• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.492-507
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• 2010

This article reviews the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering during 2009. 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 piping, and new and renewable energy. Various topics were covered in the field of general thermal and fluid flow such as an expander, a capillary tube, the flow of micro-channel water blocks, the friction and anti-wear characteristics of nano oils with mixtures of refrigerant oils, etc. Research issues mainly focused on the design of micro-pumps and fans, the heat resistance reliability of axial smoke exhaust fans, and hood systems in the field of fluid machinery and piping. Studies on ground water sources were executed concerning two well type geothermal heat pumps and multi-heat pumps 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 the heat transfer in thermoelectric cooling systems, refrigerants, evaporators, dryers, desiccant rotors. In the area of industrial heat exchangers, researches on high temperature ceramic heat exchangers, plate heat exchangers, frosting on fins of heat exchangers were performed. (3) In the field of refrigeration, papers were presented on alternative refrigerants, system improvements, and the utilization of various energy sources. Refrigeration systems with alternative refrigerants such as hydrocarbons, mixed refrigerants, and $CO_2$ were studied. Efforts to improve the performance of refrigeration systems were made applying various ideas of suction line heat exchangers, subcooling bypass lines and gas injection systems. Studies on heat pump systems using unutilized energy sources such as river water, underground water, and waste heat were also reported. (4) Research trend in the field of mechanical building facilities has been found to be mainly focused on field applications rather than performance improvements. In the area of cogeneration systems, papers on energy and economic analysis, LCC analysis and cost estimating were reported. Studies on ventilation and heat recovery systems introduced the effect on fire and smoke control, and energy reduction. Papers on district cooling and heating systems dealt with design capacity evaluation, application plan and field application. Also, the maintenance and management of building service equipments were presented for HVAC systems. (5) In the field of architectural environment, various studies were carried to improve indoor air quality and to analyze the heat load characteristics of buildings by energy simulation. These studies helped to understand the physics related to building load characteristics and to improve the quality of architectural environment where human beings reside in.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.462-466
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety of a wire connector fabricated for the effective installation of a lighting fixture including its contact resistance, insulation resistance, withstanding voltage characteristics, etc., and to provide the basis for the analysis and judgment of PL(Product Liability) dispute by presenting a damage pattern due to a general flame and overcurrent. This study applied the Korean Standard (KS) for the incombustibility test of the connector using a general flame and performed an overcurrent characteristics test of the connector using PCITS (Primary Current Injection Test System). The contact resistance of the housing connector was measured using a high resistance meter and the insulation resistance was measured using a multimeter. In addition, a supply voltage of AC 1,500V for testing the withstanding voltage characteristics was applied to both ends of the connector. Measurement was performed on 5 specimens and the measured values were used as a basis for judgment. Since the connector is fabricated in the form of a housing, it can be connected and separated easily and has a structure that allows no foreign material to enter. In addition, since it has a structure that allows wires to be connected only when their polarity is identical, any misconnection that may occur during installation can be prevented. When the incombustibility test was performed by applying a general flame to the connector, it showed outstanding incombustibility characteristics and the blade and blade holder connected to the housing remained firmly secured even after the insulation sheath (PVC) was completely destroyed by fire. In addition, the mechanism of the damaged connecting wire showed a comparatively uniform carbonization pattern and it was found that some residual melted insulation material was attached to both ends. In the accelerated life test (ALT) to which approximately 500% of the rated current was applied, the connector damage proceeded in the order of white smoke generation, wire separation, spark occurrence and carbonization. That is, it could be seen that the connector damaged by overcurrent lost its own metallic color with traces of discoloration and carbonization. The contact resistance of the connector at a normal state was 2.164mV/A on average. The contact resistance measured after the high temperature test was 3.258mV/A. In addition, the insulation resistance after the temperature test was completed was greater than $10G\Omega$ and the withstanding voltage test result showed that no insulation breakdown occurred to all specimens showing stable withstanding voltage and insulation resistance characteristics.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.386-392
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• 2017

