EDA-based next-generation ESB platform

March 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Technology overview: The increasing need for real-time analysis and processing of mass-data in the environments of the Internet, bigdata, and IoT is calling for development of
a large-scale global event processing system based on Event Driven Architecture (EDA), which makes possible high-speed data transmission and real-https://korean-electronics.com//inquirytime data analysis & processing. EDA-based next- generation ESB platform is a high-capacity distributed data processing system based on Event Driven Architecture (EDA), meeting  the requirements of high-speed/volume data processing, embedded/distributed  environment, service convergence, and so forth. The research team has developed two key technologies: one of them is a high-capacity/speed data processing middleware technology, which filters out unwanted information through a combined query plan and delivers relevant data to applications, and the other is a global event processing technology, which processes and delivers events based on publish-subscribe communications through dynamic configuration of a communications network domain in a distributed environment. This platform can be applied to various IoT-related industries such as the defenses, smart buildings, smart cities and plants, for event analysis/processing and event-distributing middleware ensuring high-reliability in real-time.

Untitled-29.jpgIndustrialization: This technology has been applied to the Sejong U-City integration platform, Songdo u-disaster prevention integrated operation system, and the smart highway project of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. As for the Sejong U-City integration platform, the CEP (Complex Event Processing) engine, part of the project’s achievements, was used as a technological element for context- awareness and analysis. With regard to the Songdo u-disaster prevention integrated operation system, the CEP engine was used to collect and process in real-time mass event data coming from the air quality data collection system, installed in the Sunrise (Haedoji) Park, Songdo District, so as to produce the data of current or future environmental status. For the smart highway project of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, the platform collected data from various  sensors  (e.g. radar,  CCTV, tolling, etc.) installed along the highways as well as vehicles, aiming to offer information on dangerous situations (icy road, obstacles, vehicle failure, etc.) through effective analysis of the data.

Problem-solving in industrialization: In an early stage of development, the market was not mature enough, and customers were unfamiliar with the concept, making it hard to promote the products and industrialize the technology. Over time, however, the technology was successfully applied to various projects through active promotion, especially targeting 2,000 corporate accounts. This initiative for market penetration is still in progress for a wide range of industrialization

Technology developer: MetaBuild Co., Ltd. / +82-2-598-3327 / www.metabuild.co.kr

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: New & Hot Tagged With:

Material of transparent electrode for use in flexible display

March 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Technology overview: There is a need for material development for transparent electrodes with high transparency and low resistance that can overcome problems of ITO (Indium Tin Oxide), currently in use for transparent electrodes of display, and can replace it. Research on technology of flexible transparent electrodes has been actively ongoing locally and internationally; however, material for flexible transparent electrode that is as mechanically pliable as flexible element and has properties of metal-level conductivity, excellent light transmittance, high adhesion, high thermal resistance, surface smoothness, and processability has not been developed yet.

https://korean-electronics.com//inquiry

Through the technology development, the purpose was to develop high reliability material for transparent electrodes for use in flexible display through obtaining manufacturing technology of metal-based transparent electrode material, oxide transparent electrode material, and hybrid type transparent electrode material. For development of metal-based transparent electrode materials, complex synthesis technique for organic metal, synthesis technique of metal wire, micropattern engraving formation technique, and large-scale roll to roll thin film formation technique were developed. For development of oxide transparent electrode material, oxide sputtering target formation, high-density target manufacturing technique, and oxide thin film formation technique through large-scale sputtering method were developed. In addition, research for development of interface of thin film and base material to improve curvature resistance has been implemented. Furthermore, development of hybrid type transparent electrode material has been proceeded in order to maximize strengths of metal-based materials and oxides.

Industrialization: Currently, the application field of transparent electrodes is mostly focused on the market of flat panel displays. Material used in application is mainly ITO thin film; however, with the development of flexible transparent electrodes, it is expected to replace previously used ITO and create new industry where application of ITO is limited or nearly impossible. If board and electrode installed in the upper and lower parts of LCD and OLED are replaced with transparent electrode, it would become a cash cow in the display industry that is continuously growing. Material for transparent electrodes manufactured through this technology is expected to be applied not only to display field such as LCD, OLED, and FED but also to touch panel, transparent electromagnetic shielding, transparent heating element, electro- conductive glass, gas sensor, heat reflective coating film, solar battery, lighting and automobile, transparent anti-static film, communications antenna, and optical filter. In addition, it is expected to be applied to next-generation flexible display and electronics that have characteristics such as ultra lightness, low power, low cost, portability, and high functionality.

Problem-solving in industrialization: The most important characteristic of transparent electrode material for flexible display is to maintain high transmittance and low resistance while having excellent flexibility. While metal-based transparent electrode has high flexibility, transmittance, and sheet resistance, haze property is insufficient. On the other hand, oxide transparent electrode has excellent haze property while having insufficient flexibility. Therefore, the purpose was to to develop hybrid type, transparent electrode material that maximizes strengths of the two materials and minimizes weaknesses.

<High-quality roll to roll transparent electrode
/ Transparent electrode with high transmission and low resistance
/ Roll to roll coating equipment>

Technology developer: InkTec Co., Ltd. / +82-31-494-0001 / www.inktec.com

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: New & Hot Tagged With:

High performance, high reliability microwave coaxial cable and connector with 50GHz ultra-wideband for aerospace and defense use

March 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Technology overview: Due to improvement in communications and dramatic increase of users, development of communications equipment for super-high frequency (microwave) is needed, and ultra-wideband  has been used in response to the current trend. In addition, high-quality, active and passive parts in communications equipment are required to have ultra-wideband performance. High frequency parts processing, high frequency signal mainly use coaxial cable that is convenient in making ground connection electrically while combining individual module mechanically in order to connect circuit with the outside world. Coaxial cable is also beneficial since signal wire can be easily connected by soldering.

https://korean-electronics.com//inquiry

Input/output port of RF (Radio Frequency) communications  equipment consists of a coaxial connector that is convenient for locking. However, when modules are connected or an antenna signal is sent or received through coaxial cable, discontinuity effect occurs due to structural differences between connector and cable, and mismatching in transmission mode is also caused. In addition, property of high frequency transmission is decreased due to parasitic capacitance, which leads to huge restriction in overall performance of super-high frequency and millimeter wave system. In particular, as the length of coaxial cable is extended, insertion loss is also increased, which requires an amplifier with high gain, thereby causing serious problems in power consumption and production cost. Low-loss cable consists of central conductor, dielectric, GND tape, GND braid, and jacket, which is the same composition as general  RF cable,  but it forms air space in dielectric. When dielectric constant of 50 Ohm coaxial cable is reduced, the size of the central conductor can be enlarged, which in turn can dramatically reduce the loss of transmitted signals.

