• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.546-552
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• 2013

A cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvester(PEH) and an auxiliary mass-spring unit can be integrated into a novel two-degrees-of-freedom PEH where its lowest eigenmode is not an in-phase modes but an out-of-phase mode. This typical behavior was shown to enhance output power considerably compared with its stand-alone counterpart. The objective of this study is to newly develop a continuum-based mathematical model suitable for efficient analysis of the mode-sequence reversed PEH. Once such a mathematical model is available, various physical behaviors can be analytically investigated for better designs. After a new mathematical model is developed, its validity is checked by using ANSYS results, in terms of resonant frequency, open-circuit voltage, and output power with a specified external resistance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.896-902
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• 2012

For most applications of the vibration energy harvesting technology as in wireless sensor networks for smart buildings and plants, the evaluation of DC output performance of vibration energy harvesters is typically required. However, there is no dedicated algorithm for the evaluation. The lack of a dedicated algorithm results from difficulties in the direct incorporation of nonlinear rectifying and regulating circuitry into finite element models of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters. In this study, we develop a dedicated algorithm and present software based on it for the evaluation of not only AC but also DC electrical quantities. Here, an equivalent electrical circuit model is employed. The COMSOL multiphysics simulation tool is adopted for extracting equivalent electrical circuit parameters of a piezoelectric vibration energy harvester and MATLAB is used to make a graphical user interface. The AC voltage and power outputs calculated by the proposed algorithm under various conditions are compared with those by a traditional finite element analysis. The DC output voltage and power through a rectifier are obtained for varying values of smoothing capacitance and external resistance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.397-404
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• 2010

The use of equivalent circuit models of piezoelectric energy harvesters is inevitable when power circuitry including rectifying and smoothing circuit elements is connected to them for evaluating DC electrical outputs. This is because it is difficult to incorporate the electro-mechanical coupling resulting from the additional circuitry into the conventional finite element analysis. Motivated by this observation, we propose a method to accurately extract the equivalent circuit parameters by using commercially available FEM software such as ANSYS which provides three-dimensional AC piezoelectric analysis. Then the equivalent circuit can be analyzed by circuit simulators such as $SimPowerSystems^{TM}$ of MATLAB. While the previous works have estimated the circuit parameters by experimental measurements or by analytical solutions developed only for limited geometries and boundary conditions, the proposed method has no such limitation because piezoelectric energy harvesters of any shapes and boundary conditions can be treated in FEM software. For the verification of the proposed method, multi-modal AC electrical power output by using a corresponding equivalent circuit is compared with that by ANSYS. The proposed method is then shown to be very useful in the subsequent evaluation of DC electrical output which is obtained by attaching a bridge diode and a storage capacitor to a piezoelectric energy harvester.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.184-189
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• 2016

Recently, due to limitation of $CO_2$ gas emission and increase of demand to reduce energy consumption, lots of researches are conducted to harvest wasted heat energy with a thermoelectric module to produce electricity by Seebeck effect. This study was conducted to analyze characteristics of the thermoelectric module to apply for a heat energy harvesting device. Thermoelectric module composed of bismuth telluride was tested with various temperature conditions to analyze thermoelectric behavior of the module. Power generation efficiency of the thermoelectric module for various temperature condition was analysed with both experimental and theoretical methods. From the results, an optimum condition to harvest wasted heat energy with the thermoelectric module more efficiently was proposed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.437-441
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• 2014

This paper presents a novel microplatform for high power generation based on reverse electrodialysis. The ideal cation-selective membrane for power generation was realized using geometrically controlled in situ self-assembled nanoparticles. Our proposed membranes can be constructed through a simple and cost-effective process that uses microdroplet control with nanoparticles in a microchannel. Another advantage of our system is that the maximum power and energy conversion efficiency can be improved by changing the geometry of the microchannel and proper selection of the nanoparticle size and material. This proposed platform can be used to supply power sources to other microdevices and contribute to a fundamental understanding of ion transport behavior and the power generation mechanism.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.364-368
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• 2013

