• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.184-190
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• 2008

Various ECT techniques have been applied basically to assess the integrity of steam generator tithing in nuclear power plant. Among these techniques, the bobbin probe technique is applied generally to examine the volumetric flaws such as a crack-like defect and wear which is generally occurred on steam generator tubing, and additionally MRPC probe is used to examine closely tile top of tubesheet and bending regions due to the high possibility of cracking. Dent and bulge also may be formed on tube during installation process and operation of steam generator, but the dent and bulge indications greater than specific size criteria are recorded on examination report because these indications are not considered as flaw. These indications can be easily detected with bobbin probe and approximately sized with profile bobbin probe, but the size and shape can not be accurately verified. Accordingly, in this study, the $8{\times}1$ multi-array EC probe was designed to increase the measurement accuracy of the sectional profiling EC testing of tube. As a result, we would like to propose the application of $8{\times}1$ multi-array EC probe for the measurement of size and shape of profile change on steam generator tube in OPR-1000 nuclear power plant.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.19-25
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• 2011

Steam Generator(SG) tube is an important component of Nuclear Power Plant(NPP), which is the pressure boundary between the primary and secondary systems. The integrity of SG tube has been confirmed by the eddy current test every outage. The eddy current technique adopting bobbin probe is currently the primary technique for the steam generator tubing integrity assesment. 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. Until now, all of the ECT bobbin probes in Korea which is necessary to carry out inspection are imported from overseas. However, KHNP has recently developed the bobbin probe design technology and transferred it to domestic manufacturers to fabricate the probes. This study has been conducted to establish technical requirements applicable to the steam generator tube inspection using the bobbin probes fabricated by the domestic manufactures. The results have been compared with the results obtained by using foreign probe to identify the availability to the steam generator tube inspection. As a result, it is confirmed that the domestic bobbin probe is generally applicable to SG tube inspection in the NPPs.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.386-395
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• 2010

The steam generator management program(SGMP) has recently defined the procedures for the qualification of eddy current hardware and technique. These procedures provide two basic methods for qualification. The first way is to qualify the equipment or the probe by using the flaw mechanism and method of the pulled tubes from the heat exchangers or the artificial flawed tubes. The second way is to verify the equivalency with the characteristics of the qualified equipment or probe. In this case, the qualified equipment or probe may be modified to substitute or replace instruments or probes without re-qualification provided that the range of essential variables defined in the examination technique specification sheet are met. This study is to describe the result of the comparative performance evaluation of bobbin coil eddy current probes manufactured by KEPCO Research Institute and probes manufactured by a foreign manufacturer. As a result of this study, although there were minor differences between the two kinds of probes, it was evaluated that the two kinds of probes were almost identical in the significant performance characteristics described in the KEPCO Research Institute guideline.