• ETRI Journal
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.254-261
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• 2019

Distinct from conventional energy-harvesting (EH) technologies, such as the use of photovoltaic, piezoelectric, and thermoelectric effects, betavoltaic energy conversion can consistently generate uniform electric power, independent of environmental variations, and provide a constant output of high DC voltage, even under conditions of ultra-low-power EH. It can also dramatically reduce the energy loss incurred in the processes of voltage boosting and regulation. This study realized betavoltaic cells comprised of p-i-n junctions based on silicon carbide, fabricated through a customized semiconductor recipe, and a Ni foil plated with a Ni-63 radioisotope. The betavoltaic energy converter (BEC) includes an array of 16 parallel-connected betavoltaic cells. Experimental results demonstrate that the series and parallel connections of two BECs result in an open-circuit voltage $V_{oc}$ of 3.06 V with a short-circuit current $I_{sc}$ of 48.5 nA, and a $V_{oc}$ of 1.50 V with an $I_{sc}$ of 92.6 nA, respectively. The capacitor charging efficiency in terms of the current generated from the two series-connected BECs was measured to be approximately 90.7%.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.187-193
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• 2018

There has been a gradual increase in the demand for the electric power in Korea. In order to meet the demand, power station should have technical functions with increased effectiveness. When accident happens in electric machinery at power stations, huge amount of economic losses and mulfunction of equipments occur. One of the accidents is a deteriorated cables operating power stations. In order to prevent cable accident in advance, we should monitor the insulation status of the cable. Cable accidents are resulting from the junctions. We have developed and installed a device in order to identify the status of junction part of power cable at Korea Western Power Co., Ltd.. We performed an accurate diagnosis for the stable utilization of junctions where the accidents occurs most frequently, and to increase the reliability. In this paper, we present the concepts of our device and the method of monitoring diagnosis for the stable use of junctions at cables predicting the life time of cables by analyzing the data obtained by the device. We also present the hardware aspect of the device we have developed.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2019

While wood pellets are often used as a fuel in thermoelectric power plants and firewood boilers, there is a risk of ignition temperature when strong wood pellets, which have a high calorific value, for prolonged periods of time. In this research study, the minimum auto ignition temperature and the ignition limitation temperature according to the change in flow rate depending on the size of the test vessel were calculated, and based on these temperatures, the apparent activation energy was calculated to predict the combustive properties of the material. The apparent activation energy was calculated to be 190.224 kJ/mol. The thicker the sample is storage in the vessel, the longer the ignition induction time was due to the increased difficulty in heat being transferred from the surface of the vessel to the middle section area of the vessel. For vessel of the same size, the higher the flow rate, the lower the auto ignition temperature was. It was also confirmed that increases in the size of the test vessel lowered the auto ignition temperature and increased the ignition induction time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.577-580
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• 2014

In this paper an auto-switching dual-input energy harvesting circuit is proposed. Since the maximum power points of a thermoelectric generator(TEG) output and a vibration device(PEG) output is 1/2 of their open-circuit voltage, an identical MPPT controller can be used for both energy sources. The proposed circuit monitors the outputs of the TEG and PEG, and chooses the energy source generating a higher output using an auto-switching controller, and then harvests the maximum power from the selected device using a MPPT controller. The harvested energy is boosted through a charge pump and stored in a storage capacitor. The stored energy is provided to a load through a PMU(Power Management Unit). The proposed circuit is designed in a $0.35{\mu}m$ CMOS process and its functionality has been verified through extensive simulations. The designed chip occupies $1.4mm{\times}1.2mm$ including pads.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.135-143
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• 2021

This study executed evaluation of drying characteristics based on the polymer injection rate (8%, 10% and 12%) and the drying method[NIF(near-infrared ray). According to this study analyzed VS, VS/TS, and calorific value compared with 'the auxiliary fuel standard of the thermoelectric power plant and the combined heat & power plant'. The results are as follows. In the case of NIR, the VS was slightly changed at the early stage of the material preheating period and the constant drying rate period with low moisture evaporation. But VS reduction was shown higher as moisture was dried. In the case of non-digested sludge with high VS content, the VS reduction rate by drying was shown lower than that of digested sludge. As the flocculant injection rate increased, the VS loss due th drying was found to be small. Also, the higher the flocculant injection rate was the longer the drying time. Especially, in the case of the NIR drying equipment, as the moisture content of sewage sludge decreased(moisture content 20~40%), the loss of net VS also showed a tendency to increase sharply. It is shown that the high calorific value according to the drying time of the non-digested sludge was changed from 590 kcaℓ/kg to 3,005 kcaℓ/kg and from 539 kcaℓ/kg to 2,796 kcaℓ/kg.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.377-385
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• 2022

