• Title/Summary/Keyword: Indoor environmental quality

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Evaluation of Radon Exposure During Highway Tunnel Construction by New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM 공법에 의한 고속도로 터널 공사 중 라돈 노출 평가)

  • Ye-Ji Yu;Hyoung-Ryoul Kim;Mo-Yeol Kang;Sangjun Choi
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.115-125
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    • 2023
  • Objectives: This study was conducted to measure the level of radon in the air at a highway tunnel construction site in a gneiss area using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) and to evaluate exposure levels by occupation. Methods: Radon concentrations in the air were measured using E-PERM at points 300 m, 600 m, and 900 m from the tunnel entrance during the excavation and waterproofing work inside the tunnel. In addition, radon concentrations were measured during external excavation to compare with the inside of the tunnel. Personal exposure levels for major occupations including tunnel workers, construction equipment operators, waterproofers, shotcrete workers, and safety and health managers who participated in the construction were estimated using radon concentration measured in the work process area and working hours by occupation. Results: As a result of a total of 77 radon measurements, the geometric mean (GM) concentration was 71.1 Bq/m3, and the maximum concentration was 127.3 Bq/m3, which was below the indoor air quality criteria. Radon concentration by process decreased in the order of the tunnel excavation process (GM= Bq/m3, GSD=1.2), waterproofing process (GM=73.35 Bq/m3, GSD=1.2), and outside excavating process (GM=45.28 Bq/m3, GSD=1.2). Processes inside the tunnel were significantly higher than outside excavating processes (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in radon concentration measured inside by distance from the tunnel entrance, but the innermost point of the tunnel, 900 m (GM=79.24 Bq/m3, GSD=1.27), measured the highest. Conclusions: The occupation with the highest individual exposure to radon was tunnel worker (64.16 Bq/m3), followed by construction equipment driver (64.04 Bq/m3) and waterproofer (63.13 Bq/m3).

Image Contrast and Sunlight Readability Enhancement for Small-sized Mobile Display (소형 모바일 디스플레이의 영상 컨트라스트 및 야외시인성 개선 기법)

  • Chung, Jin-Young;Hossen, Monir;Choi, Woo-Young;Kim, Ki-Doo
    • Journal of IKEEE
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.116-124
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    • 2009
  • Recently the CPU performance of modem chipsets or multimedia processors of mobile phone is as high as notebook PC. That is why mobile phone has been emerged as a leading ICON on the convergence of consumer electronics. The various applications of mobile phone such as DMB, digital camera, video telephony and internet full browsing are servicing to consumers. To meet all the demands the image quality has been increasingly important. Mobile phone is a portable device which is widely using in both the indoor and outside environments, so it is needed to be overcome to deteriorate image quality depending on environmental light source. Furthermore touch window is popular on the mobile display panel and it makes contrast loss because of low transmittance of ITO film. This paper presents the image enhancement algorithm to be embedded on image enhancement SoC. In contrast enhancement, we propose Clipped histogram stretching method to make it adaptive with the input images, while S-shape curve and gain/offset method for the static application And CIELCh color space is used to sunlight readability enhancement by controlling the lightness and chroma components which is depended on the sensing value of light sensor. Finally the performance of proposed algorithm is evaluated by using histogram, RGB pixel distribution, entropy and dynamic range of resultant images. We expect that the proposed algorithm is suitable for image enhancement of embedded SoC system which is applicable for the small-sized mobile display.

