• Advanced Composite Materials
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• 제18권4호
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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.

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제40권4호
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• pp.385-392
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• 2003

Sol-gel preparation technique using a chemical reaction of metal alkoxides has been widely used for the fabrication of various materials including ceramics. However, its mechanism has been studied till now because a number of chemical ways are possible from various alkoxides and additives. In this study, the mechanism of hydrolysis, condensation, and polymerization of alkoxides were investigated from the fabrication of lead-zirconate-titanate (PbZr$\_$x/Ti$\_$l-x/O$_3$; PZT) thin film that is used as various micro-actuator, transducer, and sensor because of its high electro-mechanical coupling factors and thermal stability. Furthermore, the fabrication process and characteristics of self-patternable PZT film using photosensitive stabilizer were studied in order to resolve the problem of physical damage and properties degradation during dry etching for device fabrication. Using an optimum condition to prepare the self-patternable PZT film, more than 5000 ${\AA}$ thick self-patternable PZT film could be fabricated by three times coating. The PZT film showed 28.4 ${\mu}$c/cm$^2$ of remnant polarization (Pr) and 37.0 kV/cm of coercive field (E$\_$c/).

• 제어로봇시스템학회논문지
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• 제5권8호
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• pp.977-989
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to analyze how the human body having more muscles than its degree-of-freedom modulates an effective stiffness using redundant actuation, and to apply this concept to the design and control of advanced machines which requires adaptable spring. To investigate the adaptable stiffness phenomenon due to redundant actuation in the human body, this paper derives a general stiffness model of the Human body. In particular, for a planar 1 DOF human arm model, a planar 2 DOF human arm model, a spherical 3 DOF shoulder model, a 4 DOF human arm model, and a 7 DOF human arm model, the required nonlinear geometry ad the number of required actuator for successful modulation of the effective stiffness are analyzed along with a load distribution method for modulation of the required stiffness of such systems. Secondly, the concept of motion frequency modulation is introduced to show the usefulness of adaptive stiffness modulation. The motion frequency modulation represents a control of stiffness and / or inertia properties of systems. To show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, simulations are performed for 2 DOF anthropomorphic robot.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제7권5호
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• pp.365-378
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• 2011

Piezo-based active structural health monitoring (SHM) requires amplifiers specifically designed for capacitive loads. Moreover, with the increase in number of applications of wireless SHM systems, energy efficiency and cost reduction for this type of amplifiers is becoming a requirement. General lab grade amplifiers are big and costly, and not built for outdoor environments. Although some piezoceramic power amplifiers are available in the market, none of them are specifically targeting the wireless constraints and low power requirements. In this paper, a piezoceramic transducer amplifier for wireless active SHM systems has been designed. Power requirements are met by two digital On/Off switches that set the amplifier in a standby state when not in use. It provides a stable ${\pm}180$ Volts output with a bandwidth of 7k Hz using a single 12 V battery. Additionally, both voltage and current outputs are provided for feedback control, impedance check, or actuator damage verification. Vibration control tests of an aluminum beam were conducted in the University of Houston lab, while wireless active SHM tests of a wind turbine blade were performed in the Harbin Institute of Technology wind tunnel. The results showed that the developed amplifier provided equivalent results to commercial solutions in suppressing structural vibrations, and that it allows researchers to perform active wireless SHM on moving objects with no power wires from the grid.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.82-90
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• 2009

Pneumatic cylinder is one of the low cost actuation sources which have been applied in industrial and prosthetic application since it has a high power/weight ratio, a high-tension force and a long durability However, the control problems of pneumatic systems, oscillatory motion and compliance, have prevented their widespread use in advanced robotics. To overcome these shortcomings, a number of newer pneumatic actuators have been developed such as McKibben Muscle, Rubber Actuator and Pneumatic Artificial Muscle (PAM) Manipulators. In this paper, one solution for position control of a robot arm, which is driven by two pneumatic artificial muscles, is presented. However, some limitations still exist, such as a deterioration of the performance of transient response due to the changes in the external load of the robot arm. To overcome this problem, a switching algorithm of the control parameter using a learning vector quantization neural network (LVQNN) is proposed in this paper. This estimates the external load of the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is demonstrated through experiments with different external working loads.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.1251-1267
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• 2016

