• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.9
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• pp.659-667
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• 2012

Alloy 617 is a Ni-base superalloy and a candidate material for the intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) of a very high temperature gas reactor (VHTR) which is one of the next generation nuclear reactors under development. The high operating temperature of VHTR enables various applications such as mass production of hydrogen with high energy efficiency. Alloy 617 has good creep resistance and phase stability at high temperatures in an air environment. However, it was reported that the mechanical properties decreased at a high temperature in an impure helium environment. In this study, high-temperature corrosion tests were carried out at $850^{\circ}C-950^{\circ}C$ in a helium environment containing the impurity gases $H_2$, CO, and $CH_4$, in order to examine the corrosion behavior of Alloy 617. Until 250 h, Alloy 617 specimens showed a parabolic oxidation behavior at all temperatures. The activation energy for oxidation in helium environment was 154 kJ/mol. The SEM and EDS results elucidated a Cr-rich surface oxide layer, Al-rich internal oxides and depletion of grain boundary carbides. The thickness and depths of degraded layers also showed a parabolic relationship with time. A normal grain growth was observed in the Cr-rich surface oxide layer. When corrosion tests were conducted in a pure helium environment, the oxidation was suppressed drastically. It was elucidated that minor impurity gases in the helium would have detrimental effects on the high-temperature corrosion behavior of Alloy 617 for the VHTR application.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2023

Air ingress incidents are major safety accidents in very-high-temperature reactors (VHTRs). Air containing a high volume fraction of oxygen may cause severe oxidation of core components at the VHTR, especially for the significantly thin alloy tube wall in the intermediate heat exchanger (IHE). The research objects of this study are Inconel 617 and Incoloy 800H, two candidate alloys for IHE in VHTR. The air ingress accident scenario is simulated with high-temperature air flow at 950 ℃. A continuous oxide scale was formed on the surfaces of both the alloys after the experiment. Because the oxide scale of Inconel 617 has a loose structure, whereas that of Incoloy 800H is denser, Inconel 617 exhibited significantly more severe internal oxidation than Incoloy 800H. Further, Inconel 617 showed a significant decrease in ultimate tensile strength and plasticity after aging for 200 h, whereas Incoloy 800H maintained its tensile properties satisfactorily. Through control experiment under vacuum, we preliminarily concluded that serious internal oxidation is the primary reason for the decline in the tensile properties of Inconel 617.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2024

In this study, a thermomechanical numerical model was developed to evaluate the stability of energy slabs. First, a wall-type energy slab was installed in a residential underground parking lot, and thermal performance tests were conducted. Based on the tests, a numerical thermohydraulics model of the energy slab was developed to accurately simulate the thermal behavior in thermal performance tests. Finally, utilizing the temperature data acquired using the developed model, a thermomechanical numerical model of the energy slab was established. The thermomechanical model was then used to simulate the thermal stresses induced by operating the energy slab. The results demonstrated a maximum thermal stress of 5,300 kPa, which highlights the need to utilize cement mortar with sufficient tensile strength to realize stable operation of the energy slab.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.893-899
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• 2024

In a secondary cooling system of a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), rapid detection of hydrogen due to sodium-water reaction (SWR) caused by water leakage from a heat exchanger tube of a steam generator (SG) is important in terms of safety and property protection of the SFR. For hydrogen detection, the hydrogen detectors using atomic transmission phenomenon of hydrogen within Ni-membrane were used in Japanese proto-type SFR "Monju". However, during the plant operation, detection signals of water leakage were observed even in the situation without SWR concerning temperature up and down in the cooling system. For this reason, the study of a new hydrogen detector has been carried out to improve stability, accuracy and reliability. In this research, the authors focus on the difference in composition of hydrogen and the difference between the background hydrogen under normal plant operation and the one generated by SWR and theoretically estimate the hydrogen behavior in liquid sodium by using ultra-accelerated quantum chemical molecular dynamics (UA-QCMD). Based on the estimation, dissolved H or NaH, rather than molecular hydrogen (H₂), is the predominant form of the background hydrogen in liquid sodium in terms of energetical stability. On the other hand, it was found that hydrogen molecules produced by the sodium-water reaction can exist stably as a form of a fine bubble concerning some confinement mechanism such as a NaH layer on their surface. At the same time, we observed experimentally that the fine H₂ bubbles exist stably in the liquid sodium, longer than previously expected. This paper describes the comparison between the theoretical estimation and experimental results based on hydrogen form in sodium in the development of the new hydrogen detector in Japan.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.648-655
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• 2014

This paper describes the continuing effort to develope a single acting free-piston Stirling engine/alternator combination for use of the household cogeneration. Free piston Stirling engines(FPSE) use variations of working gas pressure to drive mechanically unconstrained reciprocating elements. Stirling cycle free-piston engines are driven by the Stirling thermodynamic cycle which is characterized by an externally heated device containing working gas that is continuously re-used in a regenerative, reversible cycle. The ideal cycle is described by two isothermal process connected by two constant volume processes. Heat removed during the constant volume cooling process is internally transferred to the constant volume heating process by mutual use of a thermal storage medium called the regenerator. Since the ideal cycle is reversible, the ideal efficiency is that of Carnot. Free-piston Stirling engine is have no crank and rotating parts to generate lateral forces and require lubrication. The FPSE is typically comprised of two oscillating pistons contained in a common cylinder. The temperature difference across the displacer maintains the oscillations, and the FPSE operate at natural frequency of the mass-spring system. The power is generated from a linear alternator. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design process of the single acting free-piston Stirling engine/alternator. Electrical output of the single acting free-piston Stirling engine/alternator is about 0.95 kW.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.343-350
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• 2012

