• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2171-2178
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• 2016

Polyester cloth (PC) was selected as a prospective inexpensive substitute separator material for microbial fuel cells (MFCs). PC was compared with a traditional Nafion proton exchange membrane (PEM) as an MFC separator by analyzing its physical and electrochemical properties. A single layer of PC showed higher mass transfer (e.g., for $O_2/H^+/ions$) than the Nafion PEM; in the case of oxygen mass transfer coefficient ($k_o$), a rate of $50.0{\times}10^{-5} cm{\cdot}s^{-1}$ was observed compared with a rate of $20.8{\times}10^{-5}cm/s$ in the Nafion PEM. Increased numbers of PC layers were found to reduce the oxygen mass transfer coefficient. In addition, the diffusion coefficient of oxygen ($D_O$) for PC ($2.0-3.3{\times}10^{-6}cm^2/s$) was lower than that of the Nafion PEM ($3.8{\times}10^{-6}cm^2/s$). The PC was found to have a low ohmic resistance ($0.29-0.38{\Omega}$) in the MFC, which was similar to that of Nafion PEM ($0.31{\Omega}$); this resulted in comparable maximum power density and maximum current density in MFCs with PC and those with Nafion PEMs. Moreover, a higher average current generation was observed in MFCs with PC ($104.3{\pm}15.3A/m^3$) compared with MFCs with Nafion PEM ($100.4{\pm}17.7A/m^3$), as well as showing insignificant degradation of the PC surface, during 177 days of use in swine wastewater. These results suggest that PC separators could serve as a low-cost alternative to Nafion PEMs for construction of cost-effective MFCs.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2016

This article reports current status of micro fuel cell-combined heat and power (${\mu}FC$-CHP) systems which utilize both power and heat generated by fuel cells. There are several options for constructing CHP systems and among them, fuel cells are the most useful and their total energy efficiency combining heat and power can reach up to about 90%. Fuel cells are classified as five types based on the electrolyte, but the most suitable fuel cell types for the ${\mu}FC$-CHP system are proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems have several advantages such as decrease of the transmission-distribution loss, reduced costs of electricity due to distributed power generation, and environmental-friendliness owing to zero emission. The main drawback of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems is the high initial investment, however, it keeps decreasing as the technology development reduces production costs. Currently, Japan is the most leading country of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP market, however, Korea tries to expand the market by planning the deployment of 1 million units of ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems and governmental subsidiary supporting of half of the install price. In this report, integration technologies for connecting FC and CHP, and technology trends of leading countries are presented as well.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.322-333
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• 2018

This study was carried out to measure atmospheric environmental improvement effect and estimate its social benefit of thermal power plants through Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for quantitative analysis about operational performances of EIA. In this study, 'EIA outcome' is defined as whether or not the system is implemented, therefore, environmental standard to be followed by each project and consultation contents were compared. In total 60 cases of thermal power plant construction projects that have been consulted over the past 10 years since 2010, major air pollutants have been significantly reduced after the implementation of EIA. The $PM_{10}$ reduced annual 3,745 tons, $NO_2$ by 74,569 tons, and $SO_2$ by 37,647 tons, which were estimated at approximately 240 billion won~5 trillion 967 billion won per year for social benefit. This means the total cost of power plant operations will be cut to 7 trillion 192 billion won~178 trillion 994 billion won over a 30-year period. The reduced amount of air pollutants emitted by energy generation facilities across the country is worth 50%, and its economic value is larger than the annual Current Health Expenditure in Korea. This is meant by the fact that all projects are subject to uniform criteria under the existing relevant regulation, but that each project plans are optimized according to the characteristics of target areas and projects through the process of EIA.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.89-94
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• 2017

We have examined the issues on the measurement of bifacial photovoltaic(PV) devices that should be considered in order to ensure a measurement accuracy beyond a certain level and the comparability between the bifacial PV devices. Based on the results of various experiments and previous studies, solutions for these measurement issues are suggested. The most significant technical issues in the performance measurement of the bifacial PV devices are 1) elimination of the effect due to the light reflection on the sample holder surface and 2) the measurement of the expected power generation gain in outdoor operation. The effect due to the light reflection on the sample holder surface can be eliminated by using an anti-reflective sample holder. In case of a reflective sample holder, if the bifacial device have a linear characteristic with respect to the irradiance of incident light, it has been confirmed (through some previous studies and additional experiment) that exact measurement results can be obtained by the correction of the measurement data. In addition, it was also confirmed that the expected power generation gain in the outdoor operation can be obtained by three different methods along with the basic concepts of the bifaciality coefficient, the albedo, and the effective front irradiance.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.1006-1011
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• 2018

