• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.329-336
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• 2003

Intra-Vascular Ultra-Sound (IVUS) transducers were developed for the application to diagnose coronary diseases. The transducer consists of 32 piezoelectric elements with a front insulation layer and a polymeric acoustic backing layer on a hollow alumina tube. The optimal geometrical structure of the transducer was designed through theoretical analysis of radiation patterns of the transducer. Samples of the IVUS transducers of the diameter of 3㎜ were fabricated to illustrate the design scheme. For the piezoelectric elements, 2-2 mode piezocomposite materials were employed. Experimental performance of the transducers showed good agreement with the design results, which verified feasibility of the transducer for IVUS applications.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.436-445
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• 2011

In this paper, equivalent properties of 2-2 mode piezocomposites were studied. Variation of the properties of 2-2 mode piezocomposites was analyzed by the finite element method, and the result was compared with experimental measurement data to confirm the validity of the analysis. The equivalent properties of a single phase material to represent the piezocomposite composed of PZT-5H and polymer were derived by the asymptotic averaging method. Accuracy of the derived equivalent properties was enhanced by minimizing the discrepancy between the impedance spectra of full 2-2 piezocomposite and equivalent single phase material resonators of various vibration modes by the least square method. The equivalent properties of 2-2 piezocomposites derived in this study can be utilized to the design of diverse acoustic sensors.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.161-166
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• 2001

The prototype of a tactile sensor with $4\times 4$ taxels using PVDF was fabricated. The electrode patterns of the thin Cu tape are attached to the 28${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ thickness PVDF using conductive adhesive and covering the sensor using polyester film for insulation. The structure of the sensor is flexible and the fabrication procedure is easy relatively. Also the output characteristics of the sensor was nearly linear with 8% deviation. The signals of a contact pressure to the tactile sensor are sensed and processed through A/D converter, DSP system and personal computer. The reasonable performance for the detection of contact shape and force distribution was verified through the experiment.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.4 s.247
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• pp.364-372
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• 2006

In this paper, we present a finger tip tactile sensor which can detect contact normal force as well as slip. The sensor is made up of two different materials, such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) known as piezoelectric polymer, and pressure variable resistor ink. In order to detect slip on the surface of the object, two PVDF strips are arranged along the normal direction in the robot finger tip and the thumb tip. The surface electrode of the PVDF strip is fabricated using silk-screening technique with silver paste. Also a thin flexible force sensor is fabricated in the form of a matrix using pressure variable resistor ink in order to sense the static force. The developed tactile sensor is physically flexible and it can be deformed three-dimensionally to any shape so that it can be placed on anywhere on the curved surface. In addition, a tactile sensing system is developed, which includes miniaturized charge amplifier to amplify the small signal from the sensor, and the fast signal processing unit. The sensor system is evaluated experimentally and its effectiveness is validated.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.6399-6405
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• 2014

An external overload or impact is an important factor affecting the safety of large-scale structures. The proposal of this paper is the development of a system for detecting overload and impulse using a single PVDF film sensor. In large-scale structures, the load causes the structure to be deformed and the impulse generates vibration on the structure. Generally, low frequency deformation or bending of a structure is measured with a strain gauge and the high frequency vibration is detected by an accelerometer. On the other hand, a single sensor that can detect both deformation and vibration has not been developed. In this study, the development of a detection system integrated with a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film sensor, amplifier, and software was attempted to monitor deformation and impact through a single sensor. The system was verified by the possibility of detecting overload and impulse, and the two filtered signals of the PVDF were compared with a conventional strain gauge and an accelerometer.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.361-366
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• 2004

The poling characteristics of PVDF (poly(vinylidene fluoride)) film was investigated by measuring the electric voltage generated by the external load for the distributed tactile sensor applications. The poling conditions for the PVDF films were controlled by changing temperature and electric field, and the resulting crystal structure of the $\beta$-phase crystal was confirmed by FT-IR, DSC, and XRD experiments. The $\beta$-phase crystal was increased with the poling temperature and poling voltage, and subsequently the permittivity of the Poled PVDF films was increased. Finally, the prototype tactile sensor was tested by a 8 $\times$ 8 may circuit exhibiting high voltage signal for the highly poled PVDF films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.118-121
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• 2002

