• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.938-943
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• 2007

In this paper, we show that, in case of piezoelectric micropower generator, just replacing Schottky diodes in the bridge rectifier with ultra-low reverse leakage current diodes improves the mechanical-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency by more than 100%. Experimental and PSPICE simulation results show that, due to the ultra-low leakage current, the charging speed of the circuit employing PAD1 is higher than that of the circuit employing Schottky diodes and the saturation voltage of the circuit employing PAD1 is also higher. This study suggests that , when the internal impedance of source is very large (a few tens of $M{\Omega}$) such that maximum charging current is a few microamperes or less, in order to realize literally the energy scavenging system, ultra-low reverse leakage current diodes should be used for efficient energy conversion. Since low-level vibration is ubiquitous in the environment ranging from human movement to large infrastructures and the mechanical-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency is much more critical for use of these vibrations, we believe that the improvement in the efficiency using ultra-low leakage diodes, as found in this work, will widen greatly the application of piezoelectric micropower generator.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.475-485
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• 2022

Crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells have advantages of zero pollution, large scale and high reliability. A major challenge is that sunlight wavelength with photon energy lower than semiconductor band gap is converted into heat and increase its temperature and reduce its conversion efficiency. Traditional cooling PV method is using water flowing below the modules to cool down PV temperature. In this paper, the idea is proposed to reduce the temperature of the module and improve the energy conversion efficiency of the module through the modulation of the solar spectrum. A spectrally selective nanofilm reflector located directly on the surface of PV is designed, which can reflect sunlight wavelength with low photon energy, and even enhance absorption of sunlight wavelength with high photon energy. The results indicate that nanofilm reflector can reduce spectral reflectivity integral from 9.0% to 6.93% in 400~1100 nm wavelength range, and improve spectral reflectivity integral from 23.1% to 78.34% in long wavelength range. The nanofilm reflector can reduce temperature of PV by 4.51℃ and relatively improved energy conversion efficiency of PV by 1.25% when solar irradiance is 1000 W/m². Furthermore, the nanofilm reflector is insensitive in sunlight's angle and polarization state, and be suitable for high irradiance environment.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.565-571
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• 2013

This paper presents an effective method to improve efficiency of switched reluctance motor by optimizing energy conversion loop. A nonlinear analytical model which takes saturation account is developed to calculate inductance and flux-linkage. The flux-linkage curve is studied to calculate the co-energy increment to obtain the optimum exciting current. For a given cross-section, the exciting current at which co-energy increment is maximum was found to be constant while stack length varies. Then the energy conversion loop was optimized by varying the stack length and turns of windings. The constraints during optimization were that motor was excited by the maximum increment co-energy current and the energy in the loop was determined by rated power of motor. Dynamic finite element analysis was used to evaluate the efficiency of various models and the comparison of results shows promising effects of the proposed method. Experiment was also conducted to validate the simulation result.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.229-230
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• 2012

Platinum (Pt) has been commonly used as a counter electrode material in dye-sensitized solar cells, because it has high catalytic activity and electric conductivity as well as chemical inertness with iodide electrolyte. However, Pt is too expensive to be commercialized. Therefore, in the present study, carbon black counter electrode with Pt and carbon nano tube (CNT) was investigated. The power conversion efficiency with Pt added carbon black electrode was lower than hat of pure Pt electrode which was 6.47 %. By adding 3 wt% Pt to the carbon black counter electrode, the power conversion efficiency was maximized at 5.88 %. On them, additional adding of 1 wt % CNT, the power conversion efficiency (${\eta}$)wasincreasedupto6.21%. The reason of power conversion efficiency improvement with a proper amount of Pt and CNT was examined by comparing the impedance properties measured using EIS.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.156-164
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• 2009

This paper aims to describe the importance of data, data collection methods, parameters to estimate the potential of wave energy and environmental impacts. The technical and economical status in wave energy conversion is outlined. Power and energy efficiency relationships are discussed. Many different types of wave-energy converters have been detailed. The progress in wave energy conversion in Malaysia is reviewed.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.161-165
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• 2011

