• Title/Summary/Keyword: Gas Leak

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A Study of the Improvement Plan and Real Condition Estimation of Fire Protection Safety Management for Power Plants in Korea (국내발전소 소방안전관리 운영실태조사 및 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Kang, Gil-Soo;Choi, Jae-wook
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.61-73
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    • 2017
  • The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster in 2011 and California Power Failure in 2001 are examples of the importance of the power plant safety management that caused huge national loss with a power-related mass casualty incident. In a situation where humans cannot live without electricity, efforts to strengthen the systematic firefighting safety management in power plants that produce electricity with large amounts of hazardous materials as fuel, such as nuclear energy, coal and gas, are essential to protect life and prevent property loss and stable economic growth from fire explosion accident or radiation leak due to the negligence of safety management and natural disasters such as earthquakes, which has recently become an issue. This study examined the operating situation of firefighting safety management in power plants with firefighting officials employed by five power generation companies including Korea Southern Power Co., Ltd. and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., which are in charge of the domestic power supply. As a result, for the systematic firefighting safety management of power plants, improvement plans were drawn, including the development of an effective business manual and a comprehensive management system, the substantiality of firefighting safety education, and the strengthening of seismic designs to prepare for earthquakes.

Identifying Characteristics of Incidents at Hazardous Material Facilities

  • Kim, Geun-Young;Kim, Sang-Won;Won, Jai-Mu
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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    • v.9 no.6
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    • pp.51-56
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    • 2009
  • Safety and quality assessment systems are very important in manufacture, storage, transportation, and handling of hazardous materials(hazmat) to prevent hazmat disasters. At present, hazardous materials exist everywhere in our daily lives with various forms of plastics, household products of cleaning and washing detergents, fertilizers or petroleum-related products. However, hazardous materials are dangerous substances when they are released to human or environment. Hazardous materials become very widely used substances in the age of oil-based industrial economy. The Korean Ministry of Environment (KMOE) describes about one hundred thousand types of chemicals are produced and used worldwide. Over four hundred new chemicals are introduced in every year. A crucial question for the Korean hazardous material management may have been raised: Will you be safe from hazardous material incidents? The gas leak disaster at Union Carbide's Bhopal, India in 1984 that made over 6,400 people killed and 30,000 to 40,000 people seriously injured is the representative case for the safety of hazmat. Korea becomes vulnerable to hazmat disaster due to the development of high-tech industry. Thus, the risk assessment system is required to Korea for transferring abandoned hazmat management systems to self-correcting safety systems. This research analyzed characteristics of various hazmat incidents applying statistical analysis methods including frequency analysis or analysis of category data to hazmat incidents for ten years. All of three analyses of category data indicate the significance of causality between hazmat incident site groups and seasons, regional groups, and incident casualty groups.

Property Analysis of Ceramic Interconnect Prepared by Thermal Plasma Spray Coating Method for SOFC (Thermal Plasma Spray Coating 법에 의해 코팅된 SOFC용 세라믹 연결재 특성 분석)

  • Park, Kwang-Yeon;Pi, Seuk-Hoon;Lee, Jong-Won;Lee, Seung-Bok;Lim, Tak-Hyoung;Park, Seok-Joo;Song, Rak-Hyun;Shin, Dong-Ryul
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.49 no.6
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    • pp.710-714
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    • 2011
  • In present work, $La_{0.8}Ca_{0.2}CrO_{3}$(LCC), $La_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}CrO_{3}$(LSC) and $La_{0.8}Ca_{0.2}CrO_{0.9}Co_{0.1}O_{3}$(LCCC) ceramic interconnect layer for SOFC were prepared by using thermal plasma spray coating process. The LCC, LSC and LCCC powders were characterized by x-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), particle counter and BET analysis. In addition, basic and essential properties such as the surface morphology, cross section, gas leak rate, and electrical conductivity of LCC, LSC, and LCCC layers coated by thermal plasma spray coating process were analyzed and discussed. Based on these experimental results, it can be concluded that the LCCC layer coated by thermal plasma spray coating process can be suitable as a ceramic interconnect of SOFC.

