• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.141-155
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• 2019

This work evaluates the influence of negative stiffness on the performances of various vehicle suspension systems, and proposes a re-centering negative stiffness device (NSD). The re-centering NSD consists of a passive magnetic negative stiffness spring and a positioning shaft with a re-centering function. The former produces negative stiffness control forces, and the latter prevents the amplification of static spring deflection. The numerical simulations reveal that negative stiffness can improve the ride comfort of a vehicle without affecting its road holding abilities for either passive or semi-active suspension systems. In general, the improvement degree of ride comfort increases as negative stiffness increases. For passive suspension system, negative stiffness brings in negative stiffness feature in the control forces, which is helpful for the ride comfort of a vehicle. For semi-active suspensions, negative stiffness can alleviate the impact of clipped damping in semi-active dampers, and thus the ride comfort of a vehicle can be improved.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.15-38
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• 2018

Negative stiffness dampers (NSDs) have been proven an efficient solution to vibration control of stay cables. Although previous studies usually assumed a linear negative stiffness behavior of NSDs, many negative stiffness devices produce negative stiffness with nonlinear behavior. This paper systematically evaluates the impact of nonlinearity in negative stiffness on vibration control performance for stay cables. A linearization method based on energy equivalent principle is proposed, and subsequently, the impact of two types of nonlinear stiffness, namely, displacement hardening and softening stiffness, is evaluated. Through the Hilbert transform (HT) of free vibration responses, the effects of nonlinear stiffness of an NSD on the modal frequencies, damping ratios and frequency response functions of a stay cable is also investigated. The HT analysis results validate the accuracy of the linearization method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.128-138
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• 1996

Based on the virtual stiffness model, the stiffness of a grasped object is characterized. Differing from the previous investigations, the effect of grasp force on the stiffness of a grasp is formulated in terms of additional stiffness, which is called additional stiffness in this paper, and it is addressed how this term affects the stability of a grasp. In addition, a method of controlling the stiffness of a grasp is proposed and validated by experiments using a two-fingered robot hand.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• 2000.08a
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• pp.113-116
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• 2000

This paper analyzes the singularity of an anthropomorphic robot associated with joint and operational stiffness generation from muscle stiffness. The singularity analysis is made simply based on the signs of the actual and the desired coupling joint stiffness. First, the relationships of the muscle stiffness and the actual joint stiffness, and the operational stiffness and the desired joint stiffness are examined. Second, according to the sign restriction on the actual coupling joint stiffness, the operational space is divided into the semi-singular(SS), the regular(R), and the semi-regular(SR) regions. Third, from the sign comparison of tile actual and the desired coupling joint stiffness, the sufficient condition for the semi-singularity in operational stiffness generation is derived. The limitation on the allowable operational stiffness when a task point belongs to SS, R, and SR regions is also discussed. Simulation results are given.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.189-206
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• 2012

This paper focuses on the actuation system combined with a piezoelectric transducer and an electric circuit, which leads to a new insight; the electric actuation system is equivalent to mechanical variable-stiffness actuation systems. By controlling the switch in the circuit, the electric status of the piezoelectric transducer is changed, and consequently a variable-stiffness mechanism is achieved on the electric actuator. This proposed actuator features a shift in the equilibrium point of force, while conventional electrically-induced variable-stiffness actuators feature the variation of the stiffness value. We intensively focus on the equilibrium shift in the actuation system, which has been neglected. The stiffness of the variable-stiffness actuator is periodically modulated by controlling the switch, to suppress the vibration of the system in an open-loop way. It is proved that this electric actuator is equivalent to its mechanical counterpart, and that the electrical version has some practical advantages over the mechanical one. Furthermore, another kind of electrically-induced variable-stiffness actuator, using an energy-recycling mechanism is also discussed from the viewpoint of open-loop vibration control. Extensive numerical simulations provide comprehensive assessment on both electrically-induced variable-stiffness actuators employed for open-loop vibration control.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.4 s.19
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• pp.107-113
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• 2004

In order to model a connection part between a control fin and actuator, the related characteristics of a dynamic stiffness were extracted from experiments. These characteristics include the static stiffness of a control fin and the dynamic stiffness of an actuator, so they are called the mixed dynamic stiffness here. This mixed dynamic stiffness is used as the boundary condition of a control fin connected to an actuator when the flutter characteristics are analyzed. The simulated stiffness of an actuator is corrected from the experiment results and the mixed dynamic is finally formulated in the domain of frequencies.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.375-393
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• 2006

Under high velocity, pulse type near source earthquakes semi-active control systems are very effective in reducing seismic response base isolated structures. Semi-active control systems can be classified as: 1) independently variable stiffness, 2) independently variable damping, and 3) combined variable stiffness and damping systems. Several researchers have studied the effectiveness of independently varying damping systems for seismic response reduction of base isolated structures. In this study effectiveness of a combined system consisting of a semi-active independently variable stiffness (SAIVS) device and a magnetorheological (MR) damper in reducing seismic response of base isolated structures is analytically investigated. The SAIVS device can vary the stiffness, and hence the period, of the isolation system; whereas, the MR damper enhances the energy dissipation characteristics of the isolation system. Two separate control algorithms, i.e., a nonlinear tangential stiffness moving average control algorithm for smooth switching of the SAIVS device and a Lyapunov based control algorithm for damping variation of MR damper, are developed. Single and multi degree of freedom systems consisting of sliding base isolation system and both the SAIVS device and MR damper are considered. Results are presented in the form of nonlinear response spectra, and effectiveness of combined variable stiffness and variable damping system in reducing seismic response of sliding base isolated structures is evaluated. It is shown that the combined variable stiffness and variable damping system leads to significant response reduction over cases with variable stiffness or variable damping systems acting independently, over a broad period range.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1055-1063
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• 2004

In this study, we developed an automatic veneer sorting system controlled by nonlinear friction and nonlinear stiffness. With these nonlinear characteristics, it was difficult to analysis and to control the system in the fast. However it is necessary to consider nonlinear characteristics to satisfy accurate and rapid control demand in these days. We used not only nonlinear friction but also nonlinear stiffness and combined both to control the system. An experimental device was designed with 4 AC servo-motors and 2 Sensors. Through a series of experiment, we found nonlinear friction characteristics among roller versus veneer and veneer versus veneer and nonlinear stiffness characteristics with stacked veneers. Finally, we showed that the proposed control algorithm was very effective for veneer sorting system with nonlinear friction and stiffness.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.5 no.8
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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.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.181-188
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• 2007

This paper presents a torque control method of a hydraulic actuation system for measuring the dynamic stiffness of missile fin actuators. We propose a new control technique called Dual Dynamic Torque Feedback Control(DDTFC), which improves the stability of the torque control system and enables fast tracking of torque command. The developed control scheme is derived from the physical understanding based on mathematical modelling and analysis. The dynamics of hydraulic torque control servo-system is unravelled via physics-based modelling and nonparametric system identification. In order to verify the effectiveness of the method, the experiment is carried out with a test equipment for measuring the dynamic stiffness. The experiment and simulation results show that DDTFC gives stability improvement.