[2I11-15] Operation Management, Inspection and Maintenance

3:45 PM - 4:00 PM JST(6:45 AM - 7:00 AM UTC)

[2I14] Evaluation of Applicability of Flowmeter based on Ultrasonic Velocity Profiler Method to Nuclear Power Plant

*Masataka Teshigawara¹, Hioroshige Kikura¹, Naruki Shoji², Takeshi Suzuki³, Daisuke Sasa³ (1. Tokyo Tech, 2. Muroran IT, 3. TEPCO HD)

Keywords:

Flowmeter,Ultrasonic measurement,Signal processing

Nuclear and hydroelectric power plants require ultrasonic Doppler flowmeters that function accurately under large-diameter and high flow rate conditions with minimal ultrasonic reflectors. Ultrasonic Doppler flowmeters, which use external transducers to calculate flow rate based on the fluid's velocity distribution, are effective due to their robustness against inner pipe roughness and shape changes over time. Ultrasonic velocity profiler flowmeters, a type of ultrasonic Doppler flowmeter, irradiate ultrasonic pulses multiple times to tiny particles in a fluid to calculate the flow velocity distribution. Therefore, the concentration of reflectors significantly influences measurement accuracy. This study experimentally evaluated the impact of varying reflector concentrations on the echo signal and developed a signal processing system enabling accurate flow measurement even with low reflector concentrations.