Preferences of Stroke Patients for Kitchen Environment in Residential Space (주거공간의 부엌 환경 특성에 대한 뇌졸중 환자의 선호)

  • Baek, Da-Rae;Jung, Yeon-Jin;Kang, Suk-Gu;Kim, Hee-Jung;Lee, Chun-Yeop
    • The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.1-10
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    • 2014
  • Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the preferences of kitchen environment for stroke patients. Methods : The subjects of this study were 97 who have experience in rehabilitation therapy at hospitals in Busan. A questionnaire was distributed and collected from February 24th to March 13th, 2014. Descriptive statistics of frequency Study were used to analyze data. Results : First, the subjects demand for improvement that use a chair for work and install non-slip tiles. Second, they preferred the non-slip mat, boilers in heating equipment, drawer storage, L-shaped safety handle, adjustable sink of the height, automatic cutout of gas leak, faucet of touch-sensitive type, ㄷ-shaped kitchen and the ceiling-type hood in ventilation system. Third, they need kitchen items such as the sink self coming down, scissors for slices and knife to avoid hand injury. Conclusion : This study would contribute to kitchen environment for fall prevention and ease in use.

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A Study on the Development of Long-term Self Powered Underground Pipeline Remote Monitoring System (자가 발전형 장기 지하매설배관 원격감시 장치 개발에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Youngsear;Chae, Hyun-Byung;Seo, Jae-Soon;Chae, Soo-Kwon
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Environmental Technology
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    • v.19 no.6
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    • pp.576-585
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    • 2018
  • Systematic management during the whole life cycle from construction to operation and maintenance is very important for the seven underground pipelines (waterworks, sewerage, electricity, telecommunications, gas, heating, oil including waterworks and sewerage). Especially, it is the construction process that affects the whole life cycle of underground buried pipeline. In order to construct a new city or to maintain different underground pipes, it is always necessary to dig the ground and carry out construction and related work. There is a possibility that secondary and tertiary breaks frequently occur in the pipeline construction process after the piping constructed first in this process. To solve this problem, a system is needed which can monitor damage in real time. However, the supply of electric power for continuous operation of the system is limited according to the environment of underground buried pipelines, so it is necessary to develop a stable electric power supply system using natural energy rather than existing electric power. In this study, we developed a system that can operate the pipeline monitoring system for long time (24 hours and 15 days) using natural energy using wind and solar light.

A Study on the Safety Management Standards and Safety Indicators Private Lodging in Farming and Fishing Villages in Rural Area (농어촌민박의 안전관리 기준 및 안전지표에 관한 연구)

  • Suh, hey-sung;Lee, Yong-soo;Kim, Youna-ah
    • Journal of the Korea Institute of Construction Safety
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2020
  • Various support is provided for the increase in the number of private lodging users in farming and fishing villages and related government policies. However, the bed-and-breakfast accommodation in rural areas lack safety standards or safety indicators for the service pension Gangneung, carbon monoxide leak accident in December 2018, 2020 East Sea in January, Pension. Large gas explosion, accident and is threatening the security of their citizens. Unlike lodging facilities, private lodging in farming and fishing villages is allowed to operate with certain requirements such as fire extinguishers and fire alarms. The purpose of this study is to present safety standards and safety indicators for lodging facilities in farming and fishing villages, which are necessary for the operation management and inspection of local governments and the government related to lodging in farming and fishing villages. Through the study, safety management areas of private lodging in farming and fishing villages were divided into facility safety, fire safety, food safety and living safety, and detailed inspection indicators were presented. There is an academic implication that research on safety management of lodging facilities has been expanded through safety research in areas related to private lodging in farming and fishing villages. It has practical implications in that it provides management standards and indicators that can be used for safety management of private lodging in farming and fishing villages. The limitations of this study are that more studies on private lodging in farming and fishing villages are expected to be conducted through the results of this study, and the lack of research on accommodation safety has prevented more detailed indicators from being derived.

