• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.376-386
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• 2013

This paper proposes an improved Maximum Power Point Tracking method and design methods of unmanned solar vehicle system by parts of hardware, unmanned driving control and power conversion. The hardware design is offered on the weight reduction and structural reliability by using structural analysis software. The technique of curve fitting is applied to unmanned control system due to minimizing the vehicle's behavior. Furthermore, lateral controller applying actuator dynamics is robust enough to prevent performance degradation by measurement noise regarding position and heading angle. The power conversion system contains battery charger system and tapped-inductor boost converter. In the battery charger system, variable step-size MPPT is conducted for quick response of maximum power point tracking. The validity of the proposed algorithm are verified by simulations and experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.32 no.spc3
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• pp.262-268
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• 2012

In the recent research technical solutions have been studied to integrate renewable energy into unmanned aerial vehicles to use it as the main power source. As the weight of the aerial vehicle body is essential for its performance, we consider to use light-weight solar cell technology. Furthermore fuel cells are also integrated create a highly energy-efficient aerial robot. In this paper, construction concept and software design of the tilt-rotor aerial vehicle GAORI is introduced which uses solar cells and fuel cells as power source. The future work direction and prognosis are discussed.

• Journal of Urban Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2019

Recently, interest in solar energy, which is the center of new government energy policy, is increasing. However, the focus is on mass production of solar power plants, and policies and related technologies for maintenance and management of existing installed PV modules are insufficient. In this study, we use UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) to acquire RGB and infrared images, apply it to the structure-from-motion (SfM) based image analysis tool, model the three- And the position of the hot spot was monitored and coordinates were detected. As a result, it is possible to provide basic spatial information for maintenance of solar module by monitoring and position detection of hot-spot suspected solar cells by superimposing infrared image and RGB image based on unmanned aerial vehicle.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.71-78
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• 2017

Many studies have been implemented to manage solar plant being supplied widely in recent years. This study analyzed heat emission of solar cell using unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)-based thermal infrared sensor, and major conclusions are as belows. Firstly, orthomosaic image and digital surface model(DSM) data were acquired using UAV-based RGB sensor, and solar light module layer necessary to analyze the heat emission of solar cell was constructed by these data. Also as a result of horizontal error into validation points using virtual reference service(VRS) survey for evaluating the location accuracy of solar light module layer, higher location accuracy could be acquired like standard error of $dx={\pm}2.4cm$ and $dy={\pm}3.2cm$. And this study installed rubber patch to test the heat emission of solar cell and could analyzed efficiently the location of rubber patch being emitted heat using UAV-based thermal infrared sensor. Also standard error showd as ${\pm}3.5%$ in analysis between calculated cell ratio by rubber patch and analyzed cell ratio by UAV-based thermal infrared sensor. Therefore, it could be efficiently analyzed to heat emission of solar cell using UAV-based thermal infrared sensor. Also efficient maintenance of solar plant could be possible through extracting the code of solar light module being emitted of heat automatically.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1054-1062
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• 2022

The population of Korea's solar salt-producing regions is rapidly aging, resulting in a decrease in the number of productive workers. In solar salt production, salt collection is the most labor-intensive operation because existing salt collection vehicles require human operators. Therefore, we intend to develop an unmanned solar salt collection vehicle to reduce manpower requirements. The unmanned solar salt collection vehicle is designed to identify the salt collection status and location in the salt plate via color detection, the color detection performance is a crucial consideration. Therefore, an image processing algorithm was developed to improve color detection performance. The algorithm generates an around-view image by using resizing, rotation, and perspective transformation of the input image, set the RoI to transform only the corresponding area to the HSV color model, and detects the color area through an AND operation. The detected color area was expanded and noise removed using morphological operations, and the area of the detection region was calculated using contour and image moment. The calculated area is compared with the set area to determine the location case of the collection vehicle within the salt plate. The performance was evaluated by comparing the calculated area of the final detected color to which the algorithm was applied and the area of the detected color in each step of the algorithm. It was confirmed that the color detection performance is improved by at least 25-99% for salt detection, at least 44-68% for red color, and an average of 7% for blue and an average of 15% for green. The proposed approach is well-suited to the operation of unmanned solar salt collection vehicles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.79-86
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• 2010

The characteristics and classification of UAV power plants were studied. The energy source for electric generation and power source for internal combustion engine for UAVs were compared. The advantage and drawbacks of power plants were analyzed respectively and the performance demand condition was suggested for next generation UAV power plant finally.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.379-384
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• 2011

