• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.134-142
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• 2012

The competition to deliver ultra-low emitting vehicles at a reasonable cost is driving the automotive industry to invest significant manpower and test laboratory resources in the design optimization of increasingly complex exhaust after-treatment systems. Optimization can no longer be based on traditional approaches, which are intensive in hardware use and laboratory testing. The CFD is in high demand for the analysis and design in order to reduce developing cost and time consuming in experiments. This paper describes the development of a comprehensive practical model based on experiments for simulating the performance of automotive three-way catalytic converters, which are employed to reduce engine exhaust emissions. An experiment is conducted to measure species concentrations before and after catalytic converter for different loads on engine. The model simulates the emission system behavior by using an exhaust system heat conservation and catalyst chemical kinetic sub-model. CFD simulation is used to study the performance of automotive catalytic converter. The substrate is modeled as a porous media in FLUENT and the standard k-e model is used for turbulence. The flow pattern is changed from axial to radial by changing the substrate model inside the catalytic converter and the flow distribution and the conversion efficiency of CO, HC and NOx are achieved first, and the predictions are in good agreement with the experimental measurements. It is found that the conversion from axial to radial flow makes the catalytic converter more efficient. These studies help to understand better the performance of the catalytic converter in order to optimize the converter design.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.11-25
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• 2009

Fuel cells are expected to be one of the major clean new energy sources in the near future. However, the slow kinetics of electrocatalytic hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and the high loading of Pt for the anode and cathode material are the urgent issues to be addressed since they determine the efficiency and the cost of this energy source. In this review paper, a new approach was developed for designing electrocatalysts for the HOR and ORR in fuel cells. It was found that the electronic properties of Pt could be fine-tuned by the electronic and geometric effects introduced by the substrate alloy metal and the lateral effects of the neighboring metal atoms. The role of substrate was found reflected in a volcano plot for the HOR and ORR as a function of their calculated d-band centers. This paper demonstrated a viable way to designing the electrocatalysts which could successfully alleviate two issue facing the commercializing of the fuel cell-the cost of electrocatalysts and their efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.121-125
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• 2011

Ribbon silicon solar cells have been investigated because they can be produced with a lower material cost. However, it is very difficult to get good texturing with a conventional acid solution. To achieve high efficiency should be minimized for the reflectance properties. In this paper, acid vapor texturing and anti-reflection coating of $SiN_x$ was applied for EFG Ribbon Si Wafer. P-type ribbon silicon wafer had a thickness of 200 ${\mu}m$ and a resistivity of 3 $\Omega-cm$. Ribbon silicon wafers were exposed in an acid vapor. Acid vapor texturing was made by reaction between the silicon and the mixed solution of HF : $HNO_3$. After acid vapor texturing process, nanostructure of less than size of 1 ${\mu}m$ was formed and surface reflectance of 6.44% was achieved. Reflectance was decreased to 2.37% with anti-reflection coating of $SiN_x$.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.67-73
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• 2017

For the bio-fuel conversion of algae, several processes are needed including cultivating, agglomeration, extracting and conversion to the bio-fuel. The production cost for each process makes the total production cost of algae bio-fuel conversion. The production cost of algae bio-fuel has still higher than that of the other commercial bio-fuel. The reduction of production cost for each process enables the competitive price as a bio-fuel. It is difficult to separate the algae from water because of the similar magnitude of density each other. The agglomeration and extracting of algae using ultrasonic wave is rare effect of environmental hazard and also it is appropriate technology for the next generation energy resources. The present research is investigated for the elucidation of algae behavior in the water with the ultrasonics wave. For this purpose, the unsteady computational fluid dynamic analysis has been conducted in the ultrasonic pressure field. The velocity, pressure and algae concentration changes with time have been analysed to clarify the mechanism of algae separation by ultrasonic wave.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.148-158
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• 2022

The electrochemical CO₂ reduction (ECR) to produce value-added fuels and chemicals using clean energy sources (like solar and wind) is a promising technology to neutralize the carbon cycle and reproduce the fuels. Presently, the ECR has been the most attractive route to produce carbon-building blocks that have growing global production and high market demand. The electrochemical CO₂ reduction could be extensively implemented if it produces valuable products at those costs which are financially competitive with the present market prices. Herein, the electrochemical conversion of CO₂ obtained from flue gases of a power plant to produce diesel and formic acid using a consistent techno-economic approach is presented. The first scenario analyzed the production of diesel fuel which was formed through Fischer-Tropsch processing of CO (obtained through electroreduction of CO₂) and hydrogen, while in the second scenario, direct electrochemical CO₂ reduction to formic acid was considered. As per the base case assumptions extracted from the previous outstanding research studies, both processes weren't competitive with the existing fuel prices, indicating that high electrochemical (EC) cell capital cost was the main limiting component. The diesel fuel production was predicted as the best route for the cost-effective production of fuels under conceivable optimistic case assumptions, and the formic acid was found to be costly in terms of stored energy contents and has a facile production mechanism at those costs which are financially competitive with its bulk market price. In both processes, the liquid product cost was greatly affected by the parameters affecting the EC cell capital expenses, such as cost concerning the electrode area, faradaic efficiency, and current density.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.277-286
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• 2003

