• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.146-159
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• 2015

Since the power capacity needed for the propulsion of large ships is very large, a multiphase AC induction propulsion mode is generally adopted to meet the higher requirements of reliability, redundancy and maintainability. This paper gives a detailed description of the development of a 20MW fifteen-phase PWM driver for advanced fifteen-phase propulsion induction motors with a special third-harmonic injection in terms of the main circuit hardware, control system design, experiments, etc. The adoption of the modular design method for the main circuit hardware design can make the enclosed mechanical structure simple and maintainable. It can also avoid the larger switch stresses caused by the multiple turn on of the IGBTs in conventional large-capacity converter systems. The use of the distributed controller design method based on a high-speed fiber-optic ring net for the control system can overcome such disadvantages as the poor reliability and long maintenance times arising from the conventional centralized controller which is designed according to point-to-point communication. Finally, the performance of the 20MW PWM driver is verified by experimentation on a new fifteen-phase induction propulsion motor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.838-848
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• 2015

One of the most important operations in nuclear power plants is load following, in which an imbalance of axial power distribution induces xenon oscillations. These oscillations must be maintained within acceptable limits otherwise the nuclear power plant could become unstable. Therefore, bounded xenon oscillation is considered to be a constraint for the load following operation. In this paper, the design of a sliding mode control (SMC), which is a robust nonlinear controller, is presented.SMCis ameansto control pressurized water nuclear reactor (PWR) power for the load following operation problem in a way that ensures xenon oscillations are kept bounded within acceptable limits. The proposed controller uses constant axial offset (AO) strategy to ensure xenon oscillations remain bounded. The constant AO is a robust state constraint for the load following problem. The reactor core is simulated based on the two-point nuclear reactor model with a three delayed neutron groups. The stability analysis is given by means of the Lyapunov approach, thus the control system is guaranteed to be stable within a large range. The employed method is easy to implement in practical applications and moreover, the SMC exhibits the desired dynamic properties during the entire output-tracking process independent of perturbations. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller in terms of performance, robustness, and stability. Results show that the proposed controller for the load following operation is so effective that the xenon oscillations are kept bounded in the given region.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.592-602
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• 2021

Thorium compounds have attracted immense scientific and technological attention with regard to both fundamental and practical implications, owing to unique chemical and physical properties like high melting point, high density and thermal conductivity. Hereby, we investigate the mechanical and thermodynamic stability and report on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of new silicon-doped cubic ternary thorium phosphides ThSi_xP_1-x (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1). The first-principles density functional theory procedure was adopted within full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. The exchange and correlation potential terms were treated within Generalized-Gradient-Approximation functional modified by Perdew-Burke-Ernzerrhof parameterizations. The proposed compounds showed mechanical and thermodynamic stable structure and hence can be synthesized experimentally. The calculated lattice parameters, bulk modulus, total energy, density of states, electronic band structure and spin magnetic moments of the compounds revealed considerable correlation to the Si substitution for P and the relative Si/P doping concentration. The electronic and magnetic properties of the doped compounds rendered them non-magnetic but metallic in nature. The main orbital contribution to the Fermi level arises from the hybridization of Th(6d+5f) and (Si+P)3p states. Reported results may have potential implications with regard to both fundamental point of view and technological prospects such as fuel materials for clean nuclear energy.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2016

In the present study, the time series of the number of days on which temperatures were not higher than $-5^{\circ}C$ in winter in Seoul was analyzed. The results showed a decreasing tendency until recently. Statistical change-point analysis was conducted to examine whether climate regime shifts existed in this time series. According to the results, the number of days on which temperatures were not higher than $-5^{\circ}C$ in winter in Seoul drastically decreased since 1988. Therefore, to find out the reason for the recent decrease in the number of days, differences between the means of large-scale environments in winder during 1988~2010 and those during 1974~1987 were analyzed. In all layers of the troposphere, anomalous anticyclones developed in regions around the Korean Peninsula and thus the Korean Peninsula was affected by westerlies or south-westerlies. This was associated with the recent a little further northward development of western North Pacific subtropical high. Therefore, environments good for warm and humid air to flow into the Korean Peninsula were formed. To examine whether relatively warm and humid air actually flowed into the Korean Peninsula recently, temperatures and specific humidity in all layers in the troposphere were analyzed and according to the results the Korean Peninsula showed warm and humid anomalies. In the analyses of sensible heat net flux and maximum temperatures at a height of 2 m that can be felt by humans, the East Asia Continent including the Korean Peninsula showed positive anomalies.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2016

In this study, the time series of the number of days with $25^{\circ}C$ or higher temperatures in the Jeju region were analyzed and they showed a strong trend of increase until recently. To determine the existence of a climate regime shift in this time series, the statistical change-point analysis was applied and it was found that the number of days with $25^{\circ}C$ or higher temperatures in the Jeju region increased sharply since 1993. Therefore, in order to examine the cause of the sharp increase of the days with $25^{\circ}C$ or higher temperatures in the Jeju region, the differences between the averages of 1994~2013 and the averages of 1974~1993 were analyzed for the large-scale environment. In the Korean Peninsula including the Jeju region, precipitable water and total cloud cover decreased recently due to the intensification of strong anomalous anticyclones near the Korean Peninsula in the top, middle and bottom layers of the troposphere. As a result of this, the number of days with $25^{\circ}C$ or higher temperatures in the Jeju region could increase sharply in recent years. Furthermore, in the analysis of sensible heat net flux and daily maximum temperatures at 2 m, which is the height that can be felt by people, the Korean Peninsula was included in the positive anomaly region. In addition, the frequency of typhoons affecting the Korean Peninsula decreased recently, which reduced the opportunities for air temperature drops in the Jeju region.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2586-2591
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• 2022

