• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2014

Ultrasonic imprinting is a novel process for replicating micropatterns on thermoplastic polymer substrates with low energy consumption and short cycle time. The polymer substrate is softened by the frictional heat and repetitive deformation energy under ultrasonic excitation; thus, a number of micropatterns are replicated on the softened polymer substrate. In the present work, the effect of mold temperature on the replication characteristics of ultrasonic imprinting is investigated. The temperature change in the patterned region is measured by varying the mold temperature. Numerical simulation is then performed for investigating pattern replication characteristics under various mold temperatures. In addition, pattern replication ratio and uniformity are compared through various experimental measurements. Through the results of these comparisons, it is found that the mold temperature has a significant positive effect on the replication characteristics of ultrasonic imprinting.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.352-357
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• 2008

The detection of micro cracks in materials at the early stage of fracture is important in many structural safety assurance problems. The nonlinear ultrasonic technique (NUT) has been considered as a positive method for this, since it is more sensitive to micro crack than conventional linear ultrasonic methods. The basic principle is that the waveform is distorted by nonlinear stress-displacement relationship on the crack interface when the ultrasonic wave transmits through, and resultantly higher order harmonics are generated. This phenomenon is called the contact acoustic nonlinearity (CAN). The purpose of this paper is to prove the applicability of CAN experimentally by detection of micro fatigue crack artificailly initiated in Aluminum specimen. For this, we prepared fatigue specimens of Al6061 material with V-notch to initiate the crack, and the amplitude of second order harmonic was measured by scanning along the crack direction. From the results, we could see that the harmonic amplitude had good correlation with COD and it can be used to detect the crack depth in more accurately than the common 6 dB drop echo method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.116-129
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• 2000

Due to the great complexity of the physical phenomena involved in most ultrasonic nondestructive testing, the numerical method is effective in many cases of their theoretical modeling. A brief overview is provided in this paper of the numerical methods used in modeling ultrasonic nondestructive testing, with an emphasis on the finite difference and the finite element methods. The procedures of execution, special considerations required, and some previous research results of the finite difference and the finite element methods are presented, with a rather extensive list of work reported in the literature. These numerical modeling techniques for ultrasonic nondestructive testing are expected to be more reliable and more convenient, as a result of the continuing technological development of computers.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.277-283
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• 2020

Microbial disinfection is essential to increase the preservation and safety of food. In general, thermal sterilization technology is most frequently used, but it often causes nutrient denaturation, and deterioration of food quality. Accordingly, non-thermal sterilization using a novel technology is emerging as an alternative technology. Among them, ultrasonic technology produces a disinfection effect by promoting the destruction of microorganisms by cavitation. Ultrasound technology alone has a low effect, so research is being actively conducted to develop an effective technology by applying as a hurdle technology with various other technologies. Ultrasound can be treated with various processes including traditional sterilization methods such as heating, high pressure, and chemical treatment, as well as novel technologies such as ultraviolet irradiation. Ultrasound assisted sterilization technology still remains at the laboratory level, requiring additional research such as the development of equipment for industrial application and establishment of an optimal process.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.683-692
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• 2023

This research assesses the mechanical properties of concrete, utilizing both normal and lightweight aggregates, through measurements of compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity. The study observed that concrete with normal aggregates exhibited higher compressive strength in its initial stages, whereas concrete with lightweight aggregates showed increased strength over time, likely attributed to the higher water absorption rate of lightweight aggregates. Ultrasonic pulse velocity generally registered higher in normal aggregate concrete, barring a specific duration, presumably due to variations in the internal pore structure of the aggregates. The correlation coefficient(R²) for the strength prediction equation, derived from the relationship between compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity, exceeds 0.95. This high correlation suggests that the predictive equation based on these experimental findings is a reliable method for estimating concrete strength.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.298-306
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• 1997

Ultrasonic sensors are widely used in various applications due to advantages of low cost, simplicity in construction, mechanical robustness, and little environmental restriction in usage. But the main purposes of the noncontact sensors are rather narrowly confined within object detection and distance measurement. For the application of object recognition, ultrasonic sensors exhibit several shortcomings of poor directionality which results in low spatial resolution of an object, and specularity which gives frequent erroneous range readings. To resolve these problems in object recognition, an array of the sensors has been used. To improve the spatial resolution, more number of sensors are used in essence throughout the various devices of the sensor arrays. Under the disguise of a fixed number of the sensors, the array can be shifted mechanically in several steps. In this paper we propose a practical sensor resolution enhancement method using an electronic circuit accompanying the sensor array. The circuit changes the transmitter output voltage in several steps. Using the known sensor characteristics, a set of different return echo signals provide enhanced spatial resolution. The improvement is obtained without the cost of the increased number of the sensors nor extra mechanical devices.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2011

