• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.467.1-467.1
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• 2014

Quantum dots (QD) solar cells has received considerable attention due to their potential of improving the overall conversion efficiency by harvesting excess energy via multiple excitons generation (MEG). Although there have been many reports which show MEG phenomena by using optical measurement of quantum dots themselves, carrier multiplication in real QD photovoltaic devices has been sparsely reported due to difficulty in dissociation of excitons and charge collection. In this reports, heterojunction QD solar cells composed of PbS QD monolayer on highly crystalline $TiO_2$ thin films were fabricated by using Langmuir-Blodgett deposition technique to significantly reduce charge recombination at the interfaces between each QD. The PbS CQDs monolayer was characterized by using UV-vis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) for the monolayer QD solar cells was obtained by measurement of external quantum efficiency and determining light absorption efficiency of active layer. Carrier multiplication was observed by measuring IQE greater than 100% over threshold photon energy. Our findings demonstrate that monolayer QD solar cell structure is potentially capable of realizing highly efficient solar cells based on carrier multiplication.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.235-244
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• 2010

This paper presents a new isolated soft-switching bidirectional buck-boost inverter for fuel cell applications. The buck-boost inverter combines an isolated DC-DC converter with a conventional inverter to implement buck-boost DC-DC and DC-AC conversion. The main switches achieve zero voltage switching and zero current switching by using a novel synchronous switching SVPWM and the volume of the transformer in the forward and fly-back mode is also minimized. This inverter is suitable for wide input voltage applications due to its high efficiency under all conditions. An active clamping circuit reduces the switch's spike voltage and regenerates the energy stored in the leakage inductance of the transformer; therefore, the overall efficiency is improved. This paper presents the operating principle, a theoretical analysis and design guidelines. Simulation and experimental results have validated the characteristics of the buck-boost inverter.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2014

Macroalgae has been strongly touted as an alternative biomass for biofuel production due to its higher photosynthetic efficiency, carbon fixation rate, and growth rate compared to conventional cellulosic plants. However, its unique carbohydrate composition and structure limits the utilization efficiency by conventional microorganisms, resulting in reduced growth rates and lower productivity. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that it is possible to enable microorganisms to utilize various sugars from seaweeds and to produce some energy chemicals such as methane, ethanol, etc. This paper introduces the basic information on macroalgae and the overall conversion process from harvest to production of biofuels. Especially, we will review the successful efforts on microbial engineering through metabolic engineering and synthetic biology to utilize carbon sources from red and brown seaweed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2014

The properties of thin film solar cells based on electrodeposited $CuIn(Se,S)_2$ were investigated. The proposed solar cell fabrication method involves a single-step $CuInSe_2$ thin film electrodeposition followed by sulfurization in a tube furnace to form a $CuIn(Se,S)_2$ quaternary phase. A sulfurization temperature of $450-550^{\circ}C$ significantly affected the performance of the $CuIn(Se,S)_2$ thin film solar cell in addition to its composition, grain size and bandgap. Sulfur(S) substituted for selenium(Se) at increasing rates with higher sulfurization temperature, which resulted in an increase in overall band gap of the $CuIn(Se,S)_2$ thin film. The highest conversion efficiency of 3.12% under airmass(AM) 1.5 illumination was obtained from the $500^{\circ}C$-sulfurized solar cell. The highest External Quantum Efficiency(EQE) was also observed at the sulfurization temperature of $500^{\circ}C$.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.529-536
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• 2005

This paper presents a novel design of a fuzzy control strategy (FCS) based on torque distribution for parallel hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). An empirical load-regulating vehicle operation strategy is developed on the basis of analysis of the components efficiency map data and the overall energy conversion efficiency. The aim of the strategy is to optimize the fuel economy and balance the battery state-of-charge (SOC), while satisfying the vehicle performance and drivability requirements. In order to accomplish this strategy, a fuzzy inference engine with a rule-base extracted from the empirical strategy is designed, which works as the kernel of a fuzzy torque distribution controller to determine the optimal distribution of the driver torque request between the engine and the motor. Simulation results reveal that compared with the conventional strategy which uses precise threshold parameters the proposed FCS improves fuel economy as well as maintains better battery SOC within its operation range.

