Estudo de viabilidade para a utilização da tecnologia wireless no monitoramento de condições operacionais de motores em usinas nucleares

Abstract

Currently, more than 2/3 of the world's nuclear power plants are over 30 years old and most of the engines installed in these nuclear plants are not monitored online and in real time, being performed manually by round and by periodic frequency (monthly, quarterly etc.). In some cases, certain motors are directly responsible for forced outages and generation losses, which may exceed R $ 3 million per day. In addition, the deployment of wired (cable) monitoring in older facilities is costly and labor intensive and installing a nuclear grade cabling can cost up to US $ 2,000 per 30 centimeters, according to the EPRI survey. Therefore, wireless technology is a powerful tool as an option to monitor the operational conditions of equipment, mainly vibration and temperature of large motors, in order to reduce maintenance costs, improve managerial decision making and, consequently, minimize forced outage by unexpected asset failures of nuclear plants. Additionally, it can reduce the radiation dose of nuclear plant workers and facilitate monitoring in hard-to-reach areas, as well as reduce equipment installation costs (new and temporary) and assist in planning and performing tasks at scheduled maintenance shutdowns. For the use of wireless technology in a nuclear power plant to be feasible, it is necessary to eliminate the possible risks of failure by electromagnetic and radiofrequency interference, by cybernetic security, by the severe nuclear environment (temperature, radiation, humidity), etc. The methodology and strategy of this work was to carry out a survey of the wireless technology, the experience of its use in the nuclear industry with the results and the challenges for its implementation, as well as the possibility of its application in the Angra Nuclear Power Station. In addition, the author performed basic tests of operability and electromagnetic interference on wireless devices in the Argonauta Research Reactor (IEN).