A planar solid oxide fuel cell (PSOFC) is studied in its application in a high-temperature stationary power plant. Even though PSOFCs with external reformers are designed for application from the distributed power source to the central power plant, such PSOFCs may sacrifice more system efficiency than internally reformed SOFCs. In this study, modeling of the PSOFC with an external reformer was developed to analyze the feasibility of thermal energy utilization for the external reformer. The PSOFC system model includes the stack, reformer, burner, heat exchanger, blower, pump, PID controller, 3-way valve, reactor, mixer, and steam separator. The model was developed under the Matlab/Simulink environment with Thermolib$^{(R)}$ modules. The model was used to study the system performance according to its configuration. Three configurations of the SOFC system were selected for the comparison of the system performance. The system configuration considered the cathode recirculation, thermal sources for the external reformer, heat-up of operating gases, and condensate anode off-gas for the enhancement of the fuel concentration. The simulation results show that the magnitude of the electric efficiency of the PSOFC system for Case 2 is 12.13% higher than that for Case 1 (reference case), and the thermal efficiency of the PSOFC system for Case 3 is 76.12%, which is the highest of all the cases investigated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.331-341
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• 2013

In a solar domestic hot water (SDHW) system, solar energy is collected using collector panels, transferred to a circulating heat transfer fluid (brine), and eventually stored in a thermal storage tank (TST) as hot water. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to predict the solar thermal energy storage in a hybrid-type TST equipped with a helical jacket heater (mantle heat exchanger) and an immersed spiral coil heater. The helical jacket heater, which is the brine flow path attached to the side wall of a TST, has advantages including simple system design, low brine flow rate, and enhanced thermal stratification. In addition, the spiral coil heater further enhances the thermal performance and thermal stratification of the TST. The developed model was validated by the good agreement between the CFD results and the experimental results performed with the hybrid-type TST in SDHW settings.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.799-805
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• 2014

Recently, the regulations of the Local and Global for a variety of air pollution prevention has been enhanced by the steep rise in fuel oil prices. So, the appearance of Gas Fuelled Ships became necessary. In this study, we configured a regasification system which uses Eglycol water as a heating medium to evaporate before being supply fuel to the DF engine, then we analysed the system properties according to the Eglycol water mixing ratio. The results were as follows. When pressure, temperature, and flux of natural gas(NG) which are supplied to DF engines are uniformly kept, the higher mixing ratio of Eglycol is, the lower mixing specific heat of Eglycol water. And the cycle flux and electric power were 1.65 and 1.54 times more required. respectively, than water was used as the heating medium. Basic variables including mass flux according to the mixing ratio of Eglycol water, required electric power of operating fluid pumps, the temperature of natural gas which is supplied to the engine, and the heat exchanger's capacity were drawn from the gotten results.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2011

A study on the improvement for cycle efficiency of closed-type ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) was studied to obtain the basic data for the optimal design of cycle. For that, OTEC cycle with a generator, a reheater and a multi-turbine was simulated and analyzed. The basic thermodynamic model for OTEC is Rankine cycle and the surface seawater of $26^{\circ}C$ and deep seawater of $5^{\circ}C$ were used for the heat source of evaporator and condenser, respectively. Ammonia is used as the working fluid. The cycle efficiency increased when generator is added with 0.9 generator effectiveness. When the reheater and multi-turbine are applied in the basic cycle, the cycle efficiency showed 3.14% and the capacity of heat exchanger decreased for same total cycle power. For the OTEC cycle with the generator, the reheater and the multi-turbine showed the highest cycle efficiency and increased the efficiency by more than 6.5% comparing with the basic OTEC cycle.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.421-428
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• 2011

Thermal energy storage(TES) cooling system using cheaper electricity of off-peak time has been applied to relieve a significant portion of the peak demand of electricity during the daytime in summer. Slurry ice type thermal energy storage cooling system is one kind of more efficient ice-thermal energy storage cooling system than Ice-on-Coil type or Encapsulated type TES cooling system, even though, which are more popular TES system. This experimental study was carried out to observe flow pattern and formation of slurry ice in reversing flow layer to improve efficiency of heat transfer between fluid and freezing tube and to disturb ice adhesion on tube surface. The reversing flow layer was made by using reversing materials in heat exchanger section(test section) to disturb ice adhesion. At this experiment, styrofoam balls and poly propylene balls were used as reversing materials, and a 20wt% solution of ethylene glycol was used as reversing flow layer. The experimental apparatus was constructed of the test section for making/storing slurry ice, the brine tank, pumps for circulating of a 20wt% solution of ethylene glycol and brine, a flow-meter, a data logger for measuring the temperature. The experiments were carried out under various conditions, with volumetric flow rate, ball filling rate and air filling rate.