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Recent Progress in Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Research: A Review of Papers Published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering in 2008 (설비공학 분야의 최근 연구 동향: 2008년 학회지 논문에 대한 종합적 고찰)

  • Han, Hwa-Taik;Choi, Chang-Ho;Lee, Dae-Young;Kim, Seo-Young;Kwon, Yong-Il;Choi, Jong-Min
    • Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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    • v.21 no.12
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    • pp.715-732
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    • 2009
  • This article reviews the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering during 2008. 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 in thermal and fluid engineering have been surveyed in the categories of general fluid flow, fluid machinery and piping, new and renewable energy, and fire. Well-developed CFD technologies were widely applied in developing facilities and their systems. New research topics include fire, fuel cell, and solar energy. Research was mainly focused on flow distribution and optimization in the fields of fluid machinery and piping. Topics related to the development of fans and compressors had been popular, but were no longer investigated widely. Research papers on micro heat exchangers using nanofluids and micro pumps were also not presented during this period. There were some studies on thermal reliability and performance in the fields of new and renewable energy. Numerical simulations of smoke ventilation and the spread of fire were the main topics in the field of fire. (2) Research works on heat transfer presented in 2008 have been reviewed in the categories of heat transfer characteristics, industrial heat exchangers, and ground heat exchangers. Research on heat transfer characteristics included thermal transport in cryogenic vessels, dish solar collectors, radiative thermal reflectors, variable conductance heat pipes, and flow condensation and evaporation of refrigerants. In the area of industrial heat exchangers, examined are research on micro-channel plate heat exchangers, liquid cooled cold plates, fin-tube heat exchangers, and frost behavior of heat exchanger fins. Measurements on ground thermal conductivity and on the thermal diffusion characteristics of ground heat exchangers were reported. (3) In the field of refrigeration, many studies were presented on simultaneous heating and cooling heat pump systems. Switching between various operation modes and optimizing the refrigerant charge were considered in this research. Studies of heat pump systems using unutilized energy sources such as sewage water and river water were reported. Evaporative cooling was studied both theoretically and experimentally as a potential alternative to the conventional methods. (4) Research papers on building facilities have been reviewed and divided into studies on heat and cold sources, air conditioning and air cleaning, ventilation, automatic control of heat sources with piping systems, and sound reduction in hydraulic turbine dynamo rooms. In particular, considered were efficient and effective uses of energy resulting in reduced environmental pollution and operating costs. (5) In the field of building environments, many studies focused on health and comfort. Ventilation. system performance was considered to be important in improving indoor air conditions. Due to high oil prices, various tests were planned to examine building energy consumption and to cut life cycle costs.

Recent Progress in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Research: A Review of Papers Published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering in 2006 (공기조화, 냉동 분야의 최근 연구 동향: 2006년 학회지 논문에 대한 종합적 고찰)

  • Han, Hwa-Taik;Shin, Dong-Sin;Choi, Chang-Ho;Lee, Dae-Young;Kim, Seo-Young;Kwon, Yong-Il
    • Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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    • v.20 no.6
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    • pp.427-446
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    • 2008
  • A review on the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering in 2006 has been accomplished. Focus has been put on current status of research in the aspect of heating, cooling, ventilation, sanitation and building environments. The conclusions are as follows. (1) The research trends of fluid engineering have been surveyed as groups of general fluid flow, fluid machinery and piping, etc. New research topics include micro heat exchanger and siphon cooling device using nano-fluid. Traditional CFD and flow visualization methods were still popular and widely used in research and development. Studies about diffusers and compressors were performed in fluid machinery. Characteristics of flow and heat transfer and piping optimization were studied in piping systems. (2) The papers on heat transfer have been categorized into heat transfer characteristics, heat exchangers, heat pipes, and two-phase heat transfer. The topics on heat transfer characteristics in general include thermal transport in a cryo-chamber, a LCD panel, a dryer, and heat generating electronics. Heat exchangers investigated include pin-tube type, plate type, ventilation air-to-air type, and heat transfer enhancing tubes. The research on a reversible loop heat pipe, the influence of NCG charging mass on heat transport capacity, and the chilling start-up characteristics in a heat pipe were reported. In two-phase heat transfer area, the studies on frost growth, ice slurry formation and liquid spray cooling were presented. The studies on the boiling of R-290 and the application of carbon nanotubes to enhance boiling were noticeable in this research area. (3) Many studies on refrigeration and air conditioning systems were presented on the practical issues of the performance and reliability enhancement. The air conditioning system with multi indoor units caught attention in several research works. The issues on the refrigerant charge and the control algorithm were treated. The systems with alternative refrigerants were also studied. Carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and their mixtures were considered and the heat transfer correlations were proposed. (4) Due to high oil prices, energy consumption have been attentioned in mechanical building systems. Research works have been reviewed in this field by grouping into the research on heat and cold sources, air conditioning and cleaning research, ventilation and fire research including tunnel ventilation, and piping system research. The papers involve the promotion of efficient or effective use of energy, which helps to save energy and results in reduced environmental pollution and operating cost. (5) Studies on indoor air quality took a great portion in the field of building environments. Various other subjects such as indoor thermal comfort were also investigated through computer simulation, case study, and field experiment. Studies on energy include not only optimization study and economic analysis of building equipments but also usability of renewable energy in geothermal and solar systems.

