• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.11
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• pp.1010-1015
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• 2012

In this study, a thin-film thermo-electrochemical cell that directly converts waste thermal energy into electrical energy was fabricated. Electrical conductivity of conducting carbon fiber, which was used as flexible electrode, was increased through coating of carbon nanotube, and resistance of the CNT-coated fiber electrode was not changed even after bending test with various curvatures. Maximum output power of the thermocell was increased quadratically with the temperature difference, and showed a value of about 2.5 mW/kg at temperature difference of $3.4^{\circ}C$. As a result of discharge test for 12 hours, it is confirmed that the cell can operates continuously. And thin-film thermocell wrapped around a pipe with hot liquid flowing within was demonstrated. Internal resistance of the cell was decreased with various curvature of heat pipe, and maximum output power was increased by 30 %. Therefore, the cell can be applied to various heat source.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.219-219
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• 2008

Energy harvesting from the environment has been of great interest as a standalone power source of wireless sensor nodes for ubiquitous sensor networks (USN). There are several power generating methods such as thermal gradients, solar cell, energy produced by human action, mechanical vibration energy, and so on. Most of all, mechanical vibration is easily accessible and has no limitation of weather and environment of outdoor or indoor. In particular, the piezoelectric energy harvesting from ambient vibration sources has attracted attention because it has a relative high power density comparing with other energy scavenging methods. Through recent advances in low power consumption RF transmitters and sensors, it is possible to adopt a micro-power energy harvesting system realized by MEMS technology for the system-on-chip. However, the MEMS energy harvesting system hassome drawbacks such as a high natural frequency over 300 Hz and a small power generation due to a small dimension. To overcome these limitations, we devised a novel power generator with a spiral spring structure. In this case, the energy harvester has a lower natural frequency under 200 Hz than a normal cantilever structure. Moreover, it has higher an energy conversion efficient because shear mode ($d_{15}$) is much larger than 33 mode ($d_{33}$) and the energy conversion efficiency is proportional to the piezoelectric constant (d). We expect the spiral type MEMS power generator would be a good candidate as a standalone power generator for USN.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.151-158
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• 2021

In this paper, we analyzed the latest research trends, challenges, and potential applications of next-generation solar cell materials in various industrial fields. In addition, future prospects and possibilities of Smart Textile Hybrid Energy Harvesting Devices that will supply electricity by combining with wearable IoT devices are presented. The hybrid textile energy harvesting device fused next-generation solar cells with tribo-piezoelectric devices will develop into new 'Convergence Integrated Smart Wear' by combining the material itself with wearable IoT devices in the era of the 4th industrial revolution. The next-generation nanotechnology and devices proposed in this paper will be applied to the field of smart textile with an energy harvesting function. And we hope it will be a paradigm shift that evolves into creative products which provide AI services such as medical & healthcare by convergence with the future smart wear industry.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.225-234
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• 2019

By using the Triboelectric nanogenerators, known as TENG, we can take advantages of high conversion efficiency and continuous power output even with small vibrating energy sources. Nonlinear energy extraction techniques for Triboelectric vibration energy harvesting usually requires synchronized active electronic switches in most electronic interface circuits. This study presents a nonlinear energy harvesting with high energy conversion efficiency to harvest and save energies from human active motions. Moreover, the proposed design can harvest and store energy from sway motions around different directions on a horizontal plane efficiently. Finally, we conducted a comparative analysis of a multi-mode energy storage board developed by a silicon-based piezoelectricity and a transparent TENG cell. As a result, the experiment showed power generation of about 49.2mW/count from theses multi-fully harvesting source with provision of stable energy storages.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.105-113
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• 2013

In this paper a micro solar energy harvesting system with MPPT(Maximum Power Point Tracking) control using a miniature PV(photovoltaic) cell of which the output is less than 0.5V is proposed. The MPPT control is implemented using linear relationship between the open-circuit voltage of a PV cell and its MPP(Maximum Power Point) voltage such that a pilot PV cell can track the MPP of the main PV cell in real time. The proposed circuit is designed in 0.18um CMOS process. The designed chip area is $900um{\times}1370um$ including a load charge pump and pads. Measured results show that the designed system can track the MPP voltage changes with variations of light intensity. The designed circuit with MPPT control delivers MPP voltages to load even though the load is heavy such that it can supply more power when the MPPT control is applied. The proposed circuit does not require any precharged battery resulting in more suitability for miniaturized self-powered systems compared to the existing works.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2017

