In this paper we propose a new approach to the development of the automatic vision system to examine and repair the steam generator tubes at remote distance. In nuclear power plants, workers are reluctant of works in steam generator because of the high radiation environment and limited working space. It is strongly recommended that the examination and maintenance works be done by an automatic system for the protection of the operator from the radiation exposure. Digital signal processors are used in implementing real time recognition and examination of steam generator tubes in the proposed vision system. Performance of proposed digital vision system is illustrated by simulation and experiment for similar steam generator model.

Mostly a ride comfort and handling performance of vehicle is influenced by dynamic behavior control of vehicle. We are focusing on development of a semi-intelligent suspension system with continuously variable damper(HS-SH type). only using absolute velocity of sprung mass without using the relative velocity besides having lower system prices and a little energy requirement. In this paper, the system is realized in consideration to control strategy (sky-hook control, hybrid filter, etc.) and has been proved to have improvement of behavior control of vehicle by quarter car and Vehicle test, respectively.

This paper describes a research work of developing a computer-aided design of irregularly shaped-sheet metal product with bending and piercing operation for progressive working. An approach to the CAD system is based on the knowledge-based rules. Knowledge for the CAD system is formulated from plasticity theories, experimental results and the empirical knowledge of field experts. The system has been written in AutoLISP on the AutoCAD with a personal computer and is composed of five main modules, which are input and shape treatment, flat pattern-layout, production feasibility check, blank-layout, and strip-layout module. Based on knowledge-based rules, the system is designed by considering several factors, such as radius and angle of bend, material and thickness of product, complexities of blank geometry and punch profile, and availability of press. This system is capable of unfolding a formed sheet metal part to give flat pattern and automatically account for the adjustment of bend allowances to match tooling requirements by checking dimensions and the best utilization ratio of blank-layout within bending production feasibility area which is beyond ${\pm}30^{\circ}$ degrees intersecting angle between grain flow and bending edge line and which is suitable to progressive bending operation. Also the strip-layout drawing generated by a bending and a piercing operation according to punch profiles divided into automatically for external area of irregularly shaped-sheet metal product is displayed in graphic forms.

This paper is related to economic design of tool-resetting period in NC machining. In NC lathe machining, the mean and variance of components dimension fluctuate in slow time and we should reset tool program to compensate the variation from the fluctuation. In this paper. we propose the procedure determining the optimal resetting period based on the total expected operating cost which consists of resetting cost and the quality cost related to dimension variation. As a case study, using experimental data about dimension changes of a lathe machining, we obtain the regression equations of mean and variance of the dimension fluctuation, total expected operating cost, and optimal resetting period.

Drilling is an indispensable process in manufacturing of the die and mould and the other mechanical parts which needs high dimensional and surface accuracy. In this paper, a new type of drilling method was proposed in order to improve both processing efficiency and accuracy. Specifically, the helical motion using ball end mill tools, instead of normal drilling method, was applied to perform an effective hole machining. In this paper, an theoretical background of the new type of drilling method was established, and the feasibility of the proposed theory was proved by experiments, where proposed drilling process in the paper gave a different machining specification than general method did.

Abrasive waterjet(AWJ)은 가공시 열에 의한 가공경화가 없기 때문에 유리, 세라믹, 타이타늄및 금속복합재료와 같은 난삭재의 가공기술로 사용이 증가되었다. Acoustic emission(AE)신호에 의한 AWJ 세라믹 drilling가공시 On-Line Monitoring의 가능성이 고찰되었다. 기계 적인 물성이 서로 상이한 3종류의 세라믹이 본 연구에서 사용되었으며, AE신호는 AWJ drilling의 깊이를 monitoring하는데 유용함을 알 수 있었고 또한 세라믹의 material removal mechanisms을 규명하였다.

There are lots of factors that are related to the geometric characteristics of machined surface. Among them, the tool path and milling mode (up cut milling or down cut milling) are the easiest controllable machining conditions. Thus, the first objective of this research is to study the effects of them on the milled surface that is generated by an end milling tool. To get precision parts, not only the machining process but also the measurement of geometric tolerance is important. But, this measurement requires a lot of time, because the infinite surface points must be measured in the ideal case. So, the second objective is to propose a simple flatness measurement method that can be available instead of the 3-D geometric tolerance measurement method, using a scale factor and characterized points. Finally, it is also shown that the possibility of flatness improvement by shifting the consecutive fine cutting tool path as compared with the last rough cutting tool path.

