• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.67 no.9
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• pp.1125-1140
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• 2018

This paper analyzes robotic technology developed for live-line electricity distribution and its applicability to domestic environment. In doing so, available robotic systems developed for the live-line work are thoroughly investigated and compared in terms of from robotic functionality to economic feasibility. To assess the technology readiness for domestic live-line robot, the rubber gloves based direct live-line engineering methods have been also analyzed and mapped into robotic technology requisites. The results are expected as a fundamental data to help with solving the safety and economics issues when considering development and introduction of compact live-line robot for complex domestic electricity distribution environment.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.49-53
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• 2022

The distribution live-line work method is an operation method of working in a state in which electricity flows through overhead distribution lines to minimize inconvenience to electric customers due to power failure. In June 2016, to strengthen the safety of electrical workers, Korea Electric Power Corporation announced that it would in principle abolish the rubber glove method, in which workers wore protective equipment such as rubber gloves and performed their maintenance work. In addition, KEPCO announced that it would develop a short-range live working method using smart sticks and an advanced live-line maintenance robot system where workers work without touching wires directly. This paper is a preliminary study for the development of the live-line maintenance robot system, and deals with the results of analyzing the technical feasibility of whether the live works performed by workers can be replaced by robots or not.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.135-147
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• 2015

Recent underground common utility tunnels are underground facilities for jointly accommodating more than 2 kinds of air-conditioning and heating facilities, vacuum dust collector, information processing cables as well as electricity, telecommunications, waterworks, city gas, sewerage system required when citizens live their daily lives and facilities responsible for the central function of the country but it is difficult to cope with fire accidents quickly and hard to enter into common utility tunnels to extinguish a fire due to toxic gases and smoke generated when various cables are burnt. Thus, in the event of a fire, not only the nerve center of the country is paralyzed such as significant property damage and loss of communication etc. but citizen inconveniences are caused. Therefore, noticing that most fires break out by a short circuit due to electrical works and degradation contact due to combustible cables as the main causes of fires in domestic and foreign common utility tunnels fire cases that have occurred so far, the purpose of this paper is to scientifically analyze the behavior of a fire by producing the model of actual common utility tunnels and reproducing the fire. A fire experiment was conducted in a state that line type fixed temperature detector, fire door, connection deluge set and ventilation equipment are installed in underground common utility tunnels and transmission power distribution cables are coated with fire proof paints in a certain section and heating pipes are fire proof covered. As a result, in the case of Type II, the maximum temperature was measured as $932^{\circ}C$ and line type fixed temperature detector displayed the fire location exactly in the receiver at a constant temperature. And transmission power distribution cables painted with fire proof paints in a certain section, the case of Type III, were found not to be fire resistant and fire proof covered heating pipes to be fire resistant for about 30 minutes. Also, fire simulation was carried out by entering fire load during a real fire test and as a result, the maximum temperature is $943^{\circ}C$, almost identical with $932^{\circ}C$ during a real fire test. Therefore, it is considered that fire behaviour can be predicted by conducting fire simulation only with common utility tunnels fire load and result values of heat release rate, height of the smoke layer, concentration of O2, CO, CO2 etc. obtained by simulation are determined to be applied as the values during a real fire experiment. In the future, it is expected that more reliable information on domestic underground common utility tunnels fire accidents can be provided and it will contribute to construction and maintenance repair effectively and systematically by analyzing and accumulating experimental data on domestic underground common utility tunnels fire accidents built in this study and fire cases continuously every year and complementing laws and regulations and administration manuals etc.