• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.136-145
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• 2020

Agriculture is the backbone of the economy of most developing countries. In these countries, agriculture or farming is mostly done manually with little integration of machinery, intelligent systems and data monitoring. Irrigation is an essential process that directly influences crop production. The fluctuating amount of rainfall per year has led to the adoption of irrigation systems in most farms. The absence of smart sensors, monitoring methods and control, has led to low harvests and draining water sources. In this research paper, we introduce a 433 MHz Radio Frequency and 2G based Smart Irrigation Meter System and a water prepayment system for rural areas of Tanzania with no reliable internet coverage. Specifically, Ngurudoto area in Arusha region where it will be used as a case study for data collection. The proposed system is hybrid, comprising of both weather data (evapotranspiration) and soil moisture data. The architecture of the system has on-site weather measurement controllers, soil moisture sensors buried on the ground, water flow sensors, a solenoid valve, and a prepayment system. To achieve high precision in linear and nonlinear regression and to improve classification and prediction, this work cascades a Dynamic Regression Algorithm and Naïve Bayes algorithm.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.648-655
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• 2014

This paper describes the continuing effort to develope a single acting free-piston Stirling engine/alternator combination for use of the household cogeneration. Free piston Stirling engines(FPSE) use variations of working gas pressure to drive mechanically unconstrained reciprocating elements. Stirling cycle free-piston engines are driven by the Stirling thermodynamic cycle which is characterized by an externally heated device containing working gas that is continuously re-used in a regenerative, reversible cycle. The ideal cycle is described by two isothermal process connected by two constant volume processes. Heat removed during the constant volume cooling process is internally transferred to the constant volume heating process by mutual use of a thermal storage medium called the regenerator. Since the ideal cycle is reversible, the ideal efficiency is that of Carnot. Free-piston Stirling engine is have no crank and rotating parts to generate lateral forces and require lubrication. The FPSE is typically comprised of two oscillating pistons contained in a common cylinder. The temperature difference across the displacer maintains the oscillations, and the FPSE operate at natural frequency of the mass-spring system. The power is generated from a linear alternator. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design process of the single acting free-piston Stirling engine/alternator. Electrical output of the single acting free-piston Stirling engine/alternator is about 0.95 kW.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.448-448
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• 2013

최근 생물학적 분석 기구에서 시료를 처리, 분리, 검출, 샘플링 또는 분석하기 위해 사용되는 마이크로펌프(Micropump)에 대한 관심이 높아지고 있다. 또한 전자소자의 성능과 신뢰성의 증진을 위한 전자소자의 열 문제를 해결하기 위해 냉각장치로 마이크로 펌프가 적용되기도 한다. 그 외에도 마이크로펌프는 다양한 분야에 응용이 가능하다. 마이크로펌프는 작동 방식에 따라 압전형, 공압형, 열공압형, 연동형 등의 여러 종류로 분류되고 있다. 그중에서도 최근에는 연동형 마이크로 펌프의 개발이 각광받고 있다. 기존의 연동형 펌프들은 다중 챔버를 가지고 있으며, 각각의 챔버 내에서 Dead volume이 많이 발생할 뿐만 아니라 이상적인 연동운동과는 차이가 많이 나는 문제점을 가지고 있다. 또한 압전방식과 열공압방식은 느린 응답성으로 인해 효율적인 유체 이동이 어렵다. 본 논문에서는 이상적인 연동운동을 구현하기 위하여 기존의 연동형 펌프의 단점을 보완하고, 하나의 챔버에 다중전극 구조를 가지는 정전기력방식의 연동형 펌프를 개발하였다. 정전기력방식으로 펌프를 구동함으로써, 저전력으로 펌프구동이 가능하며, 하나의 챔버에 다중전극을 설치함으로써 이상적인 연동운동을 재현하였다. 그리고 Dead volume을 최소화 하였다. 또한, 빠른 반응속도로 인해 효율적인 유체 이동을 실현시킬 수 있었다. 본 연구에서 제안된 마이크로 펌프의 구성은 크게 챔버, 박막, Inlet/outlet hole으로 구성되었다. 챔버는 Si-wafer에 wet etching 공정으로 제작 하였고 그 위에 알루미늄 박막을 200 nm 증착시켰다. 챔버는 가로 32 mm, 세로 5 mm, 깊이는 $15{\mu}m$, 부피는 $200{\mu}l$으로 제작되었다. 박막은 폴리이미드(polyimide)를 사용하여 $3{\mu}m$의 두께로 제작 되었으며, 폴리이미드 박막 사이에는 200 nm 두께의 4개의 알루미늄 박막 전극을 삽입시켰다. 삽입된 4개의 전극에 개별적인 전기신호를 보냄으로써 연동운동이 가능하다. Inlet/outlet hole은 직경 2 mm의 크기로 제작되었으며, 튜브를 연결하여 유체가 흐를 수 있는 체널을 형성하였다. 제작된 마이크로 펌프의 구동전압은 115 V이며, 인가되는 주파수를 1 Hz~100 KHz까지 변화시켜 유량을 측정하였다. 작동 유체는 공기이며, 유량측정은 튜브 내에 물방울을 삽입하여 시간에 따른 이동거리를 관측하였다. 측정결과 2.2 KHz에서 2.4 mm/min의 가장 높은 유량을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구를 통해 제안된 연동형 마이크로펌프는 이상적인 연동운동이 가능함으로써 기존의 연동형 방식의 문제점을 보완하였으며, 생명과학, 의학, 화학 등의 분야에서 적용이 가능하리라 기대된다.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.202-208
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• 2017

