• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2006

Control of a robot manipulator in contact with the environment is usually conducted by the direct feedback control using a force-torque sensor or the indirect impedance control. In these methods, however, the control algorithms become complicated and the performance of position and force control cannot be improved because of the mechanical properties of the passive components. To cope with such problems, redundant actuation has been used to enhance the performance of position control and force control. In this research, a Double Actuator Unit (DAU) is proposed, with which the force control algorithm can be simplified and can make the robot ensure the safety during the external collision. The DAU is composed of two actuators; one controls the position and the other modulates the joint stiffness. Using this unit, it is possible to independently control the position and stiffness. The DAU based on the planetary gears is investigated in this paper. Performance using the DAU is also verified by various experiments. It is shown that the manipulator using this mechanism provides better safety during the impact with the environment by reducing the joint stiffness appropriately on detecting the collision of a manipulator.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.13-21
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• 2018

Background: After a stroke, the patient may have abnormal muscle tone due to abnormal alignment. Physical therapists have used stretching, neural mobilization other methods to treat patients after stroke. In addition, joint mobilization is also used to stimulation in pathway of cervical segmental region and to normal cervical spine alignment. Objects: The purpose of this study was to determine whether Maitland cervical spine mobilization has an immediate effect on muscle tone and stiffness of upper extremity. Methods: Thirty subjects were divided into a experimental group ($n_1=10$), a placebo group ($n_2=10$), and a control group ($n_3=10$). The Maitland cervical spine mobilization was applied in the supine position. Immediately after the intervention, muscle tone and stiffness of biceps brachii, brachioradialis, deltoid, and pectoralis major were measured using Myoton(R)PRO. In the placebo group, sham mobilization was applied to the fifth and sixth cervical vertebra, and the control group was instructed to control breathing. Results: In the experimental group, significant differences were found in muscle tone and stiffness of biceps brachii and brachioradialis in comparison with the affected side and the non-affected side before the intervention (p<.05), whereas there was no significant difference after the intervention (p>.05). Muscle tone of biceps brachii on the non-affected side and pectoralis major on the affected side was significantly decreased before and after the intervention (p<.05). The placebo and control group showed no changes on the non-affected and affected side, and no significant differences were detected before and after the intervention. All the groups revealed no significant differences in muscle tone and stiffness of upper extremity before and after the intervention. Conclusion: This study suggests that the application of Maitland cervical spine mobilization enhanced muscle tone of upper extremity on the involved side symmetrically, and influenced a decrease in muscle tone.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.756-759
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• 2004

We present a piezoelectric actuator using stiffness control and stroke amplification mechanism in order to make large lateral displacement. In this work, we suggest stiffness control approach that generates lateral displacement by increasing the vertical stiffness and reducing the lateral stiffness using additional structure. In addition, an additional structure of a serpentine spring amplifies the lateral displacement like leverage structure. The suggested lateral PZT actuator (bellows actuator) consists of serpentine spring and PZT/electrode layer which is located at the edge of the serpentine spring. The edge of the serpentine spring prevents the vertical motion of PZT layer, while the other edge of the serpentine spring makes stroke amplification like leverage structure. We have determined dimensions of the bellows actuator using ANSYS simulation. Length, width and thickness of PZT layer are 135$\mu$m, 20$\mu$m and 0.4$\mu$m, respectively. Dimensions of the silicon serpentine spring are thickness of 25$\mu$m, length of 300$\mu$m, and width of 5$\mu$m. The bellows actuator has been fabricated by SOI wafer with 25$\mu$m-top silicon and 1$\mu$m-buried oxide layer. The bellows actuator shows the maximum 3.93$\pm$0.2$\mu$m lateral displacement at 16V with 1Hz sinusoidal voltage input. In the frequency response test, the fabricated bellows actuator showed consistent displacement from 1Hz to 1kHz at 10V. From experimental study, we found the bellows actuator using thin film PZT and silicon serpentine spring generated mainly laterally displacement not vertical displacement at 16V, and serpentine spring played role of stroke amplification.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.249-255
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• 2016

Objective: This purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between dimensionless leg stiffness and kinetic variables during gait performance, and its modulation with body weight. Method: The study sample consisted of 10 young women divided into 2 groups (Control, n=5 and Obese, n=5). Four camcorders (HDR-HC7/HDV 1080i, Sony Corp, Japan) and one force plate (AMTI., USA) were used to analyze the vertical ground reaction force (GRF) variables, center of pressure (COP), low limb joint angle, position of pelvis center and leg lengths during the stance phase of the gait cycle. Results: Our results revealed that the center of mass (COM) displacement velocity along the y-axis was significantly higher in the obese group than that in control subjects. Displacement in the position of the center of the pelvis center (Z-axis) was also significantly higher in the obese group than that in control subjects. In addition, the peak vertical force (PVF) and dimensionless leg stiffness were also significantly higher in the obese group. However, when normalized to the body weight, the PVF did not show a significant between-group difference. When normalized to the leg length, the PVF and stiffness were both lower in the obese group than in control subjects. Conclusion: In the context of performance, we concluded that increased dimensionless leg stiffness during the gait cycle is associated with increased velocity of COM, PVF, and the change in leg lengths (%).

