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Thermoelectric generator on glass fabric for wearable electronic devices
Wearable computers or devices have been hailed as the next generation of mobile electronic gadgets, from smart watches to smart glasses to smart pacemakers. For electronics to be worn by a user, they must be light, flexible, and equipped with a power source, which could be a portable, long-lasting battery or no battery at all but a generator. How to supply power in a stable and reliable manner is one of the most critical issues to commercialize wearable devices.
A team of KAIST researchers headed by Byung Jin Cho, a professor of electrical engineering, proposed a solution to this problem by developing a glass fabric-based thermoelectric (TE) generator that is extremely light and flexible and produces electricity from the heat of the human body. In fact, it is so flexible that the allowable bending radius of the generator is as low as 20 mm. There are no changes in performance even if the generator bends upward and downward for up to 120 cycles.
To date, two types of TE generators have been developed based either on organic or inorganic materials. The organic-based TE generators use polymers that are highly flexible and compatible with human skin, ideal for wearable electronics. The polymers, however, have a low power output. Inorganic-based TE generators produce a high electrical energy, but they are heavy, rigid, and bulky.
Professor Cho came up with a new concept and design technique to build a flexible TE generator that minimizes thermal energy loss but maximizes power output. His team synthesized liquid-like pastes of n-type (Bi2Te3) and p-type (Sb2Te3) TE materials and printed them onto a glass fabric by applying a screen printing technique. The pastes permeated through the meshes of the fabric and formed films of TE materials in a range of thickness of several hundreds of microns. As a result, hundreds of TE material dots (in combination of n and p types) were printed and well arranged on a specific area of the glass fabric.
Professor Cho explained that his TE generator has a self-sustaining structure, eliminating thick external substrates (usually made of ceramic or alumina) that hold inorganic TE materials. These substrates have taken away a great portion of thermal energy, a serious setback which causes low output power.
He also commented,
"For our case, the glass fabric itself serves as the upper and lower substrates of a TE generator, keeping the inorganic TE materials in between. This is quite a revolutionary approach to design a generator. In so doing, we were able to significantly reduce the weight of our generator (~0.13g/cm2), which is an essential element for wearable electronics."
When using KAIST's TE generator (with a size of 10 cm x 10 cm) for a wearable wristband device, it will produce around 40 mW electric power based on the temperature difference of 31 °F between human skin and the surrounding air.
Professor Cho further described about the merits of the new generator:
"Our technology presents an easy and simple way of fabricating an extremely flexible, light, and high-performance TE generator. We expect that this technology will find further applications in scale-up systems such as automobiles, factories, aircrafts, and vessels where we see abundant thermal energy being wasted."
This research result was published online in the March 14th issue of Energy & Environmental Science and was entitled "Wearable Thermoelectric Generator Fabricated on Glass Fabric."
Youtube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlN9lvEzCuw&feature=youtu.be
[Picture Captions]
Caption 1: The picture shows a high-performance wearable thermoelectric generator that is extremely flexible and light.
Caption 2: A thermoelectric generator developed as a wristband. The generator can be easily curved along with the shape of human body.
Caption 3: KAIST’s thermoelectric generator can be bent as many as 120 times, but it still shows the same high performance.
2014.04.21 View 19814 -
Hidden Mechanism for the Suppression of Colon Cancer Identified
Published in Cell Reports : cells at the risk of causing colorectal cancer due to genetic mutation are discharged outside the colon tissue
Korean researchers have successfully identified the cancer inhibitory mechanism of the colon tissue. The discovery of the inherent defense mechanism of the colon tissues is expected to provide understanding of the cause of colorectal cancer.
The research was led by Kwang-Hyun Cho, a professor of Bio and Brain Engineering at KAIST (corresponding author) and participated by Dr. Jehun Song (the first author), as well as Dr. Owen Sansom, David Huels, and Rachel Ridgway from the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in the UK and Dr. Walter Kolch from Conway Institute in Ireland.
The research was funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the National Research Foundation of Korea, and its results were published in the 28th March online edition of Cell Reports under the title of “The APC network regulates the removal of mutated cells from colonic crypts.”
The organism can repair damaged tissues by itself, but genetic mutations, which may cause cancer, can occur in the process of cell division s for the repair. The rapid cell division s and toxic substances from the digestive process cause a problem especially in colon crypt that has a high probability for genetic mutation.
The research team was able to find out that the colon tissues prevent cancer by rapidly discharging carcinogenic cells with genetic mutations from the colon crypt durin ga frequent tissue repair process.
This defense mechanism, which inhibits abnormal cell division s by reducing the time mutated cells reside in the crypt, is inherent in the colon.
Extensive mathematical simulation results show that the mutated cells with enhanced Wnt signaling acquire increased adhesion in comparison to the normal cells, which therefore move rapidly toward the upper part of the crypt and are discharged more easily.
