323
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• 2010

The manual ultrasonic examination for the nuclear power plant piping welds has been demonstrated by using KPD(Korean Performance Demonstration) generic procedure. For automated ultrasonic examination, there is no generic procedure and it should be qualified by using applicable automated equipment. Until now, most of qualified procedures used pulse-echo technique and there is no qualified procedure using phased array technique. In this study, data acquisition and analysis software were developed and phased-array transducer and wedge were designed to implement phased array technique for nuclear power plant in-service inspection. The developed procedure are qualified for performance demonstration for the flaw detection, length sizing and depth sizing. The qualified procedure will be applied for the field examination in the nuclear power plant piping weld inspection.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.371-377
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• 2004

As the turbine running duration in nuclear power plants increases, cracks have been found in the pin finger type blade root area. The nondestructive examination for the blade root area has been carried out by manual ultrasonic examination during the overhaul period, but because of necessity to improve the reliability, we developed an automatic ultrasonic examination system and technique. To demonstrate the performance of the developed automatic ultrasonic examination system, low pressure turbine blades in the 2nd and 3rd stages of nuclear power plants were examined using the developed system. Its applicability nuclear power plant turbine roots of various types was also confirmed.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.2 s.32
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• pp.99-107
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• 1999

Boiler high-temperature pipelines such as main steam pipe, header and steam drum in fossil power plants are degraded by creep damage due to severe operationg conditions which are high temperature and high pressure for an extended period time. Such material degradation leads to various component failures causing serious accidents at the plants. Conventional measurement techniques such as replica method, electric resistance method, and hardness test method have such disadvantages as complex preparation and measurement procedures, too many control parameters, and therefore, low practicality and they were applied only to component surfaces with good accessibility. In this paper, artificial creep degradation test and ultrasonic measurement for their creep degraded specimens have been carried out for the purpose of evaluation for creep damage which can occur in high-temperature pipeline of fossil power plant. Absolute measuring method of quantitative ultrasonic measurement for material degradation was established, and long term creep degradationtests using life prediction formula were carried out. As a result of ultrasonic tests for crept specimens, we confirmed that the sound velocity decreased and the attenuation coefficient linearly increased in proportion to the increase of creep fractiin(${\phi}$c).

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.10b
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• pp.113-115
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• 2005

To explore the seafloor, an observation instrument should be laid there for a long time and it should be again withdrawn. This system must be designed low power consumption model because it operates for a long period, but because power control don't execute or simply control algorithm executes, power efficiency is low. Hereupon, a power control algorithm for retrieval system using the ultrasonic communication that was improved its controllability and movability was presented in this paper. Likewise, the logicality of control algorithm and remote control system were ascertained by experiments.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.103-121
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• 2003

The application of powerful ultrasound to rubber recycling is a very recent field of study. An ultrasonic field creates high frequency extension-contraction stresses by acoustic cavitation. The breakdown of rubber network occurs primarily around pulsating cavities due to the highest level of strain produced by high-power ultrasound. Stronger reductions of cross-link density were observed at a higher pressure, indicating an important role of pressure during ultrasonic recycling. Visible bubbles were observed during ultrasonic treatment as a proof of acoustic cavitation. Shearing effect has a significant influence on improving the efficiency of ultrasonic treatment. After the ultrasonic treatment, the cross-link densities of NR/SBR blends were lower than those of NR and SBR due to the reduced degree of unsaturation and chemical reactions. Carbon black fillers increase the probability of bond scission during ultrasonic treatment, due to the restricted mobility. The mechanical properties of ground tire rubber (GRT)/HDPE blends were improved by ultrasonic treatment and dynamic revulcanization. Ultrasonic treatment of GRT in the presence of HDPE matrix was found to give better mechanical properties due to the chemical reactions between rubber and plastic phases.