• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.675-682
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• 2021

Fire accidents on land and at sea can cause serious casualties; specifically, owing to the nature of marine plants and ships, the mortality rate at sea from suffocation in confined spaces is significantly higher than that on land. To prevent such cases of asphyxiation, it is essential to install ventilation fans that can outwardly direct these toxic gases from fires; however, considering the scale of marine fires, the installation of large ventilation fans is not easy owing to the nature of marine structures. Therefore, in this study, we developed a new concept for fire safety technology to control toxic gases generated by fires from applied direct current (DC) electric fields. In the event of a fire, most flames contain large numbers of positive and negative charges from chemi-ionization, which generates an "ionic wind" by Lorentz forces through the applied electric fields. Using these ionic winds, an experimental study was performed to artificially control the fire smoke caused by burning paper and styrofoam, which are commonly used as insulation materials in general buildings and ships. The experiments showed that a fire smoke could be artificially controlled by applying a DC voltage in excess of ±5 kV and that relatively effective control was possible by applying a negative voltage rather than a positive voltage.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.377-386
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• 2021

The A60 class deck penetration piece is a fire-resistant system installed on a horizontal compartment to prevent flame spreading and protect lives in fire accidents in ships and offshore plants. This study deals with approximate optimization using discrete variables for the fire resistance design of an A60 class deck penetration piece using different surrogate models and a genetic algorithm. Transient heat transfer analysis was performed to evaluate the fire resistance design of the A60 class deck penetration piece. For the approximate optimization of the piece, the length, diameter, material type, and insulation density were applied to discrete design variables, and temperature, productivity, and cost constraints were considered. The approximate optimum design problem based on the surrogate models was formulated such that the discrete design variables were determined by minimizing the weight of the piece subjected to the constraints. The surrogate models used in the approximate optimization were the response surface model, Kriging model, and radial basis function-based neural network. The approximate optimization results were compared with the actual analysis results in terms of approximate accuracy. The radial basis function-based neural network showed the most accurate optimum design results for the fire resistance design of the A60 class deck penetration piece.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.34-39
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• 2018

In this paper, the architecture of a safe stove with an automatic fire suppression function using a sound wave fire extinguisher has been proposed and developed for the first time. A microcontroller connected to a fire sensor detects and suppresses a fire by driving a fire extinguisher. The sound wave fire extinguisher is composed of a speaker and collimator, and is driven by a driver module including an audio amplifier. The attenuation of the sound wave is reduced by preventing the sound diffusion with an enclosure surrounding a stove. The frequency of the sound wave is set to 50 Hz, and the sound pressure of 93 dBA is measured at the distance of 0.5 m. It takes maximum 8 and 15 seconds to suppress the flame from 7-cc and 14-cc flammable liquid, respectively, which corresponds to 24% and 42% of the natural extinguishing time. Since the proposed safe stove is non-toxic and leaves no residues over the conventional ones, it would combine with various home appliances to suppress early-stage fires and prevent fire expansion.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.277-284
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• 2011

This study was conducted to determine the antiseptic effect of stabilized chlorine dioxide (S-$ClO_2$) on muscle tissue of rats. Skeletal muscle of 8-week old Sprague-Dawley rats was used. Light and transmission electron microscopic findings were observed in the control group, which was not treated with stabilized chlorine dioxide, and in the experimental group, which was treated with a stabilized chlorine dioxide powder in aqueous solution. According to the LM and TEM observations, the day 1 control group showed the initiation of endomysium collapse resulting in an unclear boundary of muscle fibers, and partial collapse of the mitochondrial membranes. All endomysium had collapsed, and bacteria were observed among muscle fibers in the day 2 and later groups. Shapes of muscles were not distinguishable in day 3 or later groups. In contrast, the day 1 and 3 experimental groups revealed detailed structure of typical muscles, but partial collapse of the mitochondrial membranes was observed in the day 3 and later groups. Subsequently, connective tissues collapsed and structures in the shape of concentric circles were observed. In summary, the day 1 control group showed the initial collapse of tissues, and shapes were not distinguishable in the day 3 and later groups because most of the tissues had collapsed. In contrast, the day 3 experimental group showed partial collapse, but the overall shapes of muscles were maintained as time went on, confirming the antiseptic effect of stabilized chlorine dioxide on muscles.