Diffusion Characteristics Based on the Gas Leakage Direction and Air Change per Hour in a Enclosed Space on Board a Ship (밀폐된 선내 공간에서 가스 누출방향과 환기횟수에 따른 확산특성)

  • Seong Min Lee;Ha Young Kim;Byeol Kim;Kwang Il Hwang
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.165-175
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    • 2024
  • Hydrogen is being touted as one of the energy sources to combat the climate change crisis. However, hydrogen can leak into enclosed spaces, rise to the ceiling, accumulate, and cause fires and explosions if it encounters an ignition source. In particular, ships that transport hydrogen or use it as a fuel comprise multiple enclosed spaces. Therefore, the dif usion characteristics within these spaces must be understood to ensure the safe use of hydrogen. The purpose of this study is to experimentally determine the diffusion characteristics of helium, which has similar properties to hydrogen, in a closed space on board a ship, and to determine the change in the oxygen concentration along the leakage direction as the air change per hour(ACH) increases to 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 through CFD simulation. The study, results revealed that the oxygen concentration reduction rate was 2% for leakage in the -z direction and 1% for leakage in the +x and +z directions, and the ventilation time was 15 min 30 s for leakage in the -z direction, 7 min for leakage in the +x direction, and 9 min for leakage in the +z direction, showing that differences existed in the oxygen concentration and ventilation time depending on the leakage direction. In addition, no significant difference was observed in the rate of oxygen concentration reduction and ventilation time in all leakage directions from the ACH of 35 and above in the experimental space. Therefore, because the oxygen concentration and ventilation time were not improved by increasing the ACH, 35 was noted as the optimal ACH in this experimental environment.

Scheme on Environmental Risk Assessment and Management for Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in Sub-seabed Geological Structures in Korea (이산화탄소 해양 지중저장사업의 환경위해성평가관리 방안)

  • Choi, Tae-Seob;Lee, Jung-Suk;Lee, Kyu-Tae;Park, Young-Gyu;Hwang, Jin-Hwan;Kang, Seong-Gil
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.307-319
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    • 2009
  • Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology has been regarded as one of the most possible and practical option to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) and consequently to mitigate the climate change. Korean government also have started a 10-year R&D project on $CO_2$ storage in sea-bed geological structure including gas field and deep saline aquifer since 2005. Various relevant researches are carried out to cover the initial survey of suitable geological structure storage site, monitoring of the stored $CO_2$ behavior, basic design of $CO_2$ transport and storage process and the risk assessment and management related to $CO_2$ leakage from engineered and geological processes. Leakage of $CO_2$ to the marine environment can change the chemistry of seawater including the pH and carbonate composition and also influence adversely on the diverse living organisms in ecosystems. Recently, IMO (International Maritime Organization) have developed the risk assessment and management framework for the $CO_2$ sequestration in sub-seabed geological structures (CS-SSGS) and considered the sequestration as a waste management option to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. This framework for CS-SSGS aims to provide generic guidance to the Contracting Parties to the London Convention and Protocol, in order to characterize the risks to the marine environment from CS-SSGS on a site-specific basis and also to collect the necessary information to develop a management strategy to address uncertainties and any residual risks. The environmental risk assessment (ERA) plan for $CO_2$ storage work should include site selection and characterization, exposure assessment with probable leak scenario, risk assessment from direct and in-direct impact to the living organisms and risk management strategy. Domestic trial of the $CO_2$ capture and sequestration in to the marine geologic formation also should be accomplished through risk management with specified ERA approaches based on the IMO framework. The risk assessment procedure for $CO_2$ marine storage should contain the following components; 1) prediction of leakage probabilities with the reliable leakage scenarios from both engineered and geological part, 2) understanding on physio-chemical fate of $CO_2$ in marine environment especially for the candidate sites, 3) exposure assessment methods for various receptors in marine environments, 4) database production on the toxic effect of $CO_2$ to the ecologically and economically important species, and finally 5) development of surveillance procedures on the environmental changes with adequate monitoring techniques.

