• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.53-62
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• 2017

Electric power which is the energy source of economy and industries requires long distance transportation due to regional difference between its production and consumption, and it is supplied through the multi-loop transmission and distribution system. Prior to its actual use, electric power flows through several transformations by voltage transformers in substations depending on the characteristics of each usage, and a transformer has the structure consisting of the main body, winding wire, insulating oil and bushings. A transformer fire that breaks out in substations entails the primary damage that interrupts the power supply to houses and commercial facilities and causes various safety accidents as well as the secondary economic losses. It is considered that causes of such fire include the leak of insulating oil resulting from the destruction of bottom part of bushings, and the chain reaction of fire due to insulating oil that reaches its ignition point within 1 second. The smoke detector and automatic fire extinguishing system are established in order to minimize fire damage, but a difficulty in securing golden time for extinguishing fire due to delay in the operation of detector and release of gas from the extinguishing system has become a problem. Accordingly, this study was carried out according to needs of active mechanism to prevent the spread of fire and block the leak of insulating oil, in accordance with the importance of securing golden time in extinguishing a fire in its early stage. A bushings fireproof structure was developed by applying the high temperature shape retention materials, which are expanded by flame, and mechanical flame cutoff devices. The bushings fireproof structure was installed on the transformer model produced by applying the actual standards of bushings and flange, and the full scale fire test was carried out. It was confirmed that the bushings fireproof structure operated at accurate position and height within 3 seconds from the flame initiation. It is considered that it could block the spread of flame effectively in the event of actual transformer fire.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1557-1566
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• 2004

A flame extinction phenomenon is a typical unsteady process in combustion. Flame extinction is characterized by various physical phenomena, such as convection, diffusion, and the production of heat and mass. Flame extinction can be achieved by either increasing the strain rate or curvature, by diluting an inert gas or inhibitor, or by increasing the thermal or radiant energy loss. Though the extinction is an inherently transient process, steady and quasi-steady approaches have been used as useful tools for understanding the flame extinction phenomenon. Recently, unsteady characteristics of flames have been studied by many researchers, and various attempts have been made to understand unsteady flame behavior, by using various extinction processes. Representative parameters for describing flame, such as flame temperature, important species related to reactions, and chemi-luminescence of the flame have been used as criterions of flame extinction. In these works, verification of each parameter and establishing the proper criterions of the extinction has been very important. In this study, a time-dependent flame temperature and an OH radical concentration were measured using optical methods, and the instantaneous change of the flame luminosity was also measured using a high-speed ICCD (HICCD) camera. We compare the unsteady extinction points obtained by three different methods, and we discuss transient characteristics of maximum flame temperature and OH radical distribution near the extinction limit.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.29 no.3 s.234
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• pp.390-401
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• 2005

In this study, extinction limit extension of unsteady $(CH_{4}+N_{2})$/air diffusion flames was investigated experimentally. A spatially locked flame in an opposing jet burner was perturbed by linear velocity variation, and time-dependent flame luminosity, transient maximum flame temperature and OH radical were measured over time with the high speed camera, Rayleigh scattering method and OH laser-induced fluorescence, respectively. Unsteady flames survive at strain rates that are much higher than the extinction limit of steady flames, and unsteady extinction limits extend as the slope of the strain rate increases or the initial strain rate decreases. We verified the validity of the equivalent strain rate concept by comparing the course of unsteady extinction process and steady extinction process, and it was found that the equivalent strain rate concept represents well the unsteady effect of a convective-diffusive zone. To investigate the reason of the unsteady extinction limit extension, we subtracted the time lag of the convective-diffusive zone by using the equivalent strain concept. Then the modified unsteady extinction limits become smaller than the original unsteady extinction limits, however, the modified unsteady extinction limits are still larger than the steady extinction limits. These results suggest that there exist the unsteady behavior of a diffusive-reactive zone near the extinction limit due to the chemical non-equilibrium states associated with unsteady flames.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.136-141
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to examine the structure and heat generation mechanism of low voltage switches used to turn on or off the power supply to an indoor lighting system and investigate how the fixtures and movable contacts of the switches are damaged depending on the types of energy sources in order to secure the judgment base for expected PL disputes. Based on the Korean Standard (KS) testing method for incombustibility, this study applied a general flame to the switch. In addition, current was supplied to the switch using the PCITS (Primary Current Injection Test System). The ambient temperature and humidity were maintained at $22{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ and 40~60% respectively while performing the test. It is thought that the switch generated heat due to a defective connection of the wire and clip, insulation deterioration and defective contact of the movable contact, etc. The surface of the switch damaged by the general flame was uniformly carbonized. When the flame source was removed, the fire on the switch was extinguished naturally. From the result obtained by disassembling the switch carbonized by the general flame, it could be seen that fixtures and movable contacts remained in comparatively good shape but the enclosure, clip support, movable contact, indicating lamp, etc. showed carbonization and discoloration. In the case of the switch damaged by overcurrent, the clip connecting the wires, clip support, etc. showed almost no trace of damage, but the fixtures, movable contact, indicating lamp, etc. were severely carbonized. That is, the sections with high contact resistance were intensively damaged and showed a damage pattern indicating that carbonization progressed from the inside to the outside. Therefore, it is possible to judge the initial energy source by analyzing the characteristics of the carbonization pattern and the metal fixtures of damaged switches.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.93-101
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• 2003

