• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.756-768
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• 2023

Neutron transport calculations are extremely challenging due to the high computational cost of large and complex problems. A multilevel octree grid algorithm (MLTG) of discrete ordinates method was developed to improve the modeling accuracy and simulation efficiency on 3-D Cartesian grids. The Balakovo-3 VVER-1000 neutron dosimetry benchmark is calculated to verify and validate this numerical technique. A simplified S₂ synthetic acceleration is used in the MLTG calculation method to improve the convergence of the source iterations. For the triangularly arranged fuel pins, we adopt a source projection algorithm to generate pin-by-pin source distributions of hexagonal assemblies. MLTG provides accurate geometric modeling and flexible fixed source description at a lower cost than traditional Cartesian grids. The total number of meshes is reduced to 1.9 million from the initial 9.5 million for the Balakovo-3 model. The numerical comparisons show that the MLTG results are in satisfactory agreement with the conventional S_N method and experimental data, within the root-mean-square errors of about 4% and 10%, respectively. Compared to uniform fine meshing, approximately 70% of the computational cost can be saved using the MLTG algorithm for the Balakovo-3 computational model.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.434-439
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• 2010

This study fabricated a simulation facility which reduced the structure of a current distribution line to 50:1 in order to analyze the induced lightning shielding effect of a 22.9kV-Y distribution line according to ground resistance capacity, grounding locations, etc. When installing an overhead ground wire, the standard for grounding a distribution line with a current of 22.9kV-Y requires that ground resistance in common use with the neutral line be maintained less than $50\Omega$every 200m span. The reduced line for simulation had 7 electric poles and induced lightning was applied to the ground plane 2m apart from the line in a direction perpendicular to it using an impulse generator. If induced voltage occurred in the line and induced current flowed through the line due to the applied current, the induced voltage and current of the 'A' phase were measured respectively using an oscilloscope. When all 7 electric poles were grounded with a ground resistance of less than $50\Omega$ respectively, the combined resistance of the line was $7.4\Omega$. When an average current of 230A was applied, the average induced voltage and current measured were 1,052V and 13.8A, respectively. Under the same conditions, when the number of grounding locations was reduced, the combined resistance as well as induced voltage and current showed a tendency to increase. When all 7 electric poles were grounded with a ground resistance of less than $100\Omega$, the combined resistance of the line was $14.9\Omega$. When an average current of 236A was applied, the average induced voltage and current of the 'A' phase calculated were 1,068V and 15.6A, respectively. That is, in this case, only the combined resistance was greater than when all 7 electrical poles were grounded, and the induced voltage and current were reduced. Therefore, it is thought that even though ground resistance is slightly higher under a construction environment with the same conditions, it is advantageous to ground all electric poles to ensure system safety.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.268-275
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• 2000

We investigated the effect of polymer sublayer on volumetric resistivity and tensile strength of carbon fiber (CF)/polyethylene composite films fabricated under high intensity electric fields. The dependence of volumetric resistivity and tensile strength of the films on the polymer sublayer thickness or mass part exhibited complex behavior according to CF content and CF layer density in the films. As the thickness of polymer sublayer increases, two groups of processes at thermo-mechanical forming stage would take effects in the properties of the films. The first group comprises the increase of polymer layer thickness having reduced CF content compared with central or upper part of the film and insufficient wetting of CF resulting in the loosened structure near upper film side. The second group, on the other hand, is the improvement of mobility of molten sublayer leading to better distribution of CF throughout the film thickness and the formation of more compact structure. The different degree of contribution of these two competing processes at varied CF content and CF layer density could explain complex dependence of the film properties on the polymer sublayer. These results are important to optimize the electrical and mechanical properties of highly conductive polymer films, which can be used as electromagnetic interference shielding materials.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.67-75
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• 2008

The electrostatic charging/discharging mechanism and its effects, and the system design considerations in the space plasma environment are studied in this paper. The electrostatic discharge (ESD) effects are carefully taken into account for a design of the satellite system at the early stage of the development. Generally, the electrical design requirements are specified to protect the satellite system from the ESD effects in the electromagnetic compatibility specifications. Those requirements are included the grounding, the bonding, the shielding, the conductive coating, the electric interfacing and so on. The space charging is caused by the increasing of the voltage difference between the each locations on the satellite surface. If the space charging is continued up to threshold, it may be occurred the system failure. This phenomenon is depended on the mission of system, electrical and mechanical configuration, system operation, and orbit condition. Therefore the related requirements are properly tailored and concentrated into the safety design.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.176-180
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• 2002

