• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.23-28
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• 2008

As a part of the plasma control system (PCS) for the first plasma campaign of KSTAR, seven sets of fast feedback control loop for the superconducting poloidal field magnet power supply (PF MPS) have been implemented. A special real-time digital communication interface has been developed for the simultaneous exchanges of the current/voltage data from the 7 sets of 12-thyristor power supplies in a 200 microsecond control cycle. Preliminary power supply tests have been performed before actual cooldown of the device. A $29mH/50m{\Omega}$ solenoid dummy has been fabricated for a series of single power supply tests. Connectivity and response speed of the plasma control system have been verified. By changing hardware cabling, this load was also used to estimate mutual inductance coupling effects of two geometrically adjacent solenoid coils on each power supply. After the cooldown was complete, each pair of the up/down symmetric PF coils has been serially connected and tested as part of the device commissioning process. Bipolar operation and longer pulse attempts have been investigated. The responses of the coils and power supplies corresponding to the plasma magnetic controls in plasma discharges are also analyzed for the future upgrades.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.17-18
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• 2011

Plasma in liquid phase has attracted great attention in the last few years by the wide domain of applications in material processing, decomposition of organic and inorganic chemical compounds and sterilization of water. The plasma in liquid is characterized by three main regions which interact each - other during the plasma operation: the liquid phase, which supply the plasma gas phase with various chemical compounds and ions, the plasma in the gas phase at atmospheric pressure and the interface between these two regions. The most complex region, but extremely interesting from the fundamental, chemical and physical processes which occur here, is the boundary between the liquid phase and the plasma gas phase. In our laboratory, plasma in liquid which behaves as a glow discharge type, is generated by using a bipolar pulsed power supply, with variable pulse width, in the range of 0.5~10 ${\mu}s$ and 10 to 30 kHz repetition rate. Plasma in water and other different solutions was characterized by electrical and optical measurements. Strong emissions of OH and H radicals dominate the optical spectra. Generally water with 500 ${\mu}S/cm$ conductivity has a breakdown voltage around 2 kV, depending on the pulse width and the repetition rate of the power supply. The characteristics of the plasma initiated in ultrapure water between pairs of different materials used for electrodes (W and Ta) were investigated by the time-resolved optical emission and the broad-band absorption spectroscopy. The deexcitation processes of the reactive species formed in the water plasma depend on the electrode material, but have been independent on the polarity of the applied voltage pulses. Recently, Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy method was employed to investigate the chemistry in the liquid phase and at the interface between the gas and the liquid phases of the solution plasma system. The use of the solution plasma allows rapid fabrication of the metal nanoparticles without being necessary the addition of different reducing agents, because plasma in the liquid phase provides a reaction field with a highly excited energy radicals. We successfully synthesized gold nanoparticles using a glow discharge in aqueous solution. Nanoparticles with an average size of less than 10 nm were obtained using chlorauric acid solutions as the metal source. Carbon/Pt hybrid nanostructures have been obtained by treating carbon balls, synthesized in a CVD chamber, with hexachloro- platinum acid in a solution plasma system. The solution plasma was successfully used to remove the template remained after the mesoporous silica synthesis. Surface functionalization of the carbon structures and the silica surface with different chemical groups and nanoparticles, was also performed by processing these materials in the liquid plasma.

• Carbon letters
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• v.28
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• pp.31-37
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• 2018

This paper examines a simple one-step and catalyst-free method for synthesizing carbon nanoparticles from aliphatic alcohols and n-hexane with linear molecule formations by using a stable solution plasma process with a bipolar pulse and an external resistor. When the external resistor is adopted, it is observed that the current spikes are dramatically decreased, which induced production of a more stable discharge. Six aliphatic linear alcohols (methanol-hexanol) containing carbon with oxygen sources are studied as possible precursors for the massive production of carbon nanoparticles. Additional study is also carried out with the use of n-hexane containing many carbons without an oxygen source in order to enhance the formation of carbon nanoparticles and to eliminate unwanted oxygen effects. The obtained carbon nanoparticles are characterized with field emission-scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The results show that with increasing carbon ratios in alcohol content, the synthesis rate of carbon nanoparticles is increased, whereas the size of the carbon nanoparticles is decreased. Moreover, the degree of graphitization of the carbon nanoparticles synthesized from 1-hexanol and n-hexane with a high carbon (C)/oxygen (O) ratio and low or no oxygen is observed to be greater than that of the carbon nanoparticles synthesized from the corresponding materials with a low C/O ratio.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.71-79
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• 2010

