• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.71.2-71.2
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• 2012

There are rising demands for developing more efficient energy materials to stem the depletion of fossil fuels, which have prompted significant research efforts on proton exchange fuel cells (PEFCs) and lithium ion batteries (LIBs). To date, both PEFCs and LIBs are being widely developed to power small electronics, however, their utilization to medium-large sized electric power resources such as vehicle and stationary energy storage systems still appears distant. These technologies increasingly rely upon polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) that transport ions from the anode to the cathode to balance the flow of electrons in an external circuit, and therefore play a central role in determining the efficiency of the devices; as ion transport is a kinetic bottleneck compared to electrical conductivity, enormous efforts have been devoted to improving the transport properties of PEMs. In present study, we carried out an in-depth analysis of the morphology effects on transport properties of PEMs. How parameters such as self-assembled nanostructures, domain sizes, and domain orientations affect conductivities of PEMs will be presented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.340-345
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• 2008

Liquid hydrocarbon fuels are gathering increasing attention as candidates for a scramjet engine fuel. Experimental researches on supersonic combustion of kerosene have been conducted in model scramjet combustors. Through these works, understanding of combustion characteristics of kerosene have been revealed on some level, and so we decided to work on other kinds of liquid hydrocarbon fuels in order to explore effects of fuel properties on supersonic combustion performances, especially self-ignition and flame-holding. In addition, comparing the results of new fuels with kerosene, the relationship between fuel properties and supersonic combustion characteristics was discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.499-508
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• 2011

The paper briefs a fuel performance code, COSMOS, which can be utilized for an analysis of the thermal behavior and fission gas release of fuel, up to a high burnup. Of particular concern are the models for the fuel thermal conductivity, the fission gas release, and the cladding corrosion and creep in $UO_2$ fuel. In addition, the code was developed so as to consider the inhomogeneity of MOX fuel, which requires restructuring the thermal conductivity and fission gas release models. These improvements enhanced COSMOS's precision for predicting the in-pile behavior of MOX fuel. The COSMOS code also extends its applicability to the instrumented fuel test in a research reactor. The various in-pile test results were analyzed and compared with the code's prediction. The database consists of the $UO_2$ irradiation test up to an ultra-high burnup, power ramp test of MOX fuel, and instrumented MOX fuel test in a research reactor after base irradiation in a commercial reactor. The comparisons demonstrated that the COSMOS code predicted the in-pile behaviors well, such as the fuel temperature, rod internal pressure, fission gas release, and cladding properties of MOX and $UO_2$ fuel. This sufficient accuracy reveals that the COSMOS can be utilized by both fuel vendors for fuel design, and license organizations for an understanding of fuel in-pile behaviors.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.75-80
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• 2008

Biodiesel fuel(BDF) can be effectively used as an alternative fuel in diesel engine. However, BDF may affect the performance and exhaust emissions in diesel engine because it has different physical and chemical properties from diesel fuel such as viscosity, compressibility and so on. To investigate the effect of injection timing on the characteristics of performance and exhaust emissions with BDF in IDI diesel engine, it was applied the BDF derived from soybean oil in this study. The engine was operated at seven different injection timings from TDC to BTDC $12^{\circ}CA$ and six loads at a single engine speed of 1500rpm. When the fuel injection timing was retarded, better results were showed, which may confirm the advantages of BDF. The simultaneous reduction of smoke and NOx was achieved at some fixed fuel injection timings of an IDI diesel engine.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.451-458
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• 2009

This experimental study was conducted to investigate macroscopic characteristics of the flash boiling spray with tow component mixing fuel. Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is a newer combustion method for internal combustion engines to reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate matter simultaneously. But it is difficult to put this combustion method to practical use in an engine because of such problems as instability of combustion in low load operating conditions and knocking in high load operating conditions. In HCCI, combustion characteristics and exhaust emissions depend on conditions of air/fuel mixture and chemical reactions of fuel molecules. The fuel design approach is achieved by mixing two components which differ in properties such as density, viscosity, volatility, ignitability and so on. We plan to apply the fuel design approach to HCCI combustion generated in a real engine, and examine the possibility of mixture formation control using the flash boiling spray. Spray characteristics of two component fuel with a flash boiling phenomenon was investigated using Shlieren and Mie scattering photography. Test fuel was injected into a constant volume vessel at ambient conditions imitated injection timing BTDC of a real engine. As a result, it was found that a flash boiling phenomenon greatly changed spray structure, especially in the conditions of lower temperature and density. Therefore, availability of mixture formation control using flash boiling spray was suggested.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.76-81
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• 2011