Vibrational energy harvester based on piezoelectricity has been expected to be the dominant energy harvesting technology due to the advantages of high conversion efficiency, light weight and small size, night operation, etc. Its commercialization is just around the corner but the integration with power management electronics should be solved in advance. In this paper, therefore, fully-integrated design environment for piezoelectric energy harvesting systems is presented to assist co-design with the power management electronics. The proposed design environment is capable of analyzing the energy harvester including the package-induced damping effects and simulating the device and its power management electronics simultaneously. When the developed design environment was applied to the fabricated device, the simulated resonant frequency matched well with the experimental result with a difference of 2.97% only. Also, the complex transient response was completed in short simulation time of 3,001 seconds including the displacement distribution over the device geometry. Furthermore, a full-bridge power management circuit was modeled and simulated with the energy harvester simultaneously. Therefore the proposed, fully-integrated design environment is accurate and fast enough for the contribution on successful commercialization of piezoelectric energy harvester.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.13-19
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• 2015

The wood pellet is standardized of woody type fuel which of small cylindrical shape that is produced compress wood remnants in process of woody processing. The pellet is critical energy which expects to increase of the amount used in future. It consumes fuel which of home, common facilities stove and boiler, district heating, and CHP, etc. This study was to develop a movable pellet manufacturing equipment that can be mounted on a truck. The pellet production volume is approximately 309kg per hour, daily output is about 2ton. One days work based on the expected revenue of approximately \268,000 feasibility is considered sufficient.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.79-87
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• 2015

This paper proposes a floating-type wave energy conversion system that consists of a mechanical part (yo-yo vibrating system, motion rectifying system, and power transmission system) and electrical part (power generation system). The yo-yo vibrating system, which converts translational input to rotational motion, is modeled as a single degree-of-freedom system. It can amplify the wave input via the resonance phenomenon and enhance the energy conversion efficiency. The electromechanical model is established from impedance matching of the mechanical part to the electrical system. The performance was analyzed at various wave frequencies and damping ratios for a wave input acceleration of 0.14 g. The maximum output occurred at the resonance frequency and optimal load resistance, where the power conversion efficiency and electrical output power reached 48% and 290 W, respectively. Utilizing the resonance phenomenon was found to greatly enhance the performance of the wave energy converter, and there exists a maximum power point at the optimum load resistance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.439-439
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• 2009

Nowadays, source of MEMS, USN, Hybrid parts pay attention to energy harvesting. On this paper, energy harvesting was studied using piezoelectric effect. And, piezoelectric generator was designed and fabricated. Generators were designed by FEM simulation program and generators were made by attaching cymbal type metal plates on upper and bottom sides of a disc type piezoelectric ceramic. Output AC power was rectified to DC power by full bridge circuit and converted to regular voltage power by DC-DC converter. The final output power was charged to Ni-Cd battery. Using fabricated generators, output voltages dependant on thickness of ceramic, displacement of vibration, frequency of vibration were measured.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.25-38
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• 2021

The aim of this study is to protect workers and pedestrians from accidents at night or bad weather by attaching optical fiber to existing safety clothing that is made only with fluorescent fabrics and retroreflective materials. A safety vest was designed and manufactured by applying optical fiber, and energy-harvesting technology was developed. The safety vest was designed to emit light using the automatic flashing of optical fibers attached to the film, and an energy harvester was manufactured and attached to drive the light emission of the optical fiber more continuously. As a result, first, the vest wearer' body was recognized from a distance through the optical fiber and retroreflection, which helped prevent accidents. Thus, this concept helps in saving lives by preventing accidents during night-time work on the roadside or activities of rescue crew and sports activities, or by quickly finding the point of an accident with a signal that changes the optical fiber light emission. Second, to use the wasted energy, a piezoelectric-element power generation system was developed and the piezoelectric-harvesting device was mounted. Potentially, energy was efficiently produced by activating the effective charging amount of the battery part and charging it auxiliary. In the existing safety vest, detecting the person wearing the vest is almost impossible in the absence of ambient light. However, in this study, the wearer could be found within 100 m by the light emission from the safety vest even with no ambient light. Therefore, in this study, we will help in preventing and reducing accidents by developing smart safety clothing using optical fiber and energy harvester attached to save lives.