This paper proposes a three level buck converter utilizing multi-bit flying capacitor voltage control. The conventional three-level buck converter can not control the flying capacitor voltage, so that the operation is unstable or the circuit for controlling the flying capacitor voltage can not be applied to the PWM mode. Also when the load current is increased, an error occurs in the inductor voltage. The proposed structure can control the flying capacitor voltage in PWM mode by using differential difference amplifier and common mode feedback circuit. In addition, this paper proposes a 3bit flying capacitor voltage control circuit to optimize the operation of the three level buck converter depending on the load current, and a triangular wave generation circuit using the schmitt trigger circuit. The proposed 3-level buck converter is designed in $0.18{\mu}m$ CMOS process and has an input voltage range of 2.7V~3.6V and an output voltage range of 0.7V~2.4V. The operating frequency is 2MHz, the load current range is 30mA to 500mA, and the output voltage ripple is measured up to 32.5mV. The measurement results show a maximum power conversion efficiency of 85% at a load current of 130 mA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.85-93
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• 2011

A parametric study is conducted for the design of segmented arc plasma torch with the input power and current of 0.4 MW and 300 A, respectively. For this purpose, we use the analytical relationship between input power, current condition, plasma temperature, inner diameter (R) and length (L) of the torch constrictor based on arc channel model. The results reveal that arc plasma temperatures increase monotonically as ��L increases or R decreases for the ranges of R ${\leq}$ 7.5 mm and L ${\leq}$ 1.25 m. For larger valuse of ��R and L than 7.5 mm and 1.25 m, respectively, however, they show non-linear behavior corresponding to the variations of ��L, which stands for the generation of unstable arc plasma. From this parametric study, optimum ranges of R and L are suggested as 5.5 mm ${\leq}$ R ${\leq}$ 7.5 mm and 0.25 m ${\leq}$ L ${\leq}$ 0.5 m for 0.4 MW class segmented arc plasma torch, under which stable arc plasma can be achieved at the input currents of ~300 A.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2024

Demand for RW transportation is expected to increase due to the continuous generation of RW from nuclear power plants and facilities, decommissioning of plants, and saturation of spent fuel temporary storage facilities. The locational aspect of plants and radiation protection optimization for the public have led to an increasing demand for maritime transportation, necessitating to apprehend the overseas and domestic current status. Given the potential long-term radiological impact on the public in the event of a sinking accident, a pre-transportation exposure assessment is necessary. The objective of this study is to investigate the overseas and domestic RW maritime transportation current status and overseas dose assessment cases for the public in sinking accident. Selected countries, including Japan, UK, Sweden, and Korea, were examined for transport cases, Japan and the U.S were chosen for dose assessment case in sinking accidents. As a result of the maritime transportation case analysis, it was performed between nuclear power plants and reprocessing facilities, from plants to disposal or intermediate storage facilities. HLW and MOX fuel were transported using INF 3 shipments, and all transports were performed low speed of 13 kn or less. As a result of the dose assessment for the public in sinking accident, japan conducted an assessment for the sinking of spent fuel and vitrified HLW, and the U.S conducted for the sinking of spent fuel. Both countries considered external exposure through swimming and working at seashore, and internal exposure through seafood ingestion as exposure pathway. Additionally, Japan considered external exposure through working on board and fishing, and the U.S considered internal exposure through spray inhalation and desalinized water and salt ingestion. Internal exposure through seafood ingestion had the largest dose contribution. The average public exposure dose was 20 years after the sinking, 0.04 mSv yr^-1 for spent fuel and 5 years after the sinking, 0.03 mSv yr^-1 for vitrified HLW in Japan. In the U.S, it was 1.81 mSv yr^-1 5 years after the sinking of spent fuel. The results of this study will be used as fundamental data for maritime transportation of domestic RW in the future.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.61
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• pp.9-38
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• 2019

As the scales & density of the Korean national infrastructures have been increased, they will be identified as rich and attractive potential targets for intensified North Korea's attack in the rear region and terrorism attack. In addition, due to changes in security environment such as drone threats and lack of security forces under the 52-hour workweek law, I think that it is the proper time point to reevaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the current physical protection system and its shift to a new system. In this study, the direction and improvement of the perimeter physical protection systems of the national infrastructures are to be studied from the viewpoints of its concepts of operations and design methodology, focusing on the nuclear power plant. The reason why we focus on nuclear power plants is because they cause wide-range and long-term damages caused by radioactive materials disperal and pollution, along with short-term damage caused by the interruption of electricity generation in the event of damage to nuclear power plants. With the aim of extracting improvement directions, as we will comprehensively review domestic research trends and domestic·overseas related laws, and consider Korea's specificity, we try to reframe the concept of operation - systematization, mobilization and flexibility -, and establish criteria on system change. In order to improve the technical performance of the new perimeter physical protection system, we study on high-fidelity·multi-methodology based integrated design methodology, breaking from individual silo-type design methods, and I suggest improvement of government procurement, its expansion to export business and other national infrastructure.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.461-466
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• 2010

