This paper describes the development of the intelligent gripper with two 3-axis force sensor that can measure forces Fx, Fy, Fz simultaneously, for stably grasping an unknown object. In order to grasp an unknown object using an intelligent gripper softly, it should measure the force in the gripping direction and the force in the gravity direction, and perform the force control using the measured farces. Thus, the intelligent gripper should be composed of 3-axis force sensor that can measure forces Fx, Fy, Fz at the same time. In this paper, the intelligent gripper with two 3-axis force sensor was manufactured and its characteristic test was carried out. The fabricated gripper could grasp an unknown object stably. Also, the sensing element of 3-axis force sensor was modeled and designed with five parallel-plate beams, and 3-axis force sensor for the intelligent gripper was fabricated. The characteristic test of the made sensor was carried out.

The electro-acoustic guitar pickup converts the vibration of strings to the electric signals, and delivers them to an amplifier. The vibration of the strings is transferred to the piezoelectric material through the saddle. This paper aims to improve sound quality for electro-acoustic guitars through the finite element analysis of the saddle. Firstly, the conventional pickup is modeled and analyzed with a commercial program called ANSYS. It is obvious that there exists interference phenomenon of stress. A structural modification of the pickup is performed, based on the beam theory. The modified structure is modeled and analyzed. Finally, the fabricated structures are subjected to the measurements and compared with the conventional pickup. It can be concluded that the interference with the modified structure is much less than that with the conventional structure, and that the sound quality is improved with the modified structures.

This work is aimed to measure the deterioration in oil sensor. For the study, the circuit of a coil-type oil sensor packaged was developed and applied to the automobile engine for monitoring the deterioration of engine oil in driving conditions. From the principle which the deterioration of automobile engine oil can be expressed to the dielectric constant, the capacitance bridge circuit and the integrator circuit were designed. As results, the range of operating temperature of engine oil was experimentally recommended within $55^{\circ}C$ for the stability of a sensor designed. It was also concluded that the characteristics of output voltage converted from the dielectric constant were linearly distributed and predicted the optimized time for the exchange of engine oil.

This paper deals with a problem of vibration suppression of a piezoelectric beam using a self-sensing algorithm. Two methods, which are PPF(positive position feedback) and SRF(strain rate feedback), are considered to suppress a residual vibration of a piezoelectric beam developed during the step positioning of a beam end point. A self-sensing algorithm treated here is basically a strain rate estimator of a beam movement and is to be used for the closed loop control. The efficacy of the proposed idea is evaluated through experiments.

The Taguchi method is applied to obtain the optimal design of an automotive pedal arm in consideration of the stiffness test specification. Design parameters are defined to describe shape of the pedal arm. Volume, maximum Von-Mises stress and maximum displacement of the pedal arm are established as the smaller-the-better characteristics. Optimal parameters are determined on the basis of the analyzed level averages of the characteristics.

As a result of vehicle maintenance of rocker arm shaft for 4-cylinder SOHC engine, failure stress analysis of rocker arm shaft is needed. Because more than 30% of vehicles investigated have been fractured. Failure stress analysis is classified into an naked eyes, microscope, striation and X-ray fractography etc. Failure stress analysis by using striation is already established technology as means for seeking cause of fracture. But, although it is well known that striation spacing corresponds to the crack growth rate da/dN, it is not possible to determine ${\sigma}_{max}\;and\;{\sigma}_{min}$ under service loading only from striation spacing. This is because the value of striation spacing is influenced not only by ${\Delta}K$ but also by the stress ratio R. In the present paper, we determine the stress ratio using orthogonal array and ANOVA, and propose a prediction method of failure stress which is combined with FEM and striation.

Fractures of galvannealed coating layer during actual press forming in automotive applications were observed by scanning electron microscopy in order to understand fracture mechanism. Fracture behaviors of galvannealed coating layer in extra deep drawing quality steels and high strength steels have been studied by performing the tests describing the representative plastic deformation in sheet metal forming such as uni-axial tensile test, compression test, bi-axial test and plane strain test. Growth and direction of cracks were deeply related to the plastic deformation modes and history. The material properties of galvannealed coating layer were investigated by nano-indentation test equipped with Berkovich diamond indentor for the specimens. Hardness and elastic modulus of the coating layer were higher than bared steels and that was the reason for crack of coating layer. Flat friction test and drawbead friction test were performed to observe the effect of the surface morphology on the frictional characteristics. The micro-plasto hydrodynamic lubrication were appeared and played an important role in reducing the coefficient of friction.