Industrialization: Since manufacturing technology for low-loss cable has been insufficient in Korea, high frequency coaxial cable, connector, and sealing cable assembly have been entirely dependent on foreign countries. GigaLane secured technology, implemented the same performance, and applied to domestic and international fields of aviation, aerospace, and defense. In the aviation field, low-loss sealing cable assembly for aviation use has been supplied to client companies, mounted in trainer aircraft and combat aircraft. In addition, GigaLane’s low loss cable is being applied to the next-generation TICN (Tactical Information Communication Network) in the defense field.

Problem-solving in industrialization: There are only a few companies in the USA and Europe that have developed high-frequency broadband cables and connectors, and materials and technologies have not been known to public. In addition, convergence technology combining RF technology and mechanism engineering has to be implemented since product needs to be developed and manufactured through facilities. Through implementation  of required assignments, supply and demand of materials along with technique and know-how have been accumulated, which has led to the successful development.

Untitled-25.jpg

Technology developer: GigaLane Co., Ltd. / +82-31-233-7325 / www.gigalane.com

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: New & Hot Tagged With:

Design technique for MPSoC

March 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Technology overview: In general, SoC (System-on-Chip) means integration of circuits that have various functions in one chip. Due to dramatic reduction of product life cycle and intensified time-to-market https://korean-electronics.com//inquiryconstraints, there have been increased efforts and requests to make improved flexibility of previously designed SoC, thereby being utilized in more products. Reuse of SoC depending on applications has been implemented through a method that uses embed of a strong, universal-use microprocessor as software to realize functions required by applications as needed. Real-time processing of various jobs in a single processor requires high operating frequency, and this resulted in low energy efficiency in SoC.

Therefore, in embedded system where power performance and energy efficiency are highly emphasized, a single processor-based or DSP based system is no longer considered as a proper SoC structure.  In most embedded applications, use of task-level parallelism is highly probable; therefore, integration of numerous types of processors, DSPs, and accelerators  for specific application field into one chip is much more favorable in area, power, and reusability of SoC. MPSoC (Multi-Processor  System-on-Chip) is a design method for SoC with new concept satisfying the above-mentioned conditions.It means that the MPSoC technology installs several types of processors, large quantity of memory system, interfaces, and other various IP in one single chip. Development of the design technique enables development of elements that can build low power, high performance MPSoC. Development of compiler and system software to support the created MPSoC has resulted in development of technology that can rapidly construct and industrialize MPSoC required in various application fields.

Untitled-24

Industrialization: Industrialization of the developed MPSoC has been implemented in two directions. The first direction wasto develop own SoC chip utilizing MPSoC technology and sell it. The second direction was to use licensing MPSoC design technique or to develop ASSP (Application  Specific Standard Product) SoC chip through cooperation with client companies. SoC chip in the first direction that was self- developed through utilization of MPSoC technology was industrialized as the main MCU in digital voice tracer sold as Phillips ODM (Original Development Manufacturing).

As the main MCU, a 32-bit dual-core processer was used, and a 16-bit DSP was applied as co-processor. Peripheral circuits such as USB 2.0 OTG, 24-bit sigma-delta audio CODEC, NAND  flash I/F, and DDR memory I/F were embedded in SoC chip, and has been accomplishing exports of $4 million annually. Development and industrialization of ASSP SoC in the second direction through cooperation with client companies have led to development of SoC chip for voice recognition,  SoC for handwriting recognition, and LTE M2M modem SoC. 32-bit dual-coreor quad-core is used as main MCU, and HW accelerator that can process each application in an efficient way is embedded. SoC chip for voice recognition has been industrialized on an annual scale of 300~500Kpcs, and SoC chip for handwriting recognition is currently in development stage of the set with the developed chip. The first industrialized products were released in August 2015.

Problem-solving in industrialization: The biggest challenge in industrialization of design technique of MPSoC is the high cost of the initial stage of development for SoC chips.  When  several  IPs such as PLL, USB, ADC, DAC, etc. are used with 55nm process to manufacture  SoC chips, development expense ranges from KRW 800 million to KRW 1 billion, which is considered a huge risk for SMEs to take. Developing industrialized chip through cooperation with client companies poses another difficulty other than the huge cost spent in initial development, which is a fact that many client companies do not have experience related to developing processor embedded SoC. In order to solve this problem, planning HW and supporting SW technology are essential. For example, technological support for HW developed by client companies and I/F design of main processor must be provided. In most cases, SW support such as writing Initial Boot Code, OS porting support and driver preparation for used circuits in surrounding is essential, and development of industrialized chip can only be made possible through these technological supports.

Technology developer: Zaram Technology Inc. / +82-31-779-6700 / www.zaram.com

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: New & Hot Tagged With:

Success of high-efficiency electro-thermal sheet development through self-developed technology

March 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Kukil Paper Co., Ltd. (Sun-young Shon, CEO)

Thinking outside the box has influenced a large part of human development in various forms: innovation, creation, and invention.https://korean-electronics.com//inquiry
‘Paper’, invented by Chaeryoon in the Later Han in A.D. 105, was also the result of thinking outside the box, and this great result is rated as having enormous value as a barometer of cultural transmission and cultural development beyond the value of a simple
tool for writing.
And now, centuries after, there is a movement again to do away with the stereotype of paper, and Kukil Paper’s unusual performance in that movement raises high expectations. Beyond the concept and limitation of paper that we know Kukil Paper has reconsolidated its position as the nation’s best industrial paper and special paper manufacturer, and now they have succeeded in the technical development of electro-thermal sheet and paper thread in total heat exchanger in the result of challenging whatever they can do with paper. They are thus expected to score another innovation and creation.

