Defect Detection of the Wall Thinning Pipe of the Nuclear Power Plant Using Infrared Thermography

The infrared energy is emitted in the infrared wavelength range that corresponds to the surface temperature of a object which has temperature that is over the absolute the temperature(OK). The infrared thermography (IRT) is a non-destrnctive testing method that provides thermal video for the user in real-time by converting the infrared quantity that is detected by the infrared detector into temperature. The pipes of nuclear power plant(NPP) could be thinned by the corrosion and fatigue and the defect could lead to a big accident. For this reason, the effective non-destructive testing method is necessary. In this study, the relationship between the measured temperature and the defect depth or size of NPP pipes were recognized and that was applied to detect the wall thinning defects of NPP pipes.