Steam Leak
Steam Leak
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Keywords: In the work reported in this paper, two ultrasonic leak detectors were designed and manufactured to detect pipe
Ultrasonic leak detection ASTM E1002-05 leaks remotely using a non-contact, non-destructive method. One ultrasonic leak detector module with a para
nozzle bolic reflector (diameter 150 mm and focal length of 100 mm) and a second ultrasonic leak detection module
with a conical horn guide (length 100 mm, angle 9.5◦ ) were fabricated. After CAD design, the parabolic reflector
was processed by 3D printing manufacturing method. The performance of these devices was tested and evaluated
in an outdoor environment in accordance with the ASTM E1002–05 class II equipment verification standards.
The field verification tests were conducted about 20 times. According to the evaluation of the test results, the
average S/N (signal to noise) ratio of the ultrasonic leak detector with the parabolic reflector was about 4.97 dB,
and the average leak detection S/N ratio of the ultrasonic leak detector with a conical horn guide was about 1.89
dB
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jwcho@kaeri.re.kr (J.W. Cho).
1
ORCID 0000-0001-8307-3536
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2022.114061
system (MEMS) microphone arrays in the frequency band of 10–20 kHz range 20–80 kHz into 320 center frequencies fc with a unit bandwidth
[12]. S. Wang and X. Yao used a microphone (YSV5001) sensor in the (Δf). For 320 center frequencies, the FFT operation was performed using
range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz to detect the leakage from a 1 mm hole at a 2Δf as a window. Then, a 320 power spectrum was obtained for each of
pressure of 30 kPa [13]. Rui Xiao et al. used a microphone sensor (PCB the 320 center frequencies. In this paper, Δf was set to 200 Hz.
105B50) in the frequency range of 0.5 Hz to 40 kHz to detect pressur
fc1st = 20kHz (1)
ized gas leaks from a 1 mm hole at 100 kPa [14].
During the work reported in this paper, two ultrasonic leak detectors
fc2nd = 20kHz + Δf (200Hz) = 20.2kHz (2)
were designed and manufactured to detect pipe leaks remotely using a
non-contact, non-destructive method. One ultrasonic leak detector fcnth = 20kHz + (n − 1)Δf (3)
module with a parabolic reflector (diameter 150 mm and focal length of
100 mm) and a second ultrasonic leak detection module with a gun-type The intensity distribution of the 320 FFT power spectra are received
conical horn were fabricated. When high-pressure gas leaks from a pipe, by a data logger (PC) through a serial interface (I/F), as shown in the
the audible sounds of 20 kHz or less, among all the acoustic frequencies block diagram of Fig. 1. A PC analyzes this and determines whether the
generated, are removed. An ultrasonic signal in the range of 20–80 kHz, pipe is leaking. Fig. 2 shows a photograph of the newly designed and
which is relatively easy to distinguish from background noises manufactured ultrasonic leak detector. The size of the new ultrasonic
(including mechanical noise) was processed. The ultrasonic sensor used leak detector is 67 × 40 mm. In the photographs shown in Fig. 2, the red
in the design and manufacture of the ultrasonic leak detector is a MEMS circle seen on the front face (top left) is a MEMS microphone. The
microphone. In addition, the performance of the newly designed and acoustic hole is located on the bottom of the chip. A microphone hole
manufactured ultrasonic leak detector was evaluated based on the ASTM (diameter 0.6 mm) was drilled in the PCB board to collect the ultrasonic
E1002–05 class II equipment verification criteria of the American So signal. The hole within the red dotted circle in the rear face of Fig. 2
ciety for Testing and Materials. In consideration of the need to apply (lower image) illustrates this.