The nation’s best paper manufacturer specialized for special/ industrial papers

Kukil Paper is different manufacturer from other large paper companies in Korea. While woodfree paper most commonly used in notebooks or as copy papers is the main product of large paper companies, the main products of Kukil Paper are special papers or industrial papers such as cigarette filter sheet, steel sheet protective paper, and food paper. One may question that ‘Are they all paper in the end?’ But papers produced by Kukil Paper are functional paper differ from regular white paper, and they can be essential industrial materials. Therefore Kukil Paper is a distinctive paper company producing undoubtedly differentiated papers.

Untitled-20.jpg

Moreover, they have ‘future strategy team’ which can not befound even in large paper companies and shows Kukil Paper’s unusual effort to find future growth power. Such effort became a good stepping stone to develop ‘electro-thermal sheet’ with their own technology which has been entirely reliant on import from Japan.
Also, the success of developing electro-thermal sheet through collaboration work with Incheon National University and education foundation Clean Air Nano Tech is a model case of academicindustrial- research collaboration that has been highlighted repeatedly, which is enough to receive a favorable evaluation as a speedy responding and constitutional improvement in ever intensifying sale environment of paper companies.
In this context, CEO Sun-young Shon said that “Kukil Paper selected the niche market of special paper and industrial paper as it main business area, because the market has higher value added and more marketability sustainable as an industrial material than regular paper market like wood-free paper dominated by large paper companies. For special thin paper, we have the nation’s best technical power, even comparable in global market.”

High functional electro-thermal sheet development, great
import substitution effect

While energy-saving has been highlighted all over the world since the oil shock of the early 1970s, the structures of houses have been changed to highly sealed, highly insulated enclosed styles. But, various diseases caused by contamination of indoor air and sick building syndrome from such structure changes became a social issue, and ventilation unit entered the scene to catch two hares of energy-saving and air purification at the same time.

Ventilation units are devices that discharge contaminated indoor air to the outside, and consist of two fans, one to discharge indoor air and the other to flow in outdoor air, and a total heat exchanger that collects energy from discharging air and converts it to it to inflow air. In such processing, the most core component is the total heat exchanger.
While ventilation units are produced by some of large companies and dozens of small companies within the country, most of total heat exchangers, core component that collects heat and moisture from discharging air and deliver them to inflow air, are imported from Japan.

On this occasion, Kukil Paper succeeded in developing paper electro-thermal film for air-conditioning that is another critical component in total heat exchangers, a core component of ventilation units, and also being entirely imported from Japanese Mitsubishi Paper or Lintec. The product is praised for having excellent functions including antibiosis, fire retardance and processability as well as heat and moisture transmitting feature, which is comparable to Japanese products.

For this, Dong-hoon Kim, executive director, said that “Electro- thermal film in total heat exchanger has to have good feature for heat and moisture transmission, but metals that have good heat transmission cannot transmit moisture, whereas nonmetal polymer membranes that have outstanding moisture transmission such as Goretex, XMP, and Celgard are too expensive to be used as a material in air-conditioning total heat exchanger. Thus we decided to use paper, which is low price and has quite good heat and moisture transmission feature. But the texture should ne be high density because the heat conductivity of paper is worse than metal, and discharging air and external inflow air should not mixed through the electro-thermal film. Also, some processes are required to make the paper contains a substance having high heat conductivity or to impregnate the paper with moisture absorbent such as lithium chloride and calcium chloride, so as to remove any obstacles against moisture transmission when the texture is compact. At the same time we also need to add some functionalities including antibiosis, fire retardant, and processability. As results, we can have what Japanese companies have monopolized all the while through our company’s successful development”.

Untitled-21.jpg
But, despite Kukil Paper’s efforts they still have not delivered great results yet, as market-growth scale was nothing like what they estimated in the beginning of electro-thermal sheet development. In the development planning stage, it was estimated that ventilation unit would have considerable marketability, because of vigorous government moves to improve indoor air quality, such as obligation and legislation of indoor air quality notification.
So, it was expected that installation obligations of installing ventilation units would be continued for new buildings, and actually a few large and medium companies started to produce ventilation units around that time. Against the expectations, however, the obligation of installing ventilation units for new buildings is not more than a recommendation. Furthermore persistent economic recession in the construction business and lack of user’s precise recognition on product usage cycle made ventilation unit market be at a standstill. But, Kukil Paper recorded 1 trillion won sales every year even in such market stalemate, and they developed various special papers and industrial papers
through whatever they can to with papers as well as developing more efficient electro-thermal sheet based on technical power obtained from the development course, in order to achieve the goal of being truly the nation’s best special /industrial paper manufacturer.

Creating a new paradigm for paper

This drastic development of business of Kukil Paper in such market situation comes from their unusual philosophy for paper. “Most people associate paper with pulp, and consider that paper tears easily and its function is only writing something. However, such limited thought for the type and functions of paper is a stereotype, and this stereotype for paper restricts all we can do with paper” said CEO Shon, and he highlighted that “Whatever is flat, I consider it as paper. That is why we start developing electrothermal sheet. Although we cannot get a big profit, we are proud of our successful development. Having future strategic team in the company to seek new growth power and attempting to realize all the idea about what we can do with paper through convergence between industries, all of them started from new definition of paper, thinking outside the box.”
Indeed, Kukil Paper’s such unusual concept and view for paper enabled them to develop, in addition to electro-thermal sheet, fine thread with paper to make something like clothes of ramie cloth, and furthermore, pushed them to move forward developing special paper that can be used as a membrane in fuel cell. Therefore, for Kukil Paper which is creating a new paradigm for paper through challenges that not just anybody can take on, the expectations of the company will be much higher in future.