• BMB Reports
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.50-59
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• 2024

The application of gene engineering in livestock is necessary for various reasons, such as increasing productivity and producing disease resistance and biomedicine models. Overall, gene engineering provides benefits to the agricultural and research aspects, and humans. In particular, productivity can be increased by producing livestock with enhanced growth and improved feed conversion efficiency. In addition, the application of the disease resistance models prevents the spread of infectious diseases, which reduces the need for treatment, such as the use of antibiotics; consequently, it promotes the overall health of the herd and reduces unexpected economic losses. The application of biomedicine could be a valuable tool for understanding specific livestock diseases and improving human welfare through the development and testing of new vaccines, research on human physiology, such as human metabolism or immune response, and research and development of xenotransplantation models. Gene engineering technology has been evolving, from random, time-consuming, and laborious methods to specific, time-saving, convenient, and stable methods. This paper reviews the overall trend of genetic engineering technologies development and their application for efficient production of genetically engineered livestock, and provides examples of technologies approved by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for application in humans.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.460-463
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• 2008

A large part of the overall industrial energy is dissipated as waste heat despite of much development in the utilization of thermal energy. A mean efficiency is reported to be only around 30 to 35%. The existing waste heat recovery technology has reached its limit and consequently, the development of a new technology is necessary. Improving efficiency using thermoelectric technology has recently come into the spotlight because of its unique way to recover thermal energy. In fact, thermoelectric generator directly converts thermal energy into electric energy by a solid state without any moving parts. Futhermore remarkable improvement in the thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency has been achieved. In this study, a thermoelectric generator was made using commercialized thermoelectric modules. With thermoelectric modules attached on a duct surface, hot air was blown into the duct using a hot air blower. On the other side of the module, a water jacket was attached to cool the module. With different air inlet temperatures and water flowrates, the electrical power of the thermoelectric generator was measured.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.309-311
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• 2007

Supramolecules containing double hydrogen bonding sites at their both chain ends were self-polymerized to become solid state polymer and were utilized to improve the efficiency of solid state DSSCs. Hydrogen bonding sites were attached at the chain ends of PEG of Mw=2000, such as pyrimethamine and glutaric acid. The solar cell with the solid state supramolecular polymer electrolyte resulted in the overall energy conversion efficiency of 4.63 % with a short circuit current density $(J_{sc})$ of 10.41 $mAcm^{-2}$, an open circuit voltage $V_{oc}$, of 0.71 V and a fill factor (FF) of 0.62 at one sun condition ([oligomer]:[1-methyl-3-propyl imidazolium iodide (MPII)]:$[I_2]$ = 20 : 1 : 0.19, active area = 0.16 $cm^2$, $TiO_2$ layer thickness = 10 ${\mu}m$). The ionic conductivity of the sol id state electrolyte was $5.11{\times}10^{-4}$ (S/cm). The cell performance was characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and ionic conductivity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1996.06c
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• pp.906-917
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• 1996

This study was conducted to find possible application areas of the by-products generated from the incineration of rice husk. To this end, a pilot-scale rice husk incinerator system was constructed and its performed test was carried. Major findings are summarized as follows. 1. The rice husk incinerator system developed in this study performed satisfactory in terms of thermal efficiencies. At the optimum operating conditions, thermal conversion efficiency and heat exchanger efficiency was 97% ad 60%, respectively, while overall thermal efficiency of the system was 58%. Under all conditions tested, temperatures in the combustion chamber were quite uniform and crystallization of SiO$_2$ in the ash was negligible. 2. NOx and SOx content in the flue gas was well below the legal limit but the CO concentration was around the legal limit. 3. Thermal energy from combustion was successfully recovered by a heat exchanger to provide hot water, ash was found a good supplementary cementing m terial, and the flue gas also was an acceptable $CO_2$ supplier to greenhouses.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.77-99
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• 2017

Offshore oscillating water columns (OWC) represent one of the most promising forms of wave energy converters. The hydrodynamic performance of such converters heavily depends on their interactions with ocean waves; therefore, understanding these interactions is essential. In this paper, a fully nonlinear 2D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model based on RANS equations and VOF surface capturing scheme is implemented to carry out wave energy balance analyses for an offshore OWC. The numerical model is well validated against published physical measurements including; chamber differential air pressure, chamber water level oscillation and vertical velocity, overall wave energy extraction efficiency, reflected and transmitted waves, velocity and vorticity fields (PIV measurements). Following the successful validation work, an extensive campaign of numerical tests is performed to quantify the relevance of three design parameters, namely incoming wavelength, wave height and turbine damping to the device hydrodynamic performance and wave energy conversion process. All of the three investigated parameters show important effects on the wave-pneumatic energy conversion chain. In addition, the flow field around the chamber's front wall indicates areas of energy losses by stronger vortices generation than the rear wall.