• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.678-699
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• 2015

Although the harsh space environment imposes many severe challenges to space pioneers, space exploration is a realistic and profitable goal for long-term humanity survival. One of the viable and promising options to overcome the harsh environment of space is nuclear propulsion. Particularly, the Nuclear Thermal Rocket (NTR) is a leading candidate for nearterm human missions to Mars and beyond due to its relatively high thrust and efficiency. Traditional NTR designs use typically high power reactors with fast or epithermal neutron spectrums to simplify core design and to maximize thrust. In parallel there are a series of new NTR designs with lower thrust and higher efficiency, designed to enhance mission versatility and safety through the use of redundant engines (when used in a clustered engine arrangement) for future commercialization. This paper proposes a new NTR design of the second design philosophy, Korea Advanced NUclear Thermal Engine Rocket (KANUTER), for future space applications. The KANUTER consists of an Extremely High Temperature Gas cooled Reactor (EHTGR) utilizing hydrogen propellant, a propulsion system, and an optional electricity generation system to provide propulsion as well as electricity generation. The innovatively small engine has the characteristics of high efficiency, being compact and lightweight, and bimodal capability. The notable characteristics result from the moderated EHTGR design, uniquely utilizing the integrated fuel element with an ultra heat-resistant carbide fuel, an efficient metal hydride moderator, protectively cooling channels and an individual pressure tube in an all-in-one package. The EHTGR can be bimodally operated in a propulsion mode of $100MW_{th}$ and an electricity generation mode of $100MW_{th}$, equipped with a dynamic energy conversion system. To investigate the design features of the new reactor and to estimate referential engine performance, a preliminary design study in terms of neutronics and thermohydraulics was carried out. The result indicates that the innovative design has great potential for high propellant efficiency and thrust-to-weight of engine ratio, compared with the existing NTR designs. However, the build-up of fission products in fuel has a significant impact on the bimodal operation of the moderated reactor such as xenon-induced dead time. This issue can be overcome by building in excess reactivity and control margin for the reactor design.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.927-935
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• 2019

Screw-failure accidents in small ships frequently occur in coastal waters. In particular, vessels' propulsion systems are frequently coiled due to objects such as fish-nets and ropes that float on the sea. The failure of the ship's propulsion system can cause primary accidents such as ship operation delays and drifting due to loss of power; furthermore, the possibility of secondary accidents such as those involving operators in the underwater removal of rope stuck in a propeller. Ships that do not have the proper tools to solve these problems must be either lifted onto land to be repaired or divers must dive directly under the ship to solve the problem. Accordingly, some small vessels have been equipped with rope-cutter devices on the propeller shaft to prevent ship propeller system accidents in recent years; however, they are not being applied efficiently due to the cost and time of installation. To solve these problems, this study develops an underwater rope-cutter device and controller for the removal of propeller and shaft foreign material in small vessels. This device has simple structures that use the principle of a saw. Meteor gears and crank pins were used for the straight-line rotation of saw blades of the underwater rope-cutters to allow for long strokes. Furthermore, the underwater rope-cutting machines can be operated by being connected to the ship battery. The user, a non-professional, can ensure convenience and stability by applying reverse current prevention and a speed control circuit so that it can be used more conveniently and safely.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.10-18
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• 2016

A front-end loader (FEL) mounted on an agricultural tractor is one of the most commonly used implements to mechanize routine agricultural tasks. When the FEL is used with a loaded bucket, careful operation is required to maintain safety and avoid spillage when the tractor passes a bump because a change in the gravity center of the tractor due to varied loadings can affect the stability of the tractor. Use of a boom suspension system consisting of accumulators and orifice dampers can be instrumental in reducing pitching vibrations while increasing the handling performance of the FEL-mounted tractor. The objective of this research was to reduce bump shocks by adding an orifice and a flow control valve to the original hydraulic circuit composed solely of accumulators. A simulation study was performed using the SimulationX program to investigate the effects of an accumulator and an orifice-throttle damper on bump shocks. Results showed that the peak pressure on a boom cylinder and the vertical acceleration of a bucket were significantly affected by use of both an accumulator and an orifice damper. In a field test conducted with a 75-kW tractor, the peak pressure of the boom cylinder, and the root mean square (RMS) vertical acceleration of the bucket and seat were reduced by on average, 23.0, 42.2, and 44.9% respectively, as compared to those measured with the original accumulator system, showing that an improved design for the accumulator hydraulic circuit can reduce bump shocks. Further studies are needed to design a tractor suspension system that includes the effects of cabin suspension and tires as well as dynamic analysis.

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.339-347
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• 2018

In order to cope with environmental problems and climate change caused by fossil fuels, renewable energy supply is increasing year by year. Currently, waste energy accounts for 60% of renewable energy production. However, waste has a lower calorific value than fossil fuels and contains various harmful substances, which causes serious problems when applied to power generation boilers. In particular, the chlorine in the waste fuel increases slagging and fouling of boiler heat exchangers, leading to a reduction in thermal efficiency and the main cause of high temperature corrosion, lowering facility operation rate and increasing operating cost. In this study, the high temperature corrosion experiments of superheater materials (ASME SA213/ASTM A213 T2, T12 and T22 alloy steel) by alkali chlorides were conducted, and their corrosion characteristics were analyzed by the weight loss method and SEM-EDS. Experiments show that the higher the temperature and chloride content, the more corrosion occurs, and KCl further corrodes the materials compared to NaCl under the same condition. In addition, the higher the chromium content of the material, the better the corrosion resistance to the alkali chlorides.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.1681-1698
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• 2011

According to the demands of the times, Inchon international airport railroad opened up step by step but It is situation that much government subsidies are paid because It does not competitive power with road traffic by decline of schedule speed. Inchon international airport railroad users will convert by other transportation and minimize damage their time as travel time is prolonged. Therefore, need high speedization of airport railroad, this may act big role competitive power security as well as airport railroad activation with another public transportation. Thus, this paper suggests that a high speedization possibility section in the sections of airport railroad and train speed elevation effect analysis by roadbed, railroad, system improvement and the most efficient operation intervals analyzing each vehicles (AREX (120km/h), KTX (230km/h), EMU(Electric Multiple Unit, 180km/h) train running pattern.