<Left: Kukil Paper’s electro-thermal sheet developed by self technology has perfect quality and function comparable to Japanese products.>

<Right: Ventilation unit and total heat exchanger electro-thermal sheet developed by Kukil Paper through academic-industrialresearch collaboration.>

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: Export leader Tagged With:

Development of transparent/ opaque adjustable nextgeneration smart window

March 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Q-sys Co., Ltd. (Jon-hoo Hong, CEO)

Korean nano technical power takes 4th place in the world, but new market and new business creation effects using this technique are insignificant. Accordingly, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy introduced the ‘Nano-fusion 2020 Project’ in order to induce early industrialization by connecting existing research performance in the Nano-fusion field to industrial demand, and to support new market and new business creation. As a result, many innovative market leading products have been produced so far
through this project. Among these products, the ‘polymer dispersed liquid crystal smart window’ developed by Q-sys is capturing attention as a world-class PDLC smart window product, and growth as a global hidden champion using this product is highly expected.

 

Realizing ideas through the Nano-Fusion 2020 project

When start-ups https://korean-electronics.com//inquiryof venture businesses were booming, Jin-hoo Hong, CEO of Q-sys, which was established in 2000 was a biochemistry polymer engineering professor in active service in the engineering college of Chosun University. He selected the company name of Q-sys that stands for ‘Cure System’ containing the meaning of ‘hardening’ and ‘healing’ in ‘Cure’, and guided Q-sys as a technical innovative small company that leads light technology. Q-sys is manufacturing and producing various functional UV coating agents, UV adhesives, and their application products used in LCD optical film, electronic materials, and coating industry, including polymer dispersed liquid crystal applied for display industry. Especially, Q-sys’ ‘polymer dispersed liquid crystal smart window’ developed through Nano-fusion 2020 Project receives attention as this product is truly the result of much R&D and made through Q-sys’ perspiration and passion.

Untitled-18.jpg

In this context, CEO Hong said that “When we started the company in 2000, it was hard to industrialize smart windows even though we had the technical skills. First, the product price was so expensive that the market is not formed, and most of all technical skills we had were seriously insufficient compared to the USA and Japan. Due to the critical situation that the idea would have died out after all, we combined electrode material technology owned by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and liquid crystal technology we owned and could gradually see the way out. On that occasion, the Nano-fusion 2020 Project provided a big impetus, and finally enabled us to succeed in world-class smart window development.”

Developing next-generation smart window film that can substitute for ITO film

The price of ITO-PET film used in smart windows so far was so high that it accounted for 60% of total raw material costs of the product, and its sheet resistance wad so high, 150Ω or higher, that driving voltage is higher than 100V. And because the resistance was increasing when it was exposed to the air, the product commercialization was difficult due to long-term stability issue. Moreover, it had limit to apply existing ITO-PET film to next generation smart window film that is characterized by high efficiency, low driving voltage, color adjust function, and ultraviolet blocking function, therefore developing and applying were required for substitutive electrodes made of transparent electrode material that has superior mechanical resistance against external bending as well as better electric & optical features than ITO-PET film.
In this sense, polymer dispersed liquid crystal smart window technology developed by Q-sys will bring a new sensation to the smart window market.
For this, Yang-bae Kim, chief of Q-sys optical material & surface treatment research center said that “If we apply high transparency and low price ZITO transparent electrode film developed by Q-sys instead of existing ITO transparent electrode film to smart window, ITO substrate that consumes too much indium, a rare earth element, can be replaced and we can achieve price reducing and improvement in droving voltage and efficiency. Especially, there is energy saving function because infrared and ultraviolet wavelength blocking is possible depending on metal oxide structure adjustment and the type and the thickness of inserted metal to be applied to transparent electrode film. Therefore we have higher technical skills compared to rival Japanese and Chinese products, and secured about 3~5 years of technical gap with late starters.”
Likewise, as Q-sys secured the world best level of smart window technology, it started the commercialization of Smart fitting product, and starting trial production in February 2014,
concluded 6 billion won of export contracts with the USA and Japan. Further sales increases are also highly anticipated.

Targeting automobile market, striving to be a globalleading company.

Smart windows, which is also a niche market, are being sold as fittings for buildings, with expanding markets being created across the world; billboards, although the volume is small; and display optical shutters. When the automobile smart window market that is predicted to be worth about 2-trillion won is open in full-scale soon or later, the position of Q-sys will be much different from now.
Indeed, Q-sys is focusing on transparent display optical shutter and smart window for automobile sunroof for which market expansion is expected. Q-sys is finding a way to become the world number 1 company worthy of its name by targeting the automobile smart window market. CEO Hong said, “This company secured technical competitiveness for world-class PDLC smart window.
Based on that we will secure superior position in automobile smart window market that is expected to grow, and at the same time we will aggressively involve new product development for the next generation special glass that is high value added and competitive product including color changeable glass, energy-saving thermalefficiency glass, and hybrid products with solar cell. We also plan to dominate the market along with new market creation, furthermore to seek smart window market exploitation for small domestic appliances and household appliances.”
Above all, however, the biggest competitive power of Q-sys can be found in true academic-industrial-research collaboration. Because strong competitive power as a united body can ultimately be secured by overcoming the limit of weak capital strength of small business and solving technical difficulties through research institutes and universities. CEO Hong also said, “Like a relief pitcher emerging from a critical situation where we would go down even before start, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology introduced relevant substitute material technologies and Nano-fusion 2020 Project supported our research through ‘product idea industrialization support.’ Therefore we could achieve our current valuable performance.” and “We will keep investing in R&D and secure independent liquid crystal/polymer formulation and design technology and UV crosslinking production process technology to gradually expand the market share. We hope that our technology is applied to other domestic industries and contributes to creating new markets and new business.”
Also, CEO Hong explained, “Cure in the Q-sys company name means hardening of the treatment process developed by us as well as implying the spirit of customer satisfaction to cure and solve problems due to the production process. Furthermore, as shown in the management philosophy that all of the company members build a beautiful and fertile future through spiritual and practical changes and practical changes, although the market is small because it is a niche market, all of our staff and executives will do their best for a better future and to make Q-sys a small but strong company that can hold the first ranking for a long time. Also we will keep continue our efforts to take the position of a global leading company that leads the relevant markets.”

