This paper presents a method of a line balanced assembly sequence generation based on the verification of a disassemblability and a work time. To derive the disassemblability for a part to be disassembled, first we inference collision free assembly directions by extracting separable directions fur the part. And we determine the disassemblability defined by the separability and stability cost. The separability cost represents a facility of the part disassembly operation, and the stability cost which represents a degree of the stability for the base assembly motion. Based upon the results, we propose a new approach of evaluating work time using neural networks. The proposed assembly sequence generation provides an effective means of solving the line balancing problem and gives a design guidance of planning assembly lay-out in flexible manufacturing application. Example study is given to illustrate the concepts and procedure of the proposed schemes.

The demand for the metal coil coated with reflective film is rapidly increasing with the increasing demand of notebook PCs and LCD monitors. During the coating process, it is very important to regulate tension of the coil metal since fluctuation of the tension can significantly degrade quality of the product. In this study, a tension controller has been developed for winding process of LCD reflective film coating. The controller has been tested on the existing coating facilities, and the results are to be given in this paper.

This paper presents an efficient 5-axis roughing method for centrifugal impeller. The efficient roughing is minimization of cutting time through minimizing tool tilting and rotating motions. To minimized cutting time, machining area is divided into sub-cutting regions using control points on hub curves and shroud curves of blade used to design and analyze centrifugal impeller. For sub-cutting regions, diameters of cutting tools are determined as big as possible. Then, tool paths are generated with the tilting axis and rotating axis of 5-axis machine limited and fixed, which can give more efficient machining speed and machining stability than the conventional methods. Experimental results show that the proposed method is more efficient than the conventional methods to mill with the only one cutting tool without dividing area and the previous methods to mill with simultaneous 5-axis processing with dividing area.

The paper proposes a new sonic resonance test for a elastic modulus measurement which is based on time-average electronic speckle pattern interferometry(TA-ESPI) and Euler-Bernoulli equation. Previous measurement technique of elastic constant has the limitation of application for thin film or polymer material because contact to specimen affects the result. TA-ESPI has been developed as a non-contact optical measurement technique which can visualize resonance vibration mode shapes with whole-field. The maximum vibration amplitude at each vibration mode shape is a clue to find the resonance frequencies. The dynamic elastic constant of test material can be easily estimated from Euler-Bernoulli equation using the measured resonance frequencies. The proposed technique is able to give high accurate elastic modulus of materials through a simple experiment set up and analysis.

This paper represents a study on the development of the conceptual design for the bicycle transmission by TRIZ. At first the problem of the transmission of commercial bicycles was analyzed. The problem was defined as "the variable sprocket pitch diameter with respect to the tension change of chain". The conceptual solutions were derived by Su-Field Model Analysis, IFR(Ideal Final Result), SLP(Smart Little People), and Contradiction Matrix. The here developed sprocket prototype shows the automatic change of sprocket pitch diameter with the tension change of chain.

This paper represents a study on the development of the conceptual design for a skateboard by TRIZ. At first the problems of a commercial skateboard was analyzed. And its development objective was defined in connection with the theory of the system improvement trend. The developed conceptual design was compared with a commercial skateboard. The skateboard riding action analysis with a motion capture equipment shows the here developed skateboard more efficient than commercial one.

This paper describes the development of 6-axis force/moment sensor considered adult weight far an intelligent foot of humanoid robot. In order to walk on uneven terrain safely, the foot should perceive the applied forces Fx, Fy, Fz and moments Mx, My, Mz to itself and control the foot using the forces and moments. The applied forces and moments should be measured from a 6-axis force/moment sensor attached to the foot, which is composed of Fx sensor, Fy sensor, Fz sensor, Mx sensor, My sensor and Mz sensor in a body. Each sensor should get the deferent rated load, because the applied forces and moments to foot in walking are deferent. Therefore, one of the important things in the sensor is to design each sensor with the deferent rated load and the same rated output. In this paper, a 6-axis force/moment sensor (rated load of Fx and Fy are 500Nm and Fz sensor is 1000N, and those of Mx and My are 18Nm, Mz sensor is 8Nm) for perceiving forces and moments in a humanoid robot's foot was developed using many PPBs (parallel plate-beams). The structure of the sensor was newly modeled, and the sensing elements (plate-beams) of the sensor were designed using by ANSYS software (FEM (Finite Element Method) program). Then, a 6-axis force/moment sensor was fabricated by attaching strain-gages on the sensing elements, and the characteristic test of the developed sensor was carried out. The rated outputs from FEM analysis agree well with that from the characteristic test.

In modern industries, materials are required that possess multi-functional properties and at the same time flexibility in their shapes with structural stability. The major technology realizing this requirement consists of thinning metal wires and laying them with stable contact nodes. This research has dealt with a new method to manufacture thin wires by drawing without applying dies, but with introducing enforced necking, which enables to process multi-ends. Based on the new method, the process dynamics was modelled and its steady-state characteristics were analyzed. Results showed that the profiles of the material velocity in the drawing zone increased with a downward convex shape, while the cross-sectional area decreased with the shape of upward convex. The microwave heating turned out to be effective in wire drawing, but dependent on the input feeding direction. The variation in the diameters of the drawn wires was negatively affected by increasing the drawing ratio.

