APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ESTIMATING QUANTITY OF ACCUMULATED GAS IN A PIPE UTILIZING ULTRASONIC TEST

• Main Authors: LEE, SEUNG CHAN, YOON, DUK JOO, JUN, HWANG YONG, KIM, YONG BAE
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Korean
• Published: 13.01.2015
• Subjects: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUIDLEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING; NUCLEAR PHYSICS; NUCLEAR REACTORS; PHYSICS; TESTING

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for calculating a quantity of an accumulated gas in a pipe using an ultrasonic test and, more specifically, to an apparatus and a method for calculating the quantity of an accumulated gas in a pipe in a non-destructive manner. The method of calculating a quantity of an accumulated gas in a pipe using an ultrasonic test according to the present invention comprises: (a) a resolution test and acknowledgement step (S10) of distinguishing a gaseous area of testing equipment with respect to a pipe to be tested; (b) a step (S20) of applying a contact medium on the surface of the pipe to be tested, on which the resolution test is completed; (c) a step (S30) of scanning with an ultrasonic probe with respect to the pipe to be tested in an arc direction with respect to the cross-section of the pipe to measure a maximum arc angle ( m) and a distance (L) between two positions where the arc angle reduces to zero along an upper part of the pipe; and (d) a step (S40) of calculating a quantity of an accumulated gas by obtaining a geometric volume of the gaseous area within the pipe by using the maximum arc angle ( m) measured for the pipe to be tested and the distance (L) between the two positions where the arc angle reduces to zero. Efficiency and economic feasibility of measuring the quantity of an accumulated gas are enhanced by providing a non-destructive measuring method which can easily and simply measure the quantity of an accumulated gas in a pipe from a measured value of a pipe surface measured by the ultrasonic test in order to perform an accumulated gas amount evaluation for safety-related system such as a nuclear power facility.