Byunggon Kim

A simple novel endoscopic successive suture device: a validation study for closure strength and reproducibility

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMSnEndoscopic surgical technology has been developing rapidly. Although several successful endoscopic closure devices have already been introduced, only a few of them have demonstrated improvements in closure strength and reproducibility over conventional endoscopic clip closures or hand sutures. The objective of this study was to test the feasibility of a novel successive suturing device (SSD) by measuring closure strength and reproducibility.nnnMATERIAL AND METHODSnPorcine stomach models were used in this study. Endoclips, full-thickness hand sutures, and the novel SSD sutures were used to close a perforation in the stomach wall, with 10 stomachs being tested for each closure method. Endoclips and SSD sutures were performed using a two-channel endoscope, and the hand sutures were performed from outside of the stomach wall. Air leakage pressure was measured to determine the closure strength and reproducibility of each method.nnnRESULTSnThe mean air leakage pressure of the SSD closure was 62.7 ± 8.2 mmHg. SSD-treated stomachs exhibited significantly greater air leakage pressure than Endoclip-treated stomachs. The standard deviation of bursting pressure in SSD stomachs was found to be significantly smaller than that of hand-sewn stomachs but was not different from that of Endoclip stomachs.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe consistent closure strength of SSD stomachs demonstrated the reliability and reproducibility of this new closure method. These promising results in closure strength and reproducibility suggest the feasibility of the proposed device for clinical applications.

Efficiency Evaluation of Wind Power Blade Surface Cleaning using Brush and Water Jet

Blades of wind energy plants are exposed to external shocks or internal cracks during operation. Furthermore, the blade surfaces can be contaminated by substances such as dust, blood of birds, salt or insects which can decrease the electricity generation efficiency significantly. For this reason, many blade cleaning companies started to appear and a variety of methods for cleaning were suggested. Despite these diverse methods, there has been no study to investigate how effectively to clean the substances in quantitative manner. In this paper, the cleaning efficiency of two rotor blade cleaning methods, brush and water-jet, is examined through experiments by changing operating parameters. Then, the optimal operating conditions for both methods are derived.

A Surface Adaptive Moving Mechanism for Wind Turbine Blade Maintenance Robot

As energy shortage is getting more serious, wind energy source is more promoted around the world. Blade is a key component of wind turbine. Local breakages and/or contamination in the blade bring degradation in aerodynamic efficiency and life-time. However, it is not easy and even dangerous for human workers to access the blade for inspection and maintenance since its size is huge and located at high mountains and rough sea, which are windy places. This paper deals with a novel moving mechanism that efficiently carries human workers or robots to the wind turbine blade. The proposed mechanism utilizes flexible tube with pressurized air that rolls and climbs over the blade surface. So, the tube naturally adapts the changing surface of the blade and acts no harm to it. This paper discusses about its concept, detail design, and advantages. The feasibility of the proposed mechanism is proved through experiments prototype.