This paper presents the systematic optimal design of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring for high performance obstacle detection using effective beam overlap. Basically, a set of low directivity ultrasonic sensors of the same type are arranged in a circle at regular intervals with their beams overlapped. First, both real and simplified beam patterns of an ultrasonic sensor and several sensor models for obstacle position estimation within its beam pattern are introduced. Second, the obstacle detection range of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring and its simple sensor model for obstacle position estimation are described. Third, for both conic and non-conic shaped beam pattern, the design indices of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring for minimal positional uncertainty in obstacle detection are defined. Fourth, the constraints imposed on the structural parameters of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring to guarantee non empty beam overlap and to avoid excessive beam overlap are derived. Fifth, the optimal number of ultrasonic sensors for a given radius of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring and the optimal radius of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring are determined. Throughout this paper, the MA40B8 from Murata Inc. is taken as a representative commercial low directivity ultrasonic sensor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2011.06b
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• pp.290-293
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• 2011

치아 스케일링은 치아에 단단하게 결착된 치석을 제거하는 치과 시술로서 치아 우식 및 잇몸염증을 예방하는 중요한 시술이다. 특히 요즘에는 치료시간의 단축을 통한 효율성 증대의 목적으로 전기적 에너지를 미세한 진동에너지로 바꾸는 원리를 활용한 초음파 스케일링 기법이 많이 행해지고 있다. 하지만 치아 및 치석 확보에 따른 어려움으로 인해 스케일링 시술을 충분히 훈련하기란 쉽지 않다. 본 논문에서는 사용자가 가상현실을 통해 시각 및 촉각 피드백을 받으며 초음파 스케일링 시술을 훈련할 수 있는 치아 스케일링 시뮬레이션을 위한 알고리즘을 제안한다. 치아, 치석 및 잇몸의 볼륨모델과 스케이러 팁을 구성하는 각 부문의 관통깊이를 이용한 햅틱 랜더링 기법을 적용하여 스케일러의 모양에 따른 햅틱 피드백을 생성하였다. 그리고 치아의 손상을 줄이기 위해 스케일러의 팁 부문이 치아 표면에 되도록 평형을 이루어야 한다는 점에 입각하여, 치석을 구성하는 복셀들의 치아 디스턴스필드 값 비교를 통해 치석과 치아 사이의 접착면을 추출하고 스케일러의 팁 부분과 충돌하는 추출된 집착면의 각도를 고려한 스케일링 알고리즘을 구현하였다. 또한 수동 스케일링과는 달리 초음파 스케일링은 초음파의 진동에너지에 의해 점진적으로 치아와 치석 사이의 결속력이 감소된다는 점에 착안하여 치아와 치석의 접착면을 구성하는 지점 사이의 거리에 따른 결속력 감쇠 모델을 고안하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.1921-1925
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• 2010

개수로의 흐름을 측정하는 유속계는 유체역학 및 수리학적 연구와 유량 측정 등의 업무에 필수적인 장비이다. 그동안 국내에서는 일부 전자파표면유속계(이상호 등, 1997)와 영상처리 기반의 LSPIV(김영근 등, 2004)와 같은 비접촉식 유속측정 장치가 개발되어 활용되고 있지만, 유속 및 유량 측정에 보다 널리 사용되고 있는 수중 투입식 유속계의 경우 거의 개발되지 않았다. 특히 유속 분포를 측정하는데 활용될 수 있는 초음파 방식 유속 프로파일러는 거의 전적으로 외국제품에 의존하고 있다. 일반 유속계가 점유속을 측정하는데 비해 유속 프로파일러는 센서가 지향하는 방향선을 따라 공간적인 유속분포를 동시에 획득할 수 있으므로 측정 효율성이 높다는 장점을 지닌다. 본 연구에서는 국내 기술로 개수로 흐름 측정에 활용할 수 있는 초음파 유속 프로파일러를 개발하였다. 이 유속 프로파일러는 초음파 펄스를 반복적으로 송수신하는 PRF 기법을 이용하여 개발하였다. 개발된 유속 프로파일러는 직사각형 수로에서 유속 분포를 측정하기 위해 적용하였으며, 기존의 2차원 유속계와 그 결과를 비교하였다. 본 연구에서 개발한 유속 프로파일러는 실제 하천에 활용하기에는 측정 가능한 유속 및 수심 범위의 한계가 있으나 PRF 기법의 한계 범위에서는 실측 유속분포를 비교적 잘 재현하는 것으로 나타났다.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.636-643
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• 2011

Sludge solubilization using sonification has been increasingly used for sludge volume reduction along with enhancing digestion efficiency during anaerobic biogas production. In this study, either electric field or ultrasonification or in combination with were investigated using three types of sludge (return, excess and mixed at G sewage treatment facility) for the most efficient solubilization. As a the closed loop, 200 L of sludge was continuously passing through the solubilization system at an average flow rate of $0.7m^3/h$, which is equivalent to 3.5 times treated per hour for up to 84 times (24 h). Only implying electric field showed no variation for sCOD/tCOD before and after treatment on sludge solubilization regardless of types of sludge. However, employing the ultrasonic or combined system could both increasingly solubilize sludge with regard to the number of passing-through, which more enhanced by the combined. In addition, VSS/TSS was lowered to in the range of 2 and 6% while its particle size, diameter (0.9) and diameter (0.5) were more minimized than that of raw sludge. For return sludge, ultrasonification was more efficiently facilitated for solubilization, whereas electric field-ultrasonification was more preferably applied for excess and mixed sludge. It is concluded that depending on types of sludge, solubilization system must be selectively applied for the most efficient break-up of them.