The effects of LEDs and duty ratio on the growth and physiological responses of Silene capitata Kom., endangered plant, in a plant factory

  • Park, Jae-Hoon;Lee, Eung-Pill;Han, Young-Sub;Lee, Soo-In;Cho, Kyu-Tae;Hong, Yong-Sik;You, Young-Han
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.42 no.4
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    • pp.174-182
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    • 2018
  • Background: In this study, we observed their growth and physiological responses using a variety of duty ratio under the mixed light using red, blue, and white lights. The red+blue mixed light was treated with 95%, 90%, 85%, 80%, and 75% duty ratios and red+blue+white mixed light with 85% and 70% duty ratios. We examined the width and length of leaves, total number of leaves, and number of shoots to examine their growth responses. The physiological responses were studied by measuring their photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency, chlorophyll content, and fluorescence ($F_o$, $F_m$, and $F_v/F_m$). Results: We found that lower duty ratio caused the length and width of the leaves to grow longer under red+blue mixed light but that it did not cause any difference in the red+blue+white mixed light condition. In addition, there was no difference in the number of leaves and shoots among all treatments. In the red+blue mixed light condition, the photosynthetic rate was no difference, but both transpiration rate and stomatal conductance were the highest at 95% duty ratio than in other ratios. Water use efficiency pattern was similar to that of photosynthetic rate; water use efficiency was no difference. Chlorophyll content was the highest at 95% duty ratios, and it was the least at 90%, 85%, and 75% duty ratio. $F_o$ and $F_m$ values were relatively high at 85% and 80% duty ratio and low at 90% duty ratio while $F_v/F_m$ showed no difference. Conclusions: Under the red+blue+white mixed light, all physiological items showed no difference between 70 and 85% treatments. But, photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency, chlorophyll content, and $F_v/F_m$ were relatively greater in the red+blue+white mixed light than in the red+blue mixed light. Therefore, red+blue+white mixed light treated with 70% duty ratio could lessen the environmental stress and save more power when cultivating Silene capitata in a plant factory.

Factors to Affect the Growth of Filamentous Periphytic Algae in the Artificial Channels using Treated Wastewater (하수처리수를 이용한 인공수로에서 사상성 부착조류의 성장에 영향을 미치는 요인들)

