Improved reactivity calculator employing method of abnormal signal removal and signal normalization

By normalizing foreign side signals and removing abnormal signals, the reactor calculator improves reactivity measurement accuracy and ensures safer nuclear power plant operations.

WO2025095335A1PCT designated stage expired Publication Date: 2025-05-08KOREA HYDRO & NUCLEAR POWER CO LTD +1
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Patent Information

Application Number
PCT/KR2024/013595
Authority / Receiving Office
WO · WO
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
Priority Date
2023-10-31
Filing Date
2024-09-09
Publication Date
2025-05-08

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing reactor calculators face challenges in accurately measuring reactivity due to signal centralization and the failure to effectively remove abnormal signals, leading to distorted reaction charts and potential safety issues in nuclear power plants.

Method used

The proposed solution involves normalizing foreign side signals as an average value over a predetermined time period to stabilize and compare data, and implementing an abnormal signal removal method to exclude aberrant signals from reactivity calculations.

Benefits of technology

This approach enhances the accuracy of reactivity measurements by reducing signal noise and volatility, prevents distortion of reaction charts, and ensures safer operation of nuclear power plants by identifying and eliminating abnormal signals.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

The present invention relates to an improved reactivity calculator employing a method of abnormal signal removal and signal normalization and, more specifically, to an improved reactivity calculator which employs a method of distinguishing abnormal signals from an ex-core detector to remove the abnormal signals and perform signal normalization. According to the present invention, the calculator comprises: a data acquisition unit which collects raw signal data from an ex-core detector to normalize, to an average value of a predetermined time period, ex-core detector signals of data obtained from the measurement of a zero-power characteristic test range or the measurement of an initial critical point before a zero-power characteristic test; and a reactivity calculation unit which selects and excludes abnormal signals from measured ex-core detector signals to calculate reactivity by using the remaining signals. Therefore, the calculator can distinguish abnormal signals from an ex-core detector and remove same by normalizing ex-core detector signals to an average value of a predetermined time period.
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Description

Improved reactivity calculator applying abnormal signal removal and signal normalization methods

[0001] The present invention relates to an improved reactivity calculator applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method, and more particularly, to an improved reactivity calculator applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method by distinguishing an abnormal signal coming from an outdoor measuring device.

[0002] A reactivity calculator is a device that receives signals from an external measuring device during a nuclear power plant zero-power characteristic test and measures the reactivity of the reactor core using the rate of change of the signal.

[0003] The current reactivity calculator calculates the arithmetic mean of the signals from the outdoor measuring device as shown below and reflects the value of the deviation over time into the inverse reactivity calculation formula.

[0004]

[0005] Here, S = off-road measurement rate (cps), =Average off-road measurement rate (cps), n=total number of off-road measuring devices.

[0006] It represents the average off-road measurement rate (cps), and is a value obtained by averaging several off-road measurement rate values ​​(S) obtained from off-road measuring devices.

[0007] Each item of represents a different channel and the components of the upper, middle, and lower outdoor measuring instruments of each channel. It represents the sum of the signals obtained from the upper (T), middle (M), and lower (B) of each channel (Ch. A, Ch. B, Ch. C, Ch. D) of the outdoor measuring instruments. n represents the total number of outdoor measuring instruments, and represents several measured values ​​(S) obtained from each outdoor measuring instrument, i.e., pulse values ​​per second or accumulated current values ​​per second.

[0008] A reactivity calculator is a device used in nuclear power plants to measure the reactivity of a reactor core. It uses signals from an external instrument to measure the reactivity of the reactor core. At this time, is the average value of various off-road measurement rate values ​​(S) collected from off-road measuring instruments, and this average value is used to reflect it in the reactivity calculation formula and calculate the reactivity value.

[0009] In the existing reactivity calculator, when the signal of one outdoor meter becomes very large compared to the signals of other outdoor meters due to the arithmetic mean, the reactivity becomes biased toward the reactivity of that meter, as shown below.

[0010]

[0011] Here, : Rate of change of outdoor measurement signal ⇒ Representative factor for calculating reactivity

[0012] represents the "rate of change of the signal from the outdoor measuring device," a value that measures and represents the change in the signal over time. It is used as one of the main factors in calculating the reactivity. Existing reactivity calculators lack the ability to distinguish abnormal signals from outdoor measuring devices and eliminate them.

[0013] [Prior Art Literature]

[0014] [Patent Document]

[0015] (Patent Document 1) Republic of Korea Patent No. 10-1436021 (August 25, 2014)

[0016] The present invention aims to solve the above-described problem by providing an improved reactivity calculator that can fundamentally eliminate errors such as bias in reactivity calculation by normalizing an outdoor measuring instrument signal to an average value of a certain time period and can distinguish abnormal signals coming from an outdoor measuring instrument and applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method to remove the signal.

