• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2016

This article reports current status of micro fuel cell-combined heat and power (${\mu}FC$-CHP) systems which utilize both power and heat generated by fuel cells. There are several options for constructing CHP systems and among them, fuel cells are the most useful and their total energy efficiency combining heat and power can reach up to about 90%. Fuel cells are classified as five types based on the electrolyte, but the most suitable fuel cell types for the ${\mu}FC$-CHP system are proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems have several advantages such as decrease of the transmission-distribution loss, reduced costs of electricity due to distributed power generation, and environmental-friendliness owing to zero emission. The main drawback of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems is the high initial investment, however, it keeps decreasing as the technology development reduces production costs. Currently, Japan is the most leading country of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP market, however, Korea tries to expand the market by planning the deployment of 1 million units of ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems and governmental subsidiary supporting of half of the install price. In this report, integration technologies for connecting FC and CHP, and technology trends of leading countries are presented as well.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.558-559
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• 2008

본 논문은 미 일리노이 주립대 어바나-샴페인 캠퍼스에서 주로 군사용 응용 관련하여 개발 중인 마이크로 PEM 연료전지 시스템 개발에 대한 논문이다. 본 연구는 수소 저장 장치까지 포함하여 1 $mm^3$의 초소형 연료전지 시스템을 목표로 진행 중이며 본 논문은 이러한 진행 과정 중 화학적 하이드라이드 기반의 수소 발생기와 10 $mm^3$의 시스템 개발 과정에 대해 보고한다.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.449-455
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• 2006

Ionic cluster mimic, polymer electrolyte membranes were prepared using polymer composites of crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with sulfated-${\beta}$-cyclodextrins (${\beta}-CDSO_3H$) or phosphated-${\beta}$-cyclodextrins (${\beta}-CDPO(OH)_2$). When Nafion, developed for a fuel cell using low temperature, polymer electrolyte membranes, is used in a direct methanol fuel cell, it has a methanol crossover problem. The ionic inverted micellar structure formed by micro-segregation in Nafion, known as ionic cluster, is distorted in methanol aqueous solution, resulting in the significant transport of methanol through the membrane. While the ionic structure formed by the ionic sites in either ${\beta}-CDSO_3H$ or ${\beta}-CDPO(OH)_2$ in this composite membrane is maintained in methanol solution, it is expected to reduce methanol transport. Proton conductivity was found to increase in PVA membranes upon addition of ionized cyclodextrins. Methanol permeability through the PVA composite membrane containing cyclodextrins was lower than that of Nafion. It is thus concluded that the structure and fixation of ionic clusters are significant barriers to methanol crossover in direct methanol fuel cells.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.313-321
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• 2013

This paper describes the operation analysis results of a communication-based DC micro-grid using a hardware simulator developed in the lab. The developed hardware simulator is composed of distributed generation devices such as wind power, photovoltaic power and fuel cells, and energy storage devices such as super-capacitors and batteries. Whole system monitoring and control was implemented using a personal computer. The power management scheme was implemented in a main controller based on a TMS320F28335 chip. The main controller is connected with the local controller in each of the distributed generator and energy storage devices through the communication link based on a CAN or an IEC61850. The operation analysis results using the developed hardware simulator confirm the ability of the DC micro-grid to supply the electric power to end users.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.313-317
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• 2007

In-situ micro-channeled multi tubular solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC) was fabricated using multi-pass extrusion process with out side diameter of 2.7 mm and active length of 5 mm that contained 61 individual cells. Cell materials used in this work were NiO-YSZ (50 : 50 vol.%), 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia(8YSZ), $La_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}MnO_3(LSM)$ as anode, electrolyte, and cathode, respectively. The arrangement of each electrode and electrolyte layer in green bodies showed uniformity and integrity after extrusion and sintering. The XRD analysis confirmed that no reaction phases appeared and the microstructure of the electrolyte was fairly dense (relative density > 96%) after sintering.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.425-428
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• 2006