During the last two decades the laser beam has progressed from a sophisticated laboratory apparatus to an adaptable and viable industrial tool. Especially, in its welding mode, the laser offers high travel speed, low distortion, and narrow fusion and heat-affected zones (HAZ). The principal obstacle to selection of a laser processing method in production is its relatively high equipment cost and the natural unwillingness of production supervision to try something new until it is thoroughly proven. The major objective of this work is focused on the combined features of gas tungsten arc and a low-power cold laser beam. Although high-power laser beams have been combined with the plasma from a gas tungsten arc (GTA) torch for use in welding as early as 1980, recent work at the Ohio State University has employed a low power laser beam to initiate, direct, and concentrate a gas tungsten arcs. In this work, the laser beam from a 7 watts carbon monoxide laser was combined with electrical discharges from a short-pulsed capacitive discharge GTA welding power supply. When the low power CO laser beam passes through a special composition shielding gas, the CO molecules in the gas absorbs the radiation, and ionizes through a process known as non-equilibrium, vibration-vibration pumping. The resulting laser-induced plasma (LIP) was positioned between various configurations of electrodes. The high-voltage impulse applied to the electrodes forced rapid electrical breakdown between the electrodes. Electrical discharges between tungsten electrodes and aluminum sheet specimens followed the ionized path provided by LIP. The result was well focused melted spots.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.386-392
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• 2018

Fuel cells are known as eco - friendly energy facilities that can use heat energy and electric energy at the same time. Fuel cells are classified according to the temperature and material used, and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is relatively high temperature ($700-800^{\circ}C$). SOFC requires a hot box consisting of a high temperature stack, a reformer, a burner, and the heat exchangers in order to use energy efficiently. The hot box needs to maintain heat insulation performance at high temperature to reduce heat loss. However, Fibrous insulation, which is widely used, needs to be improved because it has a disadvantage that the thermal conductivity is rapidly increased due to the increase of temperature. Therefore, this study was carried out to develop a thermal insulation, which is applied to multiple layers insulation (MLI) technic, that can be used under SOFC operating conditions and prevent a drastic drop in thermal conductivity at high temperature. The developed insulation is consist of a thermally conductive material, a spacer, and a reflective plate. The thermal conductivity of the insulation was measured by in the thermal conductivity measuring device at high temperature range. As a result, it was confirmed that the developed layers insulation have an good thermal conductivity (0.116 W/mK) than fibrous insulation (0.24 W/mK) as a radiation shielding effect at a high temperature of 1,173 K.

• 한국초전도학회:학술대회논문집
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• v.10
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• pp.7-7
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• 2000

A high $T_c$ SQUID system is developed for the application to biological immunoassay. In this application, magnetic nanoparticles are used as magnetic markers to perform immunoassay, i.e., to detect binding reaction between an antigen and its antibody. The antibody is labeled with ${\gamma}-Fe_2O_3\;(or\;Fe_3O_4)$ nanoparticles, and the binding reaction can be magnetically detected by measuring the magnetic field from the nanoparticles. Design and set up of the system is described. The system consists of (1) SQUID magnetometer or gradiometer made of 30-deg. bicrystal junctions, (2) field and compensation coils to apply the magnetic field of about 1 mT, (3) special Dewar to realize a 2 mm-distance between the SQUID and the sample, (4) two layers of cylindrical shielding to reduce the extemal magnetic noise to about 1/100, and (5) an electric slider to move the sample with a speed of 10 mm/sec. The sensitivity of the system is studied in terms of detectable magnetic flux. For the measurement bandwidth from 0.2 Hz to 10 Hz, minimum-detectable amplitude of the magnetic flux is $0.8\;m\;{\Phi}_o$ and $0.25\;m{\Phi}_o$ for the magnetometer and the gradiometer, respectively, when the magnetic field of 1 mT is applied. The difference between them is due to the residual environmental noise, and the applied magnetic field does not increase the system noise. The corresponding weight of the magnetic markers is 1 ng and 310 pg, respectively. An experiment is also conducted to measure antigen-antibody reaction with the present system. It is shown that the sensitivity of the present system is 10 times better than that of the conventional method using an optical marker. A one order of magnitude improvement of sensitivity will be realized by the sophistication of the present system.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2012