The recently developed marine engines for propulsion of ships have higher torsional exciting force than previous engines to improve the propulsion efficiency and to reduce specific fuel oil consumption. As a result, a viscous damper or viscous-spring damper is installed in front of marine engine to control the torsional vibration. In the case of viscous damper, it is supposed that there is no elastic connection in the silicon oil, which is filled between the damper housing and inertia ring. However, In reality, the silicon oil with high viscosity possesses torsional stiffness and has non-linear dynamic characteristics according to the operating temperature and frequency of the viscous damper. In this study, the damping characteristics of a viscous damper used to control the torsional vibration of the shafting system have been reviewed and the characteristics of torsional vibration of the shafting system equipped with a corresponding viscous damper have been examined. In addition, it is examined how to interpret the theoretically optimal dynamic characteristics of a viscous damper for this purpose, and the optimum design for the propulsion shafting system has been suggested considering the operating temperature and aging. when the torsional vibration of the shafting system is controlled by a viscous damper filled with highly viscous silicon oil.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2021

In this paper, active noise control was performed to reduce radiated noise in the low frequency band of dishwashers. First, through an analysis of the noise environment of the dishwasher, it was confirmed that the pump noise contributed the most to the radiated noise in the low frequency band, From the result of the noise environment analysis, the reference signal was selected to be the vibration signal of the pump body. The reference signal was obtained by using the accelerometer on the pump body, which can prevent acoustic feedback. The error signal sensor was selected as a microphone located at 1 m in front of the dishwasher and 0.5 m in height. And to design the controller, the error signal and the reference signal were measured at the operational rpms of the dishwasher at 2,500 rpm, 2,600 rpm and 2,800 rpm, and the secondary path transfer function was measured. The designed controller was mounted on Digital Signal Processor (DSP) equipment, and the control performance was verified experimentally. As a result of the measurement at the 3 operational rpms, the 7th multiple component of pump operating frequency decreased by 1.93 dB, 4.43 dB, 5.15 dB per rpm, and the 12th multiple component decreased by 6.67 dB, 2.34 dB, 4.28 dB per rpm. And overall Sound Pressure Level (SPL) decreased by 0.84 dB, 2.58 dB, 1.48 dB by rpm.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.568-575
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• 2020

Ultrasound has been widely used in various industrial fields. One of challenging application areas is cooling microelectronics. Ultrasonic cooling systems can work with air, argon (Ar) and nitrogen (N₂) instead of conventional refrigerant such as freon gas, which can cause global warming. Furthermore, ultrasonic systems do not have moving parts, thus high durability can be obtained. So it is necessary to develop ultrasonic cooling systems due to environmental issues and durability points. In this paper, the design and fabrication processes are explained. When designing the system, a feasibility test was performed with a prototype cooler. Based on the result, finite element analysis with ANSYS software was performed. The predicted anti-resonance frequency for a piezoelectric actuator was 34.8 kHz, which was in good agreement with the experimental result of 34.6 kHz with 0.6% error. In addition, the predicted anti-resonance frequency for the ultrasonic waveguide was 39.4 kHz, which also agreed well with the experimental value of 39.8 kHz with 1.0% error. Based on these results, the developed ultrasonic waveguide might be applicable in microchip cooling.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.6-6
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• 2017