This paper performs numerical prediction of fuel temperature in the fuel tanks of unmanned air vehicles for both ground static non-operating and in flight transient conditions. The calculation is carried out using a modified Dufort-Frankel scheme. For this calculation, it is assumed that a non-operating vehicle on the ground is subjected to repeating daily cycles of ambient temperature with solar radiation and wind under 1%, with a 20% probability of hot day conditions. The energy conservation equation is used as the governing equation to calculate heat transfer between the fuel tank surface and the ambient environment. Results of the present analysis may be used as the estimated initial values of fuel temperatures in a vehicle's fuel tank for the purpose of analyzing transient fuel temperatures during various flight missions. This research also demonstrates that the fuel temperature of the front tank is higher than that of the rear tank, and that the difference between the two temperatures increases in the later phases of flight due to the consumption of fuel.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2022

Rural spaces are increasingly valuable as areas for introducing renewable energy infrastructure to achieve carbon neutrality. Rural areas are the living grounds of rural residents, and the balance of conservation and development for rural areas is important for the introduction of reasonable facilities. In order to maintain a balance between development and preservation and to introduce reasonable renewable energy facilities, it is necessary to develop a current status survey and an effective survey method to utilize a space capable of introducing renewable energy facilities such as idle land and vacant houses. Therefore, this study was conducted to verify the readability using an unmanned aerial vehicle, and the main results are as follows. The detection of photovoltaic power generation facilities using unmanned aerial vehicles was effective in analyzing the location and area of photovoltaic panels located on the roofs of buildings, and it was possible to calculate the expected power generation by region through the area calculation of photovoltaic panels. The vacant house detection can be used to select an investigation target for an vacant house condition survey as it can identify damage to buildings that are expected to be empty houses, management status, and electricity supply facilities through aerial photos. It is judged that the unmanned aerial vehicle detection capability can be utilized as a method to improve the efficiency of investigation and supplement the data related to solar power generation facilities and vacant houses provided by public institutions. Although this study detected the status of solar power generation facilities and vacant houses through high-resolution aerial image analysis, as a follow-up study, automatic measurement methods using the temperature difference of solar power generation facilities and general characteristics of vacant houses that can be read from the air were investigated. If the deriving research is carried out, it is judged that it will be possible to contribute to the improvement of the accuracy of the detection result using the unmanned aerial vehicle and the expansion of the application range.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.219-231
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• 2014

We develop a preliminary design optimization procedure in this paper regarding the wing planform in a solar-powered high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle. A high-aspect-ratio wing has been widely adopted in this type of a vehicle, due to both the high lift-to-drag ratio and lightweight design. In the preliminary design, its characteristics need to be addressed correctly, and analyzed in an appropriate manner. In this paper, we use the three-dimensional Euler equation to analyze the wing aerodynamics. We also use an advanced structural modeling approach based on a geometrically exact one-dimensional beam analysis. Regarding the structural integrity of the wing, we determine detailed configuration parameters, specifically the taper ratio and the span length. Next, we conduct a multi-objective optimization scheme based on the response surface method, using the present baseline configuration. We consider the structural integrity as one of the constraints. We reduce the wing weight by approximately 25.3 % from that in the baseline configuration, and also decrease the power required approximately 3.4 %. We confirm that the optimized wing has sufficient flutter margin and improved static longitudinal/directional stability characteristics, as compared to those of the baseline configuration.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.106-117
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• 2016

Recently, solar power plants have spread widely as part of the transition to greater environmental protection and renewable energy. Therefore, regular solar plant inspection is necessary to efficiently manage solar-light modules. This study implemented a test that can detect solar-light module faults using an UAV based thermal infrared camera and GIS spatial analysis. First, images were taken using fixed UAV and an RGB camera, then orthomosaic images were created using Pix4D SW. We constructed solar-light module layers from the orthomosaic images and inputted the module layer code. Rubber covers were installed in the solar-light module to detect solar-light module faults. The mean temperature of each solar-light module can be calculated using the Zonalmean function based on temperature information from the UAV thermal camera and solar-light module layer. Finally, locations of solar-light modules of more than $37^{\circ}C$ and those with rubber covers can be extracted automatically using GIS spatial analysis and analyzed specifically using the solar-light module's identifying code.