A Finite-Time Differentiator with Application to Nuclear Reactor Inverse Period Measurement

Yunlong Zhu, Zhe Dong, Duo Li, Xiaojin Huang, Yujie Dong, Yajun Zhang and Zuoyi Zhang
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Yunlong Zhu: Key Laboratory of Advanced Reactor Engineering and Safety of Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Zhe Dong: Key Laboratory of Advanced Reactor Engineering and Safety of Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Duo Li: Key Laboratory of Advanced Reactor Engineering and Safety of Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Xiaojin Huang: Key Laboratory of Advanced Reactor Engineering and Safety of Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Yujie Dong: Key Laboratory of Advanced Reactor Engineering and Safety of Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Yajun Zhang: Key Laboratory of Advanced Reactor Engineering and Safety of Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Zuoyi Zhang: Key Laboratory of Advanced Reactor Engineering and Safety of Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: The measurement of the growth rate, or the so-called inverse period, of a nuclear reactor is crucial for safety monitoring and control purposes. Due to the inevitable statistical fluctuation of neutron flux at low power-levels, it is difficult to precisely estimate the inverse period from the pulse counting data in the source range. Motivated by the equivalence of the measurement of inverse period and the differentiation of the logarithm of pulse count, a new differentiator is proposed, which is finite-time convergent with a bounded steady estimation error. The feasibility of this newly-built finite-time differentiator is verified by numerical simulation. Then, based on the pulse count data recorded during the startup of a test reactor, the differentiator is used to estimate the inverse period and its derivative, as well as the period and the reactivity of the reactor. The results show that the differentiator is capable of providing a satisfactory estimation of signal derivatives under strong noise.

Keywords: reactor period; growth rate; differentiator; finite-time stability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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