This paper presents a design of a LLC resonant controller IC. LLC resonant controller IC controls the voltage of the 2nd side by adjusting frequency the input frequency of the external resonant circuit. The clock generator is integrated to provide the pulse to the resonant circuit and its frequency is controlled by the external resistor. Also, the frequency of the VCO is adjusted by the feedback voltage. The protection circuits such as UVLO(Under Voltage Lock Out), brown out, fault detector are implemented for the reliable and stable operation. The HVG, and LVG drivers can provide the high current and voltage to the IGBT. The designed LLC resonant controller IC is fabricated with the 0.35 um 2P3M BCD process. The overall die size is $1400um{\times}1450um$, and supply voltage is 5V, 15V.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.62-62
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• 2018

Pt is still considered as one of the most active electrocatalysts for ORR in alkaline fuel cells. However, the high cost and scarcity of Pt hamper the widespread commercialization of fuel cells. As a strong candidate for the replacement of Pt catalyst, silver (Ag) has been extensively studied due to its high activity, abundance, and low cost. Ag is more stable than Pt in the pH range of 8~14 as the equilibrium potential of Ag/Ag+ being ${\approx}200mV$ higher than that of Pt/PtO. However, Ag is the overall catalytic activity of Ag for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) is still not comparable to Pt catalyst since the surface Ag atoms are approximately 10 times less active than Pt atoms. Therefore, further enhancement in the ORR activity of Ag catalysts is necessary to be competitive with current cutting-edge Pt-based catalysts. We demonstrate the architectural design of Ag catalysts, synthesized using plasma discharge in liquid phase, for enhanced ORR kinetics in alkaline media. An attractive feature of this work is that the plasma status controlled via electric-field could form the Ag nanowires or dendrites without any chemical agents. The plasma reactor was made of a Teflon vessel with an inner diameter of 80 mm and a height of 80 mm, where a pair of tungsten(W) electrodes with a diameter of 2 mm was placed horizontally. The stock solutions were made by dissolving the 5-mM AgNO3 in DI water. For the synthesis of Agnanowires, the electricfield of 3.6kVcm-1 in a 200-ml AgNO3 aqueous solution was applied across the electrodes using a bipolar pulsed power supply(Kurita, Seisakusyo Co. Ltd). The repetition rate and pulse width were fixed at 30kHz and 2.0 us, respectively. The plasma discharge was carried out for a fixed reaction time of 60 min. In case of Ag nanodendrites, the electric field of 32kVcm-1 in a 200-ml AgNO3 aqueous solution was applied and other conditions were identical to the plasma discharge in water in terms of electrode configuration, repetition rate and discharge time. Using SEM and STEM, morphology of Ag nanowires and dendrites were investigated. With 3.6 kV/cm, Ag nanowire was obtained, while Ag dendrite was constructed with 32 kV/cm. The average diameter and legth of Ag nanowireses were 50 nm and 3.5 um, and thoes values of Ag dendrites were 40 nm and 3.0 um. As a results of XPS analysis, the surface defects in the Ag nanowires facilitated O2 incorporation into the surface region via the interaction between the oxygen and the electron cloud of the adjacent Ag atoms. The catalytic activity of Ag for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) showed that the catalytic ORR activity of Ag nanowires are much better than Ag nanodendrites, and electron transfer number of Ag nanowires is similar to that of Pt (${\approx}4$).

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.3 s.39
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• pp.36-44
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• 1999

Objectives: It has been well known that electroacupuncture(EA) has an analgesic effect and there is a pain control system in the central nervous system(CNS). The pain control system is composed of three major nuclei, which are periaqueductal gray(PAG), raphe nuclei, and the pain inhibitory complex located in the spinal cord. It has been suggested that the analgesic effect of EA might be the result of activation of the pain control system in the CNS. However, there may be a possibility that other nuclei are also involved in this pain modulation. Thus, we investigated whether the posterior intralaminar thalamic nuclei (PTIN) are involved in the pain modulation. Methods: To measure the level of pain, the jaw opening reflex (JOR) was used as a pain index. The magnitude of JOR is estimated by averaging the area of 10 successive responses. JOR was evoked by tooth-pulp stimulation with bipolar electrode carrying stimulus with the following parameters: intensity ranging from 420uA to 680ulA, 0.3ms duration of square pulse, and 0.5 Hz. Hapkog($LI_4$) and Taechung ($LR_3$) were the chosen acupoints. The Hapkog point was stimulated ipsilaterally at 5V, 3 Hz, for 15min in total, and the Taechung was stimulated at 2-3 V, 3 Hz, and for a total of 15 or 30 minutes. Different intensities of stimulation were given the PITN; one was given at $300{\mu}A$ and the other was at 500uA. The position stimulated in these nuclei by Paxinos Atlas was AP; from bregma $-4.0{\sim}-4.3mm,\;L; 0.5{\sim}1.8mm,\;D;\;4.8{\sim}6.3mm$. Results: The Hapkog point had a significant analgesic effect (P<0.05). However, the Taechung point had no effect. Both types of stimulation in the PITN did not reveal any analgesic effects. Conclusions: From these results, it was suggested that the posterior intralaminar thalamic nuclei are not involved in the modulation of pain.