In this paper, the transient brake time was studied on the van type vehicle with accelerometer. Experiments were carried out on the asphalt(new and polished), unpacked road(earth and gravel) and on wet or dry road conditions. The transient brake time is not effected bzy the vehicle speed. The transient brake time is about 0.41$\sim$0.43second on the asphalt road surface and the error range is within 0.1$\sim$0.16second. For the asphalt road condition, the transient brake time is not effected by both new asphalt road surface and the polished asphalt road surface. With compared by dry and wet road surface condition, the transient brake time of wet condition is longer than dry road condition and compared with unpacked road condition and packed road condition, unpacked road condition is shorter than packed road condition. It is considered that the transient brake time is effected by the road surface fraction coefficient. In other words, the transients brake time increases as friction coefficient decreases.

Cavities of Class V are caused by heavy occlusal loads due to bruxism and clenching habit. It is general to restore abfraction lesions with dental filler materials to reduce stress concentration. A material should be selected from various dental products based on long term clinical experiences or personal preference concerning filler methods. A quantitative criterion is necessary to make an evaluation of the results as dentists decide treatment methods and dental materials relying on their clinical experiences. The purpose of this study is to find an optimal restoration method and material for noncarious cervical lesions using the finite element method. An objective function was defined to minimize the sum of tensile and compressive stresses. Several models with different combinations of resins were suggested and compared in terms of the values of objective function. An optimal solution was to fill TetricFlow inside the lesion and Z100 in the remaining region with a thickness ratio of 0.125.

Analysis of elders' behavioral characteristic during showering provides important fundamental data when developing an automatic showering system. We recorded showering behavior of 37 elders' at the front, back, left and right view using four CCTV cameras. The photographic data were analyzed by counting the frequencies of body scrub and identifying zones where hands could reach. And we measured their body sizes, and conducted questionnaire of showering for 302 peoples. Analysis was done according to the analysis criteria established. The human body was divided into 14 zones from a body, and the numbers of body scrub for each zone were counted. The average total numbers of body scrub were 170.8 excluding the head, the face and the neck. The average numbers of body scrub with right hand were 70.2, left hand were 88.2, and both hands were 81.8. The percentages of body scrub frequencies were 16.3% (breast), 12.2%(crotch), 8.8% (abdomen), 7.5% (waist), 8.8% (shoulder), 7% (hips), 0.4% (back), 15.2% (arm), and 23.9% (leg). Elders scrubbed the breast, crotch and abdomen more frequently than the back and hips. According to the video analysis and questionnaire results, the distribution of shower heads (or nozzles) at the front side should be arranged at the ratio of 40% of the trunk(breast, shoulders, abdomen), 20% of the thighs, the calves, and the crotch, respectively. The distribution of shower heads (or nozzles) of the back side were arranged at the ratio of 20% of the waist and the arms, 20% of the back, the thighs, the calves, and the hip, respectively.

Pressure-induced decubitus is a serious disease among the elderly people. Interface pressure occluding vascular perfusion is known to be a cause of decubitus. Therefore, it is essential to quantify the relationship between vascular perfusion and interface pressure among the elderly people to understand more about decubitus. Nine healthy elderly people (57.8$\pm$ 5.6 years, 63.3$\pm$ 7.0kg, 1.68$\pm$ 0.05m) were participated. Three healthy young people (31.7$\pm$ 3.2 years, 74.7$\pm$ 8.4kg, 1.75$\pm$ 0.04m) were also examined to be compared with the elderly group. Capillary vascular perfusion on the ischial tuberosity was recorded in the sitting posture as pressures were applied from 15mmHg to 135mmHg. The average interface pressure to occlude vascular perfusion (the average occlusion pressure) under the ischial tuberosity was 115.7mmHg in the elderly group. This value was not significantly different from the average occlusion pressure of the young group. Obesity effect on the occlusion pressure was investigated among the elderly group. The result was not significantly different between the obesity and the normal group in this study. This is a preliminary study to unveil the complicated cause of pressure-induced decubitus associated with occlusion of vascular perfusion. More subjects are required for the future study.

It is important to understand the characteristics of amputee gait to develop more advanced prostheses. The aim of this study was quantitatively to analyze the stair climbing task for the above-knee amputee with a prosthesis and to predict muscle forces and joint moments at musculoskeletal joints by dynamic analysis. The three-dimensional musculoskeletal model of lower extremities was constructed by gait analysis and transformation software for one above-knee amputee and ten healthy people. The measured ground reaction forces and kinematical data of each joint by gait analysis were used as input data during inverse dynamic analysis. Lastly, dynamic analysis of above-knee amputee during stair climbing were performed using musculoskeletal models. The results showed that summed muscle farces of hip extensor of amputated leg were greater than those of sound leg but the opposite results were revealed at hip abductor and knee flexor of amputated leg. We could also find that the higher moments at hip and knee joint of sound leg were needed to overcome the flexion moment caused by body weight and amputated leg. In conclusion, dynamic analysis using musculoskeletal models may be a useful mean to predict muscle forces and joint moments for specific motion tasks related to rehacilitation therapy..