In the present work, we have irradiated the DI-BSCCO superconducting tapes with the 100 keV deuterium ions to investigate the effect of ion irradiation on their critical current (Ic). The damage simulations are carried out using the binary collision approximation method to get the spatial distribution and depth profile of the damage events in the high temperature superconducting (HTS) tape. The point defects are formed near the surface of the HTS tape. These point defects change the vortex profile in the superconducting tape. Due to the long-range interaction of vortices with each other, the Ic of the tape degrades at the 77 K and self magnetic field. The radiation dose of 2.90 MGy degrades the 44% critical current of the tape. The results of the displacement per atom (dpa) and dose deposited by the deuterium ions are used to fit an empirical relation for predicting the degradation of the Ic of the tape. We include the dpa, dose and columnar defect terms produced by the incident particles in the empirical relation. The fitted empirical relation predicts that light ion irradiation degrades the Ic in the DI-BSCCO tape at the self field. This empirical relation can also be used in neutron irradiation to predict the lifetime of the DI-BSCCO tape. The change in the Ic of the DI-BSCCO tape due to deuterium irradiation is compared with the other second-generation HTS tape irradiated with energetic radiation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1754-1759
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• 2022

The activity of gamma-ray emitting nuclides is calculated assuming that each gamma-ray is detected individually; thus, the magnitude of the coincidence summing signal must be considered during activity calculations. Here, the correction factor for the coincidence summing effect was calculated, and the detection efficiencies of two HPGe detectors were compared. The CANBERRA Inc. GC4018 high-purity Ge detector provided an estimate for the peak-to-total ratio using a point source to determine the coincidence summing correction factor. The ORTEC Inc. GEM60 high-purity Ge detector uses EFFTRAN in LVis to obtain the parameters of the detector and source model and the gamma-gamma and gamma-X match estimates, in order to determine the coincidence summing correction factor. Nuclide analyses, radioactivity comparisons, and analyses of reference material samples were performed utilizing certified reference materials to accurately determine the detection efficiencies. For both Co-60 and Y-88, the detection efficiency for a point source increased by an average of at least 12-13%, whereas the detection efficiency determined using LVis increased by an average of at least 13-15%. The calculated radioactivity values of the certified reference material and reference material samples were accurate to within 3% and 6% of the measured values, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.251-261
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• 2022

Tuna purse seine fishery (TPF) constitute more than 60% of distant water fishery production in Korea based on a statistic of 2018, and 28 ships from four different companies were under operation at the western and central Pacific Ocean. On this research, common risk factors during TPF were investigated via enumeration of five years Korean fisherman's insurance payment statement, followed by some counterplans to diminish the accident rate. The accident rate of TPF on the Pacific Ocean peaked by 43.0% in 2014 and constantly decreased to 23.0% until 2018, presenting an average of 33.6%. Meanwhile, the accident rate on the Indian Ocean reached the highest point 55.1% in 2014 and declined to 11.6% in 2016, having an average of 24.7%. The average accident rate of the Indian Ocean scored 8.9% lower than the rate of the Pacific Ocean, but no statistic significance was observed. Depending on the process of operation, 'casting or hauling of net' was the most frequent part that people received an injury (40.4%). When the accidents were classified by their types, 'falling down' was the most recurrent cause of the injuries (28.5%). At the point of severity, the worst injuries were induced by crush hazard. Considering aforementioned accident frequency and severity, all the factors on the accident type list were divided into three different groups including high risk, moderate risk, and common risk. This study is expected to contribute to the reduction of occupational accidents during the work of fishermen and establishment of a safety management system for distance water fishing vessels.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2024

Ammonia is drawing attention as carbon free fuel due to its ease of storage and transportation compared to hydrogen. This study suggests ammonia fueled solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system with electrochemical hydrogen compressor (EHC)-based recirculation. Performance of electrochemical hydrogen pump is based on the experimental data under varying hydrogen and nitrogen concentration. As a result, the suggested system shows 62.04% net electrical efficiency. The efficiency is 10.33% point higher compared to simple standalone SOFC system (51.71%), but 0.02% point lower compared to blower-based recirculation system (62.06%). Further improvement in the EHC-based SOFC recirculation system can be achieved with EHC performance improvement.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.1153-1164
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• 2024

In recent years, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) have been used to search for lost or stolen radioactive sources to avoid radiation exposure for operators. To achieve autonomous localization of radioactive sources, the UGVs must have the ability to automatically determine the next radiation measurement location instead of following a predefined path. Also, the radiation field of radioactive sources has to be reconstructed or inverted utilizing discrete measurements to obtain the radiation intensity distribution in the area of interest. In this study, we propose an effective source localization framework and method, in which UGVs are able to autonomously explore in the radiation area to determine the location of radioactive sources through an iterative process: path planning, radiation field reconstruction and estimation of source location. In the search process, the next radiation measurement point of the UGVs is fully predicted by the design path planning algorithm. After obtaining the measurement points and their radiation measurements, the radiation field of radioactive sources is reconstructed by the Gaussian process regression (GPR) model based on machine learning method. Based on the reconstructed radiation field, the locations of radioactive sources can be determined by the peak analysis method. The proposed method is verified through extensive simulation experiments, and the real source localization experiment on a Cs-137 point source shows that the proposed method can accurately locate the radioactive source with an error of approximately 0.30 m. The experimental results reveal the important practicality of our proposed method for source autonomous localization tasks.