• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제53권10호
• /
• pp.3236-3246
• /
• 2021

Lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident directed that multiple failures should be considered more seriously rather than single failure in the licensing bases and safety cases because attempts to take accident management measures could be unsuccessful under the high radiation environment aggravated by multiple failures, such as complete loss of electric power, uncontrollable loss of coolant inventory, failure of essential safety function recovery. In the case of the complete loss of electric power called station blackout (SBO), if there is no mitigation action for recovering safety functions, the reactor core would be overheated, and severe fuel damage could be anticipated due to the failure of the active heat sink. In such a transient condition at CANDU-6 plants, the seal failure of the primary heat transport (PHT) pumps can facilitate a consequent increase in the fuel sheath temperature and eventually lead to degradation of the fuel integrity. Therefore, it is necessary to specify the regulatory guidelines for multiple failures on a licensing basis so that licensees should prepare the accident management measures to prevent or mitigate accident conditions. In order to explore the efficiency of implementing accident management strategies for CANDU-6 plants, this study proposed a realistic accident analysis approach on the SBO transient with multiple-failure sequences such as seal failure of PHT pumps without operator's recovery actions. In this regard, a comparative study for two PHT pump seal failure modes with and without coolant seal leakage was conducted using a best-estimate code to precisely investigate the behaviors of thermal-hydraulic parameters during transient conditions. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis for different PHT pump seal leakage rates was also carried out to examine the effect of leakage rate on the system responses. This study is expected to provide the technical bases to the accident management strategy for unmitigated transient conditions with multiple failures.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• 제55권3호
• /
• pp.222-228
• /
• 2020

Rubber materials, used in nuclear power plants, need high heat-oxidation resistance to curing or cracking under a heat aging environment. This is because they are applied to environments with high temperature, high humidity, and radiation exposure. Nuclear radiation causes additional hardening or degradation, therefore, rubber materials need radiation resistance that satisfies the general and any accidental conditions produced in the power plant. Therefore, in this study, we developed a rubber material with excellent heat and radiation resistance for the diaphragm seal of a nuclear steam generator nozzle dam. The rubber material greatly improved the reliability of the steam generator nozzle dam. In addition, 30 inch and 42 inch diaphragm seals were manufactured using the developed rubber material. A nozzle dam was installed in a nuclear power plant and tested under the same conditions as a steam generator to evaluate safety and reliability. In the future, the performance and safety of diaphragm seals developed through field tests of nuclear power plants will be evaluated and applied to currently operating and new nuclear power plants.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• 제24권6호
• /
• pp.297-301
• /
• 2008

In many dynamic seals such as lip seal and compression packings, it is well known that wear occur at the surface of heat treated steel shaft as results of the intervened wear particle. It is widely understood that the dominant wear mechanism related in sealing surfaces is abrasive wear. However, little analytical and experimental studies about this problems have been done until now. In this paper, a contact analysis is carried out using MARC to investigate the wear mechanism in contact seal applications considering elastomeric seal, a elastic perfect-plastic micro-spherical particle and steel surface. Deformed seal shapes, contact and von-Mises stress distributions for various particle sizes and interference are showed. The maximum von-Mises stress within steel shaft was exceeded its yield strength and plastic deformation occurred at steel surface. Therefore, the sealing surface can be also worn by sub-surface fatigue due to wear particles together with well known abrasion. The numerical methods and models used in this paper can be applied in design of dynamic sealing systems, and further intensive studies are required.

• 한국초전도ㆍ저온공학회논문지
• /
• 제26권1호
• /
• pp.25-30
• /
• 2024

High-temperature superconducting rotors offer advantages in terms of output-to-weight ratio and efficiency compared to conventional phase conduction motors or generators. The rotor can be cooled by conduction cooling, which attaches a cryocooler, and by refrigerant circulation, which uses circulating liquid or gas neon, helium and hydrogen. Recent work has focused on environmental issues and on high-temperature superconducting motors cooled with liquid hydrogen that can be combined with fuel cells. However, to ensure smooth supply and return of the cryogenic cooling fluid, a cryogenic rotational coupling between the rotating and stationary parts is necessary. Additionally, the development of a sealing structure to minimize fluid leakage applicable to the coupling is essential. This study describes the design and performance evaluation of a non-contact sealing method, specifically a labyrinth seal, which avoids power loss and heat load caused by friction in contact sealing structures. The seal design incorporates a spiral flow path to reduce leakage using centrifugal force, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted to analyze the flow path and rotational speed. A performance evaluation device was configured and employed to evaluate the designed seal. The results of this study will be used to develop a cryogenic rotational coupling with supply and return flow paths for cryogenic applications.

