Online Cable Condition Monitoring and Aging Management of Nuclear Power Plant Cables and End Devices
The goal of this research is to develop a continuous cable on-line monitoring system for fault location and trending degradation of in-service nuclear power plant cable circuits, including the cable, connectors, and end devices. During this Phase I project, hardware components were selected and acquired for laboratory evaluation of various in-situ reflectometry test techniques. Non-contact circuit isolation mechanisms necessary to inject the test signals onto energized cables and end devices were explored and tested. Laboratory measurements were acquired for these test techniques using energized cable circuits with on-line sensors. The effects of the isolation circuits on the reflectometry measurements were evaluated and quantified. A conceptual design was developed as a foundation for a prototype Cable On-Line Monitoring (OLM) System to be developed during Phase II. The work done during this project demonstrated that both time and frequency domain reflectometry condition monitoring techniques can be successfully injected onto an energized sensor circuit while minimizing the effects that testing induces on normal circuit operation. The results of these laboratory measurements demonstrate the feasibility of this proposed Cable OLM System to locate cable faults and aging degradation for on-line NPP cable circuits and end devices. Currently nondestructive evaluation techniques exist for cable condition monitoring however these methods are applied to de-energized low voltage cables and require disconnecting the cable from one or both ends of the circuit. These limitations can allow some cable circuit problems to go undetected for extended periods of time. The ability to monitor critical cable circuits while they remain in normal operation and without disconnecting will save the nuclear power industry significant time, cost, and personnel resources while increasing efficiency of maintenance outages. This on-line cable condition monitoring test system will be used to locate faults and trend aging degradation of cables, then alert operators of circuit anomalies while the nuclear plant is operating.
- Research Organization:
- Analysis & Measurement Services Corp.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0020855
- OSTI ID:
- 1774945
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE2101R0
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) of Cable Anomalies using Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR) and Spread Spectrum Time Domain Reflectometry (SSTDR)
Extended Bandwidth Spread Spectrum Time Domain Reflectometry Cable Test for Thermal Aging, Low Resistance Fault, and Water Detection