• Water for future
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.56-66
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• 2019

Nepal is bestowed with abundant water. With more than 1500 mm average annual rainfall in the country, a vast quantity of underutilized groundwater in the Terai belt, and the water stored in snowcaps in the Himalayas, aquifers in the mountains and glacial lakes, Nepal is potentially in an advantageous position in terms of per capita availability. However, low emphasis in management aspect of water and high emphasis in infrastructural developments related to water resources management has resulted in conversion of water in Nepal from a resource to a burden. The global climate change, reduction in number of rainy days, increase in intensity of rainfall during wet monsoon season, encroachment of river banks for settlement, inadequate release of environmental flows from hydropower plants, and attempt to tame the mighty and high velocity rivers of Nepal have resulted in increasing number of water induced disasters (flood and landslide), rise in conflict between local residents and hydropower developers, higher number of devastating landslides, and in some extreme cases mass migration of residents resulting in climate refugees. There is a ray of hope; the awareness level of the people regarding sustainable use of water resources is increasing, the benefit sharing mechanism is gradually being implemented, the role of interdisciplinary and integrated water resources management is appreciated at a higher level and the level of preparedness against flood and landslides is at a higher degree compared to a couple of decades ago. With the use of renewable energy sources, the possibilities for sustainable and productive use of water are on the rise in Nepal.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2019.07a
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• pp.83-85
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• 2019

The use of high voltage gain converters is essential for the distributed power generation systems with renewable energy sources such as the fuel cells and solar cells due to their low voltage characteristics. In this paper, a high voltage gain topology combining cascode Inverting Buck-Boost converter and voltage multiplier structure is introduced. In proposed converter, the input voltage is connected in series at the output, the portion of input power is directly delivered to the load which results in continuous input current. In addition, the voltage multiplier stage stacked in proper manner is not only enhance high step-up voltage gain ratio but also significantly reduce the voltage stress across all semiconductor devices and capacitors. As a result, the high current-low voltage switches can be employed for higher efficiency and lower cost. In order to show the feasibility of the proposed topology, the operation principle is presented and the steady-state characteristic is analyzed in detail. A 380W-40/380V prototype converter was built to validate the effectiveness of proposed converter.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.24 no.4_1
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• pp.387-395
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• 2021

Distributed resources such as renewable energy sources and ESS are connected to the low voltage direct current(LVDC) distribution network through the power conversion system(PCS). Control power is required for the operation of the PCS. In general, controller power is supplied from AC power or DC power through switch mode power supply(SMPS). However, the conventional SMPS has a low input voltage, so development and research on high input voltage self-power suitable for LVDC is insufficient. In this paper, to develop Self-Power that can be used for LVDC, the characteristics of the conventional topology are analyzed, and a series-input single-output flyback converter using a flux-sharing transformer for high voltage is designed. The high input voltage Self-Power was designed in the DCM(discontinuous current mode) to reduce the switching loss and solve the problem of current dissipation. In addition, since it operates even at low input voltage, it can be applied to many applications as well as LVDC. The validity of the proposed high input voltage self-power is verified through experiments.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.147-172
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• 2023

This study investigates the influence of loading and inflow conditions on tidal turbine performance from a hydrodynamic and hydroacoustic point of view. A boundary element method is utilized for the former to investigate turbine performance at various loading conditions under zero/non-zero yaw inflow. The boundary element method is selected as it has been selected, tested, and validated to be computationally efficient and accurate for marine hydrodynamic problems. Once the hydrodynamic solutions are obtained, such as the time-dependent surface pressures and periodic motion of the turbine blade, they are taken as the known noise sources for the subsequence hydroacoustic analysis based on the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings formulation given in a form proposed by Farassat. This formulation is coupled with the boundary element method to fully consider the three-dimensional shape of the turbine and the speed of sound in the acoustic analysis. For validations, a model turbine is taken from a reference paper, and the comparison between numerical predictions and experimental data reveals satisfactory agreement in hydrodynamic performance. Importantly, this study shows that the noise patterns and sound pressure levels at both the near- and far-field are affected by different loading conditions and sensitive to the inclination imposed in the incoming flow.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2024

Methane is an abundant and renewable hydrocarbon, but it causes global warming as a greenhouse gas. Therefore, methods to convert methane into useful chemicals or energy sources are needed. Methanol is a simple and abundant chemical that can be synthesized by the partial oxidation of methane. Methanol can be used as a chemical feedstock or a transportation fuel, as well as a fuel for low-temperature fuel cells. However, the electrochemical oxidation of methanol is a complex and multi-step reaction. To understand and optimize this reaction, new electrocatalysts and reaction mechanisms are required. This review discusses the methanol oxidation reaction mechanism, recent research trends, and future research directions.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.34-45
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• 2016