leakage detection to piping facilities installed outdoors, a performance Fig. 3 shows the inherent response distribution of the ultrasonic leak
evaluation was also executed under the climatic conditions found in the detector developed in this work. In Fig. 3, the X axis represents fre
outdoor environment and the ambient noise environment of the sur quency, and the Y axis represents the sensitivity. It has a peak sensitivity
rounding facilities. That is, the ultrasonic signal emitted from a nozzle around 30 kHz and was designed and manufactured to have relatively
having a diameter of 0.2 mm under a gauge pressure of about 70 kPa high response characteristics in the 20–40 kHz frequency range. Fig. 4
was measured at a distance of 5 m or more. The leak rate (100 mL/min) shows the outline of the conical horn guide of the ultrasonic leak de
according to ASTM E1002–05 class II device verification requirements tector in this work. The length of the horn guide l is 100 mm, the
was implemented experimentally. diameter d1 of the throat contacting the MEMS M/P through hole is
6 mm, and the outer diameter d2 of the conical horn guide is designed to
2. Design and manufacture of an ultrasonic leak detector be 40 mm. The acoustic field-of-view (FOV) of the conical horn guide is
calculated as 9.65 degrees as in Eq. (4). Fig. 5 is a conceptual diagram of
Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the newly designed and manufac the horn guide of the parabolic reflector. The curved surface of the inner
tured ultrasonic leak detector. surface of the reflector has a parabolic structure. Ultrasonic waves
In the block diagram in Fig. 1, a MEMS microphone is shown as the (plane waves) incident on the reflector are focused on the MEME M/P
acoustic sensor. The frequency range of the microphone sensor is 100 Hz sensing area. In Fig. 5, l is the focal length, APR is the cross-sectional area
to 80 kHz, and the sensitivity of the sensor is − 38 dBV/Pa (10 dB at of the parabolic reflector, and Aλ is the cross-sectional area of the MEMS
100 Hz to 80 kHz). The amplifier stage amplifies the microphone sound M/P sensing area. Assuming that the ultrasonic wave incident on the
signal. The amplification unit was designed in three stages (1st stage: parabolic reflector are reflected and focused on the sensing area of the
60 dB, 2nd stage: 30 dB, 3rd stage: 14.6 dB), and the total gain is MEMS M/P, the gain GPR is as Eq. (5). In Eq. (5),η is the efficiency of the
104.6 dB. The audible frequency range below 20 kHz and the high fre aperture of the parabolic reflector. In general, η is between 50% and
quency range above 80 kHz are filtered out. The newly designed filter is 60%. In this work, a parabolic reflector with a focal length of 100 mm
a second-order Chebyshev high-pass filter (center frequency = 20 kHz, and a diameter of 150 mm was fabricated by 3D printing technique.
0.3 dB ripple) that cuts out the audible sound band below 20 kHz, and a Substituting this into Eq. (5), the gain of the parabolic reflector was
fourth-order Chebyshev low-pass filter (center frequency = 80 kHz, calculated to be about 31.87 dB. In the calculation of Eq. (5), the
0.3 dB ripple) that removes the high-frequency range above 80 kHz. The diameter of the sensing area (hole) of the MEMS M/P was set to 8.5 mm
A/D part converts 20–80 kHz analog signals collected by the micro corresponding to the wavelength of the 40 kHz.
( )
phone into digital signals with sampling frequency of 256 kHz. The d2 − d1
signal processing unit performs a fast Fourier transform (FFT) operation FOV conicalhornguide = arctan (4)
2l
and the block length (number of sampling points) for FFT processing was
set to 1024. The signal processing unit (SPU) splits the frequency in the
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the newly designed ultrasonic leak detection module.
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J.C. Lee et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 349 (2023) 114061
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J.C. Lee et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 349 (2023) 114061
in the ASTM E1002–05 document is 1.5std.atm.cm3 /sec. Fig. 6 shows the the ultrasonic leak detector with a parabolic reflector, and ULD#2 is the
outdoor experimental setup based on the ASTM E1002–05 Class II ultrasonic leak detector with a conical horn guide. Fig. 7 is a picture of
criteria. The outdoor verification experiment assumed leakage detection the outdoor test scene. The pressure regulator attached to the nitrogen
of pipes installed on the roadside of the Yeosu Industrial Complex. The cylinder was adjusted so that the discharge gas flow rate of the leakage
nitrogen gas contained in a bombe passed through a tube (6 mm in mock-up nozzle (diameter 0.1 mm) was 100 mL/min. As shown in the
diameter, ~ 10 m long) and was discharged through a nozzle (0.1 mm test setup, this was checked by watching the flow-gauge scale attached
diameter) attached to the pipe surface. next to the leak nozzle. The 0.1 mm nozzle used was a commercial
A pressure gauge was mounted near the nozzle, and the pressure of product. A commercial 0.1 mm nozzle (PC6-M5M-0.1) was attached by
the gas discharged through the 0.1 mm nozzle was measured. In addi adding a 5 mm tap on a cylindrical aluminum pipe with a thickness of
tion, the prototype ultrasonic leak detector was placed at a distance of ~ 3 mm and a diameter of 150 mm. Measurements were carried out in two
5 m (line-of-sight) distance from the nozzle. Measurement data for the ways. First, background noise was measured. With the bombe valve
ultrasonic leak detector was stored in a PC data logger (located inside closed, environmental noise in the direction of the 0.1 mm nozzle
the container sheltering the equipment) through an RS-232 C interface attached to the pipe surface was measured. Then, the ultrasonic leakage
cable. In Fig. 6, ULD#1, located on the roof of an outdoor container, is sound was measured. The valve attached to the bombe was opened, and
Fig. 6. Experimental setup for evaluation of the performance of the ultrasonic leak detection unit.