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Wearable Computers

  • Cho, Gil-Soo;Barfield, Woodrow;Baird, Kevin
    • Fiber Technology and Industry
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    • v.2 no.4
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    • pp.490-508
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    • 1998
  • One of the latest fields of research in the area of output devices is tactual display devices [13,31]. These tactual or haptic devices allow the user to receive haptic feedback output from a variety of sources. This allows the user to actually feel virtual objects and manipulate them by touch. This is an emerging technology and will be instrumental in enhancing the realism of wearable augmented environments for certain applications. Tactual displays have previously been used for scientific visualization in virtual environments by chemists and engineers to improve perception and understanding of force fields and of world models populated with the impenetrable. In addition to tactual displays, the use of wearable audio displays that allow sound to be spatialized are being developed. With wearable computers, designers will soon be able to pair spatialized sound to virtual representations of objects when appropriate to make the wearable computer experience even more realistic to the user. Furthermore, as the number and complexity of wearable computing applications continues to grow, there will be increasing needs for systems that are faster, lighter, and have higher resolution displays. Better networking technology will also need to be developed to allow all users of wearable computers to have high bandwidth connections for real time information gathering and collaboration. In addition to the technology advances that make users need to wear computers in everyday life, there is also the desire to have users want to wear their computers. In order to do this, wearable computing needs to be unobtrusive and socially acceptable. By making wearables smaller and lighter, or actually embedding them in clothing, users can conceal them easily and wear them comfortably. The military is currently working on the development of the Personal Information Carrier (PIC) or digital dog tag. The PIC is a small electronic storage device containing medical information about the wearer. While old military dog tags contained only 5 lines of information, the digital tags may contain volumes of multi-media information including medical history, X-rays, and cardiograms. Using hand held devices in the field, medics would be able to call this information up in real time for better treatment. A fully functional transmittable device is still years off, but this technology once developed in the military, could be adapted tp civilian users and provide ant information, medical or otherwise, in a portable, not obstructive, and fashionable way. Another future device that could increase safety and well being of its users is the nose on-a-chip developed by the Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. This tiny digital silicon chip about the size of a dime, is capable of 'smelling' natural gas leaks in stoves, heaters, and other appliances. It can also detect dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. This device can also be configured to notify the fire department when a leak is detected. This nose chip should be commercially available within 2 years, and is inexpensive, requires low power, and is very sensitive. Along with gas detection capabilities, this device may someday also be configured to detect smoke and other harmful gases. By embedding this chip into workers uniforms, name tags, etc., this could be a lifesaving computational accessory. In addition to the future safety technology soon to be available as accessories are devices that are for entertainment and security. The LCI computer group is developing a Smartpen, that electronically verifies a user's signature. With the increase in credit card use and the rise in forgeries, is the need for commercial industries to constantly verify signatures. This Smartpen writes like a normal pen but uses sensors to detect the motion of the pen as the user signs their name to authenticate the signature. This computational accessory should be available in 1999, and would bring increased peace of mind to consumers and vendors alike. In the entertainment domain, Panasonic is creating the first portable hand-held DVD player. This device weight less than 3 pounds and has a screen about 6' across. The color LCD has the same 16:9 aspect ratio of a cinema screen and supports a high resolution of 280,000 pixels and stereo sound. The player can play standard DVD movies and has a hour battery life for mobile use. To summarize, in this paper we presented concepts related to the design and use of wearable computers with extensions to smart spaces. For some time, researchers in telerobotics have used computer graphics to enhance remote scenes. Recent advances in augmented reality displays make it possible to enhance the user's local environment with 'information'. As shown in this paper, there are many application areas for this technology such as medicine, manufacturing, training, and recreation. Wearable computers allow a much closer association of information with the user. By embedding sensors in the wearable to allow it to see what the user sees, hear what the user hears, sense the user's physical state, and analyze what the user is typing, an intelligent agent may be able to analyze what the user is doing and try to predict the resources he will need next or in the near future. Using this information, the agent may download files, reserve communications bandwidth, post reminders, or automatically send updates to colleagues to help facilitate the user's daily interactions. This intelligent wearable computer would be able to act as a personal assistant, who is always around, knows the user's personal preferences and tastes, and tries to streamline interactions with the rest of the world.

