• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.391-396
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• 2023

Recently, as power and electronic devices have increased in frequency and capacity, it has become a major concern to protect electronic circuits and electronic components used in these devices from abnormal voltages such as various surges and pulse noise. To respond to variously rated voltages applied to power electronic devices, the rated voltages of various varistors can be obtained by controlling the size of internal particles of the varistor or controlling the number of layers of the varistor. During bonding, the problem of unbalanced thermal runaway occurring between the electrode and the varistor interface causes degradation of the varistor and shortens its life of the varistor. In this study, to solve the problem of unbalanced heat distribution of stacked varistors to adjust the operating voltage, the contents of the ZnO-based varistor composition were 96 wt% ZnO, 1 mol% Sb₂O₃, 1 mol% Bi₂O₃, 0.5 mol% CoO, 0.5 mol% MnO, and 1 mol% TiO₂. A multi-layered ZnO varistor was modeled by bonding a single varistor with a composition in three layers according to the operating voltage. The thermal distribution of the triple-layered ZnO varistor was analyzed for the thermal runaway phenomenon that occurred during varistor operation using the finite element method according to Comsol 5.2.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.86-95
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• 2015

An active clamp high step-up boost converter with a coupled inductor is proposed in this paper. In the proposed strategy, a coupled inductor is adopted to achieve a high voltage gain. The clamp circuit is included to achieve the zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) condition for both the main and clamp switches. A rectifier composed of a capacitor and a diode is added to reduce the voltage stress of the output rectifier diode. As a result, diodes with a low reverse-recovery time and forward voltage-drop can be utilized. Since the voltage stresses of the main and clamp switches are far below the output voltage, low-voltage-rated MOSFETs can be adopted to reduce conduction losses. Moreover, the reverse-recovery losses of the diodes are reduced due to the inherent leakage inductance of the coupled inductor. Therefore, high efficiency can be expected. Firstly, the derivation of the proposed converter is given and the operation analysis is described. Then, a steady-state performance analysis of the proposed converter is analyzed in detail. Finally, a 250 W prototype is built to verify the analysis. The measured maximum efficiency of the prototype is 95%.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.380-393
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• 2019

Traditional boost converters have difficulty realizing high efficiency and high voltage gain conversion due to 1) extremely large duty cycles, 2) high voltage and current stresses on devices, and 3) low conversion efficiency. Therefore, a function decoupling high voltage gain DC/DC converter composed of a DC transformer (DCX) and an auxiliary converter is proposed. The role of DCX is to realize fixed gain conversion with high efficiency, whereas the role of the auxiliary converter is to regulate the output voltage. In this study, different forms of combined high voltage gain converters are compared and analyzed, and a structure is selected for the function decoupling high voltage gain converter. Then, topologies and control strategies for the DCX and auxiliary converter are discussed. On the basis of the discussion, an optimal design method for circuit parameters is proposed, and design procedures for the DCX are described in detail. Finally, a 400 W experimental prototype based on the proposed optimal design method is built to verify the accuracy of the theoretical analysis. The measured maximum conversion efficiency at rated power is 95.56%.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.195-204
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• 2015

In this paper, the development of a cost-effective active power filter/uninterruptible power supply (APF/UPS) system with seamless mode transfer is described. The proposed scheme employs a pulse-width-modulation (PWM) voltage-source inverter and has two operational modes. First, when the source voltage is normal, the system operates as an APF, which compensates for the harmonics and power factor while boosting the DC-link voltage to be ready for the disturbance, without an additional DC charging circuit. A simple algorithm to detect the load current harmonics is also proposed. Second, when the source voltage is out of the normal range (owing to sag, swell, or outage), it operates a UPS, which controls the output voltage constantly by discharging the DC-link capacitor. Furthermore, a seamless transfer method for the single-phase inverter between the APF mode and the UPS mode is also proposed, in which an IGBT switch with diodes is used as a static bypass switch. Dissimilar to a conventional SCR switch, the IGBT switch can implement a seamless mode transfer. During the UPS operation, when the source voltage returns to the normal range, the system operates as an APF. The proposed system has good transient and steady-state response characteristics. The APF, charging circuit, and UPS systems are implemented in one inverter system. Finally, the validity of the proposed scheme is investigated with simulated and experimental results for a prototype APF/UPS system rated at 3 kVA.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers A
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• v.48 no.9
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• pp.1096-1102
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• 1999

