Development and Application of Differential Pressure Protection Device for Classified Pump Inlet Strainer of Pressurized Water Reactor

Abstract

During the commissioning phase of pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear power station,a temporary filter shall be installed in the pump inlet to prevent foreign body in fluid entering the pump body, which could cause disaster effect on the pump during safety and normal operation. The strainer blockage was an urgent problem to be solved, as well as the operation of the filter was monitored by effective means. In order to decrease the risk of human failures and realize intelligent control, a protection device was designed in this paper. This device could monitor the variation of pressure differential between front and back sides of pump’s inlet filter accompany with functions of alarming and pump emergency shutdown. The corresponding alarm would be generated when the pressure differential reaches the set values, and the command to pump shut down could be generated when reaching the jump threshold, to ensure the safety of nuclear classified important equipment.