Electric activity of cardiac muscles generates magnetic fields. Magnetocardiography (or MCG) technology, measuring these magnetic signals, can provide useful information for the diagnosis of heart diseases. It is already about 40 years ago that the first measurement of MCG signals was done by D. Cohen using SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) sensor inside a magnetically shielded room. In the early period of MCG history, bulky point-contact RF-SQUID was used as the magnetic sensor. Thanks to the development of Nb-based Josephson junction technology in mid 1980s and new design of tightly-coupled DC-SQUID, low-noise SQUID sensors could be developed in late 1980s. In around 1990, several groups developed multi-channel MCG systems and started clinical study. However, it is quite recent years that the true usefulness of MCG was verified in clinical practice, for example, in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. For the practical MCG system, technical elements of MCG system should be optimized in terms of performance, fabrication cost and operation cost. In this review, development history, technical issue, and future development direction of MCG technology are described.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2011

Measurement of magnetic signals generated from electric activity of myocardium provides useful information for the functional diagnosis of heart diseases. Key technical component of the magnetocardiography (MCG) technology is SQUID. To measure MCG signals with high signal-to-noise ratio, sensitive SQUID magnetic field sensors are needed. Present magnetic field sensors based on Nb SQUIDs have field sensitivity good enough to measure most of MCG signals. However, for accurate measurement of fine signal pattern or detection of local atrial fibrillation signals, we may need higher field sensitivity. In addition to field sensitivity, economic aspect of the SQUID system is also important. To simplify the SQUID readout electronics, the output voltage or flux-to-voltage transfer of SQUID should be large enough so that direct measurement of SQUID output can be done using room-temperature preamplifiers. Double relaxation oscillation SQUID (DROS), having about 10 times larger flux-to-voltage transfers than those of DC-SQUIDs, was shown to be a good choice to make the electronics compact. For effective cancellation of external noise inside a thin economic shielded room, first-order axial gradiometer with high balance, simple structure and long-baseline is needed. We developed a technology to make the axial gradiometer compact using direct bonding of superconductive wires between pickup coil and input coil. Conventional insert has mechanical support to hold the gradiometer array, and the dewar neck has equal diameter with the dewar bottom. Boiling of the liquid He can generate mechanical vibrations in the gradiometer array due to mechanical connection structure. Elimination of the mechanical support, and direct mounting of the gradiometer array into the dewar bottom can reduce the dewar neck diameter, resulting in the reduction of liquid He consumption.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.127-135
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• 2003

The primary contributors to the total occupational radiation exposure in operating nuclear power plants are operation and maintenance activities doting refueling outages. The Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) includes a number of design improvements and plans to utilize advanced maintenance methods and robotics to minimize the annual collective dose. The major radiation exposure reduction features implemented in APR1400 are a permanent refueling pool seal, quick opening transfer tube blind flange, improved hydrogen peroxide injection at shutdown, improved permanent steam generator work platforms, and more effective temporary shielding. The estimated average annual occupational radiation exposure for APR1400 based on the reference plant experience and an engineering judgment is determined to be in the order of 0.4 man-Sv, which is well within the design goal of 1 man-Sv. The basis of this average annual occupational radiation exposure estimation is an eighteen (18) month fuel cycle with maintenance performed to steam generators and reactor coolant pumps during refueling outage. The outage duration is assumed to be 28 days. The outage work is to be performed on a 24 hour per day basis, seven (7) days a week with overlapping twelve (12) hour work shifts. The occupational radiation exposure for APR1400 is also determined by an alternate method which consists of estimating radiation exposures expected for the major activities during the refueling outage. The major outage activities that cause the majority of the total radiation exposure during refueling outage such as fuel handling, reactor coolant pump maintenance, steam generator inspection and maintenance, reactor vessel head area maintenance, decontamination, and ICI & instrumentation maintenance activities are evaluated at a task level. The calculated value using this method is in close agreement with the value of 0.4 man-Sv, that has been determined based on the experience aid engineering judgement. Therefore, with the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) advanced design features incorporated in the design, APR1400 design is to meet its design goal with sufficient margin, that is, more than a factor of two (2), if operated on art eighteen (18) month fuel cycle.