• 월간포장계
• /
• 통권339호
• /
• pp.68-72
• /
• 2021

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권6호
• /
• pp.2173-2187
• /
• 2022

A 3D thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic model is developed to analyze the sealing performance of a notched mechanical seal applied in the reactor coolant pump. In the model, the generalized Reynolds equation, the energy equation coupled with notch heat balance equation, the heat conduction equations, and the deformation equations of the sealing rings are iteratively solved by the finite element method. The film pressure and temperature distribution are obtained, and the deformation of the sealing rings is revealed to study the mechanism of the notched mechanical seals. A parameterized study is conducted to analyze the sealing performance under different operating conditions. As a comparison, the sealing performance of non-notched seals is also studied. The results show that the hydrostatic effect is dominant in the load-carrying capacity of the fluid film due to the radial mechanical and thermal deformations. The notch can cool the fluid film and influence the thermal deformation of seal rings. The sealing performance is sensitive to the pressure difference, ambient temperature, and rotational speed. It is suggested to set the notches on the softer sealing rings to acquire the greater hydrodynamic effect. Compared with the non-notched, the notched end face holds a better lubrication performance, especially under lower rotational speed.

• 한국세라믹학회지
• /
• 제50권6호
• /
• pp.470-475
• /
• 2013

In this study, we report that effects of a filler with a high coefficient of thermal expansion on a sealant for high-temperature ($750{\sim}850^{\circ}C$) SOFC. We designed a $SiO_2-BaO-ZnO-B_2O_3-Al_2O_3$ glass system with a softening temperature higher than $750^{\circ}C$. The properties of the glass system show not only low volumetric shrinking but also low swelling. The glass system did not create a crystal phase during along-term heat treatment. We fabricated a seal gasket with 0, 10, 15, and 20 wt% cristobalite added as filler materials with glass powder. The coefficient of thermal expansion of the seal gasket increased according to cristobalite content. During along-term heat treatment, the leak rate decreased by about 5% after a heat treatment in an oxidizing atmosphere at $750^{\circ}C$ for 2000 h, also decreasing by about 6% after a heat treatment in a reducing atmosphere at $750^{\circ}C$ for 1000 h.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 대한기계학회 2004년도 추계학술대회
• /
• pp.1676-1681
• /
• 2004

The main reason for applying positive pressure variable clearance packing in fossil power plant is high efficiency and energy saving movement in the government. This study intends to analyze the turbine efficiency through the shaft packing improvement in thermal power plant and makes its comparison to that of the each packing type

• Carbon letters
• /
• 제2권3_4호
• /
• pp.182-191
• /
• 2001

Quinoline insoluble formed by the heat treatment was hot-pressed near its softening point. The green body was stabilized in the temperature range of $300{\sim}400^{\circ}C$ and subsequently carbonized below $1300^{\circ}C$ in an argon atmosphere. The behaviors of QI formation was examined with varying the heat treatment temperature and the lapse of time of the sample carbonized at various temperatures. And the mechanical property, corrosion resistance, and friction behavior were also measured optimum content of mesophase pitch ensured a dense structure and high $LC_{(002)}$ value, which resulted in high mechanical properties, good corrosion resistance, and low-stable friction behavior.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• 제10권4호
• /
• pp.82-88
• /
• 1994

This paper deals with a FEM computation as well as measurement of the contact force and distribution of the temperature in rubber lip seals when the sealing interference between the rotating shaft and the lip edge is present. The study of the contact forces and distributions of the temperature and the sealing contact stress has always been one of the basic steps in the process of designing a lip seal. The calculated FEM results indicate that as the sealing interference increases, the contact force moderately increases compared with decreased sealing interference at the seal lip edge and radically increases the contacting width. And the FEM computation of oontact forces including nonlinear problems has been compared with experimental measurements with good agreement. The frictional heat does not dissipate promptly in the rubber seal lip and tends to accumulate at the contacting lip edge especially.