• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.57-66
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• 2015

PURPOSES: Nighttime driving is very different from daytime driving because drivers must obtain nighttime sight-distances based on road lights and headlights. Unfortunately, nighttime driving conditions in Korea are far from ideal due to poor lighting and an insufficient number of road lights and inadequate operation and maintenance of delineators. This study is conducted to develop new standards for nighttime road visibility based on experiments of driver perception for nighttime visibility conditions. METHODS : In the study, perception level and satisfaction of nighttime visibility were investigated. A total of 60 drivers participated, including 34 older drivers and 31 young drivers. To evaluate driver perceptions of nighttime road visibility, fuzzy set theory was used because the conventional analysis methods for driver perception are limited in effectiveness for considering the characteristics of perception which are subjective and vague, and are generally expressed in terms of linguistic terminologies rather than numerical parameters. RESULTS : This study found that levels of nighttime visibility, as perceived by drivers, are remarkably similar to their satisfactions in different nighttime driving conditions with a log-function relationship. Older drivers evaluated unambiguously degree of nighttime visibility but evaluations by young drivers regarding it were unclear. CONCLUSIONS : A minimum value of brightness on roads was established as YUX 30, based on final analyzed results. In other words, road lights should be installed and operated to obtain more than YUX 30 brightness for the safety and comfort of nighttime driving.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.77-83
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• 2008

Semi-active cabin air suspension system improves driver's comfort by controlling the damping characteristics in accordance with driving situation. For the driver's comfort evaluation, test procedure has the two methodologies which are filed test and lab test. A field test method has a drawback. It requires a lot of time and money on repetitive test, due to the sensitivity of field test. On the other hand, the test with six axes simulation table at laboratory can obtain the repeatability of test, better than the field test method. In this paper, the procedures of ride performance test and control logic tuning with the table are presented. Drive files of the table can be represented with the almost same input condition as field test data. According to the result from the comparative test using six axes simulation table between passive and semi-active system by making ECU logic tuning, the RMS acceleration of semi-active cabin air suspension system was reduced by 29.6% compared with passive system.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.224-229
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• 2019

Seat of automobile is required to support the comfort to driver and passenger during the driving. The control method of the seat position is changed from manual type to power type, which means using the motor to increase the comfort of the driver. By using the motor, several problems, such as vibration, noise, and over-current, appeared. These problems can be reduced through the control of seat motor. In this study, a control technology of four control variables, which determine profile of the input voltage applying to the seat motor, is proposed to generate the current profile having soft-start and soft-stop. The current flowing through the coil by input voltage is described by mathematical modeling of power seat. It is confirmed that optimized current profile having soft-start and soft-stop can be generated from simulation using the mathematical model.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.967-975
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• 2010

There have been a lot of efforts on the improvement for the ride comfort and handling stability of the combat vehicles. Especially most of vehicles for military purpose have bad inertial condition and severe operating condition such as the rough road driving, and need a high mobility in the emergency status. It is necessary to apply the controlled suspension system in order to improve the vehicle mobile stability and ride comfort ability of crews. A feasibility study is performed on the application of the semi-active suspension system with a magneto-rheological controlled shock absorber for a $6{\times}6$ combat vehicle. First, the dynamic simulation model of the vehicle including the control model for the semi-active suspension system was executed. Based on this model, a hardware-in-the-loop simulation(HILS) system which has a semi-active suspension controller hardware was constructed. After full vehicle simulations were performed in virtual proving courses with this system, the semi-active suspension system was proven to give better ride comfort and handling stability in comparison with the conventional passive suspension system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.266-273
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to obtain the effects of the parameters of the suspension system in railway rolling-stock for KT-23 type Passenger vehicle. According to the analysis and the small scale model car test. optimal condition was obtained for the stiffness ratio of secondary spring to primary spring of the suspension system and the mass ratio of the bogie frame to the car body. The analysis of the study shows that if the car body mass is increased or secondary stiffness Is lowered, the vertical vibration level is reduced and the passenger comfort can be improved. Especially, strong peaks are occurred in the frequencies corresponding to the rotational speed of driving axle and vehicle wheel. Hence, in order to obtain the dynamic characteristics through the small scale model car, the driving method of the vehicle on the test bench, rotational characteristics of the wheel and the natural modes of vehicle should be investigated and be modified.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.561-566
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• 2013

