• 제어로봇시스템학회논문지
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• 제13권11호
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• pp.1067-1073
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• 2007

This paper presents development of an special metal hydride(SMH) actuator system using a peltier module. The newly developed simple SMH actuator, consisting of the plated hydrogen-absorbing alloy as a power source, Peltier elements as a heat source and a cylinder with metal bellows as a functioning part, has been developed. The SMH actuator is characterized by its small size, low weight, noiseless operation and a compliance similar to that of human body. A new SMH actuator that uses reversible reactions between the heat energy and mechanical energy of a hydrogen absorbing alloy. It is well known that hydrogen-absorbing alloys can reversibly absorb and desorb a large amount of hydrogen, more than about 1000 times of their own volume. To improve the thermal conductivity of the hydrogen-absorbing alloy, an electro-less copper plating has been carried out. For this purpose, the effects of the electro-less copper plating and the dynamic characteristics of the SMH actuator have been studied. The hydrogen equilibrium pressure increases and hydrogen is desorbed by heating the hydrogen-absorbing alloys, whereas by cooling the alloys, the hydrogen equilibrium pressure decreases and hydrogen is absorbed. The SMH actuator has the characteristic of being light and easy to use. Therefore, it is suitable for medical and rehabilitation applications.

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정밀공학회 2005년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.551-555
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• 2005

This paper presents the temperature-pressure characteristics of SMH actuator using a peltier module. The simple SMH actuator, consisting of the plated hydrogen-absorbing alloy as a power source, Peltier elements as a heat source and a cylinder with metal bellows a functioning part has been developed. The SMH actuator is characterized by its small size, low weight, noiseless operation and a compliance similar to that of the human body. A new special metal hydride(SMH) actuator that uses the reversible reaction between the heat energy and mechanical energy of a hydrogen absorbing ally. It is well known that hydrogen-absorbing alloys can reversibly absorb and desorb a large amount of hydrogen, more than about 1000 times as their own volume. To improve the thermal conductivity of the hydrogen-absorbing alloy, an electro-less copper plating has been carried out. The effects of the electro-less copper plating and the dynamic characteristics of the SMH actuator have been studied. The hydrogen equilibrium pressure increases and hydrogen is desorbed by heating the hydrogen-absorbing alloys, whereas by cooling the alloys, the hydrogen equilibrium pressure decreases and hydrogen is absorbed. Therefor, the SMH actuator has the characteristic of being light and easy to use and so is suitable for use in medical and rehabilitation applications.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 제어로봇시스템학회 2005년도 ICCAS
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• pp.1328-1333
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• 2005

This paper presents the temperature-pressure characteristics of a new SMH actuator using a Peltier module. The SMH actuator is characterized by its small size, low weight, noiseless operation, and compliance similar to that of the human body. The simple SMH actuator, consisting of the plated hydrogen-absorbing alloys as a power source, Peltier elements as a heat source, and a cylinder with metal bellows as a functioning part has been developed. To improve the thermal conductivity of the hydrogen-absorbing alloy, an assembly of copper pipes has been used. It is well known that hydrogen-absorbing alloys can reversibly absorb and desorb a large amount of hydrogen, more than about 1000 times of their own volume. The hydrogen equilibrium pressure increases when hydrogen is desorbed by heating of the hydrogen-absorbing alloys, whereas by cooling the alloys, the hydrogen equilibrium pressure decreases and hydrogen is absorbed. The new special metal hydride (SMH) actuator uses the reversible reaction between the heat energy and mechanical energy of a hydrogen absorbing alloys. The desirable characteristics of SMH actuator, which makes it suitable for the uses in medical and rehabilitation applications, have been also studied. For this purpose, the characteristics of the new SMH actuator for different temperature, pressure, and external load were explored.

• 대한기계학회논문집B
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• 제33권10호
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• pp.803-810
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• 2009

Micromirrors have a wide range of applications such as optical switches, laser scanners, and digital projection displays. Due to their low performances and high costs, however, practical applications of micromirrors are quite limited. At present micromirrors demand not only a better design but also a simple fabrication process. In this study a twisting-type micromirror that can be driven by two thermal bimorph actuators bending in opposite directions is designed from electro-thermo-mechanical theories and fabricated through a simple MEMS process. Each actuator consists of $SiO_2$ and gold thin-film layers. Simplified analytical model has been built to optimize the performance of micromirror. Due to unexpected resistance increase of metal film and alignment mismatch during fabrication process, experimental rotation angles of micromirrors are about $11^{\circ}$ at applied voltages less than 0.6V. From numerical simulation and analytical studies, however, the next design can provide rotation angles over $20^{\circ}$ at the same applied voltage.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제44권2호
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• pp.127-138
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• 2012

