Acoustic monitoring of safety and relief valves in nuclear power plants provides reliable indication of flow through the valves so that the operator knows when there is a path open to prevent a loss of coolant. This method of valve surveillance satisfies the requirements of NUREG-0737 II.D.3 (Oct. 1980) and can be easily implemented using the acoustic TEC 1414 Valve Flow Monitoring System.> For each valve, a high temperature accelerometer is connected to a TEC Model 504 Charge Converter, which is designed to continue operating under accident conditions.

The output of the charge converter is routed by cable to a TEC Model 914 Valve Flow Monitor module. The 914 module, which contains a built-in current source for powering the remote charge converter, performs signal processing and displays ten levels of flow indication. It also provides digital outputs corresponding to a user-defined lower trip level, an alarm level, and an upper trip level.> The system is provided in standard EIA 19” wide racks and half racks, containing up to sixteen channels and six channels, respectively.

Each system contains power module(s) and alarm module(s) including annunciator output. All input and output connections are made at terminal lugs on the rear of the rack. Each 914 module has a front panel BNC connector for auxiliary access to the analog signal.> TEC’s QA/QC program meets the requirements of 10CFR Part 50, Appendix B, and 10CFR Part 21. For environmental and seismic qualification specific to this product, go to the Model 1414’s Qualification below.> Qualification> The TEC Model 1414 has been environmentally and seismically qualified by type testing to IEEE 323-1974, Standard for Qualifying Class 1E Equipment for Nuclear Power Generating Stations and IEEE 344-1975, Recommended Practices for Seismic Qualification of Class 1E Equipment for Nuclear Power Generating Stations.

The system is manufactured by TEC under its Nuclear Quality Assurance Program in accordance with ANSI N45.2. The system is qualified as documented in TEC Test Report No. 517-TR-03 AND 517-TR-10.