KR20090122131A - Leak monitoring system using vision and acoustic information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A leakage monitoring system using a vision and acoustic information is provided to prevent facilities from accident due to large leakage by monitoring leakage and informing a user of it. CONSTITUTION: A leakage monitoring system using a vision and acoustic information is composed of a video camera, an acoustic camera, a transceiver, and a controller. The video camera(110) takes a picture of fluid leaked out based on a leaking position through an acoustic sensor. The acoustic camera(120) surrounds an outer circumference of the video camera and senses the fluid leaked out through sound. A transceiver(130) transmits the leakage image from the video camera and the acoustic camera to a worker computer.

Description

Leak monitoring device using visual and sound information {LEAK MONITORING SYSTEM USING VISION AND ACOUSTIC INFORMATION}

The present invention relates to a leak monitoring apparatus using video and audio information, and more particularly, to monitor leak before break (LBB) of a pipe or a facility installed in a place where an operator cannot access using a video and audio camera. The present invention relates to a leak monitoring apparatus using video and audio information.

In general, in the field of using high pressure, high temperature, or high pressure and high temperature fluid, leakage causes serious accidents, for example, a nuclear power plant as an example. For example, in nuclear power plants, accidents caused by leakage of coolant that cools nuclear fuel are very important.

In other words, the nuclear fuel loaded inside the reactor generates thermal energy by the fission chain reaction. If the coolant does not cool it properly, the nuclear fuel cladding tube melts and the radioactive material that loses the radioactive barrier function is exposed to the outside.

In nuclear power plants, these accidents are defined as Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) and have various safety devices in case of such accidents. The representative method is Leak Before Break; LBB) is used.

However, studies have shown that the concept of pre-break leakage (LBB) will reduce the likelihood of an accident such as LOCA. This is because it helps to shut down the reactor in advance by preventing a small amount of leakage before the leak occurs in the pipe, thereby preventing the occurrence of large LOCA.

Therefore, the better the detection of leak before break (LBB), the lower the risk. This idea is expected to reduce overdesigned safety devices for large LOCAs, extend operating margins, and play a major role in calculating the plant's risk itself.

However, the following three problems have been pointed out in relation to the break before break (LBB).

The first is how to efficiently leak before breaking.

In other words, the accurate measurement of the location and amount of leakage at the same time is the purpose of leakage monitoring before failure, but a method that can simultaneously measure the location and amount by a single technique has not been put to practical use. For this reason, pre-break leakage monitoring techniques must be applied in nuclear power plants, which operate in at least two independent ways as a pre-break leak.

Second, it must be possible to carry out leaks before failure even in places where workers cannot access them.

That is, since leakage is usually a problem when one or more of high temperature, high pressure, or toxic substances are used, when a worker is near when a leakage occurs, a great casualty accident follows. Therefore, when a leak occurs, an apparatus and a method capable of performing the leak detection while the operator moves and manipulates the leak detector at a distance should be provided.

Third, if the facility to be monitored is very large, all pipelines cannot be monitored at all times, unless it is foreseen where the leak will occur. Therefore, even in such a case, a device that assists the leak monitoring device to detect the leak location must be supported.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, the purpose of which is to use the video and audio information that can effectively detect and monitor the leak before break in the piping in the nuclear power plant difficult for workers to access through video and audio camera To provide a leak detection value.

Leak detection value using the image and sound information according to the present invention for achieving the above object, Image camera 110 for taking an image of the fluid leaked in accordance with the detection of the leak position through the acoustic sensor; An acoustic camera 120 configured to surround the outer circumferential surface of the image camera 110 with concentric circles to detect a leaked fluid through sound; Transceiver 130 for transmitting and receiving leakage information on the image and sound obtained from the image camera 110 and the acoustic camera 120 to an external worker computer and the image camera 110, the acoustic camera 120 and the transceiver ( And a controller 150 for controlling the function of 130.