If beta-catenine, the key factor in Wnt signal transduction pathway, is not degraded due to genetic mutation, the accumulated beta-catenine activates cell proliferation and increases cell adhesion. The special environment of crypt tissue and the tendency of the cells with similar adhesion to aggregate will therefore discharge the mutated cell, hence maintaining the tissue homeostasis.
In vivo experiment with a mouse model confirms the simulation results that, in the case of abnormal crypt, the cells with high proliferation in fact move slower.
Professor Cho said, “This research has identified that multicellular organism is exquisitely designed to maintain the tissue homeostasis despite abnormal cell mutation. This also proves the systems biology research, which is a convergence of information technology and bio-technology , can discover hidden mechanisms behind complex biological phenomena.”
Crypt: Epithelium, consisting of approximately 2,000 cells, forms a colon surface in the shape of a cave.
Wnt Signaling: A signal transduction pathway involved in the proliferation and differentiation of cells that are particularly important for the embryonic development and management of adult tissue homeostasis.
2014.04.17 View 11217 -
KAIST and Hancom Inc. Join Hands for Software Development Projects
KAIST
(Steve Kang) and Hancom Inc. (Sang-Chul Kim) made an agreement on the 8th
of April for a partnership to jointly develop software industry. After the
ceremony, a TFT (Task Force Team) for industry-university collaboration was
established and a seminar to discuss cooperative projects ensued.
KAIST and
Hancom Inc. agreed to cooperate in three main areas at the seminar. They
included enhancing manpower in the Korean software industry, the technical
development of software applications, and creating a business model for the
expansion of the Korean software market globally.
KAIST
president Steve Kang said, "Noteworthy research achievements will result
from this great partnership with Hancom Inc. I believe this alliance will play an
important role in the development of Korean software industry."
“The
combination of KAIST's excellent talents and Hancom's software know-hows will produce market-winning results. We hope that mutual developments from the
two organizations through this practical industry-university collaboration will inspire many software companies to follow suit,” said Sang-Chul Kim, the president of Hancom
Inc.
2014.04.11 View 7338 -
The 2014 World Wide Web Conference on April 7-11, 2014 in Seoul
Organized by KAIST, the global academic conference is open to the public, a great opportunity to meet the leaders of web science and information technology industry.
For registrations, please go to http://www2014.kr/registration.
The International World Wide Web Conference (WWW), the largest and the most prestigious annual gathering of experts in web science and engineering, is held from April 7-11, 2014 at COEX in Seoul, for the first time in Korea. This year marks the 23rd of the conference since its foundation in 1994.
Approximately 1,000 distinguished scholars, researchers, engineers, and senior representatives from the web industry and around the world joined the conference. Among them was Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web, who came to Seoul as a keynote speaker.
The Department of Computer Science and the Division of Web Science and Technology at KAIST have organized the WWW 2014.
For the details about the conference, please see the article below:
Korea Joongang Daily
April 8, 2014
World Wide Web Conference Makes Seoul Debut
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2987569
2014.04.08 View 7009 -
Strawberries Delivered by A Miniature Drone at KAIST Spring Festival
The "HAPPY KAIST 2014 Spring Festival" held at KAIST from 4th April
The Cherry Blossoms Festival under the theme of "Cherry Blossoms: Light and Fantasy" held on 4th April
The Strawberry Party with strawberries exclusively delivered by a miniature drone on 11th April
KAIST is holding a spring festival from April 4th through 11th.
As a part of the "HAPPY KAIST 2014" event, cherry blossoms festival and strawberry party will be held at KAIST campus starting on April 4th.
This event has been organized with the purpose of creating a new culture and tradition for members of KAIST to unite. Faculty members, staff, and students have all contributed to making the festival a success.
The cherry blossoms festival, held under the theme of "Cherry Blossoms: Light and Fantasy," takes place at the road in front of the KAIST north dormitory, which provides a spectacular view of cherry blossom trees. It begins on the night of April 4th and continues until the 8th of April.
Around the cherry blossom tree road displays an art exhibition by the Design Rangers, a student club of graduate and doctorate students from the Department of Industrial Design at KAIST. The exhibition includes the "Fantasy Cherry Blossoms" and "Let’s Walk Together."
Following on the 11th will be the "Strawberry Party" to take place throughout the campus. The strawberry party began in 1995 in order to help the local strawberry farmers. Now, it has become KAIST’s own unique tradition attended by faculty, student clubs, and laboratory members.
This year, the fruit party becomes a unique event in that there will be a demonstration of strawberry delivery by an unmanned vehicle or an unmanned aerial vehicle (a miniature drone).
When a customer orders strawberries via a smart phone application, the user's current location is sent to the central system of an unmanned vehicle. Either the unmanned vehicle (UV) transports strawberries or for places
inaccessible
by the UV such as on a lawn, the drone delivers the fruit to the customer
.
