• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.466-471
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• 2008

Structural vibration and noise are hot issues in underwater vehicles such as submarines for their survivability. Therefore, active vibration and noise control of submarine, which can be modeled as hull structure, have been conducted by the use of piezoelectric materials. Traditional piezoelectric materials are too brittle and not suitable to curved geometry such as hull structures. Therefore, advanced anisotropic piezoceramic actuator named as Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC), which can provide great flexibility, large induced strain and directional actuating force is adopted for this research. In this study, dynamic model of the smart hull structure is established and active vibration control performance of the smart hull structure is evaluated using optimally placed MFC. Actuating performance of MFC is evaluated by finite element analysis and dynamic modeling of the smart hull structure is derived by finite element method considering underwater condition. In order to suppress the vibration of hull structure, Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) algorithm is adopted. After then active vibration control performance of the proposed smart hull structure is evaluated with computer simulation and experimental investigation in underwater. Structural vibration of the hull structure is decreased effectively by applying proper control voltages to the MFC actuators.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1198-1201
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• 2005

A new foxtail actuator driven by V-shape beam deflection using electrostatic force has been designed, fabricated and characterized for nano-resolution manipulators. The proposed foxtail mechanism was implemented using a pair of electrostatic actuators and a pair of holding actuators, which was analyzed based on the electromechanically coupled motion of voltage - displacement relation. The proposed actuator was fabricated onto Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) wafer and its stepping characteristics were measured by micro optical interferometer consisting of integrated micromirror and optical fiber. The fabricated foxtail microactuator was successfully operated from 1nm to 76nm, and the magnitude of step displacement was controllable up from 26nm/cycles to 53nm/cycle by changing the voltage.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1613-1616
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• 2007

A microgripper using thermal actuator and SU-8 polymer was designed and fabricated to manipulate cells and microparts. A chip size of a microgripper was 3 mm ${\times}$ 5 mm. The thermally actuated microgripper consisted of two couples of hot and cold arm actuators. The high thermal expansion coefficient, 52 $ppm/^{\circ}C$, of SU-8 compared to silicon and metals, allows the actuation of the microgripper. Thickness and width of SU-8 as an end-effector were 26 ${\mu}m$ and 80 ${\mu}m$, respectively. Initial gap between left jaw and right jaw was 120 ${\mu}m$. The ANSYS program as FEM tool was introduced to analyze the thermal distribution and displacement induced by thermal actuators. $XeF_2$ gas was used for isotropic silicon dry etching process to release SU-8 end-effector. Mechanical displacements of the fabricated microgripper were measured by optical microscopy in the range of input voltage from 0 V to 2.5 V. The maximum displacement between two jaws of a microgripper Type OG 1_1 was 22.4 ${\mu}m$ at 2.5 V.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.553-565
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• 2017

Structural modeling of unencapsulated ionic polymer metal composite (u-IPMC) actuators that are used for flapping the insect scale-flapping wing of micro air vehicles (FMAV) in dry environmental conditions is carried out. Structural modeling for optimization of design parameters for retention of water, maximize actuation performance and to study the influence of water activity on the actuation characteristics of u-IPMC is explored for use in FMAV. The influence of equivalent weight of Nafion polymer, cations, concentration of cations, pre-treatment procedures on retention of water of u-IPMCs and on actuation parameters, flapping angle, flexural stiffness and actuation displacement are investigated. IPMC designed with Nafion having equivalent weight 900-1100, pre-heated at $30^{\circ}C$ and with sodium as the cations is promising for optimum retention of water and actuation performance. The actuation parameters while in operation in dry and humid environment with varying water activity can be tuned to desirable frequency, deflection, flap angle and flexural stiffness by changing the water activity and operational temperature of the environment.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1914-1919
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• 2006

Recently, the microrobots powered by biological muscle actuators were proposed. Among the biological muscle actuators, frog muscle is well known as a good muscle actuator and has a large displacement, actuation forces and piezoelectric properties. Therefore, for the application of the biomimetic microrobot, this paper reports the electromechanical properties of frog muscle. First of all, the experimental setup has been established for measuring generative force of the frog muscle. Through the various electrical stimulating inputs to the frog muscle, we measured the contractile force of the frog muscle. From the measuring results, we found that the actuating contractile force responses of the frog muscle are determined by the amplitude, frequency, duty ratio, and wave form of the stimulation signal. This study will be beneficial for the development of the microrobot actuated by frog muscle.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07g
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• pp.3325-3327
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• 1999

