• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.227-233
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• 2010

This study analyzed performance according to kick point and stiffness of Soft-$golf^{TM}$ shaft. This research team developed soft-$golf^{TM}$ as a new fusion sports with similar motions with golf and it can be learned safely for all age groups in 2002. The head of Soft-$golf^{TM}$ club is made of zinc alloy and has a mesh or a grid structure, and shaft uses carbon graphite to reduce the total weight of the club. To improve carry distance and to assure consistency of a ball during Soft-$golf^{TM}$ swing, this study manufactured shaft with various kick points (low, middle and high) and stiffness (stiff, regular, lady, morelady) and analyzed a swing motion with characteristics of each shaft presented in a dynamic condition such as a ball's speed, a head's torsion angle and a ball's deviation with ProAnalyst program through a high-speed camera taking pictures using a swing machine robot system(Robo-7). From all of the results, this study determined an appropriate shaft of Soft-$golf^{TM}$.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1145-1160
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• 2009

In this paper, a dual band microstrip antenna with soft surface for gapfiller applications is proposed. The proposed antenna with similar radiation pattern and gain is fabricated on RO4003 substrate with a dielectric constant of 3.38 and a thickness of 0.508 mm, and operates in IEEE 802.11a/b bands. The size of the antenna is $50{\times}56.5{\times}5.5\;mm^3$ and the ground plane size including soft surface structure is $175.0{\times}154.4\;mm^2$. The antenna is fed by coaxial cable. The simulated bandwidths of the antenna are 2.388~2.493 GHz and 5.561~6.051 GHz for VSWR<2. The gains are 10.63 dBi and 10.33 dBi, respectively, for the lower and upper bands.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.2
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• pp.167-177
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• 2021

Due to various benefits such as unlimited degrees of freedom, environment adaptability, and safety for humans, engineers have used soft materials with hyperelastic behavior in various industrial, medical, rescue, and other sectors. One of the applications of these materials in the fabrication of bending soft actuators (SA) is that they have eliminated many problems in the actuators such as production cost, mechanical complexity, and design algorithm. However, SA has complexities, such as predicting and monitoring behavior despite the many benefits. The first part of this paper deals with the prediction of SA behavior through mathematical models such as Ogden and Darijani, and its comparison with the results of experiments. At first, by examining different geometric models, the cubic structure was selected as the optimal structure in the investigated models. This geometrical structure at the same pressure showed the most significant bending in the simulation. The simulation results were then compared with experimental, and the final gripper model was designed and manufactured using a 3D printer with silicone rubber as for the polymer part. This geometrical structure is capable of bending up to a 90-degree angle at 70 kPa in less than 2 seconds. The second section is dedicated to monitoring the bending behavior created by the strain sensors with different sensitivity and stretchability. In the fabrication of the sensors, silicon is used as a soft material with hyperelastic behavior and carbon fiber as a conductive material in the soft material substrate. The SA designed in this paper is capable of deforming up to 1000 cycles without changing its characteristics and capable of moving objects weigh up to 1200 g. This SA has the capability of being used in soft robots and artificial hand making for high-speed objects harvesting.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.145-157
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• 2023

This paper aims at investigating the face stability of large-diameter underwater shield tunnels considering seepage in soft-hard uneven strata. Using the kinematic approach of limit upper-bound analysis, the analytical solution of limit supporting pressure on the tunnel face considering seepage was obtained based on a logarithmic spiral collapsed body in uneven strata. The stability analysis method of the excavation face with different soft- and hard-stratum ratios was explored and validated. Moreover, the effects of water level and burial depth on tunnel face stability were discussed. The results show the effect of seepage on the excavation face stability can be accounted as the seepage force on the excavation face and the seepage force of pore water in instability body. When the thickness ratio of hard soil layer within the excavation face exceeds 1/6D, the interface of the soft and hard soil layer can be placed at tunnel axis during stability analysis. The reliability of the analytical solution of the limit supporting pressure is validated by numerical method and literature methods. The increase of water level causes the instability of upper soft soil layer firstly due to the higher seepage force. With the rise of burial depth, the horizontal displacement of the upper soft soil decreases and the limit supporting pressure changes little because of soil arching effect.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.364-374
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• 2018

