• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.8-15
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• 2007

Liquid water in flow channel is an important factor that limits the steady and transient performance of PEM fuel cells. A computational fluid dynamics study based on the volume-of-fluid [VOF] multi-phase model was conducted to understand the two-phase flow behavior of liquid water in cathode gas channels. The liquid water transport in $180^{\circ}{\Delta}$ bends was investigated, where the effects of surface characteristics (hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces], channel geometries (rectangular and chamfered corners], and air velocity in channel were discussed. The two-phase flow behavior of liquid water with hydrophilic channel surface and that with hydrophobic surface was found very different; liquid water preferentially flows along the corners of flow channel in hydrophilic channels while it flows in rather spherical shape in hydrophobic channels. The results showed that liquid water transport was generally enhanced when hydrophobic channel with rounded corners was used. However, the surface characteristics and channel geometries became less important when air velocity was increased over 10m/s. This study is believed to provide a useful guideline for design optimization of flow patterns or channel configurations of PEM fuel cells.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.671-674
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• 2008

We investigate the slippage effect in a micro-channel depending on the surface characteristics; hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and super-hydrophobic wettabilities. The micro-scale grooves are fabricated on the vertical wall to make the super-hydrophobic surfaces, which enable us visualize the flow fields near walls and directly measure the slip length. Velocity profiles are measured using micro-particle image velocimetry (Micro-PIV) and compared those in the hydrophilic glass, hydrophobic PDMS, and super-hydrophobic PDMS micro-channels. To directly measure the velocity in the super-hydrophobic micro-channel, the transverse groove structures are fabricated on the vertical wall in the micro-channel. The velocity profile near the wall shows larger slip length and, if the groove structure is high and wide, the liquid meniscus forms curves into the valley so that the wavy flow is created after the grooves.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.1777-1782
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• 2003

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of the capillary-induced pressure drop valve, thermocapillary pumping of liquid droplet in hydrophilic channels and the splitting of droplet. The capillaryinduced pressure drop is derived with thermodynamic approach considering three-dimensional meniscus shape which is essential for calculating pressure drop in the diverging shape channel when the aspect ratio is close to one. The micro channel is fabricated via MEMS processes, which consists of the liquid stop valve to retard the liquid droplet, thermocapillary pumping region and the bifurcation region. Also the micro heaters are fabricated to drive the droplet by thermocapillary. The theoretical approaches agree well with the experimental data. The functionality of capillary valve is confirmed to be valid when the aspect ratio is smaller than one. To overcome the difficulty in splitting of the droplet due to the pressure drop in the general Y-shape channel, the protrusion shape is employed for easy splitting in the bifurcation channel.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.710-716
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• 2006

Micro-PIV system with a high speed CCD camera is used to measure the flow field near the advancing meniscus of a water slug in microchannels. Image shifting technique combined with meniscus detecting technique is proposed to measure the relative velocity of the liquid near the meniscus in a moving reference frame. The proposed method is applied to an advancing front of a slug in microchannels with rectangular cross section. In the case of hydrophilic channel, strong flow from the center to the side wall along the meniscus occurs, while in the case of the hydrophobic channel, the fluid flows in the opposite direction. Further, the velocity near the side wall is higher than the center region velocity, exhibiting the characteristics of a strong shear-driven flow. This phenomenon is explained to be due to the existence of small gaps between the slug and the channel wall at each capillary corner so that the gas flows through the gaps inducing high shear on the slug surface. Simulation of the shape of a static droplet inside a cubic cell obtained by using the Surface Evolver program is supportive of the existence of the gap at the rectangular capillary corners. The flow fields in the circular capillary, in which no such gap exists, are also measured. The results show that a similar flow pattern to that of the hydrophilic rectangular capillary (i.e., center-to-wall flow) is always exhibited regardless of the wettability of the channel wall, which is also indicative of the validity of the above-mentioned assertion.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.85-92
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• 2009

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are a promising technology for short-term power generation required in residential and automobile applications. Proper management of water has been found to be essential for improving the performance and durability of PEM fuel cells. This study investigated the liquid water exhaust capabilities of various flow channels having different geometries and surface properties. Three-pass serpentine flow fields were prepared by patterning channels of 1 mm or 2 mm width onto hydrophilic Acrylic plates or hydrophobic Teflon plates, and the behaviors of liquid water in those flow channels were experimentally visualized. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were also conducted to quantitatively assess the liquid water exhaust capabilities of flow channels for PEM fuel cells. Numerical results showed that hydrophobic flow channels have better liquid water exhaust capabilities than hydrophilic flow channels. Flow channels with curved corners showed less droplet stagnation than the channels with sharp corners. It was also found that a smaller width is desirable for hydrophobic flow channels while a larger width is desirable for hydrophilic ones. The above results were explained as being due to the different droplet morphologies in hydrophobic and hydrophilic channels.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.283-287
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• 2016