Background: Fire service workers often implement multiple duties in the emergency conditions, with such duties being mostly conducted in various ambient temperatures. Methods: The aim of the current study was to assess the firefighters' physiological responses, information processing, and working memory prior to and following simulated firefighting activities in three different hot environments. Seventeen healthy male firefighters performed simulated firefighting tasks in three separate conditions, namely (1) low heat (LH; $29-31^{\circ}C$, 55-60% relative humidity), (2) moderate heat (MH; $32-34^{\circ}C$, 55-60% relative humidity), and (3) severe heat (SH; $35-37^{\circ}C$, 55-60% relative humidity). It took about 45-50 minutes for each firefighter to finish all defined firefighting activities and the paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT). Results: At the end of all the three experimental conditions, heart rate (HR) and tympanic temperature (TT) increased, while PASAT scores as a measure of information processing performance decreased relative to baseline. HR and TT were significantly higher at the end of the experiment in the SH ($159.41{\pm}4.25beats/min$; $38.22{\pm}0.10^{\circ}C$) compared with the MH ($156.59{\pm}3.77beats/min$; $38.20{\pm}0.10^{\circ}C$) and LH ($154.24{\pm}4.67beats/min$; $38.17{\pm}0.10^{\circ}C$) conditions (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in PASAT scores between LH and MH (p > 0.05). Nonetheless, there was a measurable difference in PASAT scores between LH and SH (p < 0.05). Conclusion: These consequences demonstrate that ambient temperature is effective in raising the physiological responses following firefighting activities. It is therefore argued that further increase of ambient temperature can impact firefighters' information processing and working memory during firefighting activity.

• Fiber Technology and Industry
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.490-508
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• 1998

One of the latest fields of research in the area of output devices is tactual display devices [13,31]. These tactual or haptic devices allow the user to receive haptic feedback output from a variety of sources. This allows the user to actually feel virtual objects and manipulate them by touch. This is an emerging technology and will be instrumental in enhancing the realism of wearable augmented environments for certain applications. Tactual displays have previously been used for scientific visualization in virtual environments by chemists and engineers to improve perception and understanding of force fields and of world models populated with the impenetrable. In addition to tactual displays, the use of wearable audio displays that allow sound to be spatialized are being developed. With wearable computers, designers will soon be able to pair spatialized sound to virtual representations of objects when appropriate to make the wearable computer experience even more realistic to the user. Furthermore, as the number and complexity of wearable computing applications continues to grow, there will be increasing needs for systems that are faster, lighter, and have higher resolution displays. Better networking technology will also need to be developed to allow all users of wearable computers to have high bandwidth connections for real time information gathering and collaboration. In addition to the technology advances that make users need to wear computers in everyday life, there is also the desire to have users want to wear their computers. In order to do this, wearable computing needs to be unobtrusive and socially acceptable. By making wearables smaller and lighter, or actually embedding them in clothing, users can conceal them easily and wear them comfortably. The military is currently working on the development of the Personal Information Carrier (PIC) or digital dog tag. The PIC is a small electronic storage device containing medical information about the wearer. While old military dog tags contained only 5 lines of information, the digital tags may contain volumes of multi-media information including medical history, X-rays, and cardiograms. Using hand held devices in the field, medics would be able to call this information up in real time for better treatment. A fully functional transmittable device is still years off, but this technology once developed in the military, could be adapted tp civilian users and provide ant information, medical or otherwise, in a portable, not obstructive, and fashionable way. Another future device that could increase safety and well being of its users is the nose on-a-chip developed by the Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. This tiny digital silicon chip about the size of a dime, is capable of 'smelling' natural gas leaks in stoves, heaters, and other appliances. It can also detect dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. This device can also be configured to notify the fire department when a leak is detected. This nose chip should be commercially available within 2 years, and is inexpensive, requires low power, and is very sensitive. Along with gas detection capabilities, this device may someday also be configured to detect smoke and other harmful gases. By embedding this chip into workers uniforms, name tags, etc., this could be a lifesaving computational accessory. In addition to the future safety technology soon to be available as accessories are devices that are for entertainment and security. The LCI computer group is developing a Smartpen, that electronically verifies a user's signature. With the increase in credit card use and the rise in forgeries, is the need for commercial industries to constantly verify signatures. This Smartpen writes like a normal pen but uses sensors to detect the motion of the pen as the user signs their name to authenticate the signature. This computational accessory should be available in 1999, and would bring increased peace of mind to consumers and vendors alike. In the entertainment domain, Panasonic is creating the first portable hand-held DVD player. This device weight less than 3 pounds and has a screen about 6' across. The color LCD has the same 16:9 aspect ratio of a cinema screen and supports a high resolution of 280,000 pixels and stereo sound. The player can play standard DVD movies and has a hour battery life for mobile use. To summarize, in this paper we presented concepts related to the design and use of wearable computers with extensions to smart spaces. For some time, researchers in telerobotics have used computer graphics to enhance remote scenes. Recent advances in augmented reality displays make it possible to enhance the user's local environment with 'information'. As shown in this paper, there are many application areas for this technology such as medicine, manufacturing, training, and recreation. Wearable computers allow a much closer association of information with the user. By embedding sensors in the wearable to allow it to see what the user sees, hear what the user hears, sense the user's physical state, and analyze what the user is typing, an intelligent agent may be able to analyze what the user is doing and try to predict the resources he will need next or in the near future. Using this information, the agent may download files, reserve communications bandwidth, post reminders, or automatically send updates to colleagues to help facilitate the user's daily interactions. This intelligent wearable computer would be able to act as a personal assistant, who is always around, knows the user's personal preferences and tastes, and tries to streamline interactions with the rest of the world.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.256-268
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• 2016