The composite materials may be exposed to environmental (thermal or hygral or both) condition during their service life. The effect of environmental condition is usually adverse from the point of view of design of composite structures. In the present research study the effect of hygrothermal condition on the design of laminated composite structures is investigated. The active fiber composite (AFC) which may be utilized as actuator or sensor is considered in the present analysis. The sensor layer is used to sense the level of response of the composite structures. The sensed voltage is fed back to the actuator through the controller. In this study both displacement and velocity feedback controllers are employed to reduce the response of the composite laminate within acceptable limit. The Newmark direct time integration scheme is employed along with modal superposition method to improve the computational efficiency. It is observed from the numerical study that the laminated composite structures become weak in the presence of hygrothermal load. The response of the structure can be brought to the acceptable level once the AFC layer is activated through the feedback loop.

• 정보저장시스템학회논문집
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.23-26
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• 2014

In this paper, we present a novel approach for tuning the resonant frequency of torsionally driven vertical comb actuators. The tuning unit composed of thermal actuator, scissor mechanism and V-shape shaft enables continuous and reversible resonant frequency tuning. The proposed method is based on the stiffness alteration of the V-shape shaft. It is experimentally verified that the resonant frequency of the torsional microscanner is shifted up to 1.59 kHz from 1.51 kHz showing the maximum tuning ratio of 5.29%.

• 동력기계공학회지
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.31-36
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• 2014

In this paper, pneumatic valve which consists of valve body, valve controller, nozzle and a multi-bender PZT actuator was suggested and fabricated. The fabricated pneumatic valve was experimented for performance evaluation. From the experimental results, we know that the flow rate of the suggested valve is 23 lpm at the pressure difference of 1bar and the maximum flow rate is 30 lpm at the pressure difference of 4 bar. The flow rates after endurance test of 9.8 million were 22.57 lpm and 28.62 lpm at the pressure difference of 1bar and 4bar, respectably. Finally, it was verified that the B10 life of the suggested pneumatic valve is over 50 million.

• 항공우주시스템공학회지
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

In this study, a new design of an extension-type actuator (ExACT) is proposed based on a chevron structure with displacement amplification mechanisms by local heating. ExACT comprises diamond-shaped displacement amplification structures (DASs) containing axially oriented V-shaped chevron beams, a support bar that restricts lateral heat deformation, and a loading slot for thin-film heaters. On heating the thin film heater, the diamond-shaped DASs undergo thermal expansion. However, lateral expansion is restricted by the support bar, leading to displacement amplification in the axial direction. The performance parameters of ExACT such as temperature distribution and extended displacement is calculated using thermo-mechanical analysis methods with the finite element method (FEM) tool. Subsequently, the ExACTs are fabricated using a polymer-based 3D printer capable of reproducing complex structures, and the performance of ExACTs is evaluated under various temperature conditions. Finally, the performance evaluation results were compared with those of the FEM analysis.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제33권7호
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• pp.535-540
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• 2016

The braking device in railway vehicles decelerates or stops the train by dissipating the thermal energy converted from kinetic energy into the air. Therefore, the brake system is crucial for safety. In this paper, we performed a study on an electromechanical brake actuator using an electrical motor as an alternative to pneumatic air cylinders to reduce the idle running time in braking, which subsequently increases braking distance, and to ensure reliable response characteristics. Especially, to analyze the response characteristics of the electromechanical brake actuator, we measure the delay time, response time and power consumption compared to the air cylinder. It is confirmed that the electromechanical brake actuator can reduce reaction time by 0.1 seconds (Braking Action) and 0.46 seconds (Brake Release) compared to the air cylinder.

• 한국공작기계학회논문집
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• 제15권5호
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• pp.14-20
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• 2006

In recent year, as the robot technology is developed, the researches on the artificial muscle actuator that enables robot to move dexterously like biological organ become active. Actuators are key technologies underpinning robotics. Breakthroughs in actuator technology, particular in terms of power-to-weight ratio, or energy-density, will have significant impacts upon the design and control of robotic system. In this paper, a new approach to design and control of shape memory alloy(SMA) actuator is presented to drive the robot hand. SMA wire is divided into many segments and their thermal states of the SMA are controlled individually in a binary manner. This control manner will reduce the hysteresis that the SMA material has and it becomes the fundamental technology to develop the anthropomorphic robot hand. In this paper, the mechanism In the digital step motor of the shape memory alloy that is driven by the segmented binary control, which is a new control technique, is studied. This SMA digital step actuator applies for the robot hand and the driving mechanism of the robot hand is investigated.