• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.05d
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• pp.1-5
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• 2003

연료전지는 화학에너지를 전기에너지로 직접 변환시키는 전력 변환 장치로써, 수명이 길고 에너지 밀도가 높아 기존의 축전지 대체 에너지원으로 많은 연구가 이루어지고 있다. 최근 소형 휴대용 전자기기용 전원으로 개발되고 있는 마이크로 직접메탄올 연료전지는 연료의 취급이 용이하고, 운전온도가 낮기 때문에 초소형화가 가능하다. 이러한 여러 가지 장점을 가진 직접메탄올 연료전지를 기반으로 하는 마이크로 연료 전지(Micro fuel cell)의 구성과 개발 현황 및 응용에 대하여 기술하였다.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.245-248
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• 2005

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.49-53
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• 2007

The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is a promising power source for portable applications due to many advantages such as simple construction, compact design, high energy density, and relatively high energy-conversion efficiency. In this work, an electrochemical methanol sensor for monitoring the methanol concentration in direct methanol fuel cells was fabricated using a thin composite nafion membrane as the electrolyte. We have analyzed the I-V characteristic of the fabricated methanol sensor as a function of methanol concentration, catalyst electrode and platinum(Pt) thickness. The fabricated sensor was analyzed by I-V measurement with various methanol concentration. When we measured the sensor characteristics with 10nm Pt and at 1V, the current value was $1.30{\times}10^{-6}A,\;1.96{\times}10^{-6}A\;and\;2.80{\times}10^{-6} A$ for three methanol concentration of 1M, 2M and 3M, respectively. When the methanol concentration was fixed at 2M, the current value of the fabricated device with Pt layers of 5, 10 and 15 nm thickness was $3.06{\times}10^{-6}A,\;1.96{\times}10^{-6}A\;and\;1.00{\times}10^{-6}A$, respectively. These results lead us to the conclusion that when the methanol concentration increases, the output current increases and when the catalyst electrode become thinner, the current increase more. It showed that, the thinner the catalyst electrode, the more electrochemistry become activation.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.41-46
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• 2007

Dynamic behavior of immiscible gas bubble attached to the wall in channel flow plays very important role in many engineering applications. Special attention has been paid to micro direct methanol fuel cell(${\mu}$DMFC) where surface tension becomes dominant factor with minor gravitational effect due to its reduced size. Therefore, displacement of $CO_2$ bubble generating on a cathode side in ${\mu}$DMFC can be very difficult and efficient removal of $CO_2$ bubbles will affect the overall machine performance considerably. We have focused our efforts on studying the dynamic behavior of immiscible bubble attached to the one side of the wall on 2D rectangular channel subject to external shear flow. We used Level Contour Reconstruction Method(LCRM) which is the simplified version of front tracking method to track the bubble interface motion. Effects of Reynolds number, Weber number, advancing/receding contact angle and property ratio on bubble detachment characteristic has been numerically identified.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1433-1438
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• 2007

Characteristics of a phase change type micro actuator have been studied. The micro actuator has been designed for a micro-pump in an active direct methanol fuel cell(DMFC), consisting of an actuating chamber, a membrane, an electric heater, and a sensor of resistance temperature detector (RTD). In the present study, researches have been focused on the response of the actuator to control algorithm of the heater. The experiments demonstrated that the displacement of the membrane increase with temperature variation which is a function of applied voltage, duty ratio, and operating frequency of heating. The results also showed that operation of the actuator with high voltage at small duty of heating is more efficient than the same power consumption of heating with low voltage at large duty.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2648-2653
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• 2007

Recently, increasing demand on not only lighter but also extremely mobile battery make micro fuel cell device very attractive alternative. By reducing the size of fuel cell, surface tension becomes dominant factor with minor gravitational effect. Therefore, it is very difficult to detach the $CO_2$ bubble generating on a cathode side in ${\mu}DMFC$ (micro direct methanol fuel cell). The degassing of a $CO_2$ bubble has drawn quite attention especially for ${\mu}DMFC$ due to its considerable effect on overall machine performance. Our attention has been paid to the dynamic behavior of immiscible bubble attached to the one side of the wall on 2D rectangular channel subject to external shear flow. We use Level Contour Reconstruction Method (LCRM) which is simplified version of front tracking method to track the bubble interface motion. Effects of Reynolds number, Weber number, advancing/receding contact angle and property ratio on bubble detachment characteristic has been numerically identified.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.1142-1147
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• 2008

Nano-structured porous carbon fiber(PCF) for the catalyst supports of the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) were prepared from the mesophase pitch by using the nano-MgO powders. Specific surface area of the PCFs was $8{\sim}58m^2/g$ and surface pore structures had almost meso pore diameter of 10~20 nm which were depending on the amount of MgO spheres. Aqueous reduction method was used to load 60 wt% PtRu on the prepared PCF supports. The electro-oxidation activity and single cell performance of the 60 wt% Pt-Ru catalysts were measured by cyclic voltammetry and unit cell test. The performances of these catalysts increased by 5~10% compared with one of commercial catalyst.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.425-428
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• 2006

Recently, Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) for portable devices has been received much attention because DMFC has a possibility of higher energy density than electrical batteries and smaller size than other fuel cells. This paper presents the fabrication and test of a thermopneumatic microactuator with a phase change for DMFC. A microactuator consists of an inlet an outlet a chamber, a heater and a sensor of resistance temperature detector(RTD). The micoractuator is fabricated by the spin-coating process, the lithograph process, the deep RIE process and so on. The total size of microactuator is $20{\times}20{\times}0.53mm^3$. When the current is applied, the heater heats liquid in chamber. As a result the liquid vaporizes. The response of temperature in the chamber was measured using thermocouple The changed temperature is $3^{\circ}C$ for 5 sec at 0.032W.