Pukyong National University Wins Grand Prize at X-corps+ Festival for "Self-Powered Smart Life Jacket"

SME Team from the Real-World Problem Research Group
Recognized for Innovative Solutions to Real-World Industry Challenges

The student team from Pukyong National University recently won the grand prize at the "2025 X-corps+ Festival" held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Haeundae, Busan, for their research project titled "Development of a Smart Life Jacket Based on Self-Powered Energy Harvester for Marine Safety."

The SME team, consisting of students Jang Jaeyoung, Park Jaehun, Jung Sunghwa, Kim Hyunjun, Choi Jae-min, and Jang Seungwon from the Pukyong National University East-West Convergence Smart Technology Practical Problem Research Group (led by Park Younghwan), along with Jeon Ji-hong, director of Yachtholic, and supervised by Professor Jung Young, won the Minister of Science and ICT Award, the grand prize of the competition, among 36 teams from 9 universities nationwide.

This competition, hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the National Research Foundation of Korea, and the X-corps Plus Council, was a research achievement contest for nurturing future-leading talent. It featured students from practical problem research groups, who, together with industry experts, competed by presenting their research outcomes in solving real-world problems on site.

The Pukyong National University student teams conducted their research in Professor Jung Young's Smart Mechanical Materials and Engineering Laboratory, majoring in mechanical engineering, and developed a self-powered smart life jacket using harvester devices, receiving the highest evaluation.

This self-powered smart life jacket utilizes a triboelectric energy harvester device to generate its own electricity, enabling it to transmit rescue signals and flash multiple high-brightness LEDs to quickly indicate the location of a person in distress.

This project not only addressed the lack of visualization functions in existing rescue equipment, the issue of separate rescue signal devices, and the problem of dependence on external power sources simultaneously, but also demonstrated stable operation of its functions by verifying and evaluating its performance in real-world environments, earning recognition for its high level of completion.

All four teams from the Pukyong National University Practical Problem Research Group achieved awards, with the SME team winning the grand prize, and the NHR team (Human Bio-Convergence Major, Professor Lim Hyo-ryeong), the ORGAA team (Department of Chemical Engineering, Professor Lee Eungwang), and Team_SmokeLab (Department of Fire Protection Engineering, Professor Jeon Junho) each winning the top excellence award.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.