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J.C. Lee et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 349 (2023) 114061
the nitrogen gas discharge regulator pressure was adjusted so that the leakage ultrasonic energy from a 0.1 mm nozzle at a flow rate of 100 cc/
flow gauge scale near the 0.1 mm nozzle attached to the pipe surface min at a distance of ~ 6.5 m. Fig. 8 is the intensity measured at 38 kHz
was about 100 cc/min. Each leak measurement was performed for about by ultrasonic leak detector ULD #1 with a parabolic reflector. Fig. 9 is
two hours, and the rest of the time was spent on background noise the 32 kHz intensity component of ULD#2 measurements with a
measurement. 100 mm conical horn guide. As shown in Fig. 8, in the case of an ul
Figs. 8 and 9 show measurements of outdoor leak signal by ultrasonic trasonic leak detector with a parabolic reflector, the background signal
leak detectors (ULD#1 with parabolic reflector and ULD#2 with conical and the leak signal are clearly distinguished. In most leak tests, it can be
horn guide). In the figures, the X-axis represents the number of mea seen that the minimum intensity of the leakage signal is greater than the
surements, and the Y-axis is the ultrasonic energy at 38 kHz and 32 kHz. maximum intensity of the background noise. On the other hand, in the
From 5 PM on November 6th to 9 AM on November 9th, more than case of ULD #2 with conical horn guide, the minimum intensity of the
20,000 measurements were taken at sampling intervals of ten seconds. leakage signal is less than the maximum intensity of the background
In the figures, the blue distribution curve is the raw signal, and the red noise. It can be explained that the sensitivity of ULD #2 with conical
color is the RMS of the measurement signal. horn guide is lower than that of ULD #1 with parabolic reflector. In the
maximum sensitivity frequency component, the signal-to-noise ratio
1∑ n
UERMS = UEi (6) (SNR) of ULD #1 with parabolic reflector is 4.176 dB and the SNR of
n i=1 ULD #2 with conical horn guide is 1.494 dB. In Eqs. 7 and 8, LERMS is the
As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, 4 leak measurement tests were performed ultrasonic leak energy emitted at 100 cc/min from a 0.1 mm nozzle. The
for about 2.5 days. Leak measurement tests are the results of measuring term UERMS is the natural noise of the test environment. As a result of a
Fig. 8. Ultrasonic (38 kHz) signal measurements (ULD #1 with Parabolic Reflector).
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J.C. Lee et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 349 (2023) 114061
Fig. 9. Ultrasonic (32 kHz) signal measurements (ULD #2 with conical horn guide).