• KIISE Transactions on Computing Practices
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.517-534
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• 2017

This paper proposes an Internet of Things (IoT) middleware called Middleware for Cooperative Interaction of Things (MinT). MinT supports a fully distributed IoT environment in which IoT devices directly connect to peripheral devices, easily constructing a local or global network and sharing their data in an energy efficient manner. MinT provides a sensor abstract layer, a system layer and an interaction layer. These layers enable integrated sensing device operations, efficient resource management, and interconnection between peripheral IoT devices. In addition, MinT provides a high-level API, allowing easy development of IoT devices by developers. We aim to enhance the energy efficiency and performance of IoT devices through the performance improvements offered by MinT resource management and request processing. The experimental results show that the average request rate increased by 25% compared to existing middlewares, average response times decreased by 90% when resource management was used, and power consumption decreased by up to 68%. Finally, the proposed platform can reduce the latency and power consumption of IoT devices.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.407-417
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• 2013

In this paper, a reconfigurable peripheral unit for LED lighting communication is presented. Embedded lighting devices require various communication protocols. Usually, serial communication protocols and lighting control communication protocols such as DALI, DMX512, UART, SPI, IrDA, etc. are used in lighting devices. When the requirements of communication protocols are satisfied with separate IPs, the cost and the power consumption can considerably increase. We propose a reconfigurable communication peripheral unit which uses analysis of signal formats of the protocols. The gate count of the reconfigurable peripheral unit uses only 57% of the gate count of the separate implementation. Also, in this paper, a mapping table based DALI-ZigBee interfacing method for flexible lighting network configurations is proposed. Using this method, various DALI-ZigBee network systems can be easily set up. An LED lighting system platform is implemented to verify the operation of the DALI-ZigBee interfacing method. The reconfigurable peripheral unit and the DALI-ZigBee interfacing method can be efficiently used to implement various wired/wireless lighting communication systems.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.754-759
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• 2015

Nowadays, short distance communication systems with low power energy (LPE) are developed for identification and monitoring of site identification of vessel crews and passengers (SIVCP). LPE communication modules, such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and Zigbee, are used for short distance communications with LPE. These modules enable 1:N communications and their popularity is growing since the modules can be mounted on movable objects, such as mobile devices and human body. When these modules are used, the important factor that affects their operation time and design are the capacity and size of battery. Therefore, they must be made as small as possible, and the battery should be selected to be slightly smaller than the module. In this study, we calculate the theoretical life of batteries used in SIVCP BLE modules using data sheet and discharge characteristic graph under the condition of a 1/250 transmission-ratio (TR). We thus calculate experimental life by measuring transmission current for the same TR, and low speed mode current for a 1/5000 TR and measure long-term experimental life using 1/25 TR for days. Through these experiments, we verify experimental methods for the prediction and extension of battery life that would enable us to select appropriate sizes of batteries based on vessel usage and passenger types. The selections of the module TR and battery size are important factors affecting the cost reduction of module design, the battery maintenance, and passenger convenience.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.237-246
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• 2019

The Electro-Mechanical Brake (EMB) is the next generation braking system for automobiles and railway vehicles. Current brake systems for high-speed trains generate a braking force using a pneumatic cylinder, but EMB systems produce that force through a combination of an electric motor and a gear. In this study, an EMB operation mechanism capable of generating a high braking force was proposed, and structural and vibration analyses of the gears and shafts, which are the core parts of the mechanisms, were performed. Dynamic structural analysis confirmed that the maximum stress in the analysis model was within the yield strength of the material. In addition, the design that maximizes the diameter of the motor shaft was found to be advantageous in strength, and large shear stress could be generated in the bolt fixing the gear and eccentric shaft. In addition, a test apparatus that can reproduce the mechanism of the analytical model was fabricated to measure the strain of the fixed bolt part, which is the most vulnerable part. The strain measurement results showed that the error between the analysis and measurement was within 10%, which could verify the accuracy of the analytical model.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.1-12
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• 2015

NAND flash memory has being used for storage systems widely, because it has good features which are low-price, low-power and fast access speed. However, NAND flash memory has an in-place update problem, and therefore it needs FTL(flash translation layer) to run for applications based on hard disk storage. The FTL includes complex functions, such as address mapping, garbage collection, wear leveling and so on. Futhermore, implementation of the FTL on low-power embedded systems is difficult due to its memory requirements and operation overhead. Accordingly, many index data structures for NAND flash memory have being studied for the embedded systems. Overall performances of the index data structures are enhanced by a decreasing of page write counts, whereas it has increased page read counts, as a side effect. Therefore, we propose an index management method using a page mapping log table in $B^+$-Tree based on NAND flash memory to decrease page write counts and not to increase page read counts. The page mapping log table registers page address information of changed index node and then it is exploited when retrieving records. In our experiment, the proposed method reduces the page read counts about 61% at maximum and the page write counts about 31% at maximum, compared to the related studies of index data structures.