• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2015.07a
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• pp.1233-1234
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• 2015

본 연구에서는 유전 물질인 Polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)의 두께에 따른 마찰전기 에너지 수확소자의 출력 전압을 실험적으로 확인하였다. 동작 범위 5 mm, 주파수 5 Hz를 기준으로 접촉-분리 방식으로 소자를 측정하였으며 PDMS 두께가 $440{\mu}m$일 때 peak-to-peak 전압이 131.5 V가 측정되었다. 이는 측정 두께 중 가장 얇은 두께인 $115{\mu}m$의 출력 값인 8.47 V와 비교하여 약 15배 증가한 수치이다.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.449-470
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• 2016

Energy harvesting is an emerging technique that extracts energy from surrounding environments to power low-power devices. For example, it can potentially provide sustainable energy for wireless sensing networks (WSNs) or structural control systems in civil engineering applications. This paper presents a comprehensive study on harvesting energy from earthquake-induced structural vibrations, which is typically of low frequency, to power WSNs. A macroscale pendulum-type electromagnetic harvester (MPEH) is proposed, analyzed and experimentally validated. The presented predictive model describes output power dependence with mass, efficiency and the power spectral density of base acceleration, providing a simple tool to estimate harvested energy. A series of shaking table tests in which a single-storey steel frame model equipped with a MPEH has been carried out under earthquake excitations. Three types of energy harvesting circuits, namely, a resistor circuit, a standard energy harvesting circuit (SEHC) and a voltage-mode controlled buck-boost converter were used for comparative study. In ideal cases, i.e., resistor circuit cases, the maximum electric energy of 8.72 J was harvested with the efficiency of 35.3%. In practical cases, the maximum electric energy of 4.67 J was extracted via the buck-boost converter under the same conditions. The predictive model on output power and harvested energy has been validated by the test data.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.340-350
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• 2016

The performance of large-scale cognitive radio (CR) networks with secondary users sustained by opportunistically harvesting radio-frequency (RF) energy from nearby primary transmissions is investigated. Using an advanced RF energy harvester, a secondary user is assumed to be able to collect ambient primary RF energy as long as it lies inside the harvesting zone of an active primary transmitter (PT). A variable power (VP) transmission mode is proposed, and an energy-based opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) strategy is considered, under which a secondary transmitter (ST) is allowed to transmit only if its harvested energy is larger than a predefined transmission threshold and it is outside the guard zones of all active PTs. The transmission probability of the STs is derived. The outage probabilities and the throughputs of the primary and the secondary networks, respectively, are characterized. Compared with prior work, the throughput can be increased by as much as 29%. The energy-based OSA strategy can be generally applied to a non-CR setup, where distributed power beacons (PBs) are deployed to power coexisting wireless signal transmitters (WSTs) in a wireless powered sensor network.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.67-90
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• 2017

The interdisciplinary research area of small scale energy harvesting has attracted tremendous interests in the past decades, with a goal of ultimately realizing self-powered electronic systems. Among the various available ambient energy sources which can be converted into electricity, wind energy is a most promising and ubiquitous source in both outdoor and indoor environments. Significant research outcomes have been produced on small scale wind energy harvesting in the literature, mostly based on piezoelectric conversion. Especially, modeling methods of wind energy harvesting techniques plays a greatly important role in accurate performance evaluations as well as efficient parameter optimizations. The purpose of this paper is to present a guideline on the modeling methods of small-scale wind energy harvesters. The mechanisms and characteristics of different types of aeroelastic instabilities are presented first, including the vortex-induced vibration, galloping, flutter, wake galloping and turbulence-induced vibration. Next, the modeling methods are reviewed in detail, which are classified into three categories: the mathematical modeling method, the equivalent circuit modeling method, and the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. This paper aims to provide useful guidance to researchers from various disciplines when they want to develop and model a multi-way coupled wind piezoelectric energy harvester.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2017

Energy source of a piezo-electric harvester is vibration. Sources of vibration are machineries operated with high frequencies, constructions and people operated with low frequencies and etc. In this study, we tried to figure out power generation properties over vibrations upon angles of a piezo-cantilever for applying them to movements of the construction and/or people, which are vibration sources at low frequencies. A uni-morph cantilever with a $59mm{\times}29mm{\times}0.2mm$ piezo-electric element attached on a $71mm{\times}46mm{\times}0.25mm$ copperplate was used. A spring was attached to the lower side of the cantilever and a mass was attached on the opposite side. Also, a structure with a specific angle which is an angle in between the ground and the cantilever was prepared and then, connected to a spring or the cantilever. Then, this structure was divided into the A-type and B-type and excited in the direction of z- axis. After that, the angle between the ground and the cantilever was changed and excited by 1 to 10 Hz upon the existence of a spring and/or a mass to compare power generation properties.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.25-38
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• 2021