A microgripper driven by E-T (electro-thermal) actuators has been designed and fabricated by surface micromachining. This microgripper consists of two E-T actuators. Each actuator has two arms with different widths joined at the end to form a 'U' shape. The wider 'cold' arm has a narrow flexure at the end (anchor or electrode side) for easy bending, This actuator can be fabricated with only two masks - one for the sacrificial layer and the other for the poly-Si structure layer. An E-T actuator bends its arm due to unequal thermal expansion between the 'cold' arm and the 'hot' arm, This actuator tip moves laterally in an arcing motion towards the cold arm side when the structure is unevenly heated by the applied current. Therefore each microgripper is actuated inwards and can hold a micro object. The fabricated E-T actuator was operated in the range of $2{\sim}12V$ and $1{\sim}5mA$. and maximum tip displacement was $13.6{\mu}m$. This device may become useful in many applications because an E-T actuator can be designed and fabricated easily, and obtain large displacement.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.223-231
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• 2019

The properties of Electroactive Polymer (EAP) materials are attracting the attention of engineers and scientists from many different disciplines. From the point-of-view of robotics, Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMC) belong to the most developed group of the EAP class. To allow effective design of IPMC-actuated mechanisms with large induced strains, it is necessary to have adequate analytical tools for predicting the behavior of IPMC actuators as well as simulating their response as part of prototyping methodologies. This paper presents a novel IPMC motor construction. To simulate the bending behavior that is the dominant phenomenon of motor movement process, a nonlinear model is used. To accomplish the motor design, the IPMC model was identified via a series of experiments. In the proposed model, the curvature output and current transient fields accurately track the measured responses, which is verified by measurements. In this research, a three-dimensional Finite Element Method (FEM) model of the IPMC motor, composed of IPMC actuators, simultaneously determines the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the device and achieves reliable analysis results. The principle of the proposed drive and the output signals are illustrated in this paper. The proposed modelling approach can be used to design a variety of controllers and motors for effective micro-robotic applications, where soft and complex motion are required.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 1999

Micro polysilicon actuators, which are widely used in the field of MEMS (Microelectromechanical System) technology, were fabricated using polysilicon thin layers. Polysilicon deposition were carried out to have symmetrical layer structures with a LPCVD (Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition) system, and we have measured physical characteristics by micro test patterns, such as bridges and cantilevers to verify minimal mechanical stress and stress gradient in the polysilicon layers according to the methods of mutilayer deposition, doping, and thermal treatment, also, analyzed the properties of each specimen, which have a different process condition, by XRD, and SIMS etc.. Finally, the fabricated planar polysilicon resonator, symmetrically stacked to $6.5{\mu}m$ thickness, showed Q of 1270 and oscillation ampitude of $5{\mu}m$ under DC 15V, AC 0.05V, and 1000 mtorr pressure. The developed micro polysilicon resonator can be utilized to micro gyroscope and accelerometer sensor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.1033-1036
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• 2002

Wafer bonding methods such as fusion and anodic bonding suffer from high temperature treatment, long processing time, and possible damage to the micro-scale sensor or actuators. In the localized bonding process, beating was conducted locally while the whole wafer is maintained at a relatively low temperature. But previous research of localized heating has some problems, such as non-uniform soldering due to non-uniform heating and micro crack formation on the glass capsule by thermal stress effect. To address this non-uniformity problem, a new heater configuration is being proposed. By keeping several points on the heater strip at calculated and constant potential, more uniform heating, hence more reliable wafer bonding could be achieved. The proposed scheme has been successfully demonstrated, and the result shows that it will be very useful in hermetic packaging. Less than 0.2 ㎫ contact Pressure were used for bonding with 150 ㎃ current input for 50${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ width, 2${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ height and 8mm $\times$ 8mm, 5mm$\times$5mm, 3mm $\times$ 3mm sized phosphorus-doped poly-silicon micro heater. The temperature can be raised at the bonding region to 80$0^{\circ}C$, and it was enough to achieve a strong and reliable bonding in 3minutes. The IR camera test results show improved uniformity in heat distribution compared with conventional micro heaters. For gross leak check, IPA (Isopropanol Alcohol) was used. Since IPA has better wetability than water, it can easily penetrate small openings, and is more suitable for gross leak check. The pass ratio of bonded dies was 70%, for conventional localized heating, and 85% for newly developed FP scheme. The bonding strength was more than 30㎫ for FP scheme packaging, which shows that FP scheme can be a good candidate for micro scale hermetic packaging.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.8
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• pp.757-764
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• 2015

Mathematical modeling of focal plane compensation device in the small earth-observation satellite camera has been conducted experimently for compensation of micro-vibration disturbance. The PZT actuators are used as control actuators for compensation device. It is quite difficult to build up mathematical model because of hysteresis characteristic of PZT actuators. Therefore, the compensation device system is assumed as a $2^{nd}$ order linear system and modeled by using MATLAB System Identification Toolbox. It has been found that four linear models of compensation device are needed to meet 10% error in the input frequency range of 0~50Hz. These models describe accurately the dynamics of compensation device in the 4 divided domains of the input frequency range of 0~50Hz, respectively. Micro-vibration disturbance can be compensated by feedback control strategy of switching four models appropriately according to the input frequency.