comparative SNR calculation at maximum sensitivity frequency, the frequencies of the two leak detectors are different for the same leak. The
sensitivity of ULD#1 with the parabolic reflector (38 kHz) was about 2.8 ultrasonic leak detector with a parabolic reflector has the maximum
times higher than that of ULD #2 with the conical horn guide (32 kHz). sensitivity at 38 kHz, and the ultrasonic leak detector with the conical
⃒ ⃒ horn guide shows the maximum sensitivity at 32 kHz. The shape of the
⃒ LERMS ⃒
SNRULD#1,f =38kHz = 10log⃒⃒ ⃒ = 4.176dB (7) reflector (parabolic curved surface) was fabricated around a 40 kHz
UERMS ⃒ULD#1,f =38kHz
reference frequency. When the signal of the 40 kHz reference frequency
⃒ ⃒ is incident on the reflector, it is focused on one point of the sensor while
⃒ LERMS ⃒
SNRULD#2,f =32kHz = 10log⃒⃒ ⃒ = 1.494dB (8) having almost the same phase. On the other hand, when the incident
UERMS ⃒ULD#2,f =32kHz frequency is out of the reference frequency, distortion is generated and
Figs. 10 and 11 show the measurement results of the two types of focused on various surfaces of the sensor. It is thought that the difference
ultrasonic leak detectors newly designed and manufactured. In these from the conical horn guide is due to the difference in the shape of the
figures, the X-axis represents the frequency, and the Y-axis represents reflector, the installation position, and the observation FOV (field-of-
the ultrasonic energy. The black distribution curve shows the natural view). The fact that the maximum sensitivity frequency varies depend
outdoor-noise measurement results over 2.5 days. The red distribution ing on the horn attached to the ultrasonic leak detector needs further
curve is a measurement of the leakage ultrasound discharged at 100 cc/ analysis.
min from a 0.1 mm nozzle. Fig. 10 is the measurement result of the ULD The outdoor measurement experiment was performed 19 times.
#1 with parabolic reflector, and Fig. 11 is the measurement result of the Tables 1 and 2 summarize the root mean square (RMS), Xrms , energy E,
ULD #2 with conical horn guide. From the measurement results shown variance Xs and SNR of the two types of ultrasonic leak detectors
in Figs. 10 and 11, ULD #1 with the parabolic reflector shows very good designed and manufactured in this study. The RMS, energy, variance,
response characteristics; enough to distinguish leak signals (on a graph) and SNR were defined as follows.
with the naked eye. It can be seen that the ULD #2 with conical horn 1∑ n ⃒ ⃒
guide also has sufficient sensitivity to distinguish the leakage signal from Xrms = ⃒UEleak − UEbackgroundnoise ⃒
i
(9)
n i=1
the background noise. In Figs. 10 and 11, the maximum sensitivity
Fig. 10. Ultrasonic intensity distribution in an outdoor environment (ULD #1 with parabolic reflector).
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J.C. Lee et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 349 (2023) 114061
Fig. 11. Ultrasonic intensity distribution in an outdoor environment (ULD #2 with conical horn guide).
Table 1 1∑ n ⃒ ⃒
Xs = (⃒UEleak − UEbackgroundnoise ⃒i − Xrms )2 (10)
Summary of the feature calculation results (ULD #1 with parabolic reflector). n i=1
Leak Test RMS Variance Energy SNR B/G Measurements √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
05:51–07:25, 0.0509 0.0046 0.079 4.768 07:25–18:14 28 Oct 1∑ n ⃒ ⃒
E= ⃒UEleak − UEbackgroundnoise ⃒2 (11)
28 Oct n i=1 i
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J.C. Lee et al. Sensors and Actuators: A. Physical 349 (2023) 114061
Table 2
Summary of feature calculation results (ULD #2 with conical horn guide).
Leak Test RMS Variance Energy SNR B/G Measurements
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This work was supported by a National Research Council of Science wavelet transform and Support Vector Machine, Measurement Vol. 146 (2019)
& Technology (NST) grant by the Korea government (MSIP) (No. CRC- 479–489.
15-05-ETRI)
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Jae Cheol Lee Graduated from the Department of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. His research topic is the
National University, Master’s Degree. Currently, he is working in the Smart Structural development of AI technology for the application of nuclear power plants.
Safety and Prognosis Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. His
research topics are the design/manufacturing of ultrasonic leak sensors and the develop
Jai Wan Cho Graduated from the Department of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook
ment of sensors with built-in AI inference engine.
National University, Master’s Degree. Currently, he is working in the Smart Structural
Safety and Prognosis Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. His
Yu Rak Choi Graduated from the Department of Computer Science, Chungnam National research topic is the development of sensor system V&V(verification and validation)
University, Ph. D.Currently, he is working in the Smart Structural Safety and Prognosis technology for nuclear power plant