Global warming and climate change have been caused by combustion of fossil fuels. The greenhouse gases contributed to the rise of temperature between $0.6^{\circ}C$ and $0.9^{\circ}C$ over the past century. Presently, fossil fuels account for about 88% of the commercial energy sources used. In developing countries, fossil fuels are a very attractive energy source because they are available and relatively inexpensive. The environmental problems with fossil fuels have been aggravating stress from already existing factors including acid deposition, urban air pollution, and climate change. In order to control greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2, fossil fuels must be replaced by eco-friendly fuels such as biomass. The use of renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly necessary. The biomass resources are the most common form of renewable energy. The conversion of biomass into energy can be achieved in a number of ways. The most common form of converted biomass is pellet fuels as biofuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Pellets from lignocellulosic biomass has compared to conventional fuels with a relatively low bulk and energy density and a low degree of homogeneity. Thermal pretreatment technology like torrefaction is applied to improve fuel efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass, i.e., less moisture and oxygen in the product, preferrable grinding properties, storage properties, etc.. During torrefacton, lignocelluosic biomass such as palm kernell shell (PKS) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) was roasted under an oxygen-depleted enviroment at temperature between 200 and $300^{\circ}C$. Low degree of thermal treatment led to the removal of moisture and low molecular volatile matters with low O/C and H/C elemental ratios. The mechanical characteristics of torrefied biomass have also been altered to a brittle and partly hydrophobic materials. Unfortunately, it was much harder to form pellets from torrefied PKS and EFB due to thermal degradation of lignin as a natural binder during torrefaction compared to non-torrefied ones. For easy pelletization of biomass with torrefaction, pellets from PKS and EFB were manufactured before torrefaction, and thereafter they were torrefied at different temperature. Even after torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, their appearance was well preserved with better fuel efficiency than non-torrefied ones. The physical properties of the torrefied pellets largely depended on the torrefaction condition such as reaction time and reaction temperature. Temperature over $250^{\circ}C$ during torrefaction gave a significant impact on the fuel properties of the pellets. In particular, torrefied EFB pellets displayed much faster development of the fuel properties than did torrefied PKS pellets. During torrefaction, extensive carbonization with the increase of fixed carbons, the behavior of thermal degradation of torrefied biomass became significantly different according to the increase of torrefaction temperature. In conclusion, pelletization of PKS and EFB before torrefaction made it much easier to proceed with torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, leading to excellent eco-friendly fuels.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2019

Solar energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy sources on Earth but there are restrictions on the use of solar thermal energy due to the time-discrepancy between the solar-rich season and heating demand. In Europe and Canada, a seasonal solar thermal energy storage (SSTES), which stores the abundant solar heat in the summer and uses the heat for the winter heating load, is used. Recently, SSTES has been introduced in Korea and empirical studies are actively underway. In this study, a $2,000m^2$ flat plate type solar collector and $20,000m^2$ of borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) were studied for a greenhouse in Hwaseong City, which has a heating load of 2,164 GJ/year. To predict the dynamic performance of the system over time, it was simulated using the TRNSYS 18 program, and the solar fraction of the system with the control conditions was investigated. As a result, the solar BTES system proposed in this study showed an average solar fraction of approximately 60% for 5 years when differential temperature control was applied to both collecting solar thermal energy and discharging BTES. The proposed system simplified the configuration and control method of the solar BTES system and secured its performance.

• Plant Journal
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.38-47
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• 2014

Renewable Portfolio Standards was introduced into the system in Korea in 2012. Interest in the unutilized and renewable energy sources is increasing. and these being actively investigated. An organic rankine cycle has emerged as an alternative in order to take advantage of bio-gas engine heat of sewage treatment plants whose capacity is 1500 kW. The organic rankine cycle power system was simulated by a simulator which is a commercial program of power plant design and performance analysis. The biogas engine is operated by $460^{\circ}C$ and 2.7 kg/s flow rate in the sewage treatment plant. Working fluids(R-601a, R-123, R-245fa) are selected to use in ORC power system in this temperature range. It was the isopentane that is the best performance among three working fluids. It could be obtained net power of 163.1 kW and efficiency of 13.66% from isopentane in the simulation.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.585-593
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• 2020

Until now, 29 fire accidents have occurred; 22 of them were caused by the interconnection of renewable energy sources that occurred during the rest period after the lithium-ion battery had been fully charged regardless of the seasons. The fire accidents of ESS were attributed to thermal runaway due to the overcharging of a few cells with the phenomenon of self-energy balancing, which is unintentional current flow from cells with a high SOC to the low cells if the SOC condition of each cell connected in parallel is different. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel configuration and operation algorithm of the BMS to prevent the self-energy balancing of ESS and presents a hybrid SOC estimation algorithm. From the test results of the self-energy balancing phenomenon between aging and normal cells based on the proposed algorithm and BMS, it was confirmed the possibility of self-energy balancing, which is unintentional current flow from cells with a high SOC to cells with a low SOC. In addition, the proposed configuration of the BMS is useful and practical to improve the safety of lithium-ion batteries because the BMS can reliably disconnect a parallel connection of the cells if the self-energy balancing current becomes excessively high.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.1136-1142
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• 2012

With concern for new renewable energy sources rising, the offshore wind turbine energy market is growing. In order to install offshore wind turbines safely in a harsh environment, jack-up rigs need to be used. Recently, a WTIV(Wind Turbine Installation Vessel), which has a self-propelling system, was developed to replace traditional jack-up rigs. Since the jack-up rig works at 60 meters of depth in offshore and the seafloor is composed mostly of soft clay and sand, it is necessary to conduct a stability examination for ground subsidence before using it. This study conducts an improved numerical analysis of the effect of jack-up rig loading on the soft ground by using FLAC3D considering consolidation theory. This includes analyzing the amount of subsidence when applying different cases of surchargings. It can be concluded that the mid-loading method has an advantage as regards clay layers and the pre-loading method has an advantage as regards sand layers.