The extinction of unsteady diffusion flame was experimentally studied in an opposing jet counterflow burner using diluted methane. The stabilized flame was perturbed by linearly varying velocity change that was generated by pistons installed on both sides of the air and fuel stream. As the results, the extinction of unsteady flame is dependent not only on the history of unsteadiness, but also on the initial condition. We found that there are several unsteady effects on the flame extinction. First, the extinction strain rates of unsteady cases are extended well beyond steady state extinction limits. Second, as the slope of the strain rate change increases, the unsteady extinction strain rate becomes larger. Third, the extension of unsteady extinction strain rate becomes smaller as the initial strain rate increases. We also found that the extension of the extinction limit mainly results from the unsteady response of the reaction zone because there is no retardation effect of a mixing layer for our experimental condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.42-48
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• 2013

The $CO_2$ suppression characteristics and flame structure of nitrogen-diluted methane counterflow non-premixed flame were studied experimentally and numerically. To mimic a situation where combustion product gases are entrained into a compartment fire, fuel stream was diluted with $N_2$. A gas-phase suppression agent, $CO_2$, was diluted in the air-stream to investigate the suppression characteristics by the agent. For numerical simulation, an one-dimensional OPPDIF code was used for comparison with experimental results. An optically-thin radiation model(OTM) was adopted to consider radiation effects on the suppression characteristics. It was confirmed experimentally and numerically that suppression limit decreased with increasing nitrogen mole fraction in the fuel stream. A turning point was found only when a radiation heat loss was considered and the extinguishing concentration for turning point was differently predicted compared to the experiment result. Critical extinguishing concentration when neglecting radiation heat loss was also differently predicted compared with the experimental result.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.379-381
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• 2014

Influence of fuel concentration gradient was investigated near flame extinction limit in buoyancy-suppressed non-premixed counterflow flame with triple co-flow burner. The use of He curtain flow produced a microgravity level of $10^{-2}-10^{-3}g$ in He-diluted non-premixed counter triple co-flow flame experiments. Flame stability map was presented based on flame extinction and oscillation near extinction limit. The stability map via critical diluent mole fraction with global strain rate was represented by varying outer and inner He-diluted mole fractions. The flame extinction modes could be classified into five: an extinction through the shrinkage of the outmost edge flame forward the flame center with and without self-excitation, respectively ((I) and (II)), an extinction via the rapid expansion of a flame hole while the outmost edge flame is stationary (III), both the outermost and the center edge flames oscillate, and then a donut shaped flame is formed or the flame is entirely extinguished (IV), a shrinkage of the outermost edge flame without self-excitation followed by shrinking or sustain the inner flame (V).

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.111-118
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• 2001

Many previous researches on the premixed flame in a tube have treated the unsteady flame behaviors but more detailed and fundamental research has been necessary. The study on the flame stabilization condition in a tube and the unsteady behaviors were carried out in recent years. In this paper, a mean velocity variation larger than the burning velocity was introduced to the stabilized flame for a period longer than the reaction time scale in order to examine the unsteady behavior of flame propagation. Through our previous work it was found that the effects of non-unity Lewis number on the flame extinction was negligible in the extinction by the boundary layer even though they were important in the extinction by the acoustic instability. In this paper we carried out an analytic approach to explain the previous experimental results. It showed that the heat loss, from a flame to the wall, is not a sufficient condition but a required one for the growth of the extinction boundary layer. In addition, the quenching and the flame stretch, under a strong unsteady flow field, are the main causes of the eventual extinction.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.7-10
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• 2011

최근 국제우주정거장에서 화재안전에 관한 중요성의 인식으로 화재의 감지/소화의 메커니즘을 구체적으로 이해하기 위한 다양한 연구들이 시도되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 국제우주정거장에서 각종 실험과 연구를 진행하는 가압모듈을 대상으로 환기, 연기거동 및 감지에 관한 수치모델링을 수행하였다. 수치모델링은 NIST에서 개발된 FDS (Fire Dynamic Simulator)가 사용되었다. 국제우주정거장 내부는 마이크로중력환경으로 부력이 존재하지 않아 화재 발생 시 화염 및 연기거동은 지상에서의 현상들과 큰 차이를 보이게 된다. 따라서 현재 가압모듈에서 적용되고 있는 환기조건의 변화에 따른 연기거동 및 감지특성에 대한 연구는 향후 국내의 국제 우주정거장 실험 참여를 위한 기초적인 정보를 제공할 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.27-31
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• 2009

An experimental study on the unsteady effect of the extinction limit was performed in ethene jet diffusion flames. To impose the unsteadiness on jet flames, the amplitude and frequency of a co-flow velocity was varied, and the two inert gases, $N_2$ and $CO_2$, were used to dilute the oxidizer for extinguishing concentration. The experimental results shows that large amplitude of velocity induces a low extinguishing concentration, which implies that flow variation affects the blow out mechanism. Also, the flow oscillation effects under high frequency attenuates the flame extinction. These results means that flow unsteadiness extends the extinction limit and finally minimum extinction concentration by inert gases. When the Stoke's 2nd Problem is introduced to explain the flow unsteadiness on extinction concentration, the solution predicts the effect of amplitude and frequency of velocity well, and hence it is concluded the effect of low frequency velocity excitation was attributed only to flow effect.