Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 4 (December 2018)
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Development of Inspection Technology forCaustic Gouging of Combined Cycle HRSG(Pneumatic Transfer ECT)MIKIYASU URATA*1

TAKEHIKO YAMAGUCHI*2

NAOYA URATA*3TSUYOSHI NAKAHARA*4YUYA KUROSAWA*5

HARUNA TAKAHASHI*5

In heat transfer tubes of combined cycle Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) for
thermal power plants, corrosion thinning caused by caustic gouging may occur on the tube innersurface. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd.
(MHPS) developed the Pneumatic transfer Eddy Current Testing (ECT) inspection system as atechnology which allows corrosion-thinned parts of heat transfer tubes to be measured without
removing scale. In addition, to evaluate the performance of this technology, a verification test was
conducted using the HRSG at Sendai Thermal Power Station No. 4 of Tohoku Electric Power Co.,
Inc. and satisfactory results were obtained.

|1. Introduction
In heat transfer tubes of combined cycle HRSG for thermal power plants, corrosion thinningcaused by caustic gouging (Figure 1) may occur on the tube inner surface. MHI has established
ECT technology as an inspection method for the corrosion-thinned section of the tube innersurface, by which the entire length/circumference of the tube is inspected without being affected byscale produced by corrosion. The conventional inspection system adopted a hydraulic transfer
method using water pressure, and it was a large-scale system that required much time forpreparation before inspection and cleanup, including the transportation and installation of a large
pump, a cable conveying device and a water tank. Therefore, we made a study of a Pneumatictransfer system as the system to be adopted instead of a hydraulic transfer system. This report
describes the Pneumatic transfer ECT inspection system and the results of the verification test
conducted using the actual HRSG unit at Sendai Thermal Power Station No. 4 of Tohoku ElectricPower Co., Inc.

Figure 1

Example of caustic gouging|2. Development of Pneumatic transfer ECT inspection system
Figure 2 shows Pneumatic transfer ECT inspection system and the conventional hydraulictransfer ECT inspection system. In the Pneumatic transfer ECT inspection system, the developed*1Service_Engineering_Department, Research & Innovation Center*2

Electricity & Applied physics Research Department, Research & Innovation Center*3Kure Power Systems Service Department, Power Systems Service Headquarters, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems,Ltd.

*4Chief Staff Manager, Project Management Division, Power Systems Project Engineering Department, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power*5Sendai Thermal Power Station, Tohoku Electric Power CO.,INC.

Systems,Ltd.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 4 (December 2018)
2ECT probe is inserted into the heat transfer tube by pneumatic pressure and the inside of the tube isinspected for thinning over its entire circumference and length while the probe is moved by manualoperation. The transfer device has an air inlet opening and a cable insertion opening and has asimple structure using a hose band for connection to the tube to be inspected. The conventional
hydraulic transfer system required a large hydraulic pump, a cable conveying device and a water
storage tank, and the setup of the system had to be conducted using heavy equipment outside theHRSG furnace. On the other hand, the developed Pneumatic transfer system can be installed inside
the furnace because of its compact system composition and the system installation time can bereduced. A resin ball is attached to the signal cable, thereby reducing contact friction and bucklingof the cable during transfer. Thus, smooth transfer by pneumatic pressure is possible.

Figure 2 Pneumatic transfer ECT inspection system and conventional hydraulic transfer ECT
inspection system

Figure 3 presents the developed ECT probe. There are various types of sensor coils, and thisprobe adopts the differential coil method in which the effect of the magnetism of the carbon steel
tubes, etc., used in HRSG and noise generated by the sensor tilt are small and the defectdetectability is high. This means that to detect the difference between the signal components in thetube circumferential direction and in the tube axial direction, noise can be reduced while signals
generated by defects are maintained. The coil part of this probe has a flexible structure, allowing
the probe to smoothly pass through discontinuous portions such as welding penetrations or tubebends.

Figure 3

Developed ECT probe

Figure 4 gives the results of the verification test using a mock-up panel. With the use of thePneumatic transfer system, verification was conducted for the passibility of the probe through thepanel (overall length of 40m), which simulates the HRSG heat transfer tube. As a result, it wasconfirmed that the probe can pass through bend sections with a bending radius of 65 mm. The
required air flow rate during passage was about 1000 NL/min, and it was found that the probe isMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 4 (December 2018)3

applicable to the flow rate of general air compressors used in thermal power plants.

