Application of the Signal Change Tracking Algorithm in the Hydraulic Shock Absorber Monitoring System

During nuclear power plant (NPP) operation, the reactor plant main equipment can show displacements when subjected to the effect of various external and internal loads. These displacements are mainly caused by thermal expansion of the metal and seismic loads. To cope with these phenomena, the reactor plant components that are most susceptible to these types of loads are fastened with hydraulic shock absorbers (HSAs) to limit their displacements under the effect of seismic or accident dynamic loads, as well as to ensure thermal displacements in increasing or decreasing the power unit output. For monitoring the HSA operation and indirectly monitoring the displacements of the reactor plant equipment items fastened with hydraulic shock absorbers, the dedicated hydraulic shock absorber monitoring system (HSAMS) is used, which is equipped with linear displacement sensors installed directly on the HSAs. If the displacements go beyond the predetermined limits, the HSAMs algorithms produce an appropriate alarm. The information from the HSAMS is also used by the automated residual lifetime monitoring system (ARLMS) to calculate the steam generator connection pipe displacement criteria parameters. However, during the operation of a number of NPP power units, a problem associated with numerous failures of the HSAMS linear displacement sensors has been faced. These failures manifested themselves in that the sensor signals went beyond the valid range or frozen under the effect of external influencing factors. As a result, the HSAMS and ARLMS operation was complicated by a large number of unreliable measurements and the functions of these systems were not performed in a proper way. To solve this problem, it has been proposed to use an algorithm for tracking signal changes, which can improve the credibility of HSAMS indications by determining unreliable data in the online mode and by performing statistical processing of the already available array of indications.