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: Export leader Tagged With:

User-created robot that allows users to make their own robots

March 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

ROBOTIS Inc. (Byoungsoo Kim, CEO)

ROBOTIS was established in 1999 and has a remarkable history of 16 years in domestic robot industry when no one could even predict the successful commercialization of robot industries. Japan used to dominate the actuator markets before but ROBOTIS also had its success in developing the actuators of own. Starting from that, ROBOTIS now leads the market with 80 employees by providing robot parts, platforms, educational robots and actuators.

https://korean-electronics.com//inquiry

Developing a solution that allows users to create robots easily

In Korea, most of the robot parts are used for training aids and majority of them are imitations that are developed repetitively just like the one made for Line Tracer competition. Also, most of them have exposed PCB which is not suitable for the nonprofessional users to develop robots. Most local companies provide application solutions that is more or less like a programming for the robot operation sold by the company and there is none that can support various robot components.

Although there is no case that supports the compatibility among components, big companies like Lego, Fischertechnik and Meccano have developed the solutions. Lego Digital Designer, for instance, allows robot to assemble using the parts sold by Lego within its SW. When the robot assembly is completed, it generates the number, type, price of parts and even the sequence of assembly. It can then pass the data to other users which make things easy to distribute the contents.

That is why we need to develop not only HW and SW solutions that can create robots that user want (User Created Robot: UCR) with a minimum effort, but also solutions to disseminate the usermade contents.
If we look past, we can find advances in the PC industry largely attributed to the industrial atmosphere that allows creating a PC by assembling whatever is required from various parts in a given system. Similarly, if a system is established for robot parts and solutions that allow users to create robots easily using such systematic parts were developed and provided, it will create an atmosphere like UCC (User Created Contents) where users can apply and create directly by themselves and provide a foundation for the creation of much higher levels of robot than contemporary robots. Robot industry can be developed more quickly only when such an industrial atmosphere is created. This is what ROBOTIS attempts to create from this research task such as developing solutions associated with HW, SW, Infra, contents and minimalism based UCR (User creating own robot) technology utilizing such solutions.

Untitled-14.jpg

Expand business area by commercializing the technology

Technology developed by ROBOTIS through the research task of ‘Minimalism-based UCR Technology Development’ is a solution that can integrate and utilize various HW and SW related to UCR. Such technology can be seen through the developments such as digitalized data for UCR parts and virtual robot assembling SW. In order to assemble various robot parts in a virtual environment, a solution is required where various information including the features of each part and electric connection are digitalized and saved. SW should also be easy for nonprofessionals to assemble robots using such parts in a virtual environment. It is easy for users to share created UCR with others online as the assembling SW not only allows users to know the type and the quantity of used parts but also able to retrace the assembling sequence.
As long as the integrated system constructed by UCR is followed, it is possible to utilize all parts regardless where they were manufactured. HW (controller) and programming SW are
developed which can generate codes called “Intermediate Language (IL)” through various programming tools and run the codes by downloading to a controller called Virtual Machine (VM). This is similar to the concept of program written by Java which can be operated anywhere as long as the Java virtual machine is installed regardless of platforms.
Moreover, an application solution has also been developed which creates robot motion in a virtual space using digitalized UCR contents and this enables users to use the contents they have created. SW for robot motion editing is designed to be synced with the virtual and real robot. Byoungsoo Kim (ROBOTIS, CEO) said, “We plan to focus on developing the mobile solutions of UCR due to the high demand of smart phones and enhance the connectivity between each application solutions to provide true integrated solutions”. He also added that, “We will also keep enhancing user convenience for users to easily create higher quality contents and adding the functions to exchange user created contents.”

Entering global market through technical skills and commercialization

ROBOTIS’ educational robots which utilized UCR design solution are suitable from toddlers to high schools students and these are prepared to use as teaching materials in science activities including after school classes and competitions. PC based open source humanoid platforms and new smart actuators for robots are sold to local/ international universities and labs. ROBOTIS has established its US office in California since 2009 when the research project has started and managed to export new developed products to overseas. (50% of its yearly sales is from the export and won 5 million dollar export Top Award in 2013).
Since the company has applied integrated system and solutions developed in UCR, it has managed to achieve 20% of sales growth in average, overall 15 billion won sales in 2014. Moreover, it supplied PC based open source robot platform to Virginia Tech in US and other local/international universities and labs. R&D center is also utilizing its robot platform. In addition, ROBOTIS also introduced SW educational robot for elementary and middle school students during SW oriented business fair in 2014. Smart actuator called “Dynamixel” is an “all in one actuator” that consists of motor, reduction gear, controller and communication. It was launched in 2005 and exported to more than 40 countries including USA, Japan, Europe and other parts of world. 39 out of 40 participated teams at RoboCup have used ROBOTIS products and it was well recognized for its good performance. “Jimmy” robot, introduced by Intel in 2014, has also used Dynamixel motors. Users can build various types of robots easily as Dynamixel can easily be connected through the mechanic and electrics, just like building the block toys. ROBOTIS KidsLab is an educational robotic brand that provides various teachings from kindergarten to engineer levels through professional instructors. ROBOTIS has over 120 KidsLab agencies in Korea. The concept of a recently released toy robot, ROBOTIS PLAY is “Robot making with Dad” and this reflects to Byoungsoo Kim’s philosophy to get closer to everyone without a knowledge of robots. ROBOTIS is selected as a service provider for Excellent Technology Research Centers (ATC) by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2013 and was also recognized for its technical competitiveness and potential growth by being awarded for “Jeong Yak Yong’s award” for patent technology sponsored by Korean Intellectual Property Office in 2014 and few more in 2015.