This demonstration has been organized by Professor Hyunchul Shim from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at KAIST. Professor Shim said, “If the unmanned logistics system, such as the one being demonstrated at the Strawberry Party, is commercialized, both cost and time
in the logistics industry
can be significantly reduced.”
The HAPPY KAIST 2014,
organized
by the College of Engineering, is an annual event, consisting of a total of five programs, with the purpose to make the campus happier and
healthier.
2014.04.07 View 9219 -
The KAIST Graduate Program for Future Strategy Holds Symposium on Futurology
The KAIST Graduate Program for Future Strategy held the 2014 Futurology Symposium entitled "Limits to Growth and Quantum Jumps"
at the Korea Press Center on April 3rd. The symposium was organized in efforts to
overcome the limits of Korean society’s growth potential and find a new growth momentum.
Three types of sessions took place: special lectures, field-specific subject presentations, and comprehensive debates.
As keynote speakers, Jim Dator, a professor at the University of Hawaii, lectured on Korea’s limits and possibilities, and David E. Van Zandt, the president of the New School in New York City on future social changes and our choice.
The seven field-specific subject presentations included: "The re-framing of social conflicts and frames" by Young-Jin Kang of Sungkyunkwan University, "The limits of technology and three-dimensional tech-knowledge solutions" by Chun-Taek Rim of KAIST, and "The limits of capitalism and the present financial system" by
Su-Chan Chae of KAIST
.
In addition, Yong-Suk Seo of the Korea Institute of Public Administration made a presentation on the "Population structure change and three future strategy options," Se-Yeon Kim, Congressman of the Saenuri party, on "The limits of politics and future strategy organization," and Seung-Bin Park, Dean of the KAIST College of Engineering, on the "Energy exhaustion and environmental problems."
The debate topic at the third session,
chaired by Kyu-Yeon Lee, a member of the editorial board of
Joongang Ilbo,
a Korean
daily newspaper, was "The limits of growth and another leap proposed by opinion leaders of Korea."
The seven
fields
stand for society, technology, economy, population, politics, environment, and resource, the major elements that bring
changes
in future society.
Jim Dator (left) and
David E. Van Zandt (right)
2014.04.04 View 6979 -
When Technology Meets Spring: A Drone Delivering Strawberries Greets the Change of Seasons in KAIST
KAIST celebrates the arrival of spring by hosting a variety of cultural events for university members as well as the surrounding community members.
The "Happy KAIST 2014" will be held from April 4 to April 11th, which includes the “Cherry Blossoms Festival” and “Strawberry Party.” The event is free and open to the public.
As part of the strawberry party, visitors to the campus can order the fruit to be delivered to the place where they sit via a drone developed by Professor Hyunchul Shim of Aerospace Engineering at KAIST.
The strawberry delivery by a drone starts on April 11. Throughout the campus, the drone will deliver up to 100 containers of strawberries to customers.
Pictures:
A drone delivers a small container of strawberries ordered by students.
2014.04.04 View 8089 -
An Electron Cloud Distribution Observed by the Scanning Seebeck Microscope
All matters are made of small particles, namely atoms. An atom is composed of a heavy nucleus and cloud-like, extremely light electrons.
Korean researchers developed an electron microscopy technique that enables the accurate observation of an electron cloud distribution at room-temperature. The achievement is comparable to the invention of the quantum tunneling microscopy technique developed 33 years ago.
Professor Yong-Hyun Kim of the Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology at KAIST and Dr. Ho-Gi Yeo of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) developed the Scanning Seebeck Microscope (SSM). The SSM renders clear images of atoms, as well as an electron cloud distribution. This was achieved by creating a voltage difference via a temperature gradient.
The development was introduced in the online edition of Physical Review Letters (April 2014), a prestigious journal published by the American Institute of Physics.
The SSM is expected to be economically competitive as it gives high resolution images at an atomic scale even for graphene and semiconductors, both at room temperature. In addition, if the SSM is applied to thermoelectric material research, it will contribute to the development of high-efficiency thermoelectric materials.
Through numerous hypotheses and experiments, scientists now believe that there exists an electron cloud surrounding a nucleus. IBM's Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) was the first to observe the electron cloud and has remained as the only technique to this day. The developers of IBM microscope, Dr. Gerd Binnig and Dr. Heinrich Rohrer, were awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics.
There still remains a downside to the STM technique, however: it required high precision and extreme low temperature and vibration. The application of voltage also affects the electron cloud, resulting in a distorted image.
The KAIST research team adopted a different approach by using the Seebeck effect which refers to the voltage generation due to a temperature gradient between two materials.
The team placed an observation sample (graphene) at room temperature (37~57℃) and detected its voltage generation. This technique made it possible to observe an electron cloud at room temperature.