[0017] An improved reactivity calculator applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method according to the present invention includes a data acquisition unit that collects raw signal data from an off-road measuring device and normalizes the off-road measuring device signal of data obtained from an initial critical point measurement before a zero-power characteristic test or a zero-power characteristic test range measurement to an average value over a certain time period, and a reactivity calculation unit that reflects the normalized value and calculates the reactivity, and selects and excludes abnormal signals from the measured off-road measuring device signal and calculates the reactivity with the remaining signals.

[0018] According to the present invention, an outdoor measuring instrument signal is normalized to an average value over a certain time period, and a normalized response is calculated by utilizing that value, and also has the function of distinguishing an abnormal signal coming from an outdoor measuring instrument and the effect of removing that signal.

[0019] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an improved reactivity calculator applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an off-road measuring instrument signal graph and a selection toggle of an improved reactivity calculator applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an improved reactivity calculator applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] As illustrated in FIG. 1, an improved reactivity calculator (10) applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a data acquisition unit (110) and a reactivity calculation unit (120).

[0023] The data acquisition unit (110) is configured to collect raw signal data from an off-road measuring device and normalize the off-road measuring device signal of data obtained from the initial critical point measurement or the zero-power characteristic test range measurement before the zero-power characteristic test to an average value over a certain time period.

[0024] For reference, the data obtained from the initial critical point measurement or the zero power characteristic test range measurement before the zero power characteristic test is the signal data of each outdoor measuring device, and includes the signal of each outdoor measuring device and the calculated response according to the output increase per second.

[0025] The data acquisition unit (110) for performing these functions includes a data management module (111) and a normalization module (112).

[0026] The data management module (111) collects raw signal data from an outdoor measuring device and stores data obtained from initial critical point measurement or zero-power characteristic test range measurement before a zero-power characteristic test.

[0027] The normalization module (112) is configured to select data within a time interval from the initial critical point measurement data or the output rise data obtained from the zero-power characteristic test range measurement, and normalize it to the average value of a certain time interval.

[0028] Here, the reason for normalizing the outdoor measuring instrument signal to the average value over a certain time period is to ensure data stability and comparability and to reduce unnecessary variability.

[0029] Outdoor instrument signals are physical signals measured in the environment. These signals may contain noise or fluctuations due to environmental factors. Normalizing to the mean can remove this noise to some extent and increase data stability.

[0030] Furthermore, when comparing outdoor instrument signals collected at different times or locations, normalized data enhances comparability. Normalizing to the mean standardizes the data size and units, facilitating comparisons between different data sets.

[0031] As a step toward extracting key information from off-road instrumentation signals, the average is primarily used to represent the signal's trend and fundamental value. This helps highlight information of interest in the data and eliminate unnecessary variability in detail.

[0032] Additionally, data collected from various outdoor instruments can vary in size and range. Normalizing to the mean allows the data to be scaled within a consistent range.

[0033] By normalizing the outdoor measuring instrument signal to the average value over a certain time period, a more consistent data pattern can be provided, thereby providing convenience in data processing and analysis.

[0034] In the improved reactivity calculator applying the abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method according to this embodiment, the signal normalization of individual outdoor measuring devices will be explained as normalizing to the average value of a certain time period.

[0035]

[0036] is the normalized data for data point n measured from the Y outdoor meter of channel X, represents the value of the original data point n measured from the Y field meter of channel X, represents the average of the data measured from the Y outdoor meter of channel X. The average is the sum of all data points in that channel divided by the total number of data points.

[0037] Here, , and N represents the time used for count rate averaging. The data used for the average value of this time period uses the power increase data obtained from the initial critical point measurement before the reactor zero power characteristic test or the zero power characteristic test range measurement.

[0038] Normalized off-road meter signal ( ) by averaging ( ) The reaction rate is calculated using that value, and the average of the normalized signal is calculated as follows.

[0039]

[0040] represents the normalized mean for data point n. This value represents the normalized mean of the data points measured at the upper, middle, and lower off-road meters (T, M, B) of the various ChA channels. represents data points measured from the upper, middle, and lower field meters (T, M, B) of different ChA channels. These data points are all normalized. It starts with 12, which represents the general total number of outdoor meters and is a number that changes depending on the number of outdoor meters. Therefore, this formula represents normalizing the data points measured from outdoor meters of various channels, dividing the normalized value by the total number of outdoor meters (12), and calculating the average of the corresponding data points. This average value can be used to obtain a representative value of the data by integrating various data into a single average value.

[0041]

[0042] Here, represents the rate of change of the off-road measurement signal. It is a value representing the change between data point n+1 and data point n measured by the off-road measurement device. at, represents the normalized mean for data point n+1. This represents the mean of the data at data point n+1. Represents the normalized mean for data points n. This represents the average of the data at n data points. ln expresses the rate of change on a logarithmic scale and represents the relative change between data points.

