• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2006

In this paper, a speed sensorless control for an ultrasonic motor (USM) using a neural network (NN) is presented. In the proposed method, rotor speed is estimated by a three-layer NN which adapts nonlinearities associated with load torque and motor temperature into control. The intrinsic properties of a USM, such as high torque for low speeds, high static torque, compact size, etc., offer great advantages for industrial applications. However, the speed property of a USM has strong nonlinear properties associated with motor temperature and load torque, which make accurate speed control difficult. These properties are considered in designing a control method through the application of mathematical models. In these strategies, a detailed speed model of the USM is required which makes actual applications impractical. In the proposed method, a three-layer NN estimates the speed of the USM from the drive frequency, the root mean square value of input voltage and the surface temperature of the USM, where no mechanical speed sensor is needed. The NN speed based estimator enables inclusion of variations in driving conditions due to input signals of the NN involved during the driving state of the USM. The disuse of sensors offers many advantages on both the cost and maintenance front. Moreover, the model free sensorless control method offers practical controller construction within a small number of parameters. To validate the proposed speed sensorless control method for a USM, experiments have been executed under several conditions.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.780-786
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• 2005

This study presents a non-video, non-invasive, automatic, on-site monitoring system the system employs ultrasonic transducers to detect behavior in sows before, during and after parturition. An ultrasonic transmitting/receiving (T/R) circuit of 40 kHz was mounted above a conventional parturition bed. The T/R units use ultrasonic time-of-flight (TOF) ranging technology to measure the height of the confined sows at eight predetermined locations. From this data, three momentary postures of the sow are determined, characterized as standing-posture (SP), lateral-lying-posture (LLP) and sitting posture (STP). By examining the frequencies of position switch Stand-Up-Sequence (SUS) between standing-posture (SP), lateral-lying-posture (LLP) and sitting-posture (STP) rate can be determined for the duration of the sow' confinement. Three experimental pureblooded Landrace sows undergoing normal gestation were monitored for the duration of confinement. In agreement with common observation, the sows exhibited increased restlessness as parturition approached. Analysis of the data collected in our study showed a distinct peak in Stand-Up-Sequence (SUS, i.e. the transition from lying laterally to standing up ) and sitting-posture (STP) rate approximately 12 h prior to parturition, the observed peak being 5 to 10 times higher than observed on any other measurement day. It is concluded that the presented methodology is a robust, low-cost, lowlabor method for the continuous remote monitoring of sows and similar large animals for parturition and other behavior. It is suggested that the system could be applied to automatic prediction of sow parturition, with automatic notification of remote management personnel so human attendance at birth could reduce rates of sow and piglet mortality. The results of this study provide a good basis for enhancing automation and reducing costs in large-scale sow husbandry and have applications in the testing of various large mammals for the effects of medications, diets, genetic modifications and environmental factors.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.587-614
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• 2014

In recent years the interest in online monitoring of lightweight structures with ultrasonic guided waves is steadily growing. Especially the aircraft industry is a driving force in the development of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. In order to optimally design SHM systems powerful and efficient numerical simulation tools to predict the behaviour of ultrasonic elastic waves in thin-walled structures are required. It has been shown that in real industrial applications, such as airplane wings or fuselages, conventional linear and quadratic pure displacement finite elements commonly used to model ultrasonic elastic waves quickly reach their limits. The required mesh density, to obtain good quality solutions, results in enormous computational costs when solving the wave propagation problem in the time domain. To resolve this problem different possibilities are available. Analytical methods and higher order finite element method approaches (HO-FEM), like p-FEM, spectral elements, spectral analysis and isogeometric analysis, are among them. Although analytical approaches offer fast and accurate results, they are limited to rather simple geometries. On the other hand, the application of higher order finite element schemes is a computationally demanding task. The drawbacks of both methods can be circumvented if regions of complex geometry are modelled using a HO-FEM approach while the response of the remaining structure is computed utilizing an analytical approach. The objective of the paper is to present an efficient method to couple different HO-FEM schemes with an analytical description of an undisturbed region. Using this hybrid formulation the numerical effort can be drastically reduced. The functionality of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by studying the propagation of ultrasonic guided waves in plates, excited by a piezoelectric patch actuator. The actuator is modelled utilizing higher order coupled field finite elements, whereas the homogenous, isotropic plate is described analytically. The results of this "semi-analytical" approach highlight the opportunities to reduce the numerical effort if closed-form solutions are partially available.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.581-589
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• 2004

In this study, the capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer(cMUT) was developed based on the previous research results. The cross sectional image of the developed cMUT was characterized. To measure the membrane displacement of the cMUT, the Michelson phase modulation fiber interferometer was constructed. The measured membrane displacement was in good agreement with the result of the finite element analysis. To estimate the ultrasonic wave generated by the cMUT, an ultrasonic system including a pulser, receiver and charge amplifier was used. The cMUT developed in this study shows a good performance and hence will be widely used in the non-contact ultrasonic applications.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.1113-1118
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• 2011

