Robust online monitoring for calibration assessment of transmitters and instrumentation - 260

Conference · Thu Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 2017

OSTI ID:23035372

Ramuhalli, P.; Tipireddy, V.; Lerchen, M. ^[1]; Shumaker, B. ^[2]; Coble, J.; Nair, A.; Boring, S. ^[3]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 902 Battelle Blvd., Richland, WA (United States)
2. Analysis and Measurement Services Knoxville, TN (United States)
3. Department of Nuclear Engineering University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN (United States)

Robust online monitoring (OLM) technologies are expected to enable the extension or elimination of periodic sensor calibration intervals in operating and new reactors. Advances in OLM technologies will improve the safety and reliability of current and planned nuclear power systems through improved accuracy and increased reliability of sensors used to monitor key parameters. In this paper, we discuss an overview of research being performed within the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET)/Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation (ASI) program, for the development of OLM algorithms to use sensor outputs and, in combination with other available information, 1) determine whether one or more sensors are out of calibration or failing and 2) replace a failing sensor with reliable, accurate sensor outputs. A Gaussian Process (GP)-based uncertainty quantification (UQ) method previously developed for UQ in OLM, was adapted for this purpose. The resulting models are being evaluated for use in high-confidence signal validation for the purpose of detecting and diagnosing sensor faults, and for computing virtual sensor outputs that may be used as a temporary replacement for failing sensors. In addition to assessing sensor drift, approaches for extracting sensor response time in an automated fashion were developed, for monitoring changes in sensor response time in pressure transmitters. Such changes are also indicative of various fault modes. These algorithms were evaluated with existing measurement data from several laboratory-scale flow loops. Ongoing research in this project is focused on further evaluation of the algorithms, optimization for accuracy and computational efficiency, and integration into a suite of tools for robust OLM that are applicable to monitoring sensor calibration state in nuclear power plants. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 23035372
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ALGORITHMS
CALIBRATION
DIAGNOSIS
EFFICIENCY
GAUSSIAN PROCESSES
NUCLEAR ENERGY
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
OPTIMIZATION
POWER SYSTEMS
REACTOR CONTROL SYSTEMS
REACTOR INSTRUMENTATION
REACTOR SAFETY
RELIABILITY
SENSORS
SIGNALS