• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.219-219
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• 2008

Energy harvesting from the environment has been of great interest as a standalone power source of wireless sensor nodes for ubiquitous sensor networks (USN). There are several power generating methods such as thermal gradients, solar cell, energy produced by human action, mechanical vibration energy, and so on. Most of all, mechanical vibration is easily accessible and has no limitation of weather and environment of outdoor or indoor. In particular, the piezoelectric energy harvesting from ambient vibration sources has attracted attention because it has a relative high power density comparing with other energy scavenging methods. Through recent advances in low power consumption RF transmitters and sensors, it is possible to adopt a micro-power energy harvesting system realized by MEMS technology for the system-on-chip. However, the MEMS energy harvesting system hassome drawbacks such as a high natural frequency over 300 Hz and a small power generation due to a small dimension. To overcome these limitations, we devised a novel power generator with a spiral spring structure. In this case, the energy harvester has a lower natural frequency under 200 Hz than a normal cantilever structure. Moreover, it has higher an energy conversion efficient because shear mode ($d_{15}$) is much larger than 33 mode ($d_{33}$) and the energy conversion efficiency is proportional to the piezoelectric constant (d). We expect the spiral type MEMS power generator would be a good candidate as a standalone power generator for USN.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.7-7
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• 2010

Energy harvesting from the environment has been of great interest as a standalone power source of wireless sensor nodes for Ubiquitous Sensor Networks(USN). In particular, the piezoelectric energy harvesting from ambient vibration sources has intensively researched because it has a relatively high power density comparing with other energy scavenging methods. Through recent advances in low power consumption RF transmitters and sensors, it is possible to adopt a micro-power energy harvesting system realized by MEMS technology for the system-on-chip. However, the MEMS energy harvesting system has some drawbacks such as a high natural frequency over 300 Hz and a small power generation due to a small dimension. To overcome these limitations, we devised a novel power generator with a spiral spring structure as shown in the figure. The natural frequency of a cantilever could be decreased to the usable frequency region (under 300 Hz) because the natural frequency depends on the length of a cantilever. In this study, the natural frequency of the energy harvester was a lower than a normal cantilever structure and sufficiently controllable in 50 - 200 Hz frequency region as adjusting weight of a proof mass. Moreover, the MEMS energy harvester had a high energy conversion efficiency using a shear mode ($d_{15}$) is much larger than a 33 mode ($d_{33}$) and the energy conversion efficiency is proportional to the piezoelectric constant (d). We expect the spiral type MEMS power generator would be a good candidate for a standalone power generator for USN.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.114-120
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• 2016

This paper describes generating efficiency characteristics of the double acting Stirling engine/generator for domestic small-scale CHP (Combined Heat and Power) system. In small distributed generation applications, Stirling engine has competition from fuel cell, microturbine and etc. In order to be economical in the applications, a long life with minimum maintenance is generally required. Free piston Stirling engine (FPSE) has no crank and rotating parts to generate lateral forces and require lubrication. Double acting Stirling engine/generator has one displacer and two power piston which are supported by flexure springs. Two power pistons oscillate with symmetric displacement and are connected with moving magnet type linear generators for power generation from PV work. In experiments, 1 kW class double acting free piston Stirling engine/generator is fabricated and tested. Heat is supplied to hot end of engine by the combustion of natural gas and converted to electric power by linear generators which are assembled with power pistons. The electric parameters such as voltage, current and phase are measured with for variable flow rate of fuel gas. Especially, generating efficiency of FPSE is measured with three different measurement methods. Generating efficiency of the double acting Stirling engine/alternator is about 24%.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.188-193
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• 2011