Preferably, the sound camera 120 further includes a moving unit 140 installed at a lower end of the acoustic camera 120 and moving to a leakage position according to an external control signal.

More preferably, the acoustic camera 120 includes a plurality of microphones 125 so as to detect sound according to leakage using a difference in frequency.

According to the leak monitoring apparatus using the image and sound information according to the present invention, it is possible to protect the facility from accidents caused by large-scale leakage by informing the presence or absence of the leakage before the large leakage through the image and sound information.

In other words, by actively introducing the concept of pre-break leakage through visual and audio information, not only nuclear power plants, but also facilities using high-pressure and high-temperature fluids, facilities containing toxic substances, and other damages expected to be leaked. It can also be applied to the facility to prevent the large amount of leakage from the facility in advance.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the leak detection value using the image and sound information according to the present invention.

1 is a view showing the configuration of a leak monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the leakage monitoring apparatus 100 using the image and the sound information according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an image camera 110, an acoustic camera 120, a transceiver 130, and a moving means ( 140 and controller 150.

In detail, the image camera 110 is a means for capturing an image of a leaked fluid (gas or liquid). The image camera 110 may enlarge and reduce image information photographed while moving up, down, left, and right.

The acoustic camera 120 is a means for sensing a leaking fluid through sound, and has a cylindrical shape surrounding the outer circumferential surface of the video camera 110 with concentric circles, and includes a plurality of microphones 125.

That is, when the sound camera 120 is vaporized immediately, such as a small amount of leakage or fluid leaked from the high-energy pipe that is not visually confirmed, it is difficult to check the leakage through the video camera 110, the microphone 125 ) Detects the presence of leakage by detecting sound that is different from the background frequency.

In this case, the image camera 110 enlarges the leak location detected by the acoustic camera 120 to transmit the enlarged image information to a worker computer remotely over a network or to control the remote worker computer. The camera's angle and position can be adjusted to monitor for leaks and other suspected areas.

For example, the image camera 110 may use a general camera as well as a special camera such as an infrared camera, and a remote operator computer may process the screen related to the leakage transmitted from the image camera 110 to display the leaked portion. Size and leakage can be predicted.

The transceiver 130 transmits the leakage information obtained from the video camera 110 and the acoustic camera 120 to a worker computer, or the location where the leakage is expected to occur in the location of the leak monitoring apparatus 100 according to the present invention. The control signal for moving to or moving the angle of the image camera 110 up, down, left and right is received from the worker computer.

The moving unit 140 is installed at the lower end of the acoustic camera 120 and moves to a leaking position according to a control signal of a worker computer. A wheel 145 is provided on the bottom surface.

At this time, in one embodiment of the present invention, the wheel 145 is provided on the bottom surface of the moving means 140 is described as being moved, but is not limited to this, a moving device designed to be suitable for movement, for example, a walking device, an endless track And flying vehicles.

The controller 150 controls the video camera 110, the acoustic camera 120, the transceiver 130, and the moving unit 140.

Hereinafter, the operation of the leakage monitoring apparatus using the image and sound information according to the present invention configured as described above will be described with an example.

2 is a view showing an application example of moving the leak monitoring device according to the present invention using an acoustic sensor network, Figure 3 is a view for explaining the principle of operation of the leak monitoring device moved to the anticipated position.

4 is a diagram illustrating a position control algorithm of an image camera using sound information, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a video signal processing process for estimating leakage.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a case where the leak detection device using the image and sound information according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed in the containment building of the power plant will be described as an example.

For example, since the containment building 300 of the power plant including the reactor 310, the pump 320, and the steam generator 330 does not know where the leakage will occur, the first to the point where the leakage is predicted. The seventh acoustic sensors A1 to A7 are installed to detect leakage.

The acoustic sensors A1 to A7 are superior in sensitivity to other sensors and play an important role in leak detection since they can identify in which direction the leakage occurs. In the application example of FIG. 2, the reactor 310 and steam It is shown that the leak point is detected at the second and fourth acoustic sensors A2 and A4 between the generators 330.

