Development of the S/G TSP Clogging Image Analysis Algorithm

증기발생기 유로홈막힘 사진판독 알고리즘 개발

The clogging of the flow area at the tube support plates(TSPs), especially at the upper TSPs results in the water level oscillation of a steam generator during normal operation. A reduction of the TSP flow area causes to increase in pressure drop within the two-phase flow zone, which destabilizes the boiling flow through the tube bundle. This phenomenon was occasionally observed at a few domestic and foreign nuclear power plants. One of the methods for defining the flow area clogging is visual inspection, which is the most effective inspection method. The results of the visual inspection for TSPs' flow area are clogging images on TSPs' quartrefoil lobes. These images are complexly distorted due to lens aberration and external factors like the distance to a subject and angle etc. In this work, we developed the analysis algorithm for clogging image of the TSP flow area of steam generators. For this purpose, we designed an image verification device applicable to the camera employed in the field for visual inspection and then, we demonstrated the validity of image analysis algorithm by using this device and commercial autoCAD program.