This study aims to develop the control system of vehicle height and apply this developed system to common passenger car. The vibration characteristics to affect ride comfort are examined through driving tests. The hydraulic control system of vehicle height is designed by Macpherson type used most commonly at current passenger car. Tests in this study are operated by the vehicle installed with genuine suspension system of Macpherson type, tuning suspension system and hydraulic control system of vehicle height. As vibration characteristics transmitted to vehicle become random types values of PSD(Power Spectrum Density) are compared.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.55-62
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• 2005

This study examined the effect of ergonomic heel rest that was designed for drivers who have physical handicap in the low leg muscles or have to drive prolonged hours with frequent foot pedaling. An experiment was designed to test the ergonomic heel rest with traditional foot pedal. Forty subjects participated in the experiment. Electromyography(EMG) was used to monitor the muscle activity and fatigue of right leg, and Electro-goniometer was used to measure the ranges of motions of the knee and ankle. A simulator of driver's seat was built for the experiment and the heel rest was installed on it. In order to examine the low muscle activity and range of motion, subjects used the foot pedal for 15 minutes repetitively for each experimental condition. Another 15 minutes test without the heel rest was also performed for comparison. The Root Mean Square(RMS) and Mean Power Frequency(MPF) Shift were used to quantify the level of muscle activity and local muscle fatigue. In results, statistically significant decreases of muscle activity and fatigue were found in all the low leg muscles. The range of motion of the knee and ankle joint also decreased when the heel rest was used. The mechanism of the heel rest effect was discussed in this study. This type of heel rest can be applied to real driving situation after ensuring the safety, or overcoming the psychological discomfort possibly due to unfamiliarity.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2008

The performance of shock absorber is directly related to the car behavior and performance, both for handling and comfort. Most of compact car are assembled the passive shock absorber for cost effect but some of compact driver want better performance of shock absorber than standard parts. Therefore, they want the semi-active suspension control system instead of standard damper system. But they only can change the mechanical damping control shock absorber at A/S market. The mechanical damping control shack absorber can not vary the damping force in driving condition so they do not satisfy the mechanical damping control shock absorber system. In this study, electrically damping force controlled shock absorber system is developed based on the mechanical damping force control damper system. This system can vary damping force by switch on dashboard in driving condition. And, this system can satisfy the requirement of tuning market. Therefore, it is expected the system to show the engineering capability of korean damper company and to increase export market share to oversea damper market.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.131-137
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• 2009

Recent technological advances made a vehicle more intelligent to increase safety and comfort. An intelligent vehicle provides drivers with safety warning information through audible sounds, visual displays, and tactile devices. However, elderly drivers have been known to decrease the physical and cognitive abilities such as muscular strength, hearing, eyesight, short term memory, and spatial perception. Therefore, possible age-related deficits should be considered to design an effective warning system. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of advancing age on response performance on audible safety warnings which are widely used for alerting driving hazards. In order to understand the effect of age-related hearing loss and movement slowing, three sound characteristics (frequency, intensity, and period) and three age groups (younger, middle, and older) are considered. Data was drawn from 38 drivers who drove a simulated rural road in a driving simulator. Experimental results show that age influences driver's response performance. In conclusion, the appropriate range of a warning sound is suggested.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.85-97
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• 2000

In this paper, static and dynamic shift control stategies of CVT speed ratio are suggested. For the static shift control, in order to operate engine on the optimal operating region, a fuzzy control logic is used. In the fuzzy logic, S- factor that is defined as a degree of sportiness is introduced. Simulation results show that the static shift control strategy based on the fuzzy logic selects the optimal operating point automatically between the economy and the sporty mode corresponding to the driver's desire and the driving condition. For the dynamic shift control strategy, a shift speed map is suggested which determines the shift sped as fast or slow based on Δi, the difference between the desired speed ratio id and the actual speed ratio i, and throttle opening. It is seen from the simulation results that the CVT shift speed is determined by the dynamic shift control strategy to provide appropriate performance and comfort for the driver's demand and driving condition. Additionally, experiments are performed to investigate the dynamic performance of the shift speed for the lift foot up. From the experimental results, it is found that improved shift feeling can be obtained by the dynamic shift control strategy when lift foot up occurs.