Driftless pressure transmitter

Drift phenomena are caused by hydrogen accumulating in pressure transmitters in nuclear power plants. We found that the factors contributing to drift were radiolysis of silicone oil as well as hydrogen permeation. We propose a pressure transmitter for suppressing drift that uses hydrogen absorptive material. The effects of suppressing drift were evaluated through hydrogen absorption experiments of palladium in the silicone oil. Our proposed pressure transmitter outperformed a conventional pressure transmitter without hydrogen absorption material. (author)