In this paper, a high-efficiency DC-AC converter is used for wireless energy transmission. The DC-AC convertter is implemented by combining the oscillator and power amplifier. Given that the conversion efficiency of a DC-AC converter is strongly affected by the efficiency of the power amplifier, a high-efficiency power amplifier is implemented using a class-E amplifier structure. Also, because of the low output power of the oscillator connected to the input stage of the power amplifier, a high-gain two-stage power amplifier using a drive amplifier is used to realize a high-output power DC-AC converter. The high-efficiency DC-AC converter is realized by connecting the oscillator to the input stage of the high-gain high-efficiency two-stage class-E power amplifier. The output power and the conversion efficiency of the DC-AC converter are 40.83 dBm and 87.32 %, respectively, at an operation frequency of 13.56 MHz.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

In order to convert wave energy into large quantities of high-efficiency power, it is necessary to study the optimal converter system appropriate for the environment of a specific open ocean area. A wave energy converter system with a counterweight converts the translation energy induced from the heave motion of a buoy into rotary energy. This experimental study evaluated the primary energy conversion efficiency of the system, which was installed on an ocean generating basin with a power take-off system. Moreover, this study analyzed the energy conversion performance according to the weight condition of the buoy, counter-weight, and flywheel by changing the load torque and wave period. Therefore, these results could be useful as basic data such as for the optimal design of a wave energy converter with a counterweight and improved energy conversion efficiency.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.354-355
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• 2006

We manufactured photoelectrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) by using three methods such as squeeze method, spray method, and combination method (squeeze method first, spray method second). We examined how the morphology of an electrode's surface, the pore between particles, and condensation have an effect on an open-circuit voltage, photocurrent, fill factor, and energy conversion efficiency. Open-circuit voltage of dye-sensitized solar cells manufactured by using three methods is about 0.66V when the photoelectrode of the three DSCs is about $5{\mu}m$ thick. Photocurrent and fill factor and conversion efficiency of DSC manufactured by using squeeze method is 18.5 and 34 and 7.8, respectively. Photocurrent and fill factor and conversion efficiency of DSC manufactured by using spray method is 3.62 and 62 and 2.8, respectively. Photocurrent and fill factor and conversion efficiency of DSC manufactured by using combination method is 10.7 and 46 and 5.9, respectively. In conclusion, we find that the combination method is better than the other two methods in such respects as energy conversion efficiency and fill factor.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.475-483
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• 1999

A lab-scale test was carried out to study the reduction of electrical energy consumption in the pulsed corona discharge process for nitrogen oxides removal. The experiment was mainly focused on 1) the activation of pollution removal reactions by chemical additives and 2) the optimization of electrical circuit for the efficient energy transfer from the power supply to the corona reactor. Hydrocarbon chemical additives used in the experiment are thought to be responsible for the enhancement of the NO conversion through the chain reactions of free radicals such as, R, RCO, and RO. Electrical energy consumption per converted NO molecule has a minimum value of 17 eV when pentanol is injected. When ethylene and propylene are injected, 30 eV and 22 eV of electrical energy consumption is required for the conversion of NO molecule respectively. The ratio of the pulse forming capacitance$(C_e)$ to the reactor capacitance$(C_R)$ plays an important role in the energy transfer efficiency to the reactor. Maximum energy transfer efficiency of approximately 72% could be obtained by using the pulse forming capacitance which is 3.4 times larger than the reactor capacitance, and also the maximum NO conversion efficiency was observed with the same condition.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.22-29
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• 2010

The concept of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is simple and various types of OTEC have been proposed and tried. However the location of OTEC is limited because OTEC requires $20^{\circ}C$ of temperature difference as a minimum, so most of OTEC plants were constructed and experimented in tropical oceans. To solve this we proposed the modified OTEC which uses condenser discharged thermal energy of existing fossil or nuclear power plants. We call this system CTEC (Condenser Thermal Energy Conversion) as this system directly uses $32^{\circ}C$ partially saturated steam in condenser instead of $20{\sim}25^{\circ}C$ surface sea water as heat source. Increased temperature difference can improve thermal efficiency of Rankine cycle, but CTEC should be located near existing plant condenser and the length of cold water pipe between CTEC and deep cold sea water also increase. So friction loss also increases. Calculated result shows the change of efficiency, pumping power, net power and other parameters of modeled 7.9 MW CTEC at given condition. The calculated efficiency of CTEC is little larger than that of typical OTEC as expected. By proper location and optimization, CTEC could be considered another competitive renewable energy system.