[0043] represents the sum of normalized values ​​for data point n+1 in the upper, middle, and lower outdoor measuring channels (T, M, B) of the outdoor measuring channels (Ch.A, Ch.B, Ch.C, Ch.D).

[0044] represents the sum of normalized values ​​for data point n in the upper, middle, and lower outboard measuring channels (T, M, B) of the multi-outboard measuring channels (Ch.A, Ch.B, Ch.C, Ch.D).

[0045] This is a logarithmic representation of the rate of change between data points n+1 and n. It is used to calculate the relative change in data measured from the off-core instrumentation, and this rate of change is used to calculate the reactivity of the reactor core.

[0046] Through individual signal normalization Since the signal magnitudes are all similar, Equation (5) eliminates the weighting effect for instruments with large count rates, as shown in Equation (2). The data used here are power increase data obtained from initial critical point measurements prior to the zero-power characteristic test of a nuclear power plant or from measurements of the zero-power characteristic test range.

[0047] For reference, the data obtained from the initial critical point measurement or the zero power characteristic test range measurement before the zero power characteristic test is the signal data of each outdoor measuring device, and includes the signal of each outdoor measuring device and the calculated response according to the output increase per second.

[0048] The signal data of the outdoor instrument is stored as pulse data in the case of the BF3 instrument or fission chamber, and as current signals in the case of the uncompensated ion chamber (UIC), compensated ion chamber (CIC), or fission chamber.

[0049] The results of calculating the reactivity within the reactor using the signals from these external measuring devices are stored in the reactivity calculator as data every second.

[0050] The improved reactivity calculator, which utilizes the abnormal signal removal and signal normalization methods described in this embodiment, is a key system for ensuring the safe operation of nuclear power plants by measuring nuclear fission reactions, performing reactivity calculations, and monitoring reactor characteristics tests. This system is used to verify and analyze critical plant parameters through testing, and the test measurement data plays a crucial role in verifying the safety and stability of nuclear power plants.

[0051] The reactivity calculation unit (120) is configured to calculate the reactivity using the remaining signals after selecting and excluding abnormal signals from the measured and normalized outdoor measuring instrument signals. The reactivity calculation unit (120) for performing this function includes an interface module (121), an abnormal signal detection module (122), and a calculation module (123).

[0052] For reference, the data obtained from the initial critical point measurement or the zero power characteristic test range measurement before the zero power characteristic test is the signal data of each outdoor measuring device, and includes the signal of each outdoor measuring device and the calculated response according to the output increase per second.

[0053] Accordingly, the reactivity calculation unit according to the present embodiment calculates the reactivity by selecting and excluding abnormal signals from the measured and normalized outdoor measuring instrument signals and calculating the reactivity by adding up and averaging only the outdoor measuring instrument signals excluding the signals deselected in the abnormal signal detection module among the outdoor measuring instruments selected through the interface module.

[0054] The interface module (121), as illustrated in FIG. 2, visualizes data stored in the data acquisition unit, displays the signals of each outdoor measuring instrument in a graph, and selects the signals of each channel.

[0055] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an off-road measuring instrument signal graph and a selection toggle of an improved reactivity calculator applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0056] The abnormal signal detection module (122) is configured to check the rising curve of each signal through the interface module, identify abnormal signals, and deselect them. This abnormal signal detection module can identify abnormal off-core measuring devices before a nuclear power plant zero-power test. This can prevent distortions in response calculations and power plant output in advance.

[0057] The calculation module (123) calculates the response by adding and averaging only the signals of the outdoor measuring instruments selected through the interface module, excluding the signals deselected by the abnormal signal detection module.

[0058] The operation of the improved reactivity calculator applying the abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method according to this embodiment is described as follows.

[0059] First, various signal data collected from the off-site instrument are transmitted to the data acquisition unit. This unit normalizes the off-site instrument signals to an average value over a specified time period and acquires the normalized data. This data contains information about the reactor's operation, which is used to calculate the reactivity.

[0060] The data stored in the data acquisition unit is visualized through the interface module (121) of the reaction calculation unit. This displays the signals from each outdoor measuring device as a graph, allowing for visual identification of changes in data over time.

[0061] Regarding signal selection, the interface module allows the operator or system to select the signal for each channel. This step selects the specific off-road instrument signal to be used for reactivity calculations.

[0062] In relation to abnormal signal detection, the selected signal is transmitted to the abnormal signal detection module (122). This module checks the signal's rising curve, identifies the abnormal signal, and deselects it. The abnormal signal identifies abnormal off-core instruments prior to a nuclear power plant zero-power test, or detects signals that distort the reactivity and power plant output.