In this paper, Simple Adaptive Control (SAC) is used to enhance the seismic response of nonlinear tall buildings based on acceleration feedback. Semi-active MR dampers are employed as control actuator due to their reliability and well-known dynamic models. Acceleration feedback is used because of availability, cost-efficiency and reliable measurements of acceleration sensors. However, using acceleration feedback in the control loop causes the structure not to apparently meet some requirements of the SAC algorithm. In addition to defining an appropriate SAC reference model and using inherently stable MR dampers, a modification in the original structure of the SAC is proposed in order to improve its adaptability to the situation in which the plant does not satisfy the algorithm's stability requirements. To investigate the performance of the developed control system, a numerical study is conducted on the benchmark 20-story nonlinear building and the responses of the SAC-controlled structure are compared to an $H_2/LQG$ clipped-optimal controller under the effect of different seismic excitations. As indicated by the results, SAC controller effectively reduces the story drifts and hence the seismically-induced damage throughout the structural members despite its simplicity, independence of structural parameters and while using fewer number of dampers in contrast with the $H_2/LQG$ clipped-optimal controller.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.43-49
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• 2007

A new electric coil design methodology using the notion of topology optimization is developed. The specific design problem in consideration is to find optimal coil configuration that maximizes the Lorentz force under given magnetic field. Topology optimization is usually formulated using the finite element method, but the novel feature of this method is that no such partial differential equation solver is employed during the whole optimization process. The proposed methodology allows the determination of not only coil shape but also the number of coil turns which is not possible to determine by any existing topology optimization concept and to perform single coil strand identification algorithm. The specific applications are made in the design of two-dimensional fine-pattern focusing coils of an optical pickup actuator. In this method, the concept of equivalent magnetizing current is utilized to calculate the Lorentz force, and the optimal coil configuration is obtained without any initial layout. The method is capable of generating the location and shape of turns of coil. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method in optical pickup applications, design problems involving multipolar permanent magnets are considered.

• 한국분말재료학회지
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.267-272
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• 2002

The production of micro components is one of the leading technologies in the fields of information and communiation, medical and biotechnology, and micro sensor and micro actuator system. Microfabrication (micromachining) techniques such as X-ray lithography, electroforming, micromolding and excimer laser ablation are used for the production of micro components out of silicon, polymer and a limited number of pure metals or binary alloys. However, since the first development of microfabrication technologies there have been demands for the cost-effective replication in large scale series as well as the extended range of available material. One such promising process is micro powder injection molding (PIM), which inherits the advantages of the conventional PIM technology, such as low production cost, shape complexity, applicability to many materials, applicability to many materials, and good tolerance. This paper reports on a fundamental investigation of the application of W-Cu powder to micro metal injection molding (MIM), especially in view of achieving a good filling and a safe removal of a micro mold conducted in the experiment. It is absolutely legitimate and meaningful, at the present state of the technique, to continue developing the micro MIM towards production processes for micro components.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.216-223
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• 2000

A robot arm with free joints has some advantages over conventional ones. A light weight and low power consumed arm can be made by a reduction of the number of joint actuators. And this arm can easily overcomes actuator failure due to unexpected accident. In general such underactuated arm does not have controllability because of the lack of joint actuators. The two-link arm with a free joint introduced in this paper is also uncontrollable in the sense of linear system theory. However, the linearized system sometimes can not represent the inherent dynamic behavior of the nonlinear system. In this paper the dynamic characteristics of the two-link arm with a free joint in view of global motion including damping and friction effect of the joints is investigated. In the case of considering only the damping effect, the controllable goal positions are confined to a specific trajectories. But in the case of considering the friction effect, the system can be controlled to arbitrary positions using the friction of the free joint as a holding brake. Also numerical example of position control is presented.

• 한국소음진동공학회논문집
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• 제25권10호
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• pp.685-691
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• 2015

In this work, to identify effective parameter for performance of piezoelectric jetting dispenser, experimental investigation is carried out based on design of experiment. After preparing jetting dispenser using two stack-type piezoelectric actuators, basic working principle of the jetting dispenser is described. Eight operating conditions are chose as main factors and it is assumed that each factor has two levels. To reduce number of experiments for performance evaluation, the experimental sets are designed based on factional factorial design method. Experimental setup is established and the weight of single dot is measured by using precision scale. The main and interaction effects of factors are analyzed using commercial statistical program and optimal operating condition for small amount and small variation of weight of dispensed single dot are determined.