Recently, Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) for portable devices has been received much attention because DMFC has a possibility of higher energy density than electrical batteries and smaller size than other fuel cells. This paper presents the fabrication and test of a thermopneumatic microactuator with a phase change for DMFC. A microactuator consists of an inlet an outlet a chamber, a heater and a sensor of resistance temperature detector(RTD). The micoractuator is fabricated by the spin-coating process, the lithograph process, the deep RIE process and so on. The total size of microactuator is $20{\times}20{\times}0.53mm^3$. When the current is applied, the heater heats liquid in chamber. As a result the liquid vaporizes. The response of temperature in the chamber was measured using thermocouple The changed temperature is $3^{\circ}C$ for 5 sec at 0.032W.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.749-753
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• 2012

In present work, anode support for micro-tubular SOFC was fabricated with outer diameter of 3 mm and characterized with microstructure, mechanical properties and gas permeability. The microstructure of surface and cross section of a porous anode support were analyzed by using SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) image. The gas permeability and the mechanical strength of anode support was measured and analysed by using differential pressure at the flow rates of 50, 100, 150 cc/min. and using universal testing machine respectively. The unit cell composed of NiO-YSZ, YSZ, YSZ-LSM/LSM/LSCF was fabricated and operated with reaction temperature and fuel flow rate and showed maximum power density of $1095mW/cm^2$ on the condition of $800^{\circ}C$. The performance of single cell for micro-tubular SOFC increased with the increasing the reaction temperature due to the decrement of ohmic resistance of cell by the increment of the ionic conductivity of electrolyte through the evaluation of electrochemical impedance analysis for single cell with reaction temperature.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.683-694
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• 2008

The performance and durability of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFCs) are strongly influenced by the uniformity of current density, temperature, species distributions inside a cell In order to obtain uniform distributions in them, the optimal design of flowfield must be a key factor. In this paper, the numerical study of land/channel flowfield optimizations is performed, using a multi-dimensional, multi-phase, non-isothermal PEFC model. Numerical simulations reveal more uniform current density and HFR(High Frequency Resistance) distributions and thus better PEFC performance with narrower land/channel width where the less severe oxygen depletion effect near the land region and more uniform contact resistance variation along the in-plane direction are achieved. The present study elucidates detailed effects of land/channel width and assist in identifying optimal flow-field design strategies for the operation of PEFCs.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.320-325
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• 2013

TUnitized reversible fuel cells (URFC) combine the functionality of a fuel cell and electrolyzer in one unitized device. For a URFC with proton exchange membrane, a titanium (Ti)-felt is applied to the gas diffusion layer (GDL) substrate at the oxygen electrode, and additionally titanium (Ti)-powders and TiN-powders are loaded in the GDL substrate as a micro porous layer (MPL). Double porous layer with TiN MPL was not acceptable for the URFC because both of fuel cell performance and electrolysis performance are degraded. The double porous layer with Ti-powder loading in the Ti-felt substrate influence rearly for the electrolysis performance. In contrast, the change of pore-size distribution brings a significant improvement of fuel cell performance under fully humidification conditions. This fact indicates that the hydrophobic meso-pores in the GDL play an important role for mass transport.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.1837-1842
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• 2010

Studies on alternative energy have been carried out for many decades because of the accelerated exhaustion of fuel. While the efficacy of solar cells is still low in comparison with that of nuclear power, solar cells have been highlighted as potential sources of alternative energy because they are environmentally friendly and have a source of unlimited energy, namely, the sun. In this study, the optimum efficiency of solar cells was simulated as a function of the incident angle of sunlight and the geometric shapes of patterns using MATLAB and MathCAD software. The foremost efficiency of the solar cell was found to be 1.10 when the thickness and width of the patterns were in the range 25-$50{\mu}m$ and 50-$100{\mu}m$, respectively. To achieve the 25 um thick layer, 100,000 cps silver paste and 500 um orifice tip has been successfully implemented with Micro-Dispensing Deposition Writing.