Figure 4

Results of verification test using a mock-up panel

Next, in order to evaluate the thinning detectability of the developed ECT probe, averification test was conducted using samples with artificial flaws processed on the tube innersurfaces. Figure 5 illustrates the detected state of the artificial flaws. The artificial flaws had thesame depth (0.5 mm) and varied in width and length. The developed ECT probe was able to detect
all the artificial flaws. In this system, the inspection results are displayed with a color tone view of
the tube inner surface developed by our proprietary analysis system, enabling the thinning
distribution to be visualized. Furthermore, the thinning depth can be evaluated from the obtained
signal amplitude, etc.

Figure 5

Example of detection of artificial flaws|3. Verification test at Sendai Thermal Power Station
In order to evaluate the practicality of the developed Pneumatic transfer system, averification test was conducted using an actual heat transfer tube during the preventive maintenanceand inspection period at Sendai Thermal Power Station No. 4 of Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc.
Figure 6 depicts the appearance of Sendai Thermal Power Station and the high pressure evaporator
tube to be verified. The verification items were the passibility of the ECT probe, the inspection
time and a comparison between the cross section observed on the removed tube and the ECTsignal. As a result of the insertion test, it was verified that the probe was able to pass through a tube
with a length of 20m including welds without issue. Figure 7 gives the comparison results of theECT signal and the state of the tube inner surface. In the visual inspection using a fiberscope, white
streaky scale adhering to the tube inner surface was observed, whereas in the ECT inspection, noMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 4 (December 2018)
4thinning signal was detected in any tube. Figure 8 presents the results of the inspection of theremoved tube where the white streaky scale was observed on the inner surface. The white streaks
were removed by blasting, and the tube inner surface was checked for thinning. As a result, a slightthinning of about 0.1 mm in depth was observed. This is less than the minimum limit value ofdetection (0.5 mm) of the developed ECT probe, and the validity of the ECT results (no thinningsignal) was confirmed. In addition, based on the fact that no undesired noise was detected in theECT signal, it was verified that the developed ECT inspection system has no issues as aninspection device.

Figure 6 Appearance of Sendai Thermal Power Station and high pressure evaporator

Figure 7

Comparison results of ECT signal and state of tube inner surface

Figure 8

Results of inspection of removed tube

Figure 9 shows the states of the field installation of the hydraulic transfer system and thePneumatic transfer system. The hydraulic transfer system is large and is installed outside the HRSG
furnace, while the Pneumatic transfer system is compact and can be installed inside the furnace.
Figure 10 is the inspection time of both systems. The simplification of the system reduced thepreparation time for inspection to about one third and increased the inspection speed by about 1.5times. With these effects, it is expected that the total number working hours can be reduced by 45%

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 55 No. 4 (December 2018)
5in the Pneumatic transfer system. In the hydraulic transfer system, the tube had to be cut at two
points of the probe, one at the inlet and the other at the outlet, to secure a water circulating passage,
while in the Pneumatic transfer system, the tube is cut at only one point for the probe inlet, andrelated work can be reduced.

Figure 9

States of field installation of hydraulic transfer system and pneumatic transfer system

Figure 10

Comparison results of inspection time

|4. Conclusion
This report described an overview of the Pneumatic transfer ECT inspection system, bywhich the thinning depth can be quantitatively assessed, and the results of the performanceverification test conducted at Sendai Thermal Power Station of Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. In
the ECT system, caustic gouging produced on the inner surface of a heat transfer tube of combined
cycle HRSG for thermal power plants is inspected over the entire length/circumference of the tube.
The system utilizes MHI's proprietary high-efficiency inspection technology and allows corrosion
thinning produced on the inner surface of a tube made with magnetic material to be quantitatively
assessed without the removal of scale. It is recommended that plants where caustic gouging may
occur be checked for corrosion thinning using this inspection technology, and if any signs ofthinning are observed, measures such as the optimization of water treatment should be carried out.
In the future, we will continue inspections using this system to establish an inspection system withhigher reliability.