This article reviews the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering during 2015. 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) The research works on the thermal and fluid engineering were carried out in the areas of flow, heat and mass transfer, cooling and heating, and air-conditioning, the renewable energy system and the flow inside building rooms. Research issues dealing with air-conditioning machines and fire and exhausting smoke were reduced. CFD seems to be spreading to more research areas. (2) Research works on heat transfer area were carried out in the categories of heat transfer characteristics, pool boiling and condensing heat transfer and industrial heat exchangers. Researches on heat transfer characteristics included the economic analysis of GHG emission, micro channel heat exchanger, effect of rib angle on thermal performance, the airside performance of fin-and-tube heat exchangers, theoretical analysis of a rotary heat exchanger, heat exchanger in a cryogenic environment, the performance of a cross-flow-type, indirect evaporative cooler made of paper/plastic film. In the area of pool boiling and condensing, the bubble jet loop heat pipe was studied. In the area of industrial heat exchangers, researches were performed on fin-tube heat exchanger, KSTAR PFC and vacuum vessel at baking phase, the performance of small-sized dehumidification rotor, design of gas-injection port of an asymmetric scroll compressor, effect of slot discharge-angle change on exhaust efficiency of range hood system with air curtain. (3) In the field of refrigeration, various studies were carried in the categories of refrigeration cycle, alternative refrigeration/energy system, system control. In the refrigeration cycle category, a cold-climate heat pump system, $CO_2$ cascade systems, ejector cycles and a PCM-based continuous heating system were investigated. In the alternative refrigeration/energy system category, a polymer adsorption heat pump, an alcohol absorption heat pump and a desiccant-based hybrid refrigeration system were investigated. In the system control category, turbo-refrigerator capacity controls and an absorption chiller fault diagnostics were investigated. (4) In building mechanical system research fields, eighteen studies were reported for achieving effective design of the mechanical systems, and also for maximizing the energy efficiency of buildings. The topics of the studies included energy performance, HVAC system, ventilation, and renewable energies, piping in the buildings. Proposed designs, performance tests using numerical methods and experiments provide useful information and key data which can improve the energy efficiency of the buildings. (5) The field of architectural environment was mostly focused on indoor environment and building energy. The main researches of indoor environment were related to the user and location awareness technology applied dimming lighting control system, the lighting performance evaluation for light-shelves, the improvement evaluation of air quality through analysis of ventilation efficiency and the evaluation of airtightness of sliding and LS window systems. The subjects of building energy were worked on the energy saving estimation of existing buildings, the developing model to predict heating energy usage in domestic city area and the performance evaluation of cooling applied with economizer control. The studies were also performed related to the experimental measurement of weight variation and thermal conductivity in polyurethane foam, the development of flame spread prevention system for sandwich panels, the utilization of heat from waste-incineration facility in large-scale horticultural facilities.