  • Park, Ku-Sung;Kim, Ho-Sub;Kong, Dong-Soo;Shin, Jae-Ki;Hwang, Soon-Jin
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.39 no.1 s.115
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    • pp.100-109
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    • 2006
  • This study evaluated the effects of water velocity, substrates, and phosphorus concentrations on the growth of filamentous periphytic algae (FPA) in the two types of artificial channel systems using treated wastewater. Controlled parameters included 5 ${\sim}$ 15 cm $s^{-1}$ for the water velocity; 10 and 20 mm wire meshes, natural fiber net, gravel and tile for the substrates: and 0.05 ${\sim}$ 1.0 mgP $L^{-1}$ for the P concentration. Algal growth rate of FPA was compared using both chi. a and dry weight change with time. Under the controlled water velocity range, the growth of FPA increased with the velocity, but the maximum growth rate was shown in the velocity of 10 cm $s^{-1}$. The substrate that showed the maximum growth of FPA differed between the artificial channel and indoor channel, due to the influence of suspended matters which caused the clogging of the meshed substrates. Under the controled range of P concentration, the growth rates of all three FPA species (Spirogyra turfosa, Oedogonium fovelatum, Rhizoclonium riparium) increased with the P increase, but they showed the differential growth rates among different P concentrations. The results of this study suggest that under the circumstance having an large amount of nutrients FPA develop the biomass rapidly and that even a little increase over the threshold velocity causes the detachment of filamentous periphytic algae. Thus, FPA dynamics in eutrophic streams, such as those receiving treated wastewater, seem to be sensitive to the water velocity. On the other hand, detached algal filaments could deteriorate water quality and ecosystem function in receiving streams or down-stream, and thus they need to be recognized as an important factor in water quality management in eutrophic streams.

Study on PM10, PM2.5 Reduction Effects and Measurement Method of Vegetation Bio-Filters System in Multi-Use Facility (다중이용시설 내 식생바이오필터 시스템의 PM10, PM2.5 저감효과 및 측정방법에 대한 연구)

  • Kim, Tae-Han;Choi, Boo-Hun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.48 no.5
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    • pp.80-88
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    • 2020
  • With the issuance of one-week fine dust emergency reduction measures in March 2019, the public's anxiety about fine dust is increasingly growing. In order to assess the application of air purifying plant-based bio-filters to public facilities, this study presented a method for measuring pollutant reduction effects by creating an indoor environment for continuous discharge of particle pollutants and conducted basic studies to verify whether indoor air quality has improved through the system. In this study conducted in a lecture room in spring, the background concentration was created by using mosquito repellent incense as a pollutant one hour before monitoring. Then, according to the schedule, the fine dust reduction capacity was monitored by irrigating for two hours and venting air for one hour. PM10, PM2.5, and temperature & humidity sensors were installed two meters front of the bio-filters, and velocity probes were installed at the center of the three air vents to conduct time-series monitoring. The average face velocity of three air vents set up in the bio-filter was 0.38±0.16 m/s. Total air-conditioning air volume was calculated at 776.89±320.16㎥/h by applying an air vent area of 0.29m×0.65m after deducing damper area. With the system in operation, average temperature and average relative humidity were maintained at 21.5-22.3℃, and 63.79-73.6%, respectively, which indicates that it satisfies temperature and humidity range of various conditions of preceding studies. When the effects of raising relatively humidity rapidly by operating system's air-conditioning function are used efficiently, it would be possible to reduce indoor fine dust and maintain appropriate relative humidity seasonally. Concentration of fine dust increased the same in all cycles before operating the bio-filter system. After operating the system, in cycle 1 blast section (C-1, β=-3.83, β=-2.45), particulate matters (PM10) were lowered by up to 28.8% or 560.3㎍/㎥ and fine particulate matters (PM2.5) were reduced by up to 28.0% or 350.0㎍/㎥. Then, the concentration of find dust (PM10, PM2.5) was reduced by up to 32.6% or 647.0㎍/㎥ and 32.4% or 401.3㎍/㎥ respectively through reduction in cycle 2 blast section (C-2, β=-5.50, β=-3.30) and up to 30.8% or 732.7㎍/㎥ and 31.0% or 459.3㎍/㎥ respectively through reduction in cycle 3 blast section (C-3, β=5.48, β=-3.51). By referring to standards and regulations related to the installation of vegetation bio-filters in public facilities, this study provided plans on how to set up objective performance evaluation environment. By doing so, it was possible to create monitoring infrastructure more objective than a regular lecture room environment and secure relatively reliable data.