A fuel injection system which is operated with a real vehicle driving simulation was developed as an alternative to a vehicle test for the fuel injectors. The sensor signals that are supplied to the ECU were measured and recorded as a data file for a vehicle driven in FTP-75 mode in a chassis dynamometer. The imperative sensor signals of the throttle position, vehicle speed, engine speed, crank position, cam position, intake air flow, and cooling water and intake air temperature were reconstructed using FPGA DAQ boards and a PXI computer. The scanning results showed good agreement with the input signals that were reconstructed. The ECU HILS system operated successfully to drive six fuel injectors, which injected fuel in the same pattern as if they were mounted in the vehicle driven in FTP-75 mode. Also, the fuel injection system developed in this research shows the possibility of application in evaluating the characteristics of fuel injection rate for injectors according to properties of injected fuel with the real driving mode of vehicles.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2008

The influence of fission products' contents on the DUPIC fuel powder and pellet properties was experimentally evaluated using SIMFUEL as a surrogate for actual spent PWR fuel due to the high radioactivity of spent fuel. Pure $UO_2$ and SIMFUEL pellets with fission products equivalent to a burn-up of 35,000 MWd/tU and 60,000 MWd/tU were used as impurities in this study. The specific surface area of the powder milled after the OREOX treatment increased and resulted in sintered pellets with a theoretical density (TD) higher than 95%, regardless of the impurity contents. However, the grain size of the sintered pellets decreased with the increasing impurity contents. As a result of the dissolved oxides in $UO_2$ from the impurity groups, the specific surface area of the OREOX powder increased with an increase of the impurities. The grain size of the sintered pellets was significantly decreased by the metallic and oxide precipitates.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.541-554
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• 1998

A computer code COSMOS has been developed based on the CARO-D5 for the thermal analysis of LWR UO$_2$ and MOX fuel rod under steady-state and transient operating conditions. The main purpose of the COSMOS, which considers high turnup characteristics such as thermal conductivity degradation with turnup and rim formation at the outer part of fuel pellet, is to calculate temperature profile across fuel pellet and fission gas release up to high burnup. A new mechanistic fission gas release model developed based on physical processes has been incorporated into the code. In addition, the features of MOX fuel such as change in themo-mechanical properties and the effect of microscopic heterogeneity on fission gas release have been also taken into account so that it can be applied to MOX fuel. Another important feature of the COSMOS is that it can analyze fuel segment refabricated from base irradiated fuel rods in commercial reactors. This feature makes it possible to analyze database obtained from international projects such as the MALDEN and RISO, many of which were collected from refabricated fuel segments. The capacity of the COSMOS has been tested with some number of experimental results obtained from the HALDEN, RISO and FIGARO programs. Comparison with the measured data indicates that, although the COSMOS gives reasonable agreement, the current models need to be improved. This work is being performed using database available from the OECD/NEA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.1079-1092
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• 2020

A parametric study of several parameters relevant to design safety on the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) rod response under a drop accident is presented. In the view of the complexity of interactions between the independent safety-related parameters, a factorial design of experiment is employed as an efficient method to investigate the main effects and the interactions between them. A detailed single full-length fuel rod is used with consideration of post-irradiated fuel conditions under horizontal and vertical free-drops onto an unyielding surface using finite-element analysis. Critical drop heights and critical g-loads that yield the threshold plastic strain in the cladding are numerically estimated to evaluate the fuel rod structural resistance to impact load. The combinatory effects of four uncertain parameters (pellet-cladding interfacial bonding, material properties, spacer grid stiffness, rod internal pressure) and the interactions between them on the fuel rod response are investigated. The principal finding of this research showed that the effects of above-mentioned parameters on the load-carrying capacity of fuel rod are significantly different. This study could help to prioritize the importance of data in managing and studying the structural integrity of the SNF.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.49-56
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• 2023

The Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) operates at ambient temperature as a low-temperature fuel cell. During its operation, voltage losses arise due to factors such as operating conditions and material properties, effecting its performance. Computational simulations of fuel cells can be categorized into 1D simulation and CFD, chosen based on their specific application purposes. In this study, we carried out an analysis validation using 1D geometry and compared its performance with the results from 2D geometry analysis. CFD allows for the representation of pressure, velocity distribution, and fuel mass fraction according to the geometry, enabling the analysis of current density. However, the 1D simulation, simplifying governing equations to reduce time cost, failed to accurately account for fuel distribution and changes in fuel concentration due to fuel cell operations. As a result, it showed unrealistic results in the cell voltage region dominated by concentration loss compared to CFD.