• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2444-2452
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• 2022

The field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is gaining popularity in industrial automation such as nuclear power plant instrumentation and control (I&C) systems due to the benefits of having non-existence of operating system, minimum software errors, and minimum common reason failures. Separate functions can be processed individually and in parallel on the same integrated circuit using FPGAs in comparison to the conventional microprocessor-based systems used in any plant operations. The use of FPGAs offers the potential to minimize complexity and the accompanying difficulty of securing regulatory approval, as well as provide superior protection against obsolescence. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are a new technology for acquiring and processing plant data wirelessly in which sensor nodes are configured for real-time signal processing, data acquisition, and monitoring. ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4) is an open worldwide standard for minimum power, low-cost machine-to-machine (M2M), and internet of things (IoT) enabled wireless network communication. It is always a challenge to follow the specific topology when different Zigbee nodes are placed in a large network such as a plant. The research article focuses on the hardware chip design of different topological structures supported by ZigBee that can be used for monitoring and controlling the different operations of the plant and evaluates the performance in Vitex-5 FPGA hardware. The research work presents a strategy for configuring FPGA with ZigBee sensor nodes when communicating in a large area such as an industrial plant for real-time monitoring.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1537-1544
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• 2022

When designing chip, it considers design specification, timing problem, and clock synchronization on place & route (P&R) process. P&R process is complicated because of considering various factors. Chip uses clock tree synthesis (CTS) to reduce clock path delay. The purpose of this study is to examine shallow-CTS algorithm for checking clock tree synthesizable. Using open source Parser-Verilog, register transfer level (RTL) synthesizable Verilog file is parsed and it uses Pre-CTS and Post-CTS process that is included shallow-CTS. Based on longest clock path in the Pre-CTS and Post-CTS stages, the standard deviation before and after buffer insertion is compared and analyzed for the accuracy of CTS. In this paper, It is expected that the cost and time problem could be reduced by providing a pre-clock tree synthesis verification method at the RTL level without confirming the CTS result using the time-consuming licensed EDA tool.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.17-22
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• 2021

Eco-friendly magnesium-air battery is a kind of metal-air battery known as a primary battery with a very high theoretical discharge capacity. This battery is also called a metal-fuel cell from the viewpoint of using oxygen in the atmosphere as a cathode active material and magnesium alloy as a fuel. Since battery performance is determined by the properties of the magnesium alloy used as a anode, more research and development of the magnesium alloy electrode as a anode material are required in order to commercialize it as a high-performance battery. In this study, the commercialized magnesium alloys(AZ31, AZ61) were selected and then electrochemical measurements and discharge test were conducted. Electrochemical properties of magnesium alloys were investigated by OCP changes, Tafel parameters and CV measurement, and the feasibilities of AZ61 alloy with excellent discharge capacity(1410mAhg^-1) as electrode materials were evaluated through CC discharge experiments.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.246-256
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• 2021

Mo,Cu-doped CeO₂ (CMCuO) nanopowders were synthesized by the nitrate-fuel combustion method aiming to improve the electrical and electrochemical properties of its Mo-doped CeO₂ (CMO) parent by the addition of copper. An electrical conductivity of ca. 1.22·10^-2 S cm^-1 was measured in air at 800℃ for CMCuO, which is nearly 10 times higher than that reported for CMO. This increase was associated with the inclusion of copper into the crystal lattice of ceria and the presence of Cu and Cu₂O as secondary phases in the CMCuO structure, which also could explain the increase in the charge transfer activities of the CMCuO based anode for the hydrogen and carbon monoxide electro-oxidation processes compared to the CMO based anode. A maximum power density of ca. 120 mW cm^-2 was measured using a CMCuO based anode in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with YSZ electrolyte and LSM-YSZ cathode operating at 800℃ with humidified syngas as fuel, which is comparable to the power output reported for other SOFCs with anodes containing copper. An increase in the area specific resistance of the SOFC was observed after ca. 10 hours of operation under cycling open circuit voltage and polarization conditions, which was attributed to the anode delamination caused by the reduction of the Cu₂O secondary phase contained in its microstructure. Therefore, the addition of a more electroactive phase for hydrogen oxidation is suggested to confer long-term stability to the CMCuO based anode.