A highly efficient AC-DC converter for small wind power generation systems using a brushless DC generator (BLDCG) is presented in this paper. The market standard AC-DC converter for a BLDCG consists of a three-phase diode rectifier and a boost DC-DC converter, which has an IGBT and a fast recovery diode (FRD). This kind of two-stage solution basically suffers from a large amount of conduction loss and the efficiency greatly decreases under a light load, or at a low current, because of the switching devices with a P-N junction. In order to overcome this low efficiency, especially at a low current, a three-phase bridgcless converter consisting of three upper side FRDs and three lower side Super Junction FETs is presented. In the overall operating speed region, including the cut-in speed, the efficiency of the proposed converter is improved by up to 99%. Such a remarkable result is validated and compared with conventional solutions by calculating the power loss based on I-V curves and the switching loss data of the adopted commercial switches and the current waveforms obtained through PSIM simulations.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2009

In this paper, a sensorless control of PMSG(Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator) for small wind turbine systems, which is based on stator flux and back-emf estimation. Also, a cost-effective AE/DC/AC converter that consists of a two-leg three-phase PWM converter and a half-bridge PWM converter is used for vector control of PMSG, which is impossible with the conventional diode-rectifier type converter. A sensorless control algorithm can eliminate pulse encoders for speed measurement, which reduces the system cost. Using PSIM simulation, the validity of the converter control performance and MPPT control of PMSG have been verified.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.44-52
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• 2013

This paper presents the development of 10 kW permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) for small hydropower plants considering flow rates and net head. The initial and detailed design are determined using a load distribution method (LDM) which is a well-known method for designing an electric machine and a 2D-FEA which is performed for more accurate analysis of PMSG. The characteristic analysis results of proposed model with straight line magnet are satisfied with the initial model with curved magnet. Finally, the analysis and the design results are confirmed by the experimental results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2002.10b
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• pp.203-204
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• 2002

The wear behaviour of steam generator (SG) tubes (Inconel 600 and 690) against support materials (405 and 409 ferritic stainless steels) has been experimentally studied in room temperature water using reciprocating wear apparatus with tube-an-plate configuration. The results showed that the wear rate of Inconel 690 was lower than that of lnconel 600 with increasing normal loads and sliding amplitudes. Also, plastic deformation layers appear below the surface of both SG tubes, which have a specific thickness and are small compared with their grain size. This means that wear rate of SG tubes in water condition is closely related to the formation and fracture of plastic deformation layers.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.363-369
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• 1999

In this paper, we design the robust $H_{\infty}$ controller for water level control of steam generator using a mixed $H_{\infty}$ optimization with model-matching method. Firstly we choose the desired model which has good disturbance rejection performance. Secondly we design a stabilizing controller to keep the model-matching error small and also provide sufficiently large stability margin against additive perturbations of the nominal plant. Simulation results show that proposed robust $H_{\infty}$ controller at specific power operation has satisfactory performances against the variations of load power, steam flow rate, primary circuit coolant temperature, and feedwater temperature. It can be also observed that the proposed robust $H_{\infty}$ controller exhibits better robust stability than conventional PI controller.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.1574-1575
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• 2011

The application of a pulsed power system is being extended to an environmental and industrial field. The non-destructive gaseous pollutants from industrial plants such as power generation plants and incinerators can be processed by applying high voltage pulses with a fast rising time (a few nanoseconds) and short duration (nano to microseconds) in a pulsed corona discharge reactor. The pulsed plasma generator with a triggered switch has been developed. Its corona current in load can be adjusted by applied voltage and repetition rate. We investigated the performance of the pulsed plasma generator by analyzing the concentration of ozone in small reactor. This paper describes the electrical characteristics of the pulse generator with a voltage of 30 kV at repetition rate of 50 PPS. In addition, we briefly discuss a configuration of the system and initial test results.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.830_831
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• 2009

Wind power system attracts most interest because of high-energy efficiency with environment-friendly. Small scale wind power applications requires a cost effective and mechanically simple generator in order to be a reliable energy source. The use of direct driven generators, instead of geared machines, reduces the number of drive components, which offers the opportunity to reduce costs and increases system reliability and efficiency. This paper presents the development of a coreless axial-flux permanent magnet(AFPM) generator for a urban wind power system. It is analyzed by electromagnetic simulation program Maxwell 3D