Cost-effective microalgae harvesting methods are necessary for economical production of algal biodiesel. In this study, membranes with various pore sizes and materials were examined for their potentials in application to gravity-filtration of Tetraselmis sp. KCTC12432BP. For this test, 10 L of Tetraselmis sp. culture (2 g/L) was loaded on each membrane and filtration rates were measured. Among the tested materials, a woven cotton fabric showed the fastest water drain rate (0.73 L/hr) without serious cell leakage. Cell density of the concentrates after filtration was 6.8 g/L, indicating 3.4-fold concentration compared with the initial algal culture. The result suggests that the woven cotton fabric could serve as filtration membrane for harvesting Tetraselmis sp. among the tested ones.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2012.10a
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• pp.267-271
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• 2012

In this paper a power management unit for solar energy harvesting is proposed. If solar energy is sufficient, Power Management Unit(PMU) directly supplies load with solar energy. By contrast, if solar energy is insufficient to operate sensor nodes, voltage booster(VB) boosts the solar cell's output voltage, and then PMU supplies load with the harvested energy. The designed circuit had been fabricated using a 018um CMOS process. In the first case, the PMU supplies load with more energy than in the second case. In the second case where a VB is used, the PMU operates to supply load with solar energy even when illumination is low and minimum solar cells with very low output voltage are used.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1115-1119
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• 2005

The photoheterotrophic $H_2$ production of Rhodobacter sphaeroides was significantly increased through disruption of the genes coding for uptake hydrogenase and poly-${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) synthase (Lee et al., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 60: 147-153, 2002). In this work, we further removed the B800-850 light-harvesting (LH) complex from the strain and found an increase in $H_2$ production at the light-saturating cell growth (${\ge}10$ Watts $[W]/m^2$). Neither the mutant nor the wild-type produced more $H_2$ at the brighter light. Accordingly, light does not appear to be limited for the $H_2$ production by the presence of B800-850. However, increase in the level of the spectral complexes resulted in decrease of $H_2$ production. Thus, although the B875 is essential for light harvesting, the consumption of cellular energy for the synthesis of B800-850 and the surplus LH complexes may reduce the energy flow into the $H_2$ production of R. sphaeroides.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.218-227
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• 2016

The light harvesting efficiency is counted as an important factor in the power conversion efficiency of DSSCs. There are two measures to improve this parameter, including enhancing the dye-loading capacity and increasing the light trapping in the photoanode structure. In this paper, these tasks are addressed by introducing a macro-porous silicon (PSi) substrate as photoanode. The effects of the novel photoanode structure on the DSSC performance have been investigated by using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, photocurrent-voltage, UV-visible spectroscopy, reflectance spectroscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. The results indicated that bigger porosity percentage of the PSi structure improved the both anti-reflective/light-trapping and dye-loading capacity properties. PSi based DSSCs own higher power conversion efficiency due to its remarkable higher photocurrent, open circuit voltage, and fill factor. Percent porosity of 64%, PSi(III), resulted in nearly 50 percent increment in power conversion efficiency compared with conventional DSSC. This paper showed that PSi can be a good candidate for the improvement of light harvesting efficiency in DSSCs. Furthermore, this study can be considered a valuable reference for more investigations in the design of multifunctional devices which will profit from integrated on-chip solar power.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2013.10a
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• pp.371-374
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• 2013

In this paper, a sensor node circuit using solar energy harvesting is proposed. PMU(Power Management Unit) manages the energy converted from a solar cell. In order to supply a constant voltage to the sensor node, an LDO (Low Drop Out Regulator) is used. The LDO drives a temperature sensor and a SAR ADC(Successive Approximate Register Analog-to-Digital Converter). The circuit has been designed in 0.35um CMOS process.