A technology has been developed that allows people to check the internal status of hazardous electrical equipment without opening the door, raising expectations that it will reduce the risk of electric shock accidents.

The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI, President Myeong-ho Myeong) announced on the 10th that Dr. Jun-han Bae of the Corporate General Support Office recently developed the world's first 'wireless live notification technology based on energy harvesting' that can safely check whether or not dangerous high-voltage electrical equipment is live from the outside without opening the door.

Most domestic distribution panels (equipment such as switches and circuit breakers that perform distribution, switching, safety, and metering of electricity) use high voltages of 6.6 kV and 22.9 kV, which are about 30 to 100 times higher than the household voltage of 220 V.

In the past, in order to check the status of electricity flow in power distribution facilities, workers had to open the door themselves and check the current indicators attached to various places inside the facility. During this process, electric shock accidents occurred frequently, and even in the event of a power outage, there was a high risk of accidents due to remaining charged energy.

The achievement of Dr. Bae Jun-han of KERI is the development of technology that allows checking whether electricity is flowing through a monitor attached to the outside without having to open the door of the distribution panel.

The key is so-called 'energy harvesting', which recycles waste energy. It collects and converts the electric field energy leaking around electrical equipment to produce electricity, which is then used as a power source for the transmitter.

The transmitter wirelessly communicates to the receiver whether electricity is flowing, and the results are displayed on an external monitor.

The great advantage of this achievement is its excellent usability. The small transmitter weighing 250g can be attached to the busbar (wire) without any separate construction. Despite its small size that does not affect existing electric circuits, it has achieved a high-level technology that increases the efficiency of energy harvesting, produces maximum electricity, and minimizes its own power consumption.

The safety of use is further enhanced. Based on the power charged through energy harvesting, the power alarm monitor will continue to operate for 1 minute even if a sudden power outage occurs, allowing the operator to monitor the situation more closely. In case of an emergency, if a door is opened artificially despite the power being on, an immediate warning broadcast will be sent out.

KERI's Dr. Bae Jun-han said, "This achievement is a technology that greatly enhances safety and convenience in that it allows for the external inspection of hazardous facilities using electricity generated by collecting surrounding energy without using a separate power supply or battery." He continued, "Ultimately, our goal is to create an 'ICT-based smart electrical facility platform' that can diagnose not only electricity flow but also various internal conditions such as voltage, current, temperature, humidity, and vibration at once by utilizing electricity generated through energy harvesting."

KERI, which completed patent applications related to its original technology, transferred the 'wireless electricity notification technology' based on energy harvesting to 'The One Eco Power Tech Co., Ltd. (CEO Jong-cheol Kim),' a specialized manufacturer of distribution panels and electric automatic control panels.

The One Eco Power Tech Co., Ltd. plans to obtain an official certificate and national new technology certification through product development (product name: Energy Harvesting Current-On Door Alarm) and verification testing next year, and to enter domestic and international markets based on this.