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.627-643
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• 2015

Negative stiffness, previously emulated by active or semi-active control for cable vibration mitigation, is realized passively using a self-contained highly compressed spring, the negative stiffness device (NSD).The NSD installed in parallel with a viscous damper (VD) in the vicinity of cable anchorage, enables increment of damper deformation during cable vibrations and hence increases the attainable cable damping. Considering the small cable displacement at the damper location, even with the weakening device, the force provided by the NSD-VD assembly is approximately linear. Complex frequency analysis has thus been conducted to evaluate the damping effect of the assembly on the cable; the displacement-dependent negative stiffness is further accounted by numerical analysis, validating the accuracy of the linear approximation for practical ranges of cable and NSD configurations. The NSD is confirmed to be a practical and cost-effective solution to improve the modal damping of a cable provided by an external damper, especially for super-long cables where the damper location is particularly limited. Moreover, mathematically, a linear negative stiffness and viscous damping assembly has proven capability to represent active or semi-active control for simplified cable vibration analysis as reported in the literature, while in these studies only the assembly located near cable anchorage has been addressed. It is of considerable interest to understand the general characteristics of a cable with the assembly relieving the location restriction, since it is quite practical to have an active controller installed at arbitrary location along the cable span such as by hanging an active tuned mass damper. In this paper the cable frequency variations and damping evolutions with respect to the arbitrary assembly location are then evaluated and compared to those of a taut cable with a viscous damper at arbitrary location, and novel frequency shifts are observed. The characterized complex frequencies presented in this paper can be used for preliminary damping effect evaluation of an adaptive passive or semi-active or active device for cable vibration control.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.1373-1374
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• 2011

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.38 no.1 s.113
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• pp.21-26
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• 2006

A simple method of on-line stiffness measurement using the wrinkling behavior of paper web between rollers was developed. The theory and calculating equation were presented, and the theoretical maximum error associated with the equation was also presented. We called the stiffness measured by Taber tester as 'Taber stiffness', and by wrinkling behavior as 'wrinkle stiffness', respectively, for comparison. By using this method, on-line complete control of paper stiffness will be possible in near future. Special care about shear wrinkle and paper dimensional effects were addressed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.481-493
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• 2020

The negative stiffness spring and inerter are both characterized by the negative stiffness effect in the force-displacement relationship, potentially yielding an amplifying mechanism for dashpot deformation by being incorporated with a series tuning spring. However, resisting forces of the two mechanical elements are dominant in different frequency domains, thus leading to necessary complementarity in terms of vibration control and the amplifying benefit. Inspired by this, this study proposes a Negative Stiffness Inerter System (NSIS) as an earthquake protection system and developed analytical design formulae by fully utilizing its advantageous features. The NSIS is composed of a sub-configuration of a negative stiffness spring and an inerter in parallel, connected to a tuning spring in series. First, closed-form displacement responses are derived for the NSIS structure, and a stability analysis is conducted to limit the feasible domains of NSIS parameters. Then, the dual advantageous features of displacement reduction and the dashpot deformation amplification effect are revealed and clarified in a parametric analysis, stimulating the establishment of a displacement-based optimal design framework, correspondingly yielding the design formulae in analytical form. Finally, a series of examples are illustrated to validate the derived formulae. In this study, it is confirmed that the synergistic incorporation of the negative stiffness spring and the inerter has significant energy dissipation efficiency in a wide frequency band and an enhanced control effect in terms of the displacement and shear force responses. The developed displacement-based design strategy is suitable to utilize the dual benefits of the NSIS, which can be accurately implemented by the analytical design formulae to satisfy the target vibration control with increased energy dissipation efficiency.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.210-215
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• 2008

This study presents an effective stiffness-based optimal technique to control quantitatively lateral drift and evaluates the structural behavior characteristics and efficiency for tall outrigger system subject to lateral loads. To this end, displacement sensitivity depending on behavior characteristics of outrigger system is established and approximation concept that can efficiently solve large scale problems is introduced. Specifically, under the 'constant-shape' assumption, resizing technique of member is developed. Two types of 60 story frameworks are presented to illustrate the features of the quantitative lateral drift control technique proposed in this study.

• Architectural research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2000

This research focused on the hysteretic energy performance of 12 steel moment-resisting frames, which were intentionally designed by three types of design philosophies, strength control design, strength and drift control design, and strong-column and weak-beam control design. The energy performances of three designs were discussed In view of strength increase effect, stiffness increase effect, and strong-column and weak-beam effects. The mean hysteretic energy of the 12 basic systems were statically processed and compared to that of single-degree-of-freedom systems. Hysteretic energy was not always increased with an increase of strength and stiffness in the steel moment-resisting frames. Hysteretic energy between strong-column and weak-beam design and drift control design with the same stiffness was not sensitive each other for these types of mid-rises of steel moment-resisting frames.