Since the ZnO varistor is a semiconductor device, the internal thermal distribution during the varistor operation is recognized as an important factor in the performance and deterioration of the varistor. For an optimal varistor structure design, the thermal runaway phenomenon during the varistor operation was interpreted using the Comsol 5.2 analysis program by a finite element analysis. The maximum temperature of the center measured in the cross section of the ZnO varistor was confirmed to increase as the temperature moved from the lower electrode to the center towards the upper electrode up to 572.6 K. The electrodes are thinned so that the influence of the Schottky barrier is not great. The heat gradient balance is determined to be improved when the electrode of the hybrid form is introduced. The thickness, density, pore distribution, impurity uniformity, and particle size of the ZnO varistor are required, and it is determined that the pyrolysis gradient will be improved regardless of the electrode thickness. When these results are applied to design the ZnO varistor, the optimal structure of the ZnO varistor can be obtained.

Metal oxide varistors (MOVs) protect circuits and devices from transient overvoltages in electric power systems. However, a MOV continuously deteriorates owing to manufacturing defects or repetitive protective operations from transient overvoltages. A deteriorated MOV may result in a short circuit or a line-ground accident. Previous studies focused on the analysis of deterioration mechanisms and condition diagnosis techniques for MOVs owing to their recent growth of use. An accelerated deterioration experiment under the same conditions in which a MOV operates is essential. In this study, we designed and fabricated a surge generator that can apply a surge current to a MOV connected to AC mains. The coupling network operates at a low impedance against the surge current from the surge generator and transfers the surge current to the MOV under test. It also acts as a high impedance against AC mains for the AC voltage not to be applied to the surge generator. The decoupling network operates at a high impedance against the surge current and blocks the surge current from AC mains. It also acts as a low impedance against AC mains for the AC voltage to be applied to the MOV under test. The prototype surge generator can apply the 8/20 us up to 15 kA on AC voltages in the approximate range of 110~450 V, and it fully operates on a LabVIEW-based program.

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a high power piezoelectric ultrasonic surgery unit for multi-purpose dental implantation. A conventional piezoelectric ultrasonic surgery units consists of a transducer and a tip. However, the drawback of this simple structure is that the output performance of the transducer considerably changes with the change of the tips. An ultrasonic surgery unit that has an additional booster between the transducer and the tip can solve this problem to some extent; for this, an optimal structural design for the transducer is required. We used the Bolted Langevin Transducer (BLT) as the basic transducer; it consists of piezoelectric ceramics and a metal body. It`s structure was optimized using mathematical methods to determine the length and radius of the tail and head masses. Additionally, the booster was also subjected to the same methods. Using these mathematical methods, optimal results in terms of the resonance frequency (24.96 kHz), displacement (14.27 ㎛), and pressure (2.8 MPa), could be obtained. The validity of this proposed surgery unit was confirmed experimentally, exhibiting a cutting force of around 7% higher than that of a conventional surgery unit.

Coil specimen was prepared by coating a copper wire with two varnish thin layers: the first was polyamideimide (PAI)/nanosilica (5 wt%) varnish and the second was anti-corona PAI/nanosilica (15 wt%) varnish. Insulation breakdown voltage was investigated under inverter surge condition at 20℃, 70℃, 100℃, 150℃, 200℃, 250℃, respectively. The insulation lifetime of the two layered coil was tens of times longer than that of original PAI coil. And the insulation lifetime decreased with increasing ambient temperature because there was weak binding strength between copper and varnish layer.

A piezoelectric ultrasonic bone surgical instrument, usually used to remove the tartar out of teeth or to cut the dentine of the tooth, is a recently popular instrument for dental treatment due to its several merits such as small size, low-electric power and precision control of surgical operation. It has typically two parts of a tip and vibration system which is also composed of head, piezoelectric elements and tail-mass. In order to improve the performance of the instrument, it is important to standardize the size of the vibration system without tip for high performance. In this study, a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was utilized to optimize the structure of ultrasonic instrument in vibration system. Consequently, this study revealed that influence of several tips on property were minimized and it showed good property at the frequency range of 22∼32 kHz.