Thermal Degradation Behavior of Biomass Depending on Torrefaction Temperatures and Heating Rates (반탄화 온도와 승온속도에 의한 바이오매스 열분해 거동)

  • Gong, Sung-Ho;Ahn, Byoung-Jun;Lee, Soo-Min;Lee, Jae-Jung;Lee, Young-Kyu;Lee, Jae-Won
    • Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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    • v.44 no.5
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    • pp.685-694
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    • 2016
  • In this study, the thermal degradation behavior of biomass during torrefaction was studied by thermogravimetric and byproduct gas analysis. Torrefaction temperature, time, and heating rate were $220{\sim}300^{\circ}C$, 110 min, and $10{\sim}30^{\circ}C/min$, respectively. The degradation rate of yellow poplar was 8.01~8.81% at $220^{\circ}C$ and 71.86~77.38% at $300^{\circ}C$ depending on heating rate. The degradation rate significantly increased at temperature over $240^{\circ}C$. On the other hand, degradation rate of larch was relatively low as 49.58~54.15% at $300^{\circ}C$. The activation energy of yellow poplar was 87.32~91.24 kJ/mol; these values did not significantly change with heating rate. The activation energy of larch was 83.85~91.60 kJ/mol. The major components of the gas generated during torrefaction were derived from hemicellulose. The component types and concentrations increased with torrefaction severity. High concentrations of furfural and acetic acid were detected during torrefaction of yellow poplar.

Adsorption of Formaldehyde by Wood Charcoal-Based Building Materials (목탄계 건축자재에 의한 포름알데히드 흡착)

  • Lee, Oh-Kyu;Choi, Joon-Weon;Jo, Tae-Su;Paik, Ki-Hyon
    • Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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    • v.35 no.3
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    • pp.61-69
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    • 2007
  • The building materials used for improving indoor air quality, the wood charcoal mixed with cement mortar or natural water paint were examined for their potential removing ability of formaldehyde. After the reaction of samples with formaldehyde in the glass flasks designed in our lab, the remaining formaldehyde was collected using DNPH (2,4-dinitrophenyl hydrazine) cartridges, and their concentration was determined using HPLC. From the results, it was found that the removing amount of formaldehyde per one gram sample containing 5, 10, or 15% of wood charcoal was more than three times compared to that of control (100% cement mortar or water paint). Their elimination percentages from the initial formaldehyde was about 80~90%. The experimental results for wood charcoal-water paint showed a similar trend with those of wood charcoal-cement mortar samples. Their elimination percentages from the initial formaldehyde was about 90%. It is proposed that formaldehyde is adsorbed on the adsorbed 'O' or 'OH' groups in the graphene layers formed through the re-arrangement of lignocellulose in the wood during the carbonization procedure.

Changes in the Number of Matching Points in CCTV's Stereo Images by Indoor/Outdoor Illuminance (실내·외 조도에 따른 스테레오 CCTV 영상 정합점 수 변화)

  • Moon, Kwang Il;Pyeon, Mu Wook;Kim, Jong Hwa;Kim, Kang San
    • Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.129-135
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    • 2015
  • The Ubiquitous City (U-City) spatial information technology aimed to provide services freely anytime and anywhere by converging high-tech information & communication technology in urban infrastructure has been available in diverse patterns. In particular, there have been studies on the development of 3D spatial information after selecting and matching key points with stereo images from the many Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) in the U-City. However, the data mostly used in extracting matching points haven't considered external environmental impacts such as illuminance. This study tested how much the matching points needed to construct 3D spatial information with the CCTV whose image quality is dependent upon changes in illuminance fluctuate under the same hardware performances. According to analysis on the number of matching points by illuminance, the number of matching points increased up to 3,000Lux in proportion to the illuminance when IRIS, shutter speed and ISO were fixed. In addition, a border between an object and background became more distinctive. When there was too much light, however, the page became brighter, and noise occurred. Furthermore, it was difficult to name key points because of the collapse of an inter-object border. It appears that if filmed with the study results, the number of matching points would increase.