An ORNL team will receive more than $1.1 million over the next three years to develop technology for reliable and automatic forewarning of failure in critical equipment at next-generation nuclear power plants. Such forewarning would allow timely maintenance to reduce unanticipated shutdown time and improve plant safety. Forewarning algorithms would detect changes in the dynamics of motors, belts, gears, bearings and other vital components. This technology would replace the practice of waiting for failures or predicting failure by less sophisticated means. Researchers in ORNL's Engineering Technology Division are joined in the project by a team from Duke Engineering and Services in Charlotte, N.C.
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