• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
• /
• 2017.04a
• /
• pp.110-110
• /
• 2017

Biological systems offer unique principles for the design and fabrication of engineering platforms (i.e., popularly known as "Biomimetics") for various applications in many fields. For example, the lotus leaves exhibit unique surfaces consisting of evenly distributed micro and nanostructures. These unique surfaces of lotus leaves have the ability of superhydrophobic property to avoid getting wet by the surrounding water (i.e., Lotus effect). Inspired by the surface topographies of lotus leaves, the artificial superhydrophobic surfaces were developed using various micro- and nanoengineering. Here, we propose new platforms that can control hydrophilic and hydrophobic property of surfaces by mimicking micro- and nanosurfaces of various natural leaves such as common camellia, hosta plantaginea, and lotus. Using capillary force lithography technology and polymers in combination with biomimetic design principle, the unique micro- and nanostructures mimicking natural surfaces of common camellia, hosta plantaginea, and lotus were designed and fabricated. We also demonstrated that the replicated polymeric surfaces had different hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties according to the mimicking the natural leaf surfaces, which could be used as a simple, but powerful methodology for design and fabrication of controlled hydrophilic and hydrophobic platforms for various applications in the field of agriculture and biological engineering.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.187-194
• /
• 2004

The study focused on setting priority among the future core technologies that were derived by Delphi in agricultural management ＆ information using analytic hierarchy process(AHP). Items for setting priority were decided as ‘technology’, ‘market’, and ‘public concerns’by council. The future core technologies were divided into four parts by importance and R＆D level. Technologies which consisted of upper two parts having higher importance were considered in the study. Questionnaires were given to 9 specialists in biosystems engineering. As the results, ‘market’ was decided as a most important item. The most important technologies were ‘Developing technology and system of post harvest processing for higher quality rice’ in group I, and ‘Developing sensor technology to evaluate quality and safety for agricultural products’ in group II.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
• /
• 2017.04a
• /
• pp.34-34
• /
• 2017

목질계바이오매스 중 목재펠릿은 '탄소중립(Carbon Neutral)' 연료로써 온실가스 감축 의무에 대응 가능한 에너지원이다. 하지만 목질계바이오매스 연소 시 발생되는 타르는 보일러 내부에 누적되어 효율을 감소시킨다. 타르 및 연소 불꽃에 의한 효율 감소를 최소화하기 위해 반대측면에 내화재(Castable)를 적용하여 실험하였으며 시뮬레이션을 이용하여 구조변경 분석이 실시되었다. 적용된 내화재는 비중이 낮고 단열성이 우수하여 열손실을 막아 연료비 절감의 효과를 가져 오며, 연소실 내부 청소 면적 감소로 인한 경제적 효과도 기대 할 수 있다. 분석결과를 이용하여 최적화된 펠릿보일러가 제작되었으며, 실험을 통하여 200시간 가동 후 열효율 감소량이 나타났다. 단위시간별 동일한 외부환경(산화제량, 부하, 주변 온도, 펠릿소비량)에서 실험이 진행 되었으며, 타르생성이전(Non-tar), 이후(Tar-existence) 보일러의 열효율 성능 비교실험이 실시되었다. 실험결과 타르생성이전 조건에서 구조변경 전 후 보일러의 열효율은 각각 91.87%, 90.73%로 확인되었으며, 타르생성이후 조건에서 각각 82.68%, 83.27%의 열효율을 확인하였다. 타르생성이전 대비 이후 조건에서 열효율 감소량은 각각 9.19%p, 7.46%p로 구조변경 전 대비 변경 후 보일러의 열효율이 약 1.73%p 더 적게 감소됨을 확인되었으며, 시뮬레이션 결과 타르생성이전 조건에서 구조변경 전 후 보일러의 효율은 각각 91.83%, 92.05%로 확인되었으며 타르 생성이후 조건에서 각각 85.25%, 87.43%의 열효율을 확인하였다. 타르생성이전 대비 이후 조건에서 열효율 감소량은 각각 6.58%, 4.62%로 구조변경 전 대비 변경 후 보일러의 열효율이 약 1.96%p 더 적게 감소됨을 확인하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
• /
• 2017.04a
• /
• pp.111-111
• /
• 2017

There still exist adhesives that have toxic compounds or consist of those materials in both our life and lots of industries. For instance, formaldehyde adhesive had been still used for woodworking and some medical adhesives had been considered as toxicity problems. In this situation, natural adhesives from raw materials have been suggested as an one of considerable interests. Natural adhesives in recent have been reported fabrication methods via biological materials such as proteins, celluloses, and starches. By-products derived from agricultural something have them richly and each has additional special properties. Using these properties to make natural adhesives, unique adhesives would be attained. In particular, rice-based adhesive is such a good example. Rice-based by-product adhesives have interestingly some pros pertaining to high adhesive strength, excellent water resistance and could dramatically be reduced a formaldehyde a harmful component of plywood. Hence, rice-based adhesive like glues could be applied to lots of industries including agricultural and biological technology. This review paper highlighted some recent development on natural adhesives as a promising biomaterial for agricultural and biological technology fields. The design of agricultural by-product-based natural adhesives were described to demonstrate the application of agricultural and biological technology