Thermal batteries are specialized as primary reserve batteries that operate when the internal heat source is ignited and the produced heat (450~550℃) melts the initially insulating salt into highly conductive eutectic electrolyte. The heat source is composed of Fe powder and KClO₄ with different mass ratios and is inserted in-between the cells (stacks) to allow homogeneous heat transfer and ensure complete melting of the electrolyte. An ideal heat source has following criteria to satisfy: sufficient mechanical durability for stacking, appropriate heat calories, ease of combustion by an igniter, stable combustion rate, and modest peak temperature. To satisfy the aforementioned requirements, Fe powder must have high surface area and porosity to increase the reaction rate. Herein, the hydrothermal and spray drying synthesis techniques for Fe powder samples are employed to investigate the physicochemical properties of Fe powder samples and their applicability as a heat source constituent. The direct comparison with the state-of-the-art Fe powder is made to confirm the validity of synthesized products. Finally, the actual batteries were made with the synthesized iron powder samples to examine their performances during the battery operation.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.311-321
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• 2021

In this study, a smart switchboard for power supply of entertainment devices was developed for the following purposes. First, the heat generated when the high-temperature and humid air inside is cooled by the thermoelectric module is smoothly discharged to the outside of the switchboard, thereby maximizing the cooling effect. So, it is possible to prevent excessive temperature rise inside the switchboard. Various problems such as condensation inside the switchboard can be prevented by controlling the temperature of the switchboard in which a fire occurs due to excessive heat in summer, removing moisture due to the cooling effect, and generating heat instead of cooling in winter. Second, it is a smart switchboard control system that can reduce the salt that may permeate inside the switchboard. Third, the smart switchboard system is an IoT-controlled switchboard that collects environmental data using a variety of sensors and can remotely control devices through a smartphone, and can be easily used in various fields.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.3910-3917
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• 2021

Reactor fuel's power distribution plays a vital role in designing the new generation thermionic Space Reactor Power Systems (SRPS). In this paper, the 1/12th SPACE-R's full reactor core was numerically analyzed with two kinds of different axial power distribution, to identify their impacts on thermal-hydraulic and thermoelectric characteristics. In the benchmark study, the maximum error between numerical results and existing data or design values ranged from 0.2 to 2.2%. Four main conclusions were obtained in the numerical analysis: a) The axial power distribution has less impact on coolant temperature. b) Axial power distribution influenced the emitter temperature distribution a lot, when the core power was cosine distributed, the maximum temperature of the emitter was 194 K higher than that of the uniform power distribution. c) Comparing to the cosine axial power distribution, the uniform axial power distribution would make the maximum temperature in each component of the reactor core much lower, reducing the requirements for core fuel material. d) Voltage and current distribution were similar to the axial electrode temperature distribution, and the axial power distribution has little effect on the output power.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1347-1356
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• 2022

In this paper, we investigate the properties of CoGe thin film-based galvanic cells as a function of their dimension (cell length, width, etc.) and show their application as sensors to Arduino-based IoT sensor networks to detect water contact. Because these CoGe thin film-based galvanic cells do not require mechanical strains or temperature gradients unlike piezoelectric and thermoelectric energy harvesters, we think that these thin film-based galvanic cells are more suitable for self-powered sensor networks demanding sustainable and robust energy harvesters. In the past, a sputter-deposited CoGe thin film has not been intensively investigated for energy harvesting appilcations. Thus, in this study, we perform a feasibility study of galvanic cells composed of a sputter-deposited CoGe thin film to see if they can be applied as potential self-powered sensors. We believe that this paper will be of great help in developing even more enhanced sensor networks.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.183-191
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• 2023

This study was conducted experimentally to investigate the surface temperature of the heat sink, the air temperature in the flow channel and the sample temperature by changing the channel number of channel type heat sink and the air flow rate when heating and cooling the bio sample. The target temperature of the sample was 15℃ or less as the minimum value and 82℃ or more as the maximum value. In this study, the channel number of the heat sink(N = 1, 2, 4, 5, 10) and the air flow rate(Q=25, 42, 54m³/min) were varied. The bio sample was replaced with water, and the volume of water is 4mL. The size of the heat sink is 80x73x150mm and the material is aluminum. When cooling the sample, the surface temperature, the air temperature and the sample temperature were highly dependent on the number of channels and the flow rate. However, when the sample is heated, the surface temperature, air temperature and sample temperature do not depend on the number of channels and the flow rate. It was found that the conditions for satisfying the minimum temperature of 15℃ or less when cooling the sample were the number of channels N≥5 and the flow rate Q≥42m³/min. When heating the sample, the conditions to satisfy the maximum temperature of 82℃ or more are the number of channels N≤5 and the air flow rate Q≤42m³/min.