• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.1367-1370
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• 1997

This paper presents a vision algorithm for finding the centers of steam generator tubes using the generalized symmetry transform, which is used for ECT(Eddy Current Test) of steam generator tubes in nuclear power plants. The geometrical properties of the image representing steam generator tubes shows that they have amost circular or somewhat elliptic appearances and each tube has strong symmetry about its center. So we apply the generalized symmetry transform to finding centers of steam geneator tubes. But applying the generalized symmetry transform itself without any modification gives difficulties in obtaining the exact centers of steam generator tubes. But applying the generalized symmetry transform itself without any modification gives difficulties in obtaining the exact centers of tubes due to the shadow effect generated by the local light installed inside steam generator. Therefore we make the generalized symmetry transform modified, which uses a modified phase weight function in getting the symmetry magnitude in order to overcome the misleading effect by the local light. The experimental results indicate that the proposed vision algorithm efficiently recongnizes centers of steam generator tubes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.45-46
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• 2006

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2014

There has been extensive experience associated with the operation of SGs wherein it was believed, based on NDE, that throughwall tube indications were present within the tubesheet. The installation of the SG tubes usually involves the development of a short interference fit, referred to as the tack expansion, at the bottom of the tubesheet. The tack expansion was usually effected by a hard rolling process and thereafter, in most instance, by the expansion of a urethane plug inserted into the tube end and compressed in the axial direction. The rolling process by its very nature is considered to be intensive with regard to metalworking at the inside surface of the tube and would be expected to lead to higher residual surface stresses. Alternate repair criteria(ARC) in the tack expansion area have been developed and applied to nuclear power plants in USA, however domestic nuclear power plants have not applied ARC for tubes in tubeheet area yet. In consideration of the degradation characteristics of tubes in the Steam Generator tubesheet, this paper suggests ARC application for tubes in the steam generator tubesheet of the domestic nuclear power plants in order to assure life time of the steam generator as well as nuclear power plants.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.13-19
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• 2015

Steam generator is one of the most important component of nuclear power plant, and it's integrity and reliability are to be assured to high level by pre-service inspection and in-service inspection. To improve the reliability of steam generator heat exchanger tubes and to secure the management of nuclear power plant safely, KHNP CRI recently has developed eddy current testing system for steam generator. KHNP CRI have performed a series of experimental verification and field application to confirm the performance of the developed ECT system in accordance with ASME Code requirements. The ECT system consists of a remote data acquisition unit, an ECT signal acquisition and analysis software, a water chamber robot controller and a probe push-puller. In this paper, we will details of the developed ECT system and the software and their experimental performance. And also we will report the field applying performance and the issues for further steps.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2435-2443
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• 2022

The once-through steam generator used in the small modular reactor needs to consider the stability of the outlet steam pressure and steam superheat of the secondary circuit to achieve better operating efficiency. For this reason, this paper designs a controllable operation scheme for the steam pressure and superheat of the small reactor once-through steam generator. On this basis, designs a variable universe fuzzy controller, first, design the fuzzy control rules to make the controller adjust the PI controller parameters according to the change of the error; secondly, use the domain adjustment factor to further subdivide the input and output domain of the fuzzy controller according to the change of the error, to improve the system control performance. The simulation results show that the operation scheme proposed in this paper have better system performance than the original scheme of the small reactor system, and controller proposed in this paper have better control performance than traditional PI controller and fuzzy PI controller, what's more, the designed control system also showed better anti-disturbance performance in lifting experiment between 100% and 80% working conditions. Finally, the experimental platform formed by connecting the digital small reactor with Matlab/Simulink through OPC(OLE for Process Control) communication technology also verified the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.9-18
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• 1997

It is proposed a new approach to the development of the automatic vision system to examine and repair the steam generator tubes at remote distance. In nuclear power plants, workers are reluctant of works in steam generator because of the high radiation environment and limited working space. It is strongly recommended that the examination and maintenance works be done by an automatic system for the protection of the operator from to radiation exposure. Digital signal processors are used in implementing real time recognition and examination of steam generator tubes in the proposed vision system. Performance of proposed digital vision system is illustrated by simulation and experiment for similar steam generator model.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1997.11a
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• pp.675-678
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• 1997

In this research we continue the study of nuclear power plant steam generator's intelligent modeling. This model represents the input-output behavior and is a preliminary stage for intelligent control. Among many intelligent models available, we study neural network models that have been proven as universal function approximators. We select multilayer perceptrons, circular backpropagation networks, piecewise linearly trained networks and recurrent neural networks as the candidates for the steam generator's intelligent models. We take the input-output pairs from steam generator's reference model and train the neural network models. We validate trained neural network models as intelligent models of steam generator.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2013

Some essential components in nuclear power plants are periodically inspected using non-destructive examinations, for example ultrasonic, eddy current and radiographic examinations, in order to determine their integrity. These components include nuclear power plant items such as vessels, containments, piping systems, pumps, valves, tubes and core support structure. Steam generator tubes have an important safety role because they constitute one of the primary barriers between the radioactive and non-radioactive sides of the nuclear power plant. There is potential that if a tube bursts while a plant is operating, radioactivity from the primary coolant system could escape directly to the atmosphere. Therefore, in-service inspections are critical in maintaining steam generator tube integrity. In general, the eddy current testing is widely used for the inspection of steam generator tubes due to its high inspection speed and flaw detectability on non-magnetic tubes. However, it is not easy to analyze correctly eddy current signals because they are influenced by many factors. Therefore, the performance of eddy current data analysts for steam generator tubing should be demonstrated comprehensively. In Korea, the performance of steam generator tubing analysts has been demonstrated using the Qualified Data Analyst program. This paper describes the performance demonstration program for steam generator tubing analysts and its implementation results in Korea. The pass rate of domestic analysts for this program was 71.4%.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.545-550
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• 2012

Steam generator is one of the major components of nuclear power plant and steam generator tubes are the pressure boundary between primary and secondary side, which makes them critical for nuclear safety. As the operating time of nuclear power plant increases, not only damage mechanisms but also scaled deposits on steam generator tubes are known to be problematic causing tube support flow hole blockage and heat fouling. The ability to assess the extent and location of scaled deposits on tubes became essential for management and maintenance of steam generator and eddy current bobbin data can be utilized to measure thickness of scale on tubes. In this paper, tube reference standards with various thickness of scaled deposit has been set up to provide information about the overall deposit condition of steam generator tubes, providing essential tool for steam generator management and maintenance to predict and prevent future damages. Also, methodology to automatically measure scale thickness on tubes has been developed and applied to field data to estimate overall scale amount.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.321-328
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• 1998

When we control the level of the steam generator in the nuclear power plants, a swell and shrink arises from many disturbances such as feed water rate, feed water temperature, main steam flow rate, and coolant temperature. If we use the conventional type of PI controller in this system, we will not have stability during controlling at lower power, the removal function of disturbances, and a load follow-up control effectively. In this paper, we study the application of a 2-Degree of Freedom(2-DOF) PID controller to the level control of the steam. generator of nuclear power plants through the simulation and the experimental steam generator. We use the parameters $\alpha$, $\beta$, $\gamma$ of the 2-DOF PID controller for the removal of disturbances and the parameters Kp,Ti,Td of the conventional type of PID controller for controlling setpoint. The back-propagation learning algorithm of neural network is used for tuning the 2-DOF PID controller. We can find satisfactory results of the removal of the disturbances and the tracking function in the change of setpoint through the simulation and experimental steam generator.