In this paper, on the basis of factory rationalization, the detection and evaluation system of weak assembly process was developed to analyze the processes for improvement of assembly productivity in the current assembly system. Using this detection and evaluation system of weak assembly process, the weak degrees of assembly process were quantitatively calculated. In this system, the improved design rules were constructed for assemblability and the redesign alternative was Presented for elimination of weak Process. After review of the redesign alternative, it was applied to the actual assembly system.

In determining optimal cutting condition for face milling operation, tool wear is an important factor. For the purpose of establishing the relationship between various machining factors and tool wear, cutting tests have been performed. As a result, hardness and chemical composition of workpiece material, chemical composition and grain size of cutting tool and cutting speed have been selected as machining factors. In addition, relationship between feed rate and workpiece hardness has been observed. Prior to utilizing cutting conditions recommended by ‘Machining Data Handbook(MDH)’ as a knowledge base, an analysis for the validity of the MDH has been provided. Based on this analysis, tool life criteria applied by MDH has been modified. Finally, using MDH recommended data for neural network trainning, the results from the trained neural network for optimal cutting condition for some given workpiece and cutting tool can be used as reference cutting conditions.

Helical gear system is widely used to transmit heavy duty power with harmonies and silences between parallel shafts. This paper predicts a life with Weibull distribution and estimates a reliability based on recycle principle of helical gear systems. 2-parameter Weibull distribution is generally adopted to estimate the mechanical life and the reliability of most gear systems, because this Weibull distribution is proper to explain a characteristics or a life of parts of gear systems with linearity of probability density data on weibull data sheet. For a high reliability, this paper estimates a number of overhaul times and a number of needed substitutes (exchange attachment,1 or parts) with following renewal theory, One is make an exchange of whole module include failure attachments/parts and second estimating method is only exchange of a failure attachments / parts.

In this Paper, a fuel minimizing closed loop explicit inertial guidance algorithm for orbit injection of a rocket is developed. In the formulation, the fuel burning rate and magnitude of thrust are assumed constant. The motion of rocket is assumed to be subject to the average inverse-square gravity, but negligible effects from atmosphere. The optimum thrust angle to obtain a given velocity vector in the shortest time with minimizing fuel consumption is first determined, and then the additive thrust angle for targeting the final position vector is determined by using Pontryagin's maximum principle. To establish real time processing, many algorithms of onboard guidance software are simplified. The explicit guidance algorithm is simulated on the 2nd-stage flight of the N-1 rocket developed in Japan. The results show that the explicit guidance algorithm works well in the presence of the maximum $\pm$10% initial velocity and altitude errors, and exhibits better performance than the open-loop program guidance. The effects of the guidance cycle time are also examined.

A path planning using potential field method is very useful for the real-time navigation of mobile robots. However, the method needs high modeling cost to calculate the potential field because of complex preprocessing, and mobile robots may get stuck into local minima. In this paper, An efficient path planning algorithm for multiple mobile robots, based on the potential field method, was proposed. In the algorithm. the concepts of subgoals and obstacle priority were introduced. The subgoals can be used to escape local minima, or to design and change the paths of mobile robots in the work space. In obstacle priority, all the objects (obstacles and mobile robots) in the work space have their own priorities, and the object having lower priority should avoid the objects having higher priority than it has. In this paper, first, potential based path planning method was introduced, next an efficient collision-avoidance algorithm for multiple mobile robots, moving in the obstacle environment, was proposed by using subgoals and obstacle priority. Finally, the developed algorithm was demonstrated graphically to show the usefulness of the algorithm.

An interferometric microscope with an improved lateral resolution is presented. The nanometer resolution XY stage is integrated into standard temporal phase shifting interferometer. The nanometer resolution XY stage is used to position specimen in subpixel of CCD detector, therefore CCD detector's sampling is improved. Two scanning algorithms and those simulation results are also presented. The simulation results show that scanning algorithms improve CCD detector's sampling significantly, and interferometeric microscope's lateral resolution is improved also.

Particles reinforced MMCs have many advantages over monolithic metals including a higher specific modulus, higher specific strength, better properties at elevated temperatures and better wear resistance. SiC$_p$/A16061 composites have good results in its mechanical properties. This work investigates SiC$_p$/A16061 composites in the microscopic view and compares the analytical results with the experimental ones. The discrepancy of the material properties between the reinforced particle, SiC$_p$, and the matrix material, A16061 appears to be so significant. Especially the coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE) of A16061 is 5 times larger than that of SiC$_p$. Thermal residual stress in MMCs is induced at high temperatures. The shape of particle is various but the theoretical model is not able to consider the nonuniform shape. Particle distribution is not homogeneous in experimental specimen. However, it is assumed to be homogeneous in simulation model. The shapes of particles are assumed to be not only perfect global but hexahedral shapes. The types of particle distribution are two - simple cubic array(SC array) and face-centered cubic array(FCC array).