In this study the feasibility of simultaneous electricity generation and treatment of swine farm wastewater using microbial fuel cells (MFCs) was examined. Two single-chamber MFCs containing an anode filled with different ratio of graphite felt and stainless-steel cross strip was used in all tests. The proportion of stainless-steel cross strip to graphite felt in the anode of control microbial fuel cell (CMFC) was higher than that of swine microbial fuel cell (SMFC) to reduce construction costs. SMFCs produced a stable current of 18 mA by swine wastewater with chemical oxygen demand (COD) of $3.167{\pm}80\;mg/L$ after enriched. The maximum power density and current density of SMFCs were $680\;mW/m^3$ and $3,770\;mA/m^3$, respectively. In the CMFC, power density and current density was lower than that of SMFC. CODs decreased by the SMFC and CMFC from $3.167{\pm}80$ to $865{\pm}21$ and $930{\pm}14\;mg/L$, achieving 72.7% and 70.6% COD removal, respectively. The suspended solid (SS) of both fuel cells was also reduced over 99% ($4,533{\pm}67$ to $24.0{\pm}6.0\;mg/L$). The concentration of nutritive salts, ${NH_4}^+$, ${NO_3}^-$, and ${PO_4}^{3-}$, dropped by 65.4%, 57.5%, and 73.7% by the SMFC, respectively. These results were similar with those of CMFC. These results show that the microbial fuel cells using electrode with mix stainless-steel cross strip and graphite felt can treat the swine wastewater simultaneously with an electricity generation from swine wastewater.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.449-469
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• 2011

This article reviews the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigerating Engineering during 2010. It is intended to understand the status of current research in the areas of heating, cooling, ventilation, sanitation, and indoor environments of buildings and plant facilities. Conclusions are as follows. (1) Research trends of thermal and fluid engineering have been surveyed as groups of general thermal and fluid flow, fluid machinery, and new and renewable energy. Various topics were presented in the field of general thermal and fluid flow. Research issues mainly focused on the thermal reliability of axial fan and compressor in the field of fluid machinery. Studies on the design of ground source heat pump systems and solar chemical reactors were executed in the field of new and renewable energy. (2) Research works on heat transfer area have been reviewed in the categories of heat transfer characteristics and industrial heat exchangers. Researches on heat transfer characteristics included heat transfer in thermoelectric cooling/power generation systems, combined heat and power systems, carbon nano fluid with PVP, channel filled with metal foam and smoke ventilation in a rescue station of a railroad tunnel. Also the studies on flow boiling of R123/oil mixture in a plain tube bundle and R410A charge amount in an air cooled mini-channel condenser were reported. In the area of industrial heat exchangers, researches on plate heat exchanger, shell and tube heat exchanger, enthalpy exchanger, micro channel PCHE were performed. (2) Research works on heat transfer area have been reviewed in the categories of heat transfer characteristics and industrial heat exchangers. Researches on heat transfer characteristics included heat transfer in thermoelectric cooling/power generation systems, combined heat and power systems, carbon nano fluid with PVP, channel filled with metal foam and smoke ventilation in a rescue station of a railroad tunnel. Also the studies on flow boiling of R123/oil mixture in a plain tube bundle and R410A charge amount in an air cooled mini-channel condenser were reported. In the area of industrial heat exchangers, researches on plate heat exchanger, shell and tube heat exchanger, enthalpy exchanger, micro channel PCHE were performed. (3) Refrigeration systems with alternative refrigerants such as hydrocarbons, mixed refrigerants, and CO2 were studied. Performance improvement of refrigeration systems are tried applying various ideas of refrigerant subcooling, dual evaporator with hot gas bypass control and feedforward control. The hybrid solar systems combining the solar collection devices with absorption chillers or compression heat pumps are simulated and studied experimentally as well to improve the understanding and the feasibility for actual applications. (4) Research trend in the field of mechanical building facilities has been found to be mainly focused on field applications rather than performance improvements. Various studies on heating and cooling systems, HVAC facilities, indoor air environments and energy resources were carried to improve the maintenance and management of building service equipments. In the field of heating and cooling systems, papers on a transformer cooling system, a combined heat and power, a slab thermal storage and a heat pump were reported. In the field of HVAC facilities, papers on a cooling load, an ondol and a drying were presented. Also, studies on HVAC systems using unutilized indoor air environments and energy resources such as air curtains, bioviolence, cleanrooms, ventilation, district heating, landfill gas were studied. (5) In the field of architectural environment and energy, studies of various purposes were conducted such as indoor environment, building energy, renewable energy and green building. In particular, renewable energy and building energy-related researches have mainly been studied reflecting the global interest. In addition, many researches which related the domestic green building certification of school building were performed to improve the indoor environment of school.