At this time, if there is a normal state without leakage, all of the first to seventh acoustic sensors A1 to A7 detect only background noise, but if a leakage point occurs between the second and fourth acoustic sensors A2 and A4, A frequency different from background noise is detected.

Then, an operator who monitors the containment building 300 of the power plant with the computer 200 at a long distance through the network, grasps that leakage occurs between the second and fourth acoustic sensors A2 and A4, and the second And between the fourth acoustic sensors A2 and A4, the leak detection apparatus 100 according to the present invention is moved.

Then, as shown in (1) of Figure 3, by using the acoustic information measured through the acoustic camera 120 of the leak monitoring device 100 to detect the presence of leakage, the signal of the signal measured from the microphone 125 Use the phase difference to find the exact leak location.

Next, as shown in (2) of FIG. 3, by using the leakage location information provided through the acoustic camera 120, the image camera 110 is moved to a position where the acquisition of the image information is appropriate for leakage prediction. Take the measurement video.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, since the image camera 110 and the acoustic camera 120 are fixed to the same driving unit, the position of the acoustic camera 120 is directed so that the controller 150 faces the center of the leakage position. By fixing the image camera 110 is also directed toward the leakage position. In other words, the controller 150 controls the image camera 110 to face the leakage position in order to reduce the error of the method of estimating the leakage amount using image processing. In addition, the controller 150 moves the image camera 110 and the acoustic camera 120 as a whole or moves only the image camera 110 to the leakage position according to the leakage position information detected by the acoustic sensors A1 to A7. Allows you to shoot optimal video information.

Next, as shown in (3) of FIG. 3, the image and sound information measured by the video camera 110 and the acoustic camera 120 to the remote worker computer 200 through the transceiver 130. It transmits a notification that a leak has occurred and analyzes and predicts the leak amount through the captured image.

That is, the worker computer 200, as shown in Figure 5, (1) to extract the image taken and transmitted through the image camera 110, (2) to distinguish the leakage using the contrast, (3) After exploring the interface in the distinctive contrast, (4) by constructing the leakage interface, measuring and predicting the leakage, the operator can take appropriate measures in advance of the large-scale leakage and thus prevent the accident in advance. .

Although the present invention has been described above according to an embodiment of the present invention, a person skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs has changed and modified within the scope without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Of course.

1 is a view showing the configuration of a leak monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram showing an application example for moving a leak detector according to the present invention using an acoustic sensor network;

3 is a view for explaining the principle of operation of the leak monitoring device moved to the expected leakage position.

4 is a diagram illustrating a position control algorithm of an image camera using sound information.

5 is a diagram illustrating an image signal processing procedure for estimating leakage amount;

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

110: video camera 120: sound camera

125: microphone 130: transceiver

140: moving means 150: controller

Claims (3)

A device for monitoring leakage using information through video and audio cameras, An imaging camera 110 for capturing an image of a leaked fluid according to detection of a leaked position through an acoustic sensor; An acoustic camera 120 configured to surround the outer circumferential surface of the image camera 110 with concentric circles to detect a leaked fluid through sound; Transceiver 130 for transmitting and receiving the leakage information for the image and sound obtained from the image camera 110 and the acoustic camera 120 to an external worker computer; And Leak monitoring device using a video and sound information, characterized in that it comprises a controller (150) for controlling the functions of the video camera (110), the audio camera (120) and the transceiver (130). The method of claim 1, Leak monitoring device using a video and sound information, characterized in that it further comprises a moving means 140 is installed at the lower end of the sound camera 120 is moved to a leaking position according to an external control signal. The method of claim 1, The sound camera 120 includes a plurality of microphones (125) to detect the sound according to the leakage by using the difference in frequency leakage monitoring device using the image and sound information.

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