Nitrification performance of fixed film biofilters using coarse sand, loess bead, or styrofoam beads in biofilter columns 1 meter high and 30cm in diameter were studied at different hydraulic and organic matter loading rates. Synthetic wastewater was supplied to the culture tank in order to maintain desired TAN concentrations in inlet water to biofilters. All the biofilters were conditioned 5 months before start of sampling. TAN and $NO_2-N$ conversion rates increased with an increase in the hydraulic loading rate (HLR). However, the improvement in biofilter performance was not linearly correlated to HLR in styrofoam bead filters. This is mainly due to the characteristics of the styrofoam beads used. TAN conversion rates of sand filters increased with the increase of HLR up to $200m^3/m^2$. per day. No increase in the TAN conversion rate was observed at the highest HLR since flooding on the media surface took place. HLR had a significant impact on the TAN conversion rates in loess bead filter up to the highest HLR tested (P<0.05). TAN conversion rates were much less at organic matter loading rates of 9 and 18kg $O_2/m^3$ per day than those without the addition of organic matter in styrofoam bead filters. The addition of glucose resulted in a reduction of the TAN conversion rate from 540 to 284g $TAN/m^3$ per day. No significant difference of TAN conversion rates between the two organic matter loading rates was found (p<0.05). This indicates that the impact of organic matter on nitrification becomes less and less sensitive with an increase in the COD/TAN ratio. At an organic matter loading rate of 9kg $O_2/m^3$. per day, a great reduction of TAN conversion rates was observed in sand filters and loess bead filters. Clearly, organic matter can be one of the most Important Impacting factors on nitrification. $NO_2-N$ conversion rates showed a similar trend for TAN. Based on the TAN and nitrite conversion rates, styrofoam beads showed the best performance among the three filter media tested. Also, the low gravity and price of styrofoam beads make the handling easier and more cost-effective for commercial application. The results obtained at the highest organic matter loading rates can be used in the biofilter design in recirculating aquaculture system.

• Proceeding of Spring/Autumn Annual Conference of KHA
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.301-306
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• 2002

In Japan, the vacancy rates of office buildings have been at high in big cities since 1992. This problem is especially acute in Tokyo, where it is estimated that over 2.27 million square meters of office floor area will be oversupplied in 2003: big urban redevelopment projects will be completed in 2003. Under these circumstances, International Cooperative Research and Development on Sustainable Urban Management by Conversion of Buildings, called “SUMCOB”, has been carried out. This research aims to regenerate urban areas by converting redundant offices into flats, although instances of conversion are still very few in Japan. This paper introduces part of current results by SUMCOB, and discusses legal problems with conversion and basic capacity of vacant offices in Tokyo. It has been confirmed that there are no constraints concerned with Real Estate Registration Law (although it requires the change of the registration after conversion). and City Planning Law. However, some criteria are incompatible with Building Standard Law and Fire Service Law if the use of the building is changed from offices to flats. Typical incompatibility between offices and flats is lightening. If the buildings do not satisfy criteria for flats, the cost of renovation works for conversion will increase. To examine the basic capacity of vacant office buildings for conversion, field surveys in Tokyo have carried out at three areas: Kodenmacho (Chuo-ku), Toranomon (Minato-ku), and Iwamonocho (Chiyoda-ku). They are typical office areas that are included in center core of Tokyo. In Chuo-ku, the oldest commercial area in Tokyo, textile merchants have been located their headquarters. In Minato-ku, many rental office buildings have been located and several large scale redevelopments are advancing. Chiyoda-ku includes Marunouchi area, which is the prime office area in Japan. Thirty percent of the buildings in survey areas suffer from over twenty percent vacant floor rate, and fifty five percent were constructed before 1990. Especially most of buildings over forty percent vacant floor rate were constructed in 1980s. Vacant office problems haven't been seen in old buildings in Tokyo yet. The number of dwelling units made from office space will influence the conversion scheme. Seventy percent of the office buildings in survey areas have floor area of less than two hundred square meters. If they have been subdivided into two bedrooms type or three bedrooms type, the number of dwelling units in a floor would be less than three. The difficulty of conversion planning derives from frontage size, depth size, and their proportion. The five categories are proposed to grasp actual requirements for converting offices into flats.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.671-675
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• 2011

DVC (Distributed Video Coding) and FRUC (Frame Rate Up Conversion) techniques need to have an efficient motion compensated frame interpolation algorithms. Conventional works of these applications have mainly focused on the performance improvement of overall system. But, in some applications, it is necessary to evaluate how well the MCI (Motion Compensated Interpolation) frame matches the original frame. For this aim, this paper deals with the modeling methods for evaluating the block-based matching cost. First, several matching criteria, which have already been dealt with the motion compensated frame interpolation, are introduced and then combined to make estimate models for the size of MSE (Mean Square Error) noise of the MCI frame to original one. Through computer simulations, it is shown that the block-based matching criteria are evaluated and the proposed model can be effectively used for estimating the MSE noise.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.417-425
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• 2013

According to industrialization and urbanization the number of increasing cars is attributable to an explosive increase of the vehicle emissions. In this study, in consideration of the population and local transportation characteristics of South Chungcheong Province the environmental and economic cost-benefit analyses are performed to evaluate whether the CNG bus conversion gives what kind of effects. Based on the analysis result the expansion and distribution plan of CNG bus is proposed for South Chungcheong Province, and the local supply policy model is also proposed considering the acquisition and management of the economic situation of CNG charging infrastructure and the small transportation companies.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.11b
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• pp.183-185
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• 2005

This paper discusses an economic study analysis of captive power plant as a commercial plant in the cost based pool market. In this paper I assumed the conversion of a captive power plant owned by factories to a commercial plant and investigated the changes in profitability associated with this. I set the total electricity expense of a captive purpose plant as state A and the costs associated with converting to a commercial purpose plant as state B. Each state subdivided by case which is classified its plant variable cost, type of generation (combined cycle, single cycle) and type of power contract received. After set model for each case, different economic benefits by each case can be calculated.