• International Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

The NEA release mechanism is used to provide restraint and release functions with low shock for critical deployment operations on solar arrays after launch. The GK3 solar array consists of 2 wings and 6 hold down points per panel. The NEA SSD9103S1 is a part of the GK3 solar array hold-down and release mechanism. Each NEA unit is equipped with two Z-diodes which provide power to a NEA unit connected in series after actuation of the fuse wire. This paper presents the hot firing test results of a quadrature NEA SSD9103S1 configuration. One output powers a maximum of 4 NEA SSD9103S1 units simultaneously. The necessary actuation pulse duration has been determined to meet margin requirement for thermal energy of minimum 4. Actuation thermal energy difference is about 6.6% between each half of two fired serial NEAs. Thermal energy margin at worst case is minimum 5.9 in case of an actuation pulse duration of 500 ms. Two series Zener impedance depend on current applied has been characterized by an additional actuation after all fuse wires are open circuit. Total number of actuation commands to the GK3 NEA unit reduce drastically from 24 in case of single NEA configuration down to 8 in case of parallel and quadrature NEA configurations. It can be accommodated by the existing HP2U Pyro design without any impact.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.431-439
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• 2021

This research work aims to investigate the effect of the aerobic bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the mechanical and electrochemical properties of the 316L stainless steel and α-brass. These properties of both the alloys were determined after 7 days of exposure to the controlled and inoculated media at 37℃. The microstructural and electrochemical test results revealed the deleterious effects of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. After exposure to the inoculated medium, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results showed the larger pitting and formation of relatively dense biofilm on α-brass compared to 316L stainless steel. The tensile strength and hardness of 316L stainless steel were slightly affected after exposure to the controlled and inoculated media. After exposure to the controlled medium and inoculated media, the tensile strength of the α-brass was least affected but a significant decrease in the hardness (from 165 HV to 124 HV) was observed due to the severe attack induced by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Similarly, the open-circuit potential of the 316L stainless steel in the inoculated medium was measured to be less active (-410 mV vs Ag/AgCl) than α-brass (-550 mV vs Ag/AgCl). In the inoculated medium, potentiodynamic polarization curves confirmed the severe attack of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on α-brass (7.15 × 10^-2 mm/year) compared to 316L stainless steel which registered a corrosion rate of 5.14 × 10^-4 mm/year.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.103-113
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• 2023

In the oil and gas exploration market, various cableless seismic systems have been developed as an alternative to improve data acquisition efficiency. However, developing such equipment at a small scale for academic research is not available owing to highly priced commercial products. Fortunately, building and experimenting with open-source hardware enable the academic utilization of cableless seismic equipment with relatively low cost. This study aims to develop a cableless seismic acquisition module using Arduino. A cableless seismic system requires the combination of signal sensing, simple pre-processing, and data storage in a single device. A conventional geophone is used as the sensor that detects the seismic wave signal. In addition, it is connected to an Arduino circuit that plays a role in implementing the processing and storing module for the detected signals. Three main functions are implemented in the Arduino module: preprocessing, A/D conversion, and data storage. The developed single-channel module can acquire a common receiver gather from multiple source experiments.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.743-748
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• 2022

The initial operation stability of hydrogen-fueled, solid oxide fuel cell with Ni thin-film anode fabricated by direct current sputtering was evaluated in terms of electrochemical properties such as peak power density, open circuit voltage, overpotential, and alternating current impedance at 500℃. Hydrogen and air were used as anode fuel and cathode fuel, respectively.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.8-12
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• 2023

In this work, we investigated the thickness of Ag precursor layer to improve the performance of flexible CIGSe solar cells grown on stainless steel (STS) substrates through three-stage co-evaporation with Ga grading followed by alkali treatments. The small amount of incorporated Ag in CIGSe films showed enhancement in the grain size and device efficiency. With an optimal 6 nm-thick Ag layer, the best cell on the STS substrate yielded more than 16%, which is comparable to the soda-lime glass (SLG) substrate. Thus, the addition of controlled Ag combined with alkali post-deposition treatment (PDT) led to increased open-circuit voltage (VOC), accompanied by the increased built-in potential as confirmed by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. It is related to a reduction of charge recombination at the depletion region. The results suggest that Ag alloying and alkali PDT are essential for producing highly efficient flexible CIGSe solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.233-240
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• 2023

p-type Tunnel Oxide Passivating Contacts (TOPCon) solar cell is fabricated with a poly-Si/SiO_x structure. It simultaneously achieves surface passivation and enhances the carriers' selective collection, which is a promising technology for conventional solar cells. The quality of passivation is depended on the quality of the tunnel oxide layer at the interface with the c-Si wafer, which is affected by the bond of SiO formed during the subsequent annealing process. The highest cell efficiency reported to date for the laboratory scale has increased to 26.1%, fabricated by the Institute for Solar Energy Research. The cells used a p-type float zone silicon with an interdigitated back contact (IBC) structure that fabricates poly-Si and SiO_x layer achieves the highest implied open-circuit voltage (iV_oc) is 750 mV, and the highest level of edge passivation is 40%. This review presents an overview of p-type TOPCon technologies, including the ultra-thin silicon oxide layer (SiO_x) and poly-silicon layer (poly-Si), as well as the advancement of the SiO_x and poly-Si layers. Subsequently, the limitations of improving efficiency are discussed in detail. Consequently, it is expected to provide a basis for the simplification of industrial mass production.