A novel passive lossless soft-switching single inductor dual buck full-bridge inverter (PLSSIDBFBI) is presented in this paper. To accomplish this, a passive lossless snubber circuit is added to a dual buck full-bridge inverter. Therefore, the advantages of the dual buck full-bridge inverter are included in the proposed inverter, and the inverter has just one filter inductor, which can decrease the system volume and improve the integration. In addition, the passive lossless snubber circuit achieves soft-switching by its own resonance, and all of the energy stored in the passive lossless snubber circuit can be transferred to load. A comparison between eight topologies is performed in this paper, and the analysis shows that the proposed soft-switching inverter topology has high reliability and efficiency. Finally, experimental results obtained with a 1 kW prototype verify the theoretical analysis and demonstrate the prominent characteristics of a reduced switching loss and improved efficiency.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.200-202
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• 2006

In this paper, a novel type of auxiliary active snubbing circuit assisted quasi-resonant soft-switching pulse width modulation inverter is proposed for consumer induction heating equipments. The operation principle of this high frequency inverter is described using switching modes and equivalent circuits. This newly developed series resonant high frequency inverter can regulate its high frequency output AC power under a principle of constant frequency active edge resonant soft-switching commutation by asymmetrical PWM control system. The high frequency power regulation and actual power conversion efficiency characteristics of consumer induction heating (IH) products using the proposed soft-switching pulse width modulation (PWM) series load resonant high frequency inverter evaluated. The practical effectiveness and operating performance of high frequency inverter are discussion on the basis of simulation and experimental results as compared with the conventional soft-switching high frequency inverter.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2004

This paper presents a novel three-phase power module bridge type auxiliary resonant AC link snubber for the three-phase voltage-fed sinwave soft switching PWM inverter operating under specific instantaneous space voltage vector modulation. The operating principle of this resonant snubber is described for current source load model during one switching period, along with its design approach based on the simulation data. The performance evaluations of space vector modulation three-phase sinewave soft switching inverter with a new three-phase active auxiliary resonant AC link snubber are discussed as compared with those of three-phase voltage source-fed sinewave hard switching PWM inverter with a standard space voltage vector modulation strategy. The power loss analysis and conventional efficiency estimation of three-phase soft switching PWM inverter using ICBT modules are carried out including all the conduction power losses based upon the measured v-i characteristics of IGBT and its antiparallel diode as well as their switching losses.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.5
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• pp.405-418
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• 2023

This study focused on the effectiveness of seismic isolation technique in case of a reinforced concrete structure with soft story defined as the stiffness irregularity between adjacent stories. In this context, a seismically isolated 3-story reinforced concrete structure was analyzed by gradually increasing the first story height (3.0, 4.5, and 6.0 m). The seismic isolation system of the structure is assumed to be composed of lead rubber bearings (LRB). In the analyses, isolators were modeled by both deteriorating (temperature-dependent analyses) and non-deteriorating (bounding analyses) hysteretic representations. The deterioration in strength of isolator is due to temperature rise in the lead core during cyclic motion. The ground motion pairs used in bi-directional nonlinear dynamic analyses were selected and scaled according to codified procedures. In the analyses, different isolation periods (Tiso) and characteristic strength to weight ratios (Q/W) were considered in order to determine the sensitivity of structural response to the isolator properties. Response quantities under consideration are floor accelerations, and interstory drift ratios. Analyses results are compared for both hysteretic representations of LRBs. Results are also used to assess the significance of the ratio between the horizontal stiffnesses of soft story and isolation system. It is revealed that seismic isolation is a viable method to reduce structural damage in structures with soft story.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.157-169
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• 2022

Preloading of soft clays is a common ground stabilization method for improvement of compressibility and the undrained shear strength. The waiting period under preload is a primary design criterion controlling the degree of improvement obtained. Upon unloading the overconsolidation attained with respect to actual loads defines the long term performance. This paper presents a laboratory study for investigation of creep behavior of Famagusta Bay alluvial soft soil preloaded under various effective stresses for analysis of long term performance based on the degree of overconsolidation. Traditional one-dimensional consolidation tests as well as modified creep tests are performed on reconstituted soft specimens. Compressibility parameters are precisely backcalculated using one dimensional consolidation theory and the coefficient of creep is determined using the traditional Cassagrande method as well as two modified methods based on log cycles of time and the inflection of the creep curve. The test results indicated that the long term creep can be successfully predicted considering the proposed method. The creep coefficients derived as part of this method can also be related to the recompression index (recompression index, swelling index) considering the results of the testing method adopted in this study.