• Solar Energy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.97-108
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to minimize the heat transfer surface area and cold fluid exit temperature of heat exchanger which applied to the refrigeration and air-conditioning system by utilizing the thermoelectric principle. Both uniform and non-uniform current distribution methods which applied to the analysis of the TE elements that incorporates heat exchanger were investigated. The non-uniform current distribution method had the better coefficient of performance and had the lower cold fluid exit temperature of the TE cooling system than the uniform current distribution method. It was found that if a TE cooling system incorporates a heat exchanger, a non-uniform current distribution should guarantee to the lowest cold fluid exit temperature. Also, the hybrid method (combination of the uniform and non-uniform current distribution method) is investigated to achieve the best results by combining the uniform and non-uniform current distributions. The results show that it can lower the cold fluid exit temperature and reduce the heat transfer surface area for the parallel flow arrangement if we apply the constant current in some entry region and the non-uniform increasing current in the direction of the cold fluid flow afterwards.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.144-148
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• 2004

Uniform current distribution among conductor layers in HTS cables using IPTs (inter-phase transformers) was investigated. Conventional methods for current distribution, in which resistors are inserted to conductor layers, causes additional loss. In contrast, IPTs, which use magnetic coupling, make it possible that the current in parallel circuits is distributed uniformly with any load, and minimize the loss. In this study, IPTs were designed and fabricated for examination of uniform current distribution in the conductor layers of HTS cables. The ITP was designed through calculation of its impedance that can cancel the inductance of the conduction layers. The experimental setup consisted of four IPTs and four inductors that simulate the conductor layer inductance. Each layer was designed to feed 10 A. We examined the behavior of current distribution with IPTs for various layer inductances.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.26-29
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• 2011

In a High temperature superconducting (HTS) tape with high aspect ratio, the magnetic field applied to the HTS tape can be different considerably within the HTS tape. The current distribution in the HTS tape is generally non-uniform because the current distribution is strongly dependent on the applied magnetic field. Non-uniform current distribution in a HTS tape has not been properly considered when the critical current has been estimated. This paper shows the calculation of critical current of a HTS magnet consisting of pancake windings. Non-uniform distribution of current in the HTS tape is considered during the calculation of the critical current. Results of calculation show the current concentrated in the middle part of the HTS tape which is used for one pancake winding.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.16-19
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• 2012

The influence of current distribution on the transport current loss in vertically stacked high-$T_c$ superconductor (HTS) tapes was evaluated. AC loss was analyzed as a function of current distribution by introducing a current distribution parameter through a numerical method (finite element analysis). AC loss under non-uniform current distribution is always higher than that for a uniformly distributed transport current in a conductor. Although the effect of non-uniformity is relatively insignificant in low transport current, AC loss increases substantially in high transport current regions as non-uniformity is enlarged. The results verify that non-uniform current distribution causes extra loss by examining the cross-sectional view of current densities in stacked conductor.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.07b
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• pp.973-975
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• 2003

Uniform current distribution among conductor layers in HTS cables using IPTS (inter-phase transformers) was proposed. Conventional methods for current distribution, in which resistors are inserted to conductor layers, causes additional loss. In contrast, IPTS, which use magnetic coupling, make it possible that the current in parallel circuits is distributed uniformly with any load, and minimize the loss. In this study, IPTS were designed and fabricated for examination of uniform current distribution in the conductor layers of HTS cables. The ITP was designed through calculation of its impedance that can cancel the inductance of the conduction layers.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.53 no.7
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• pp.424-429
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• 2004

The 4-probe method with a voltage tap on terminals has been used for the measurement of the critical current of multi-strand high-T$_{c}$ superconducting(HTS) cables. And the critical current of cables is obtained as the measured total current divided by the number of conductor when the terminal voltage exceeds the predetermined criterion of critical current. However, because of the non-uniform current distribution due to the different critical current, shapes, and other characteristics of each conductor, this is not applicable method to the multi-strand HTS cable. To determine the critical current of multi-strand HTS cable, the critical current of each conductor must be measured with different method. h this paper, the current distribution and the critical current of each conductors in multi-strand cable were measured with specially made Pick-up coils and voltage taps. It is presented that the real critical current of multi-strand is smaller than sum of each conductors. The main cause of non-uniform current distribution is the difference between the resistances appeared in each HTS wires.s.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.254-259
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• 2003

The 4-probe method with a voltage tap on terminals has been used for the measurement of the critical current of multi-strand high-Tc superconducting (HTS) cables. And the critical current of cables is obtained as the measured total current divided by the number of conductor when the terminal voltage exceeds the predetermined criterion of critical current. However, because of the non-uniform current distribution due to the different critical current, shapes, and other characteristics of each conductor this is not applicable method to the multi-strand HTS cable. To determine the critical current of multi-strand HTS cable the critical current of each conductor must be measured with different method. In this paper, the current distribution and the critical current of each conductor in multi-strand cable were measured with specially made pick-up coils and voltage taps. It is presented that the real critical current of multi-strand is smaller than sum of each conductors. The main cause of non-uniform current distribution is the different resistances appeared in each HTS wires.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.56-62
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• 2021

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is the high efficiency fuel cell operating at high temperatures ranging from 700-1000℃. Design of the flow paths of the fuel and air in SOFCs is important to improve cell performance and prevent cell degradation. However, the uneven distribution of current density in the traditional type having one inlet and outlet causes cell degradation. In this regard, the parallel flow path with two inlet and outlets was designed and compared to the traditional type based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. To check the cell performance, hydrogen distribution, velocity distribution and current density distribution were monitored. The results validated that the parallel designs with two inlets and outlets have a higher cell performance compared to the traditional design with one inlet and outlet due to a larger reaction area. In case of uniform-type paths, more uniform current density distribution was observed with less cross-sectional variation in flow paths. In case of contracted and expanded inflow paths, significant improvement of performance and uniform current density was not observed compared to uniform parallel path. Considering SOFC cell with uniform current density can prevent cell degradation, more suitable design of SOFC cell with less cross-sectional variation in the flow path should be developed. This work can be helpful to understand the role of flow distribution in the SOFC performance.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 2003.02a
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• pp.58-61
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• 2003

A typical HTS power transmission cable has multi-layer conductor structure to increase the current capacity. The current distribution among the conductor tapes is controlled mainly by pitches and winding directions of the layers, because the inductance of the layer is determined by the pitch and the winding direction. However, usually the current is not evenly distributed among the layers. This paper describes a method to make the current distribution more uniform and hence reduce the AC loss. If we choose a good combination we can find the optimal pitches and make an even current distribution. We studied the effect of the winding direction on a 2-layer cable by a statistical way. Calculation results and discussions will be presented.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.504-509
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• 2011

The conducting current of non-uniform plasma immersed electrode consists of ion current and secondary electron emission current caused by the impinging ion current. The ion current is determined by the ion dose passing through the sheath in front of electrode and the ion distribution in front of the electrode plays an important role in the secondary electron emission. The investigation of the distributed plasma and secondary electron effect on electrode ion current was carried out as the stainless steel electrode plugged with quartz tube was immersed in the inductively coupled Ar plasma using the antenna powered by 1 kw and the density profile was measured. After that, the negative voltage was applied by 1 kV~6 kV to measure the conduction current for the analysis of ion current.