A internal lobe pump is suitable for oil hydraulics of machine tools, automotive engines, compressors, constructions and other various applications. In particular, the pump is an essential machine element of an automotive engine to feed lubricant oil. The subject of this paper is the theoretical analysis of internal lobe pump whose the main components are the rotors: usually the outer one is characterized by lobes with circular shape, while the inner rotor profile is determined as conjugate to the other. The topic of this paper is the design of a new rotor, which is based on specific performance as different types depending on the shape of the lobe of the outer rotor. First, the design of internal lobe pumps with circular, elliptical, and their combined lobe profiles is considered. The latter is a new type of lobe profile with special shape whose curvature follows a definite function. Then we introduce the performance indexes used for the comparison. Some of these indexes, such as flow rate and flow rate irregularity, are commonly used for the comparison, while specific slipping is particularly suitable in this case. It is possible to notice that the circular and elliptical type is comparable to the circular one or the elliptical one in terms of flow rate irregularity, but has improved performance in terms of specific slipping. Results obtained from the analysis enable the designer and manufacturer of oil pump to be more efficient in this field.

To overcome many defects such as the high product cost, large energy consumption, and big space capacity in conventional mechanical machining, the miniaturization of machine tool and micro factory systems has been envisioned recently. The object of this paper is to research the effect of dynamic characteristic parameters in bolted-joint beams, which is widely applied to the joining of mechanical structures in order to identify structural system characteristics and to predict dynamic behavior according to scale-down from macro to micro system as the development of micro/meso-scale machine tool and micro factories. Modal parameters such as the natural frequency, damping ratio, and mode shape from modal testing and dynamic characteristics from finite element analysis are extracted with all 12 test beam models by materials, by size, and by joining condition, and then the results obtained by both methods are compared.

This paper describes a three-probe system that can be used to measure the parallelism and straightness of a pair of rails simultaneously. The parallelism is measured using a modified reversal method, while the straightness is measured using a sequential two-point method. The measurement algorithms were analyzed numerically using a pair of functionally defined rails to validate the three-probe system. Tests were also performed on a pair of straightedge rails with a length of 250 mm and a maximum straightness deviation of $0.05{\mu}m$, as certified by the supplier. The experimental results demonstrated that the parallelism-measurement algorithm had a cancellation effect on the probe stage motion error. They also confirmed that the proposed system could measure the slope of a pair of rails about $0.06{\mu}rad$. Therefore, by combining this technique with a sequential differential method to measure the straightness of the rails simultaneously, the surface profiles could be determined accurately and eliminate the stage error. The measured straightness deviation of each straight edge was less than $0.05{\mu}m$, consistent with the certified value.

Active vibration isolation systems need the following performance specifications which are different from those of existing positioning systems: usage of seismic sensors, strict suppression of phase lead/lag in signal processing for sensors and actuators, excellent control in low frequency range and so on. In consideration of such specifications, a 3-DOF precision stage for vibration isolation is designed and modeled based on the physical characteristics. Then the major parameters such as spring constants and damping coefficients are valued by the system identification method using empirical transfer function. Finite element analysis is used as a verification and simulation tool throughout this research. This paper lays the foundation for the future research on the control of the active vibration isolation system.

We report the suspension of individual multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) from the bottom substrate using deep trench electrodes that were fabricated using optical lithography. During drying of the solution in dielectrophoretic assembly, the capillary force pulls the MWNT toward the bottom substrate, and it then remains as a deformed structure adhering to the bottom substrate after the solution has dried out. Small-diameter MWNTs cannot be suspended using thin electrodes with large gaps, but large-diameter MWNTs can be suspended using thicker electrodes. We present the statistical experimental results for successful suspension, as well as the feasible conditions for a MWNT suspension based on a theoretical approach.

To understand adhesive phenomena, we need to get force curve between two surfaces. And it is said that high stiffness force analysis system is needed to get precise force curve and more information of the surfaces. Usually the stiffness of the force measurement system is under the order of 10N/m. The stiffer force measurement system, however, results in more information on the surface, because higher stiffness lead to the wider range of force curves, secondly because the force curve obtained through the stiffer one describes more precise relationship between relative tip-sample separation and interaction force. In this paper, considering for stiffness and resolution, the cantilever was designed and we made adhesion force measurement apparatus with high stiffness and high resolution, so we measured adhesive force between Ag-ball and wafer.