• Fibers and Polymers
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.181-185
• /
• 2005

Silk fibroin (SF) nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning and their application as an enzyme immobilization support was attempted. By varying the concentration of SF dope solution the diameter of SF nanofiber was controlled. The SF nanofiber web had high capacity of enzyme loading, which reached to $5.6\;wt\%$. The activity of immobilized a-chymotrypsin (CT) on SF nanofiber was 8 times higher than that on silk fiber and it increased as the fiber diameter decreased. Sample SF8 (ca. 205 nm fiber diameter) has excellent stability at $25^{\circ}C$ by retaining more than $90\%$ of initial activity after 24 hours, while sample SF11 (ca. 320 nm fiber diameter) shows higher stability in ethanol, retaining more than $45\%$ of initial activity. The formation of multipoint attachment between enzyme and support might increase the stability of enzyme. From these results, it is expected that the electrospun SF nanofibers can be used as an excellent support for enzyme immobilization.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.45-50
• /
• 2006

Papers were prepared from cut cocoons and mulberry branches, which are byproducts from sericulture industry. The long filament of silk should be cut into appropriate length in order to prepare paper and this was achieved by chemical method. By a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate solution, the silk filaments were cut into short fibers (less than 1 mm in length). Since the short silk fibers (sSf) could not bind each other by itself, starch and poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO) were added as a bonding agent. When starch and PEO were used in a ratio of 3:7, the silk papers had optimum mechanical properties for paper. Fibers from the skin of mulberry branches (MBF) were added to sSf to enhance the mechanical properties of pure silk paper. Bleaching of MBF was performed with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and sodium silicate. The mechanical properties were greatly enhanced and the optimum blend ratio of MBF and sSf were 7:3. The mulberry/silk paper has good absorption property against formaldehyde, and therefore, the paper could be applied as a wall paper for preventing the sick house syndrome.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.348-354
• /
• 2011

Various crop spacing methods have been implemented so far for the greenhouse and plant factory applications. However, there is no generally accepted parameter for evaluation of plant spacing efficiency in plant production system. In this study, 'Planted Area Index' (PAI) of a spacing method is defined as the ratio of the planted area in the field to required planted area using the spacing method when no transplanting operation is assumed. Three common types of spacing methods for plane placement of the plants were modeled mathematically. For calculating the planted area, an optimal growth radius function (R(t)) is needed. Function of the days after transplanting stage gives a radius of an optimal circle area for the living plants. A computer simulation was developed to calculate the PAI, based on three crop spacing methods and four optimal growth radius functions. In general, the 1-D zigzag spacing showed the best PAI. Moreover, it gives an example on how to apply the PAI for the design.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.45-58
• /
• 2018

Background: Metabolic modeling has been an essential tool in metabolic reconstruction, which has dramatically advanced in the last decades as a part of systems biology. At present, the protocol for metabolic reconstruction has been systematically established, and it provides the basis for the analysis of complex systems, which has been limited in the past. Therefore, metabolic reconstruction can be adapted to analyze agricultural systems whose metabolic data has been accumulated recently. Purpose: The aim of this review is to suggest the suitability of metabolic modeling for understanding agricultural metabolic data and to encourage the potential use of this modeling in the field of agriculture. Review: We reviewed the procedure of metabolic reconstruction using computational modeling with applicable strategies and software tools. Additionally, we presented the initial attempts of metabolic reconstruction in the field of agriculture and proposed further applications.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.32 no.1 s.120
• /
• pp.6-12
• /
• 2007

This study was conducted to investigate the drying characteristics of oak mushroom using stationary far-infrared dryer. Drying characteristics was measured at drying air velocity 0.4 to 0.6 m/s and drying temperature 50, 60, and 70$^{\circ}C$, respectively. With high temperature of far-infrared heater and fast air velocity, the far-infrared drying rate of double air flow system was better than conventional heated-air drying as much as 39%. The value of color difference (E) of oak mushroom before and after drying was 8.95 by using heated air drying and was in the range of 3.76$\sim$6.98 by the far-infrared drying. The shrinkage rate of oak mushroom after heated air drying was higher than that of air velocity, 0.6 m/s of far-infrared drying conditions, and was lower than that of air velocity, 0.4 m/s of far-infrared drying conditions. The content of free amino acid was higher in far-infrared drying than heated air drying.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.32 no.1 s.120
• /
• pp.57-62
• /
• 2007

The objectives of this study were to prepare a new artificial eardrum patch using water-insoluble chitosan for healing the tympanic membrane perforations and to investigate biomechanical properties and cyotoxicity of the chitosan patch scaffold (CPS). Tensile strength and elongation at the rupture point of CPSs were 2.49-74.05 MPa and 0.11-107.06%, respectively. As the biomechanical properties or CPSs varied with the concentration of chitosan and glycerol, the proper conditions for the CPS were found out. SEM analysis showed very smooth and uniform surface of CPSs without pores at x1000. The result of MTT test showed that CPSs had no cytotoxicity.