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About 15 percent of AMS’s activities are dedicated to experimental R&D in the area of process instrumentation and development of automated test equipment and techniques. These efforts are funded either internally or by outside organizations. AMS’s R&D staff consists of a group of highly-qualified specialists with B.S. to Ph.D. degrees in nuclear, electrical, mechanical, chemical, and computer engineering. In addition, AMS has on-going consulting agreements with a number of scientists, engineers, professors, and specialist who are working or have retired from technical positions at universities, national laboratories, research centers, or government organizations.
AMS facilities include an instrument calibration laboratory with direct traceability to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a temperature sensor response time testing facility, pressure sensor response time testing equipment, an environmental chamber, heat-treating furnaces, an experimental fluid test loop, a software development laboratory, and an equipment manufacturing and repair facility.
Some of our Research and Development Activities Include:
1. On-Line Monitoring of Accuracy and Reliability of Instrumentation and Health of Nuclear Power Plants
The primary goal of the Phase I and Phase II SBIR projects conducted by Analysis and Measurement Services Corporation (AMS) was the development of an OLM system that integrates the information contained in the measurements of existing plant signals to provide diagnostics of plant sensors and systems under a common software and hardware framework. Currently, the performance of the instrumentation systems of nuclear power plants is verified by hands-on or manual techniques. The OLM system developed for this project automates this process and provides the industry with a tool not only to verify the performance of its process instrumentation systems, but also to trend the results and identify problems as they occur. The OLM system developed for this project:
- Provides plants with the means to automatically assess the condition of critical plant equipment and processes;
- Offers a practical tool to optimize plant maintenance activities and improve efficiency, reduce costs, and contribute to plant safety;
- Provides the foundation for an automated condition monitoring system to be embedded in the design of the next generation of reactors
Although several U.S. utilities expressed interest in becoming a test bed for the OLM system developed under the Phase II effort, the original project scope provided time and resources for providing OLM analysis for only one U.S. reactor (the Farley Nuclear Power Station Unit 1, a Westinghouse three-loop PWR in Alabama owned by Southern Nuclear Operating Company). For the supplemental Phase II+ project, AMS is increasing the level of effort of the original scope by providing OLM analysis for three additional U.S. reactors, namely Farley Unit 2, and Units 1 and 2 of the North Anna Power Station owned by Dominion.
2. Wireless Sensors for Equipment Health and Condition Monitoring in Nuclear Power Plants
The goal of this project is to address the technical issues that must be resolved to establish the foundation for widespread use of wireless technologies for equipment condition monitoring in nuclear power reactors. The project focuses not only on condition monitoring for rotating equipment and plant processes but also on other challenges related to the implementation of wireless sensors for equipment condition monitoring. These include installation practices, electromagnetic and radio frequency interference (EMI/RFI) issues, network integration, cyber security concerns, data acquisition, data qualification algorithms, analysis of wireless data, and interpretation of the results. The outcome of this project will be a prototype system using wireless sensors for equipment condition monitoring in a commercial nuclear power reactors
3. Wireless Sensors for Predictive Maintenance of Rotating Equipment in DOE’s Research Reactors
The goal of the project is to develop and implement a wireless condition monitoring system for use at DOE’s research reactors to acquire predictive maintenance data on rotating equipment. The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) facility for implementation of the wireless system.
The installation of a base of wireless sensors will substantially reduce the need for manual data collection and provide monitoring for older facilities that do not currently collect much predictive maintenance data.
4. Advanced Techniques for On-Line Condition Monitoring and Diagnostics of Digital Rod Position Indication Systems for Existing and Next Generation Nuclear Power Plants
This project will produce an Advanced Digital Rod Position Indication (DRPI) Diagnostic system, through the development of software and hardware modules for the Coil Diagnostic System (CDS) in containment and Digital Diagnostic System (DDS) in the control room.
5. On-Line Monitoring Technology for Aging Management and Life Extension of the Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory
This project will help the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) and other aging research reactors in the worldwide fleet address the need for reliable and efficient operation for years to come. Specifically, AMS is focused on the adaptation of advanced, predictive technologies used in commercial industry for their use in research reactors. Some of these technologies include vibration analysis, in-situ response time testing, on-line calibration verification, and more. The ATR will be the test bed for the implementation of these advanced techniques; however, their use will be applicable to other research reactors in the U.S. and abroad.