• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.10 s.253
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• pp.1261-1268
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• 2006

This paper reports low-cost microreactor $(10{\mu}{\ell})$ biochip for the DNA PCR (polymerase chain reaction). The microbiochip $(20mm{\times}28mm)$ is a hybrid type which is composed of PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) layer with serpentine micochannel $(360{\mu}m{\times}100{\mu}m)$ chamber and glass substrate integrated with microheater and thermal microsensor. Undesirable bubble is usually created during sample loading to PMDS-based microchip because of hydrophobic chip surface. Created bubbles interrupt stable biochemical reaction. We designed improved microreactor chamber using microfluidic simulation. The designed reactor has a coner-rounded serpentine channel architecture, which enables stable injection into hydrophobic surface using micropipette only. Reactor temperature needed to PCR reaction is controlled within ${\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ by PID controller of LabVIEW software. It is experimentally confirmed that SRY gene PCR by the fabricated microreactor chip is performed for less than 54 min.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.20-27
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• 2022

Hypergolic propellant ignited spontaneously when fuel and oxidizer contact without ignition system. Due to this characteristic, the risk of accidents is high when new propellants are evaluated. Prevention of accidents is very important because the damage can be large when the accident occur. In this work, we proposed non-ignition evaluation method which can replace conventional ignition evaluation method by using microreactor. The reactor was fabricated by MEMS. The heat of reaction as according to fuel and NaBH₄ was estimated. At the condition of highest heat of reaction ignition was observed by drop test.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.855-865
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• 2024

Commercial deployment of nuclear microreactors presents an opportunity for the industry to rethink its approach to manufacturing, siting, operation and maintenance, and fuel cycle management as certain principles used in grid-scale nuclear projects are not applicable to a decentralized microreactor economy. The success of this nascent industry is dependent on its ability to reduce infrastructure, logistical, regulatory and lifecycle costs. A utility-like 'Central Facility' that consolidates the services required and responsibilities borne by vendors into one or a few centralized locations will be necessary to support the deployment of a fleet of microreactors. This paper discusses the requirements for a Central Facility, its implications on the cost structures of owners and suppliers of microreactors, and the impact of the facility for the broader microreactor industry. In addition, this paper discusses the pre-requisites for eligibility as well as the opportunities for a Central Facility host site. While there are many suitable locations for such a capability across the U.S., this paper considers a facility co-located with the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant and Savannah River Sites to illustrate how a Central Facility can leverage the existing infrastructure and stimulate a local ecosystem.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.624-632
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• 2008

In this research, we developed new PDMS-glass based microbiochip consisted of the micromixer and microreactor for DNA ligation. The micromixer was composed of a straight channel integrated with nozzles and pillars, and the microreactor was composed of a serpentine channel. We coated the PDMS chip surface with the 0.25wt.% PVP solution to prevent the bubble generation which was caused by the hydrophobicity of the PDMS. The new micomixer was passive type and the mixing was enhanced by a convective diffusion using the nozzle and pillar. The 10.33mm long micromixer showed the good mixing efficiency of 87.7% at 500 l/min flow rate. We could perform the DNA ligation successfully in the microbiochip, and the ligation time was shortened from 4 hours in conventional laboratory method to 5 min in the microbiochip.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.1059-1066
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• 2008

Characteristics of pyrolysis and liquid product distribution of ABS plastics have been studied in the thermogravimetric(TG) reactor and bomb microreactor. Pyrolysis reactions were performed at temperature $400\sim450^{\circ}C$ and yield of each pyrolytic product was obtained by the weight measurement method. The molecular weight distributions of liquid products were determined by the GC-SIMDIS method. It was observed that solid residue which could not be detected in the thermogravimetric experiments was significantly formed in the batch-type microreactor. It was found that the yield and average molecular weight of liquid products were decreased with the increase of reaction temperature and time. but the formation of styrene monomer was significantly increased. The chain-end scission rate parameters were determined to be 54.1kcal/mole far ABS by the Arrhenius plot.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.666-669
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• 2008

Droplet in miniaturized microfluidic systems have received much focused attention recently. In this work, electrical charging phenomenon of a conducting water droplet on the electrode under the dc electric field is studied and using this phenomenon droplet actuation method for microreactor applications is experimentally demonstrated. To find effects of key factors, the effects of electric field, medium viscosity, and droplet size are investigated. A scaling law of charging for the conducting droplet is derived from the experimental results. Unlike the case of a perfect conductor, the estimated amount of electrical charge ($Q_{est}$) of a water droplet is proportional to the 1.59 power of the droplet radius (R) and the 1.33 power of the electric field strength (E). (For a spherical perfect conductor, Q is proportional to R2 and E.) It is thought that the differences are mainly due to incomplete charging of a water droplet resulted from the combined effect of electrochemical reaction at electrode and the relatively low conductivity of water. Using this phenomenon, we demonstrate the transport of the charged droplet and fusion of two oppositely-charged droplets. When electric field is subjected sequentially on the electrode, the charged droplet is transported on the electrode. For the visualization of fusion of charged droplets, the precipitation reaction is used. When subjected to a DC voltage, two droplets charged are moving and merging toward each other due to the Coulombic force and chemical reaction is simultaneously occurred by coalescence of droplets. It may be due to the interchange effect of charge. It is shown that the droplet can be used for microreactor where transporting, merging etc. of reagents constitute unit operation.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.867-873
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• 2007

Thermal degradation characteristics of polypropylene and polystyrene have been studied in the thermogravimetric(TG) reactor and batch-type microreactor. The dynamic thermogravimetric curve of TG provided a valuable information about pyrolysis temperature. It was found that PS was thermally degraded at lower temperature of $30{\sim}50^{\circ}C$ than PP. It was found that the yield and molecular weight of liquid product in the microreactor were decreased with the increase of reaction temperature and time in the case of PP. The production of styrene monomer was significantly increased by the promotion of depolymerization with the increase of temperature and time. The chain-end scission rate parameters were determined to be 50.0 kcal/mole of PP, 45.2 kcal/mole of PS by the Arrhenius plot.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.456-457
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• 2006

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.577-577
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• 2005

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1482-1494
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• 2022

Power conversion cycles (Subcritical Steam, Supercritical Steam, Open Air Brayton, Recuperated Air Brayton, Combined Cycle, Closed Brayton Supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂), and Stirling) are evaluated for land-based nuclear microreactors based on technical maturity, system efficiency, size, cost and maintainability, safety implications, and siting considerations. Based upon these criteria, Air Brayton systems were selected for further evaluation. A brief history of the development and applications of Brayton power systems is given, followed by a description of how these thermal-to-electrical energy conversion systems might be integrated with a nuclear microreactor. Modeling is performed for optimized cycles operating at 3 MW(e) with turbine inlet temperatures of 500 ℃, 650 ℃ and 850 ℃, corresponding to: a) sodium fast, b) molten salt or heat pipe, and c) helium or sodium thermal reactors, coupled with three types of Brayton power conversion units (PCUs): 1) simple open-cycle gas turbine, 2) recuperated open-cycle gas turbine, and 3) recuperated and intercooled open-cycle gas turbine. Aeroderivative turboshaft engines employing the simple Brayton cycle and two industrial gas turbine engines employing recuperated air Brayton cycles are also analyzed. These engines offer mature technology that can facilitate near-term deployment with a modest improvement in efficiency.