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: Export leader Tagged With:

The first development of weaving structure flexible solar cell

March 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (Dong-yoon Lee, Principal Researcher)

https://korean-electronics.com//inquiry

Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) established in 1976 under the name of Electric Device Test Research Center is a government-funded research center specialized for electricity governed by the National Science & Technology Research Society in the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. Taking the first ranking for research productivity among government-funded science and engineering research center, and the
second ranking for research performance technical transfer to realize creative economics, it is a representative funded research institute in electricity, science, and technology fields. KERI developed technology for the first time in the world to weave solar cell like weaving fabric on a loom that can generate electricity modeled after photosynthesis.

The first fabric solar cell, utilizable in various areas including wearable devices

Recently, wearable devices are taking center stage as a nextgeneration core technology and business including Google’s ‘Google glass’ and Fitbit’s ‘Health care smart band’, Samsung,
Sony, Qualcomm are making competition, presenting watch type and band type devices. The utilization range of wearable technology are expending not just to wearable devices including smart glasses, smart watch, smart bracelet, and smart shoes, but also for special purpose fields, such as military and firefighting, and even for life aid, health care, infotainment, human ability improvement, and so forth. Therefore, developing an effective power source to supply power to these wearable devices is also getting attention. It is essential that the power for wearable devices needs to be flexible, light, and highly impact resistant. There is no solar cell having such features in the market other than the one using amorphous silicon. But this solar cell cannot be used commonly either except some special military purposes, because it is vulnerable to bending or moisture.

Untitled-12.jpg

Alternatively, fabric style solar cell development is attempted competitively in advanced countries. But, producing actual fabric in former method is practically impossible, because tension (pulling force) and friction which happen inevitably in the weaving process were not considered. On this occasion, KERI produced the electrodes of solar cell with weaving process and applied screen printing process to manufacture solar cell using a loom, through this research task. Developing fabric weaving style solar cell, practically wearable solar cell that can be used in various environments, is the first time in the world. The developed solar cell is so flexible to fold and the first fabric solar cell with high durability, it receives a lot of attention from global outdoor, leisure, smart home, and mobile electronic device manufacturers. Hence early commercialization, if a success, would create new global markets in these fields.

Contributing to enhancement of IT-based life convenience

Centralized weaving dye-sensitized solar cell developed in this research is fabric style solar cell made by weaving electrode (anode and cathode) structure in solar cell with a loom using metal and ceramic fiber like weaving fabric, and printing optical electrode and dye in the screen printing process. Metal weaving technology, a core technology of solar cell, has not been developed in any other country over the world, and this core technology produces high density metal fabric electrode using metal fiber only. To do this, the development team developed a new loom independently and successfully produced various fabric patterns suitable for solar cell. Also, the team developed technology mixing metal fiber, ceramic fiber, and natural fiber to create various types of solar cell. The developed fabric weaving dye-sensitized solar cell is basically composed of three layers: optical electrode, electrolyte, and counter electrode. To produce such 3-layer conformation solar cell, the team developed 3D weaving technology that can weave metal fiber and ceramic fiber in 3-layer at one time.
In this context, Dong-yoon Lee, senior researcher in KERI and general manager of this research task said about the hardest difficulty in the technical development was “Because we tried fabric solar cell development for the first time in the world, we could not find useful equipment or material from existing technologies, but had to develop all of them by ourselves.

Untitled-13.jpg

Especially for metal fabric loom, we designed and made it with new weaving algorism because of unusual weaving patterns, which involved a lot of time and costs.”
Fabric solar cell developed by overcoming such difficulties is flexible and soft like a textile and can be cut or sewn. Also, many kinds of pattern are available depending on usage environment and application subject. Especially, you can make solar cell in various forms: sew electrode (attaching type) made from the weaving process on existing fabric, such as cotton, silk, and pelt; insert electrode (fabric inserting type) when you make a cloth; or weave them all (weaving type), therefore its application scope and possibility are rated as high. Currently the performance of fabric weaving type solar cell shows 6% of efficiency, 0.4cm of bending radius (solar cell is working even the fabric is folded), and can maintain 80% or more efficiency even after 2000 or more 90 degree bending tests.
Such technology is expected to greatly contribute to enhancing IT-based life convenience. It can be applied to wearable devices, such as Samsung’s Gear and Fitbit’s Smart band; battery-free tent or backpack to be used in camping, the most popular leisure activity; built-in solar cell in building and curtain at home. Potential for military application is also high. Applying weaving type flexible solar cell technology to military barracks, combat backpacks and military caps allows us to generate and use electricity in the military field.

After core technical development, move to its commercialization

Fabric weaving solar cell can be utilized in various areas including wearable devices, military, leisure, health care, and household (blinder). In order to industrialize this main technology, KERI introduces the technology through domestic and foreign symposiums and conferences, and also maintains close mutual cooperation with Gyeongsangnam-do Province. In this context, Dong-yoon Lee senior researcher in KERI who started the research to develop a structure having outstanding durability and superior flexibility in flexible solar cell and flexible cell fields, forecasted that “Currently, with given core technology we developed, it may take about 3 years for relevant commercialization depending on the application area.”

Now, in the commercialization consortium that received the technology from KERI, development is on going targeting for the 1st products including smart home solar cell blinder, smart band solar cell, smartphone charging solar cell, and health care solar cell. Because some products get attention from many global companies, no big trouble is expected to form a market for commercialized products Although prediction for the market is difficult because no product was developed for sale yet, minimum 100 billion won of sales are estimated per year because these products are independent without any rival. And trillions of global market would be available if application of wearable devices is
successful.
Seng-il Cha, senior researcher in KERI who participated in this research task said that “It is the world’s first development for solar cell that properly utilized weaving structure. Although there are tasks to be solved before commercialization, such as sealing technique, electrolyte technique, and efficiency optimization, but because we succeeded the very core weaving solar cell structure development, remained technical issues can be associated with application scope and developed accordingly” and “First of all, application for military and leisure seems to possible, and further application in various fields would be possible, as the wearable market is being formed in full-scale and requests for built-in solar cell. increasing.”