One of the most important factors for determining the thermal performance of an evaporative cooling system is the wettability of the evaporative heat exchanger surface. Evaporation of a widely spread water film on the heat exchanger surface promotes heat transfer between the "dry" air and "wet" air passages. Hydrophilic coating is generally applied on the heat exchanger surfaces to increase the wettability of the heat exchanger surface and the COP of the evaporative cooling system. In this paper, a simple lamellar patterned structure is suggested to maximize the spreading of a water film on the vertically oriented walls. The capillary height of the lamellar structured grooves is analyzed through a theoretical model, and the results are compared with the numerical analysis through a finite element analysis tool, SE-FIT. A good agreement between the theoretical model and the numerical analysis can be observed as long as the channel depth is comparable to or larger than the channel width of the lamellar structure.

• 한국가시화정보학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.84-87
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• 2007

Recently, many studies concern on the slip flow and slip length, which allow liquid flow to reduce drag force in microchannel. However, until now not enough investigation is performed experimentally to understand the slip flow in the superhydrophobic microchannel exhibiting riblet structures on vertical wall. Here we investigated and compared the slip flows according to the surface characteristics; hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and superhydrophobic wettabilities. Using the micro-PIV, velocity profiles can be obtained in the glass (hydrophilic), PDMS (hydrophobic), and micro-structured PDMS (superhydrophobic) microchannels. For both PDMS and superhydrophobic PDMS microchannels, we observed the slip effects showing the microscale slip lengths. Due to the micro-riblet, there are two distinctive flow characteristics on the riblet surface and the liquid meniscus in the valleys.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.510-514
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• 2013

The structural change of Nafion polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) induced by hot-pressing, which is one of the representative procedures for preparing membrane-electrode-assembly for low temperature fuel cells, was investigated by $^2H$ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The hydrophilic channels were asymmetrically flattened and more aligned in the membrane plane than along the hot-pressing direction. The average O-$^2H$ director of $^2H_2O$ in polymer electrolyte membrane was employed to extract the structural information from the $^2H$ NMR peak splitting data. The dependence of $^2H$ NMR data on water contents was systematically analyzed for the first time. The approach presented here can be used to understand the chemicals' behavior in nano-spaces, especially those reshaping and functioning interactively with the chemicals in the wet and/or mixed state.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.140-140
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• 2001

Porins are major outer membrane proteins which produce non-specific aqueous channels across the membrane that permit the diffusion into the bacterial cells of hydrophilic compounds including sugars, amino acids, and antibiotics. In some gram-negative organisms, antibiotic resistance can be induced by mutational loss of channel that causes a decrease in outer membrane permeability. (omitted)

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2012

Under some pathological conditions as bile flow obstruction or liver diseases with the enterohepatic circulation being disrupted, regurgitation of bile acids into the systemic circulation occurs and the plasma level of bile acids increases. Bile acids in circulation may affect the nervous system. We examined this possibility by studying the effects of bile acids on gating of neuronal (N)-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel that is essential for neurotransmitter release at synapses of the peripheral and central nervous system. N-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel currents were recorded from bullfrog sympathetic neuron under a cell-attached mode using 100 mM $Ba^{2+}$ as a charge carrier. Cholic acid (CA, $10^{-6}M$) that is relatively hydrophilic thus less cytotoxic was included in the pipette solution. CA suppressed the open probability of N-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel, which appeared to be due to an increase in (no activity) sweeps. For example, the proportion of sweep in the presence of CA was ~40% at +40 mV as compared with ~8% in the control recorded without CA. Other single channel properties including slope conductance, single channel current amplitude, open and shut times were not significantly affected by CA being present. The results suggest that CA could modulate N-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel gating at a concentration as low as $10^{-6}M$. Bile acids have been shown to activate nonselective cation conductance and depolarize the cell membrane. Under pathological conditions with increased circulating bile acids, CA suppression of N-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel function may be beneficial against overexcitation of the synapses.