This paper discusses the evaluation of interconnection capacity of small cogeneration(SCOGN) systems to the power distribution systems from the viewpoint of voltage regulation. Power utilities are required to keep the customers' voltage profile over a feeder close to the rated value under all load conditions. However, it is expected that the interconnection of SCOGNs to the power distribution systems impacts on the existing voltage regulation method and customers' voltage variations. Therefore, SCOGNs should be integrated to the automated power distribution systems to prevent interconnection problems and supply high quality electricity to the customers. For these reasons, we should proceed with the evaluation of interconnection capacity of SCOGNs to the power distribution systems. However, it is generally impossible to perform actual testing on the power distribution systems, and standardized methodologies and guidelines are not developed to evaluate it. The criterion indexes for voltage regulation and variations are presented in order to evaluate the interconnection capacity of SCOGNs to the power distribution systems. In addition, the evaluation methodology of interconnection capacity of SCOGNs for power distribution systems is presented. It is expected that the resulted of this paper are useful for power system planners to determine the interconnection capacity of SCOGNs and dispersed storage and generation (DSG) systems to the power distribution systems.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.414-424
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• 2016

This paper proposes a novel high-efficiency high-step-up interleaved converter with a voltage multiplier, which is suitable for electric vehicle power management applications. The proposed interleaved converter is capable of achieving high step-up conversion by employing a voltage-multiplier circuit. The proposed converter lowers the input-current ripple, which can extend the input source's lifetime, and reduces the voltage stress on the main switches. Hence, large voltage spikes across the main switches are alleviated and the efficiency is improved. Finally, a prototype circuit with an input voltage of 24 V, an output voltage of 380 V, and an output rated power of 1 kW is implemented and tested to demonstrate the functionality of the proposed converter. Moreover, satisfying experimental results are obtained and discussed in this paper. The measured full-load efficiency is 95.2%, and the highest measured efficiency of the proposed converter is 96.3%.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.6
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• pp.876-880
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• 2013

The major causes of electrical fire are classified to short circuit fault, overload fault, electric leakage and electric contact failure. The principal factor of the fire is electric arc or spark accompanied with such electric faults. Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELB) and Molded_case Circuit Breaker (MCCB), that is, Residual Current Protective Devices (RCDs) used on low voltage distribution lines cut off earth leakage and overload, but the RCD can not cut off electric arc or spark to be a major factor of electrical fire. As the RCDs which are applied in low voltage distribution panel are prescribed to rated breaking time about 30[ms] (KS C 4613), the RCDs can't perceive to the periodic electric arc or spark of more short wavelength level. To improve such problems, this paper studies on an arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) using the distorted voltage wave in electric arc faults. The proposed voltage sensing type AFCI is an electrical fire prevention apparatus of new conception that operates a circuit breaker with sensing the instantaneous voltage drop of line voltage at electrical faults occurrence. The proposed AFCI is composed of control circuit topology using some semiconductor switching devices. Some experimental tests of the proposed AFCI confirm practicality and the validity of the analytical results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.456-466
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• 2018

This paper introduces the development of a de-icer based on a full-bridge modular multilevel converter (FMMC). The FMMC can generate a wide range of DC voltages owing to its modularity, scalability, and redundancy, which makes it suitable for ice-melting applications. First, operating principles and voltage ranges are analyzed when FMMC is applied as a mobile de-icer. Second, two new startup strategies, constant modulation index and constant power startup strategies, are proposed. Third, the main control strategies of the de-icer are proposed. Fourth, a novel rated-current zero-power test scheme is proposed to simplify test conditions. Finally, a 10 kV 1.5 kA mobile MMC de-icer is designed and built, and experiments are carried out to validate the proposed startup, control strategies, and rated-current zero-power test scheme.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1997.07f
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• pp.2047-2049
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• 1997

Computers and automatic equipment are very sensitive to the disturbances such as voltage transients, voltage sag, and harmonics. These disturbances cause them to have a malfunction or fault which brings about damages and losses. UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and SPS(stand-by power supply) have been used to provide the required voltage in a critical load without disturbances. However, UPS has appreciable losses due to the operation of the inverter in full rated power at all times. SPS, although whose inverter losses are smaller than those of UPS, transfers disturbances with a short duration to the load, due to the limited reaction time. In this research, a dynamic voltage compensator, which can make up for the weakness of UPS and SPS, is proposed. The operation of the proposed system was verified by a computer simulation. A hardware scaled-model was fabricated and tested to conform the feasibility of the actual system development.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.153-160
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• 2018

Recent trends in high-power-density applications have highlighted the importance of designing power converters with high-frequency operation. However, conventional LLC resonant converters present limitations in terms of high-frequency driving due to switching losses during the turn-off period. Switching losses are caused by the overlap of the voltage and current during this period, and can be decreased by reducing the switch voltage. In turn, the switch voltage can be reduced through a series connection of four switches, and additional circuitry is essential for balancing the voltage of each switch. In this work, a three-level LLC resonant converter that can operate at high frequency is proposed by reducing switch losses and balancing the voltages of all switches with only one capacitor. The voltage-balancing principle of the proposed circuit can be extended to n-level converters, which further reduces the switch voltage stress. As a result, the proposed circuit is applicable to high-input applications. To confirm the validity of the proposed circuit, theoretical analysis and experimental verification results from a 350 W-rated prototype are presented.