농용트랙터의 전방차축 현가장치는 노면으로부터 발생하는 진동의 영향을 줄일 수 있기 때문에 트랙터의 대형화, 고속화의 추세에 맞춰서 승차감과 조향감을 향상시키는 데 중요한 역할을 한다. 전방차축의 현가장치는 트랙터의 차체 무게에 의한 부하가 크고, 또한 유압 펌프를 비롯한 유압시스템이 존재하기 때문에 유압식 회로로 구성하는 것이 바람직하다. 하지만, 현가장치의 유압회로를 개발하는데 있어서 실제 시스템을 구성하여 실제 실험을 통한 개발에는 비용과 시간이 많이 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 유압식 전방차축 현가장치에 필요한 유압회로부 개발을 위하여 시뮬레이션 기법과 요인시험 장치를 이용 적정 유압회로를 설계하고자 하였다. 이를 위하여 어큐뮬레이터, 가변 오리피스, 릴리프밸브, 체크밸브 등으로 구성된 유압 현가요인 시험 장치를 설계 제작하였으며, 현가 부품인 실린더 행정, 속도, 전달되는 힘을 측정하고, 유압 해석 프로그램인 SimulationX를 이용 구성된 유압회로 부품에 측정값을 입력하여 실제 조건과 유사한 동특성을 나타내는 전방차축 현가요인 시뮬레이션 모델을 개발하였다. 개발된 시뮬레이션 모델을 이용하여 실제 시험조건과 같은 가진 조건을 부여하여 개발 현가장치의 특성 값 변동에 따른 현가 성능을 구명하였다. 이를 위해 시뮬레이션 상에서 120 마력 트랙터 무게의 50% 수준에 해당하는 2,000 kg의 부하가 존재하는 상태에서 현가장치의 유/무에 따른, 감쇠 계수의 변화에 따른 스프링상 질량의 RMS 가속도를 비교하였다. 입력 가진으로는 1 Hz, 4 Hz, 8 Hz의 진동수에 각각 10 mm, 6.4 mm, 3.2 mm의 진폭을 인가하였다. 시뮬레이션 결과, 1 Hz에서는 현가장치가 있는 경우 최대 55.9% 개선되었고, 4 Hz에서는 최대 3.9 % 개선되었고, 8 Hz에서는 최대 61.4%까지 개선되었다. 이는 4 Hz의 경우에는 2,000 kg의 부하에 해당하는 고유 진동수 대역에 해당하기 때문에 그 감쇠 효과가 없는 것으로 나타났다. 하지만, 다른 주파수 대역에서는 현가장치가 효과적으로 작동하는 것을 나타내었다. 설계한 전방차축 현가 유압회로부를 시뮬레이션을 통하여 분석한 결과, RMS 가속도의 개선이 명확하게 이루어지는 것을 확인하였으며 입력 주파수 변화에 따라 감쇠특성도 나타나는 것을 확인하였다. 추후 연구에는 설계한 유압회로부와 관련 부품을 설계 제작하여 실제 트랙터에 장착 그 성능을 검증할 예정이며, 노면조건에 따라 감쇠성능을 유지하기 위한 반능동형 또는 적응형 현가장치 제어 기술을 적용하여 개선된 현가성능을 확보하기 위한 연구를 수행할 예정이다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.692-700
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• 2014

In this work, satellite FE (finite element) model updating for the prediction of the effect of micro-vibration is described. In the case of satellites launched in low earth orbit, high agility and more mission accomplishments are required by the customer in order to procure many images from satellites. To achieve the goal, many mechanisms, including high capacity wheels and antennas with multi-axis gimbals have been widely adopted, but they become a source of micro-vibration which could significantly deteriorate the quality of images. To investigate the effect due to the micro-vibration in orbit on the ground, a prediction is conducted through an integrated model coupling the measured jitter sources with FE (finite element) model. Before prediction, the FE model is updated to match simulation results with the modal survey test. Subsequently, the quality of FE model is evaluated in terms of frequency deviation error, the resemblance of mode shapes and FRFs (frequency response functions) between test and analysis.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.68-77
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• 2008

We have developed an inversion algorithm for loop-loop electromagnetic (EM) data, based on the localised non-linear or extended Born approximation to the solution of the 2.5D integral equation describing an EM scattering problem. Source and receiver configuration may be horizontal co-planar (HCP) or vertical co-planar (VCP). Both multi-frequency and multi-separation data can be incorporated. Our inversion code runs on a PC platform without heavy computational load. For the sake of stable and high-resolution performance of the inversion, we implemented an algorithm determining an optimum spatially varying Lagrangian multiplier as a function of sensitivity distribution, through parameter resolution matrix and Backus-Gilbert spread function analysis. Considering that the different source-receiver orientation characteristics cause inconsistent sensitivities to the resistivity structure in simultaneous inversion of HCP and VCP data, which affects the stability and resolution of the inversion result, we adapted a weighting scheme based on the variances of misfits between the measured and calculated datasets. The accuracy of the modelling code that we have developed has been proven over the frequency, conductivity, and geometric ranges typically used in a loop-loop EM system through comparison with 2.5D finite-element modelling results. We first applied the inversion to synthetic data, from a model with resistive as well as conductive inhomogeneities embedded in a homogeneous half-space, to validate its performance. Applying the inversion to field data and comparing the result with that of dc resistivity data, we conclude that the newly developed algorithm provides a reasonable image of the subsurface.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2002

In this study, a cylindrical ultrasound applicator is developed for the treatment of vagina and rectum in combination with high dose rate brachytherapy. A cylindrical transducer (PZT-8, 1=1.5 cm, thickness=1.5mm OD=2.5 cm) was used as an energy source for induction of hyperthermia. Three single-element applicators were constructed to examine the performance of the PZT material. Vector impedance was measured to determine driving frequency. The efficiencies of the elements were determined using a radiation force technique to evaluate the feasibility of using the applicator as a hyperthermia source. A multi-element ultrasound applicator was designed using the PZT-8 material for the treatment of vagina. Results from the vector impedance measurements showed maximum magnitude at 1.78, 1.77, and 1.77 MHz for applicator 1,2, and 3, respectively. The radiation force measurements showed that the acoustic power of 40 watts was obtained in all three elements. The average efficiencies of the elements were 61.4, 65.2, and 54.0% for element 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The designed ultrasound hyperthermia applicator could be used in combination with high dose rate brachytherapy for the treatment of vagina and rectum. The use of this applicator with intracavitary brachytherapy could offer improved tumor control by increasing radiosensitiyity of the tumor.