[0063] With regard to normal signal selection, after abnormal signals are identified and excluded, normal signals are transmitted to the calculation module (123). These signals are used to calculate the reactivity.

[0064] In relation to the reactivity calculation, the calculation module (123) normalizes, sums, and averages the selected normal signals to obtain the reactivity. This reactivity data is used to monitor or control the operation of the reactor.

[0065] From a safety maintenance perspective, calculated reactivity data serve as important indicators for measuring and verifying factors essential to reactor operation.

[0066] The improved reactivity calculator, which utilizes the abnormal signal removal and signal normalization methods according to this embodiment, is one of the most important pieces of equipment used in nuclear reactors and nuclear power plants. The improved reactivity calculator, which utilizes the abnormal signal removal and signal normalization methods according to this embodiment, is used to monitor and control the reactivity of nuclear reactors.

[0067] An improved reactivity calculator applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method according to the present embodiment includes a data acquisition unit for normalizing an outdoor measuring instrument signal to an average value of a certain time period and acquiring normalized data, and a reactivity calculation diagram for distinguishing and excluding abnormal signals from measured outdoor measuring instrument signals and calculating reactivity with the remaining signals.

[0068] The data acquisition section uses the power increase data acquired from the initial critical point measurement before the reactor zero power characteristic test or the zero power characteristic test range measurement as the data used for the average value of the time interval, and if the average of the normalized off-core measuring instrument signals is used to represent the rate of change of the signal, the magnitude of the signals through individual signal normalization is all similar, so the weighting effect on measuring instruments with large count rates is eliminated.

[0069] In relation to the reactivity calculation part, the function of distinguishing and excluding abnormal signals from the measured outdoor measuring instrument signals and calculating the reactivity with the remaining signals is implemented as follows.

[0070] ① Data acquired from the power increase test for measuring the initial critical point before the zero power test of a nuclear power plant or for selecting the range of the zero power characteristic test are automatically saved in this improved reactivity calculator or according to a user-specified file name.

[0071] ② The saved file is visualized as a graph using the improved response calculator analysis program, and a button is implemented to select the signal of each channel.

[0072] ③ Check the rising curve of each signal and deselect any outdoor measuring instruments that have abnormal signals, such as those that do not rise but fall.

[0073] ④ The items of the measuring instrument selected in the reaction calculator analysis program are passed back to the improved reaction calculator, and the reaction is calculated by normalizing, summing, and averaging only the selected measurement signals.

[0074] The present invention has the following improvements and effects.

[0075] When the core model has a large number of leaky neutrons, such as a high-leakage core model, and the counting rate of the external instrument is significantly increased, the reactivity distortion phenomenon due to the overlapping characteristics of the external instrument is prevented.

[0076] In addition, by identifying and removing abnormal outdoor measuring instruments before a nuclear power plant zero-power test, the source of distortion in reactivity calculations and power plant output is eliminated in advance.

[0077] [Explanation of symbols]

[0078] 110: Data Acquisition Department

[0079] 111: Data Management Module

[0080] 112: Normalization module

[0081] 120: Reaction calculation unit

[0082] 121: Interface module

[0083] 122: Abnormal signal detection module

[0084] 123: Calculation module

Claims

1. A data acquisition unit that collects raw signal data from an off-road measuring device and normalizes the off-road measuring device signal obtained from the initial critical point measurement or the zero-power characteristic test range measurement before the zero-power characteristic test to the average value over a certain time period. An improved reactivity calculator, characterized by including a reactivity calculation unit that selects and excludes abnormal signals from measured outdoor instrument signals and calculates reactivity with the remaining signals, and applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method.

2. In paragraph 1, The above data acquisition unit A data management module that collects raw signal data from an outdoor measuring device and stores data obtained from initial critical point measurement or zero-power characteristic test range measurement before a zero-power characteristic test. An improved reactivity calculator for applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method, characterized in that it includes a normalization module that selects data within a time interval from the initial critical point measurement data or the output rise data obtained from the zero-power characteristic test range measurement and normalizes it to the average value of a certain time interval.

3. In paragraph 1, The above reaction calculation section An interface module that visualizes the data stored in the above data acquisition unit, displays the signals of each outdoor measuring device as a graph, and selects the signals of each channel; An abnormal signal detection module that checks the rising curve of each signal through the above interface module and identifies and deselects abnormal signals; and An improved reactivity calculator applying an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method, characterized in that it includes a calculation module that calculates a reactivity by summing and averaging only the signals of outdoor measuring instruments selected through the interface module, excluding the signals deselected in the abnormal signal detection module.

4. In paragraph 3, The above abnormal signal detection module is an improved reactivity calculator that applies an abnormal signal removal and signal normalization method, characterized in that it determines an abnormal outdoor measuring instrument before a nuclear power plant zero-power test.

Citation Information

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