Polyvinylidene di-fluoride (PVDF) film sensor appeared to be practically useful for the structural health monitoring of composite materials and structures. PVDF film sensors were either attached to or embedded in the graphite/epoxy composite (CFRP) samples to detect the fatigue damage at the bondline of single-lap joints or the tensile failure of unidirectional laminates. PVDF sensors were sensitive enough to detect and determine the crack front in linear location since composites usually produce very energetic acoustic emission (AE). PVDF sensors are extremely cost-effective, as flexible as other plastic films, in low profile as thin as a few tens of microns, and have relatively wide-band response, all of which characteristics are readily utilized for the structural health monitoring of composite structures. Signals due to fatigue damage showed a characteristics of mode II (shear) type failure whereas those from fiber breakage at DEN notches showed that of mode I (tensile) type fracture.

• Composites Research
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.49-55
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• 2011

The use of advanced composite materials in main structures of military and civil aircraft has been increased rapidly because of their considerable metals in high specific strength and stiffness. However, the mechanical properties of composite materials may severely degrade in the presence of damage. Especially, the high-velocity impact such as a hailstorm, and a small piece of tire or stone during high taxing, can cause considerable damage to the structures and sub-system in spite of a very small mass. However, it is not easy to detect the damage in composite plates using a single sensor or any conventional methods. In this paper, the PVDF sensors and AE sensors were used for monitoring high-velocity impact damage initiation and propagation in composite laminates. The WT(wavelet transform) is used to decompose the sensor signals. In the PVDF sensor and AE sensor signal analysis, amounts of high-frequency signals are increased when the impact energy is increased. PVDF sensor and AE sensor signal appeared similar results. This study shows how various sensing techniques can be used to characterize high-velocity impact damage of advanced composite laminates.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.212-218
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• 2002

This research is the development of a distributed tactile sensor using PVDF film far the detection of the contact state. The prototype of the tactile sensor with 8$\times$8 taxels was fabricated using PVDF film and flexible circuitry. In the fabrication procedure, the electrode and the common electrode patterns are attached to the both side of the 28${\mu}m$ thickness PVDF film. The sensor is covered with polyester film for insulation. The signals of a contact pressure to the tactile sensor are sensed and processed in the DSP system in which the signals are digitalized and filtered. And the signals are integrated for taking the force profile. The processed signals of the output of the sensor are visualized to take the shape and force distribution of the contact object in personal computer. The usefulness of the sensor system is verified through the sensing examples.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.100-108
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• 2019

In this paper, a new stacked element pressure sensor has proposed for heartbeat and respiration measurement. This device can be directly attached to an individual's chest; heartbeat and respiration are detected by the pulsatile vibration and deformation of the chest. A key feature of the device is the simultaneous measurement of heart rate and respiration. The structure of the sensor consists of two stacked elements, in which one element includes one polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) thin film bonded on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. In addition, for the measurement and signal processing, the electric circuit and the filter are simply constructed with an OP-amp, resistance, and a capacitor. One element (element1, PDMS) maximizes the respiration signal; the other (element2, PVDF) is used to measure heartbeat. Element1 and element2 had sensitivity of 0.163V/N and 0.209V/N, respectively, and element2 showed improved characteristics compared with element1 in response to force. Thus, element1 and element2 were optimized for measuring respiration heart rate, respectively. Through mechanical and vivo human tests, this sensor shows the great potential to optimize the signals of heartbeat and respiration compared with commercial devices. Moreover, the proposed sensor is flexible, light weight, and low cost. All of these characteristics illustrate an effective piezoelectric pressure sensor for heartbeat and respiration measurements.