2016-03-14 11;38;26.PNG

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: Export leader Tagged With:

Developing new concept fuel cell anode material that can use hydrocarbon series fuel directly

March 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

UNIST Academy-Industry Research Corporation (Guntae Kim, Prof. of School of Energy & Chemical Engineering)

https://korean-electronics.com//inquiry

Facing the situation that existing power plants using fossil fuel threaten even the survival of the human race, causing global warming and destroying the ecosystem, the whole world is striving for new & renewable energy research to substitute these plants. Moreover, as the anti-nuclear power movement is spreading due to stability issues for nuclear facilities, interest in new & renewable energy is increasing gradually; and solid oxide fuel cell (hereafter, SOFC, Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) is capturing attention as a next-generation electric power generation system while various new & renewable energy technologies are being introduced one after the other. However, enlarging the base of SOFC is still fraught with difficulties, due to many weakness of hydrogen and anode substance used as fuel. On this occasion, Prof. Guntae Kim’s team in UNIST Academy-Industry Research Corporation succeeded in developing new conceptual nano electrode for SOFC equipped with excellent performance and stability that can use existing hydrocarbon series fuel directly, which is expected to enhance the position of Korean fuel cell technology as well as SOFC base expansion.

Untitled-9.jpg

Overcoming the limitations of existing anode material

Since the first operation in 1937, countries advanced in the development of fuel cell technology, such as the United States and Japan, have intensively researched SOFC, called the thirdgeneration fuel cell, aiming for commercialization in the early 21st century, but the commercialization is making slow progress. This is because of high prices for making hydrogen that will be used as a fuel from hydrocarbon and difficulty in preserve, although SOFC is the most ideal environment friendly energy source that reacts hydrogen or hydrocarbon fuel with the air to create electricity and water. Moreover, Nickel Cermet that is commonly used for the anode of SOFC, has an advantage of high catalyst act in oxidizing the fuel but it cannot make full oxidization when hydrocarbon fuel, such as natural gas, methane, propane, and butane, is used, thus there is carbon deposition on anode surface, and problems to cause electrode damage due to the poisoning of sulfur impurities included in the fuel and to degrade long-tem stability in fuel cell operation due to such damage.
On this account, the need of developing is raised for SOFC anode material that can guarantee long time stability in output performance when various hydrocarbon fuels are used, and relevant researches were actively progressed accordingly.

Prof. Kim said that “Our research team started to develop anode substance that has strong tolerance against carbon deposition and sulfur poisoning created when existing hydrocarbon fuels like natural gas and LPG are directly used, and that can effectively solve performance and stability problems simultaneously”, and that “As a result, we developed double layered perovskite equipped with excellent performance and outstanding stability and applied it to new anode, which allows us to solve problems in existing anode materials, such as carbon
deposition and sulfur poisoning created when hydrocarbon is used, and to secure outstanding output performance successfully.”

Develop double layer perovskite, and achieve world-best performance

Prof. Kim’s team developed double perovskite perovskite where praseodymium (Pr) and barium (Ba) are crossing each other on perovskite, and utilize it to anode.

Therefore, carbon deposition on electrode surface and degrading fuel cell performance and stability due to the poisoning of sulfur impurities happened when using hydrocarbon directly as fuel with existing anode substance – Nickel Cermet – did not happen with double perovskite.

Untitled-10.jpg

<Prof. Gun-tae Kim and his research is focusing on R&D based on the belief that SOFC will
become an essential energy source in future.>

Indeed, Prof. Kim’s team tested the performance of new electrode material. The world best performance were recorded in the results. There was no carbon deposition when propane is used in 700℃, and there was no voltage or current drop at all when operating fuel cell longer than 500 hours, but constant performance was maintained. Also, anode material developed from the research showed 1.7W/㎠ of output when hydrogen was used in 850℃, and 1.3W/㎠ of output when propane was used, which is more than 7 times higher performance and stability than Cu-ceria series anode electrode that showed 0.18W/㎠ of output. Therefore, it is confirmed that hydrocarbon series fuels like natural gas and LPG
can be used directly with new anode material. In this context, Prof. Kim said that “The world famous researchers have worked on using hydrocarbon directly without fuel reformer for sold oxide fuel cell. And there was a report in ‘Science’ in 2006 that 0.43W/㎠ of output was recorded from fuel cell operation with methane using anode substances developed through such researches. The anode material we developed showed 32% improved performance than above. For another anode substance reported in ‘Advanced Materials’ in 2012, 0.93W/㎠ of output was recorded with propane, whereas anode material we developed, showed 40% improved result, 1.3W/㎠ of output. Therefore, we can dare say that our development is the world best among anode substances that can use hydrocarbon series fuel directly”.

Paving the way to lead the world fuel cell industry: High expectations for its commercialization

Currently, Germany and some European countries possess the highest technology in the SOFC field, and closely followed by the USA and Japan. On the other hand, we have a technical gap of about 12% compared to the highest technical countries in Europe. To secure technical power equivalent to Europe countries, much more investment in technical development is urgent.
For material development, especially, the most important part in fuel cell development, Prof. Kim team’s research development would be an important momentum that reduces production cost for SOFC given that there are vigorous researches recently to reduce production cost for SOFC around advanced countries, and it can be highly appreciated for establishing a chance for our country to lead the world’s fuel cell industry.