In Semi-Solid Forging, it is necessary to control the forming variables accurately in order to make near-net-shape products. Generally, the defects of products may occur due to liquid segregation which can be caused by the degree of deformation and strain rate, and condition of friction in Semi-Solid Forging, where the segregation is to be predicted by flow analysis. This paper presents the feasibility of theoretical analysis model using the new yield function for compressible P/M materials which is proposed by Doraivelu et at. to the flow analysis of the semi-solid dendritic Sn-15％Pb alloys instead of adopting the yield criterion of Shima and Oyane which is used by Charreyron and Flemings. The simple compression process is taken into consideration as the model to confirm the usefulness of the adopted yield function. The distribution of the liquid fraction at various strains and strain rates in radial direction, and the influence of friction are estimated by upper-bound method.

This paper presents an optimum design of a rotor-bearing spindle system for a ultra centrifuge (80,000 RPM) supported by ball bearings with nonlinear stiffness characteristics. To obtain the nonlinear bearing stiffnesses, a ball bearing is modeled in five degrees of freedom and is analyzed quasi-statically. The dynamic behaviors of the nonlinear rotor-bearing system are analyzed by using a transfer-matrix method iteratively. For optimization. we use the cost function that simultaneously minimizes the weight of a rotor and maximizes the separation margins to yield the critical speeds as far from the operating speed as possible. Augmented Lagrange Multiplier (ALM) method is employed for the nonlinear optimization problem. The result shows that the rotor-bearing spindle system is optimized to obtain 9.5％ weight reduction and 21％ separation margin.

In this paper, a theoretical analysis is presented on the mechanics of the grinding by hemispheric type electroplated CBN wheel. The grinding forces acting on a single grain were calculated from its geometry by assuming the abrasive grain is spherical. Then. the total grinding forces were obtained by estimating the number of acting abrasive grains and the area of contact. The model includes the grinding variables such as wheel speed. feed speed. depth of cut, and grinding wheel positions. Experiments were also carried out to compare with the analytical results. The experimental results were found to be in good agreement with the analytical ones.

The problem of interface crack in the bonded structures has received a great deal of attention in recent years. In this paper the aluminum bonded single lap-joint containing the interface edge crack is investigated. The tensile load and the average shear stress of the adhesive joints which have different crack length are obtained from the static tensile tests. The critical value of crack length to provoke the interface fracture is determined to a/L=0.4, where a is the interface crack length and L is the adhesive lap-length. The fracture mechanical parameters are introduced to confirm the existence of the critical crack length. The compliance and the stress intensity factors are calculated using the displacement and the stress near the interface crack tip by the boundary element method. These numerical results support the experimental results that the critical value of a/L is 0.4. It is known that the compliance and the stress intensity factors are the efficient parameters to estimate the bonded single lap-joint containing the interface edge crack.

The ultrasonic test is recognized for its significance as a non-destructive testing method to detect volume defects such as porosity and incomplete penetration which reduce strength in the weld zone. This paper illustrates the defect detection in the weld zone of ferritic carbon steel using ultrasonic wave and the evaluation of pattern recognition by chaotic feature extraction using time series signal of detected defects as data. Shown in the time series data were that the time delay was 4 and the embedding dimension was 6 which indicate the geometric dimension of the subject system and the extent of information correlation. Based on fractal dimension and lyapunov exponent in quantitative chaotic feature extraction, feature value of 2.15, 0.47 is presented for porosity and 2.24, 0.51 for incomplete penetration The precision rate of the pattern recognition is enhanced with these values on the total waveform of defect signal in the weld zone. Therefore, we think that the ultrasonic pattern recognition method of weld zone defects of ferritic carbon steel by ultrasonic-chaotic feature extraction proposed in this paper can boost precision rate further than the existing method applying only partial waveform.

An advanced visual tracking and stable grasping algorithm for a moving object is proposed. The stable grasping points for a moving 2D polygonal object are obtained through the visual tracking system with the Kalman filter and image prediction technique. The accuracy and efficiency are improved more than any other prediction algorithms for the tracking of an object. In the processing of a visual tracking. the shape predictors construct the parameterized family and grasp planner find the grasping points of unknown object through the geometric properties of the parameterized family. This algorithm conducts a process of ‘stable grasping and real time tracking’.