The aim of this study is to protect workers and pedestrians from accidents at night or bad weather by attaching optical fiber to existing safety clothing that is made only with fluorescent fabrics and retroreflective materials. A safety vest was designed and manufactured by applying optical fiber, and energy-harvesting technology was developed. The safety vest was designed to emit light using the automatic flashing of optical fibers attached to the film, and an energy harvester was manufactured and attached to drive the light emission of the optical fiber more continuously. As a result, first, the vest wearer' body was recognized from a distance through the optical fiber and retroreflection, which helped prevent accidents. Thus, this concept helps in saving lives by preventing accidents during night-time work on the roadside or activities of rescue crew and sports activities, or by quickly finding the point of an accident with a signal that changes the optical fiber light emission. Second, to use the wasted energy, a piezoelectric-element power generation system was developed and the piezoelectric-harvesting device was mounted. Potentially, energy was efficiently produced by activating the effective charging amount of the battery part and charging it auxiliary. In the existing safety vest, detecting the person wearing the vest is almost impossible in the absence of ambient light. However, in this study, the wearer could be found within 100 m by the light emission from the safety vest even with no ambient light. Therefore, in this study, we will help in preventing and reducing accidents by developing smart safety clothing using optical fiber and energy harvester attached to save lives.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.383-391
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• 2023

Energy harvesting in trams may become a prevalent source of passive energy generation due to the high density of vibrational energy, and this may help power structural health monitoring systems for the trams. This paper presents a broadband vibrational energy harvesting device design that utilizes a varied frequency from a tram vehicle using a 2 DOF vibrational system combined with electromagnetic energy conversion. This paper will demonstrate stepwise optimization processes to determine mechanical parameters for frequency tuning to adjust to the trams' operational conditions, and electromagnetic parameters for the whole system design to maximize power output. The initial optimization will determine 5 important design parameters in a 2 DOF vibrational system, namely the masses (m₁, m₂ (and spring constants (k₁, k₂, k₃). The second step will use these parameters as initial guesses for the second optimization which will maintain the ratios of these parameters and present electrical parameters to maximize the power output from this system. The obtained values indicated a successful demonstration of design optimization as the average power generated increased from 1.475 mW to 17.44 mW (around 12 times).

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.896-902
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• 2012

For most applications of the vibration energy harvesting technology as in wireless sensor networks for smart buildings and plants, the evaluation of DC output performance of vibration energy harvesters is typically required. However, there is no dedicated algorithm for the evaluation. The lack of a dedicated algorithm results from difficulties in the direct incorporation of nonlinear rectifying and regulating circuitry into finite element models of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters. In this study, we develop a dedicated algorithm and present software based on it for the evaluation of not only AC but also DC electrical quantities. Here, an equivalent electrical circuit model is employed. The COMSOL multiphysics simulation tool is adopted for extracting equivalent electrical circuit parameters of a piezoelectric vibration energy harvester and MATLAB is used to make a graphical user interface. The AC voltage and power outputs calculated by the proposed algorithm under various conditions are compared with those by a traditional finite element analysis. The DC output voltage and power through a rectifier are obtained for varying values of smoothing capacitance and external resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.48-55
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• 2019

Soldiers have been exposed to the risk of chilblains in cold winters. Recent studies have described sensors and IOT devices that use independent power sources based on piezoelectric energy harvesting. Therefore, the heated shoes with an independent power source have been developed. For the application of energy harvesting to shoes, it is necessary to develop a unique harvester by considering human gait characteristics. Energy harvesters and ceramics were designed and fabricated in this study. The performances of these harvesters and ceramics were evaluated experimentally. Then, the harvesters and ceramics with superior performance were selected and applied to the system. Thereafter, the heating and charging performance of the system was tested under real walking conditions. The results show that the developed system can generate adequate energy to charge the battery and heat the shoes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.87-97
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• 2020

In general, tires require various sensors and power supply devices, such as batteries, to obtain information such as pressure, temperature, acceleration, and the friction coefficient between the tire and the road in real time. However, these sensors have a size limitation because they are mounted on a tire, and their batteries have limited usability due to short replacement cycles, leading to additional replacement costs. Therefore, vibration energy harvesting technology, which converts the dynamic strain energy generated from the tire into electrical energy and then stores the energy in a power supply, is advantageous. In this study, the output voltage and power generated from piezoelectric elements are predicted through finite element analysis under static state and transient state conditions, taking into account the dynamic characteristics of tires. First, the tire and piezoelectric elements are created as a finite element model and then the natural frequency and mode shapes are identified through modal analysis. Next, in the static state, with the piezoelectric element attached to the inside of the tire, the voltage distribution at the contact surface between the tire and the road is examined. Lastly, in the transient state, with the tire rotating at the speeds of 30 km/h and 50 km/h, the output voltage and power characteristics of the piezoelectric elements attached to four locations inside the tire are evaluated.