In order to evaluate the characteristics of solid-solid contact interfaces, reflection or transmission techniques involving normal-incidence longitudinal waves are generally used. However, these normal-incidence techniques are of limited use in field applications such as in the inspection of welded parts. The oblique-incidence ultrasonic technique may be an alternative for overcoming these problems. However, in this technique, the mode conversion at the contact interfaces should be taken into account along with the normal and tangential interface stiffness. In this study, we have suggested a theoretical model for obliqueincidence ultrasonic waves at the contact interfaces and analyzed their reflection and transmission characteristics. Experimental results showed that the measured reflection coefficient and second harmonic wave agreed well with the suggested theoretical model. Consequently, the oblique-incidence technique can be a promising method for evaluating the characteristics of the contact interfaces.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.191-196
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• 2023

In this paper, for the application of ultrasonic cleaners for cleaning dentures and transparent braces, Pb(Mn_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-Pb(Ni_1/3 Nb_2/3)O₃-Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ [PMN-PNN-PZT] system ceramics were manufactured and their dielectric and piezoelectric properties were investigated. Overall the best properties suitable for the device applications such as ultrasonic cleaner were obtained from the ceramics sintered at 920℃: bulk density of 7.8 g/cm³, the dielectric constant (ε_r) of 1,689, piezoelectric charge constant (d₃₃) of 433 pC/N, planar electromechanical coupling factor (k_p) of 0.64, mechanical quality factor (Qm) of 835, S₁₁^E of 13.37 (10^-12 N/m²), and Curie temperature of 315℃ By using the physical properties of this composition, the ultrasonic cleaner was designed and simulated using the commercial ATILA software. For the three-layered ceramics with the dimension of 25 mm × 25 mm × 2.5mm, an excellent displacement of 8.998 10^-3 m) and the sound pressure of 147.68 dB were recorded.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.3 s.33
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• pp.100-107
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• 1999

Due to the high temperature and pressure, the materials of pipeline in power plant are degraded by creep damage. So far, many conventional measurement techniques such as replica method, electric resistance method, adn hardness test method for creep damage have been used. Among them, the replica method has mainly been used for the inspection of components. But this technique is restricted to the applications at the surface of the objects and cannot be used to material inside. In this paper, the measuring methods of evaluation by using ultrasonic attenuation and electric resistance for the creep detection of creep damage in the form of cavities on grain boundaries or intergranular microcracks were carried out. Absolute measuring method of quantitave ultrasonic attenuation technique for 1Cr0.5Mo material degradation was analyzed for determining the creep degradation steps using life prediction formula. As a result of measurement for creep specimens, we founded that the coefficient of utrasonic attenuation was increased as the increase of creep life fracton(${phi}c$) and the decreasing rate of wlwctric resistance was also increased.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.462-470
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• 2009

We propose a wearable system to help the visually impaired persons for walking safely to destination. If a user selects a destination, the system guides the user to destination with position data from GPS receiver and shortest path algorithm. At the same time, after acquiring complex spatial structures in front of the user with ultrasonic sensors, we categorize them into several predefined patterns, and determine an avoidance direction by estimating the patterns. As a result, visually impaired persons can arrive at destination safely and correctly without others help.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.349-362
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• 2010

Ultrasonic Guided Waves (UGWs) are a useful tool in structural health monitoring (SHM) applications that can benefit from built-in transduction, moderately large inspection ranges and high sensitivity to small flaws. This paper describes a SHM method based on UGWs, discrete wavelet transform (DWT), and principal component analysis (PCA) able to detect and quantify the onset and propagation of fatigue cracks in structural waveguides. The method combines the advantages of guided wave signals processed through the DWT with the outcomes of selecting defect-sensitive features to perform a multivariate diagnosis of damage. This diagnosis is based on the PCA. The framework presented in this paper is applied to the detection of fatigue cracks in a steel beam. The probing hardware consists of a PXI platform that controls the generation and measurement of the ultrasonic signals by means of piezoelectric transducers made of Lead Zirconate Titanate. Although the approach is demonstrated in a beam test, it is argued that the proposed method is general and applicable to any structure that can sustain the propagation of UGWs.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.226-231
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• 2007

This paper describes a development of ultrasonic examination analysis software to analyze steam generator of nuclear power plant. The developed software includes classical analysis method such as A, B, C and D-scan images. This software provides the information of shape, depth, size and position of flaws. To do such, we obtain raw data from specimens and/or real pipeline of power plants and, modify the obtained ultrasonic 1-dimensional data according to prepared software design schedule. The developed analysis software is applied to specimens containing various flaws with known dimensions. The results of applications showed that the developed software provided accurate and enhanced images of flaws on various specimens.