Prof. Kim explained, “Our future goal is applying anode substance developed through this research to solid oxide fuel cell stack, producing fuel cells, and advancing into commercialized fuel cell era”, and he added that “When fuel cell using this anode substance becomes commercialized, each household may install compact SOFCs instead of boilers, get natural gas through already installed urban gas pipes, generate electric power, and use the waste heat created from the power generation for warm water supply; households can have self generation system. This self generation can reduce the utility cost by half, which may allow us to avoid a power crisis we are worrying about every
summer.”
However, there are too many issues to be solved before what Prof. Kim dreams of comes true. In particular, nuclear power oriented energy policy and misunderstanding on fuel cell are being pointed as the tasks need to be solved first. But, Prof. Kim highlighted that “I believe that if you have faith for what you are doing, you can get good results”, and “Although fuel cell get less attention then the energy generation and storage system for secondary battery or solar cell, if you keep concentrating on the research with a belief that it is an essential energy source in future, you will be finally compensated some time or other, and such sense of duty was a big driving force to succeed this research development.” As if composing a massive symphony, Prof. Kim’s research & development passion for fuel cells is literally hotter than the heat that comes from solid oxide using fuel cell. It is expected that such effort and passion will remove persistent obstacles and clear a new path to fuel cell power generation.

Untitled-11.jpg

<Guntae Kim, Prof. of School of Energy & Chemical Engineering>

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: Export leader Tagged With:

Development of core communication module in EV charging standardcombined charging system

March 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

GloQuad Co., Ltd. (Ki soo Chang, CEO)

Through this research task, the V2G (Vehicle to Grid) communication module solution for EV DC fast charging station was developed and localized in accordance with international standards for the first time in the country, and compatibility matching tests based on that solution with GM Spark EV, BMW i3, and VW (Volkswagen) e-Golf were completed successfully.https://korean-electronics.com//inquiry
A communication module developed by GloQuad was designed in accordance with ISO/IEC15118, the new international standards for CCS (Combined Charging System) method DC fast charging. Its features include supporting connection methods through Internet protocol with electric vehicle and smart grid and using both AC and DC with combined socket. In particular, it is noteworthy that this local company secured a foundation technique in the DC fast charging field that is spreading recently as a electric vehicle charging standard in North America and Europe. This localization of a DC fast charging communication module paved the way for constructing domestic charging infrastructure to expand supplying electric vehicles, and it is expected to help domestic electric vehicle DC fast charging station manufacturers to expand their business abroad.

Untitled-4.jpg

Go global market beyond the domestic market

Vehicles with internal-combustion engines that use gasoline or diesel have an internal tank filled with fuel, while electric vehicles are equipped with a battery to provide electricity. In other words, as internal-combustion engine cars include fuel using an oil feeder at gasoline station, electric vehicles charge the battery using an electric vehicle charger in the same way as charging a mobile phone. In the same way that unleaded gasoline and diesel are separated at a gasoline station, there are various connection cable types for electric vehicles. And making connections between electric vehicles and chargers with suitable cables will trigger charging automatically. However, complicated information exchange is required between electric vehicles that receive the power and electric vehicle chargers that transmit the power for safety, because electricity needs to be transmitted to charge an electric vehicle. 

In order to allow simple charging procedures for electric vehicles like with refueling for existing internal-combustion engine vehicles, it is necessary to simplify such complicated
information exchanged and various types of connection cable for charging worldwide.
Therefore, the International Standards Organization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) discussed and prepared unified standards, ISO/IEC15118 Hereupon, GloQuad developed a communication board that allows charging by applying information exchange between electric vehicles and EVSE in accordance with international standards, and completed all of compatibility matching tests with global automobile companies in Korea, Europe, and North America to enhance the product integrity. Furthermore, GloQuad developed a technique that can provide a way to get the charged power backward from an electric vehicle to use in power shortage.

For communication standard currently installed in vehicles, there are two standards: one is DIN70121 standards published by Deutsches Institut fur Normung (DIN) to support DC fast charging communication only using ISO/IEC15118 DIS standards, and the other is SAE J2847/2 published by Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to follow DIN70121 standards. But, it is expected that ISO/ IEC15118 standards will be used together when the standards is
being prepared with publication.
Ki-soo Chang, CEO of GloQuad and the person in charge of this research task, proposed the direction of additional future development as “With the view to propose solutions for electric vehicle charging infrastructure in apartment homes, the most common dwelling pattern in Korea, we plan to develop management and control solutions for chargers to be installed in apartment houses by expanding existing techniques for AC chargers and applying international standards (OCPP) to contribute to spread electric vehicle supply, at the same time, we also plan to develop techniques in order to apply them to new application fields including aviation control that comes to the fore as a power line communication application.”

Product competitiveness keeping up with global companies

There are not many commercialized EVSE products for which communication standards like ISO/IEC15118/DIN70121 are applied all over the world. Compared to European EVSE manufacturers who developed the EVSE in parallel from the early stage of electric vehicle development, one may say that GloQuad is on a technically equivalent level with European companies−considering the situation that the EVSE where GloQuad’s products are equipped are being installed in Europe and North America. Indeed, all of exported DC fast charger made by domestic manufacturers are equipped with GloQuad products. The products were also applied in domestic EV changing infrastructure information system project managed by the KECO(Korea Eenvironmental Corporation) in 2014 and 2015. Also,
the products have been fitted to all exported DC fast chargers from 2015, so sales increases can be expected, and such activities are expected to contribute to early establishment of the domestic EV charging infrastructure.
In particular, early technical development for V2G communication will provide new economical services including energy saving, remote EV inspection, and infotainment to consumers who bought electric vehicles (EV), which may expedite the spread of EV. Charging infrastructure installation required for such early EV spreading will be increased in parallel, which may create new businesses like charging service providers who manage the installed infrastructure. Therefore, expansion of relevant business will create decent jobs and make a large contribution to solving youth unemployment and senior unemployment.

In this context, CEO Chang showed confidence in the product competiveness as “GloQuad is unmatched in the domestic market for relevant parts, as GloQuad development products are used by domestic manufacturers who will compete with famous foreign EV charger manufacturer such as ABB and Schneider.” and “We already developed not just hardware but also software and secured the products, thus we are expecting such matchless structure would be continued for a while.

korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods

Filed Under: Export leader Tagged With:
«Previous Page
Next Page»