• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1217-1224
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• 2013

In this paper, a hand exoskeleton actuated by air muscles(soft hand exoskeleton) is introduced. Some soft hand exoskeletons have already been developed to overcome the defects of hand exoskeletons based on linkage and pneumatic piston system-they are usually bulky and do not have enough degree of freedom(DOF). However, soft hand exoskeletons still have defects. Their motions are not precise as linkage based hand exoskeletons, because their actuator, such as air muscle is made of soft materials. So we developed a new linkage which is not bulky and has redundant DOF. It is combined with air muscle in a specific way so that it acts as a guide when air muscle is actuated. Some experiments were conducted to evaluate the validity and usability of our hand exoskeleton.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2014

In this study, the exoskeleton orthosis for the assistance of dorsiflexion torque in ankle joint to prevent foot-drop was developed. It was consist of three part; 1) the power part using artificial pneumatic actuator, 2) wearing part of ankle and knee joints to fix the orthosis, and 3) control part to detect the gait phase using physiological signal. The dorsiflexion torque was generated by the artificial pneumatic actuator connected with wearing part between ankle and knee joint. The accurate timing to assist dorsiflexion torque is made up of physiological signal in foot sole part that detect the gait phase, that is, stance and swing phase in each foot. We conduct the experiment to investigate the effect of exoskeleton orthosis to the 7 elderly people and 10 healthy people. The result showed that the muscular activities in tibialis anterior muscle were reduced because of the assistance of dorsiflexion torque in ankle joint using the exoskeleton orthosis.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.327-338
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• 2009

In this paper, through an evaluation process conducted on several designs of mini-LIPCA (Lightweight Piezo-Composite curved Actuator), an optimal design of a mini-LIPCA has been proposed. Comparing with the LIPCA-C2, the design of the mini-LIPCA comes with reduced overall size and a thinner active layer. Since a variation in the number and lay-up of fiber composite layers may strongly affect the performance of the device, one is able to configure several designs of mini-LIPCA. The evaluation process is then followed in order to determine a configuration which characterizes the possibly optimal performance. That is, a design of a mini-LIPCA is said to be optimal if it is capable of producing a maximum out-of-plane displacement. The size of the LIPCA to be investigated was selected to be $10\;mm\;{\times}\;20\;mm$ in which the thickness of PZT plate is about 0.1 mm. The thickness of glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy are about 0.09 mm and 0.1 mm, respectively. The evaluation process has been conducted thoroughly, i.e., analytical estimation, numerical approximation and the experimental measurement are all involved. Firstly, the design equation was used to calculate essential parameters of proposed lay-up configurations. Secondly, ANSYS, a commercial FEA package, was utilized to estimate displacement outputs of the actuators upon being excited. Finally, experimental measurements were able to verify the predicted results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.727-730
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• 2005

Cellulose based Electro-Active Papers (EAPap) is very promising material due to its merits in terms of large bending deformation, low actuation voltage, ultra-lightweight, and biodegradability. These advantages make it possible to utilize applications, such as artificial muscles and achieving flapping wings, micro-insect robots and smart wall papers. This paper investigates the in-plane strains of EAPap under electric fields, which are useful for a contractile actuator application The preparation of EAPap samples and the in-plane strain measurement system are explained, and the test results are shown in terms of electric field, frequency and the oriental ions of the samples. The power consumption and the strain energy of EAPap samples are discussed. Although there are still unknown facts in EAPap material, this in-plane strain may be useful for artificial muscle applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.161-167
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• 2002

For the purpose of applying to micro-actuator, thermal properties and displacement of electrostrictive polyurethane(PU) elastomers have been measured. In order to understand an effect of PU component, crosslinking agent are controlled by 0.5 wt% and 1 wt%. DMPA and anther chain extenders were used. PU sample that chain extenders are DMPA is added NaOH for comprehension of effect of ionic groups. The deposited electrode sire on PU films is equal to acrylic holder size when the displacement was measured. Dynamic response according to frequency, displacement and recovery time according to PU thickness were measured. 1 wt% crosslinking agent contents PU samples have higher displacement and lower recovery time than 0.5 wt% crosslinking agent contents PU. If the PU thickness is increased, the actuating voltage for generating of same displacement is increased, too.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.4 s.299
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• pp.198-201
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• 2007

Multi-walled carbon nanotube (M-CNT)/Nafion nanocomposites were prepared by solution casting to elucidate the effect of M-CNT addition, from 0 to 7 wt%, on the viscoelastic behavior of the composites. The M-CNT bundles induced by the Nafion polymer were determined to be uniformly distributed for the 1 wt% M-CNT/Nafion nanocomposites. The 1 wt% M-CNT/Nafion composite exhibited the highest blocking stress of 2.3 kPa due to its high elastic modulus of 0.485 GPa. From a dynamic mechanical analysis, the 1 wt% M-CNT had the highest storage and loss moduli compared with the other samples in all frequency and temperature ranges. From the storage modulus data, the M-CNT loaded composites had similar $T_g$ values near $120^{\circ}C$. The glass transition temperatures of the M-CNT loaded composites were $120^{\circ}C$ (1 wt%), $117^{\circ}C$ (3 wt%), $117^{\circ}C$ (5 wt%), and $135^{\circ}C$ (7 wt%), suggesting that the effect of the M-CNTs on the Nafion film begins at 1 wt%. Thus, it has been concluded that the 1 wt% M-CNT disported composite is attractive for actuator applications.