Furthermore, the research team investigated the theoretical quantum mechanics behind the electron cloud using the observation gained through the Seebeck effect and also obtained by simulation capability to analyze the experimental results.
The research was a joint research project between KAIST Professor Yong-Hyun Kim and KRISS researcher Dr. Ho-Gi Yeo. Eui-Seop Lee, a Ph.D. candidate of KAIST, and KRISS researcher Dr. Sang-Hui Cho also participated. The Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning, the Global Frontier Initiative, and the Disruptive Convergent Technology Development Initiative funded the project in Korea.
Picture 1: Schematic Diagram of the Scanning Seebeck Microscope (SSM)
Picture 2: Electron cloud distribution observed by SSM at room temperature
Picture 3: Professor Yong-Hyun Kim
2014.04.04 View 12951 -
Professor Sang-Yup Lee Named the Winner of the Ho-Am Prize in 2014
The Ho-Am Prize, awarded by Samsung Group’s Ho-Am Foundation, was announced on April 2, 2014 in Seoul. Professor Sang-Yup Lee of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at KAIST was among the five recipients.
The prize is presented to Koreans who have made great contributions to the development of Korea in the field of science, engineering, medicine, arts, and philanthropy.
Professor Lee received the award in recognition of his pioneering research on systems metabolic engineering.
For the story written by Korea Joongang Daily, please go to the link below:
Ho-Am Foundation Names Annual Prize Winners
Korea Joongang Daily
April 3, 2014
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=2987332
2014.04.03 View 9083 -
Press release from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International): Eighty-five business schools extend their AACSB accreditation in business or accounting
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) released a news announcement on April 1, 2014, saying that 85 business schools around the world extended their AACSB accreditation in business or accounting. KAIST is one of the 85 schools which is renewing its business accreditation for another five years.
Founded in 1916, AACSB International is a global accrediting organization for business schools that offer undergraduate, master’s, and doctorate degrees in business and accounting. The release said, “AACSB Accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education and has been earned by less than five percent of the world’s business schools. Today, there are 694 business schools in 45 countries and territories that have earned the accreditation.”
For the entirety of the release, please go to:
http://www.aacsb.edu/en/newsroom/2014/4/eighty-five-b-schools-extend-accreditation/
2014.04.02 View 6141 -
Book Announcement: The Transformative Power of Service Innovation
Professor
Tae-Sung Yoon of the Technology Management Graduate School at KAIST has
recently published a book entitled
The
Transformative Power of Service Innovation
(available only in Korean).
In the
book, Professor Yoon presents many examples of successful service innovations
and explores the topic of how excellence in innovation can be achieved through the
convergence of diverse fields and industries.
2014.04.01 View 7182 -
The First Winner of Sang Soo Lee Award in Optics and Photonics
The Optical Society of Korea and the Optical Society of America selected Mario Garavaglia, a researcher at the La Plata Optical Research Center in Argentina, as the first winner of the Sang Soo Lee Award.
Dr. Garavaglia has been selected to receive the award in recognition for his research and education in the field of optics and photonics in Argentina.
The Sang Soo Lee Award, co-established by the Optical Society of Korea and the Optical Society of America in 2012, is awarded to an individual who has made a significant impact in the field. Special considerations are made for individuals who have introduced a new field of research, helped establish a new industry, or made a great contribution to education in the field.
The award is sponsored by the late Doctor Sang Soo Lee's family, the Optical Society of Korea, and the Optical Society of America.
The late Doctor Sang Soo Lee (1925~2010) has been widely known as the 'father of optics' in Korea. He was an active educator, researcher, and writer. Dr. Lee served as the first director of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science (KAIS), the predecessor to KAIST, which was Korea's first research oriented university.
Dr. Lee also served as the 6th president of KAIST between 1989 to 1991 and was a KAIST professor of physics for 21 years. He oversaw the completion of 50 Ph.D. and 100 Master's students as well as published 230 research papers.
Philip Bucksbaum, the president of the Optical Society of America, commented,
"Garavaglia has been an example to the spirit of the Sang Soo Lee Award. The award is the recognition for his tireless efforts and commitment to the development of optics and photonics in Argentina through his teaching, research, and publications."
Jeong-Won Woo, the president of the Optical Society of Korea, said,
"The Sang Soo Lee Award is given to researchers who have consistently contributed to the development of the field. Garavaglia is a well respected researcher in Argentina, and we are truly happy with his selection."
Dr. Garavaglia established a spectroscopy, optic, and laser laboratory in Universidad Nacional de La Plata in 1966. He founded the Center for Optical Research in 1977 and served as the chief of the laboratory until 1991.
Dr. Garavaglia published over 250 research papers in the fields of classical optics, modern optics, photoemission spectroscopy, and laser spectroscopy. He has also received the Galileo Galilei Award from the International Commission for Optics in 1999.
2014.03.31 View 9779