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THE CURRENT STATUS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING IN THE USA

  • Webster, John G.
    • Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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    • v.1992 no.05
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    • pp.27-47
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    • 1992
  • Engineers have developed new instruments that aid in diagnosis and therapy Ultrasonic imaging has provided a nondamaging method of imaging internal organs. A complex transducer emits ultrasonic waves at many angles and reconstructs a map of internal anatomy and also velocities of blood in vessels. Fast computed tomography permits reconstruction of the 3-dimensional anatomy and perfusion of the heart at 20-Hz rates. Positron emission tomography uses certain isotopes that produce positrons that react with electrons to simultaneously emit two gamma rays in opposite directions. It locates the region of origin by using a ring of discrete scintillation detectors, each in electronic coincidence with an opposing detector. In magnetic resonance imaging, the patient is placed in a very strong magnetic field. The precessing of the hydrogen atoms is perturbed by an interrogating field to yield two-dimensional images of soft tissue having exceptional clarity. As an alternative to radiology image processing, film archiving, and retrieval, picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) are being implemented. Images from computed radiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasound are digitized, transmitted, and stored in computers for retrieval at distributed work stations. In electrical impedance tomography, electrodes are placed around the thorax. 50-kHz current is injected between two electrodes and voltages are measured on all other electrodes. A computer processes the data to yield an image of the resistivity of a 2-dimensional slice of the thorax. During fetal monitoring, a corkscrew electrode is screwed into the fetal scalp to measure the fetal electrocardiogram. Correlations with uterine contractions yield information on the status of the fetus during delivery To measure cardiac output by thermodilution, cold saline is injected into the right atrium. A thermistor in the right pulmonary artery yields temperature measurements, from which we can calculate cardiac output. In impedance cardiography, we measure the changes in electrical impedance as the heart ejects blood into the arteries. Motion artifacts are large, so signal averaging is useful during monitoring. An intraarterial blood gas monitoring system permits monitoring in real time. Light is sent down optical fibers inserted into the radial artery, where it is absorbed by dyes, which reemit the light at a different wavelength. The emitted light travels up optical fibers where an external instrument determines O2, CO2, and pH. Therapeutic devices include the electrosurgical unit. A high-frequency electric arc is drawn between the knife and the tissue. The arc cuts and the heat coagulates, thus preventing blood loss. Hyperthermia has demonstrated antitumor effects in patients in whom all conventional modes of therapy have failed. Methods of raising tumor temperature include focused ultrasound, radio-frequency power through needles, or microwaves. When the heart stops pumping, we use the defibrillator to restore normal pumping. A brief, high-current pulse through the heart synchronizes all cardiac fibers to restore normal rhythm. When the cardiac rhythm is too slow, we implant the cardiac pacemaker. An electrode within the heart stimulates the cardiac muscle to contract at the normal rate. When the cardiac valves are narrowed or leak, we implant an artificial valve. Silicone rubber and Teflon are used for biocompatibility. Artificial hearts powered by pneumatic hoses have been implanted in humans. However, the quality of life gradually degrades, and death ensues. When kidney stones develop, lithotripsy is used. A spark creates a pressure wave, which is focused on the stone and fragments it. The pieces pass out normally. When kidneys fail, the blood is cleansed during hemodialysis. Urea passes through a porous membrane to a dialysate bath to lower its concentration in the blood. The blind are able to read by scanning the Optacon with their fingertips. A camera scans letters and converts them to an array of vibrating pins. The deaf are able to hear using a cochlear implant. A microphone detects sound and divides it into frequency bands. 22 electrodes within the cochlea stimulate the acoustic the acoustic nerve to provide sound patterns. For those who have lost muscle function in the limbs, researchers are implanting electrodes to stimulate the muscle. Sensors in the legs and arms feed back signals to a computer that coordinates the stimulators to provide limb motion. For those with high spinal cord injury, a puff and sip switch can control a computer and permit the disabled person operate the computer and communicate with the outside world.

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