• Composites Research
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.7-11
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• 2006

The improved SWNTs/PANi composite actuator films applicable to an artificial muscle were fabricated successfully using a new process of manufacture that consists of 90% pure single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and chemical polymerization. PANi is electrically conducting polyaniline polymer. The conductivities of the composite SWNTs/PANi film-type actuators and the pure PANi films fabricated were measured as 56.15 S/cm and 17.38 S/cm, respectively, by the 4-prove method. The conductivity of the composite actuator is 3.2 times higher than the pure PANi film. The fabricated composite actuator showed higher conductivity than any other similar ones. The quality of samples was investigated by an electron scanning microscope (SEM). To measure the actuating strains, a specially designed beam balance apparatus was developed and strains of the composite actuators was measured by a laser displacement sensor subjected to electric currents. During the operation, the sample was soaked in the $NaNO_3$ solution and the sine-wave voltage in the range of $+1V{\sim}-1V$ was applied. The length of the composite actuator changed from $l_0=12.690$ mm to $l_1=12.733$ so that the change of length was l=0.043 mm and the strain was 0.34 %. This is a very high strain for this kind of a composite actuator. Other result reported by Tahhan showed 0.23 % strain, so that the present result is improved by 48%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.723-726
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• 2005

The two major obstacles in the application of IPMC to flapping actuators operated in the air are solvent loss and actuation force. In this paper, solvent loss of various IPMCs made of Nafion$^{TM}$117(183$\mu$m thickness) has been experimentally investigated to find out the best combination of cation and solvent for minimal solvent loss in IPMCs and higher actuation force. For this purpose. experiments for the internal solvent loss measurement of IMPCs have been conducted for various combinations of cation and solvent. From the experiments, it was found that heavy water showed improvement in the operating time up to more than two minutes. in the tip force measurement of IPMCs, it was found that smaller and thicker IPMCs produced larger tip forces. However, the shorter IPMCs generated reduced actuation displacements and created flapping motion with decreased natural frequency. For the design of flapping device actuated by 5mm wide, 10mm long, 0.2mm thick IPMCs were used in the stacked form. Since the actuation force is a few gram-force, we stacked five IPMCs to improve actuation force. To amply the actuation force, rack-and-pin ion type hinge was used for the flapping device and insect (Cicadidae) wing was attached to the stacked IPMC actuator. In the flapping test, the device could generate flapping angle of 15$^{\circ}$ at 6Hz excitation by 2.5 voltage square wave input.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.527-532
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• 2005

Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) are soft polymeric smart materials having large displacement at low voltage in air and water. The polymeric electrolyte actuator consists of a thin and porous membrane and metal electrodes plated on both faces, in impregnation electro-plating method. The response and actuation of actuator are governed. Among many factors governing the activation and response of IPMC actuator, the surface electrode plays an important role. In this study, the well-designed modification of electrode surface was carried out in order to improve the chemical stability well as electromechanical characteristics of the IPMC actuator. We employed Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) method to prepare the topologically homogeneous thin surface electrode. After roughing the surface of Nafion membrane in order to get a larger surface area, the IPMC was prepared by impregnation for electro-plating and re- coating on the surface through traditional chemical deposition, followed by an additional surface treatment with high conductive metals with IBAD. It was observed that our IPMC specimen shows the enhanced surface electrical properties as well as the improved actuation and response characteristics under applied electric field.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.377-383
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• 2009

Ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuator generates bending actuation via ion/water flux to the cathode side under an electric field. Polyelectrolytes in IPMC should possess high water-retention capability, proton conductivity, and Young's modulus. In this study. for endowing IPMCs with these properties, Nafion-alumina composite membranes containing $\alpha$- or $\gamma$-aluminas of $4{\sim}8$ wt% were prepared. Mechanical moduli of Nafion-alumina composite membranes were $7{\sim}3$ MPa higher than that of Nafion, with the slight decrease in proton conductivity. At DC 3 V. the actuation performance of the Nafion-$\alpha$-alumina (8 wt%)-IPMC was superior to that of the typical Nafion-IPMC. exhibiting 2.7 times the displacement with an enhanced blocking force. The enhanced actuation performance with the Nafion-$\alpha$-alumina composite membranes was attributed to the higher proton conductivity, the elevated ion/water flux, and the lower interfacial electric resistance of platinum electrodes and membrane, compared with those containing $\gamma$-alumina.