• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.341-359
• /
• 2019

Non-monolithic concrete structural connections are commonly used both in new constructions and retrofitted structures where anchors are used for connections. Often, flaws are present in anchor system due to poor workmanship and deterioration; and methods available to check the quality of the composite system afterward are very limited. In case of presence of flaw, load transfer mechanism inside the anchor system is severely disturbed, and the load carrying capacity drops drastically. This raises the question of safety of the entire structural system. The present study proposes a wave propagation technique to assess the integrity of the anchor system. A chemical anchor (embedded in concrete) composite system comprising of three materials viz., steel (anchor), polymer (adhesive) and concrete (base) is considered for carrying out the wave propagation studies. Piezoelectric transducers (PZTs) affixed to the anchor head is used for actuation and the PZTs affixed to the surrounding concrete surface of the concrete-anchor system are used for sensing the propagated wave through the anchor interface to concrete. Experimentally validated finite element model is used to investigate three types of composite chemical anchor systems. Studies on the influence of geometry, material properties of the medium and their distribution, and the flaw types on the wave signals are carried out. Temporal energy of through time domain differentiation is found as a promising technique for identifying the flaws in the multi-layered composite system. The present study shows a unique procedure for monitoring of inaccessible but crucial locations of structures by using wave signals without baseline information.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.457-463
• /
• 2009

This paper describes the development of non-explosive separation(NES) device which can be equipped on a small satellite. It comprises mechanism itself and spring-type shape memory alloy(SMA) actuator. In order to design SMA actuator properly, the necessary actuation force is measured. Based on that result, SMA actuator is designed and fabricated. Finally, SMA actuator and the proposed mechanism are integrated. In order to evaluate performance of the developed NES, we carried out a response time test, preload test and shock level test. In near future, we expect to replace the imported NES device with the developed device.

• International Journal of Ocean System Engineering
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.16-21
• /
• 2013

This paper presents a design of fuzzy PD depth controller for the autonomous underwater vehicle entitled KAUV-1. The vehicle is shaped like a torpedo with light weight and small size and used for marine exploration and monitoring. The KAUV-1 has a unique ducted propeller located at aft end with yawing actuation acting as a rudder. For depth control, the KAUV-1 uses a mass shifter mechanism to change its center of gravity, consequently, can control pitch angle and depth of the vehicle. A design of classical PD depth controller for the KAUV-1 was presented and analyzed. However, it has inherent drawback of gains, which is their values are fixed. Meanwhile, in different operation modes, vehicle dynamics might have different effects on the behavior of the vehicle. In this reason, control gains need to be appropriately changed according to vehicle operating states for better performance. This paper presents a self-tuning gain for depth controller using the fuzzy logic method which is based on the classical PD controller. The self-tuning gains are outputs of fuzzy logic blocks. The performance of the self-tuning gain controller is simulated using Matlab/Simulink and is compared with that of the classical PD controller.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.814-823
• /
• 2011

Nowadays many neurological diseases such as stroke and Parkinson diseases are continually increasing. Orthotic devices as well as exoskeletons have been widely developed for supporting movement assistance and therapy of patients. Robotic knee orthosis can compensate stiff-knee gait of the paralyzed limb and can provide patients consistent assistance at wearable environments. With keeping a robotic orthosis wearable, however, it is not easy to develop a compact and safe actuator with fast rotation and high torque for consistent supports of patients during walking. In this paper, we propose a novel kinematic model for a robotic knee orthosis to drive a knee joint with independent actuation during swing and stance phases, which can allow an actuator with fast rotation to control swing motions and an actuator with high torque to control stance motions, respectively. The suggested kinematic model is composed of a hamstring device with a slide-crank mechanism, a quadriceps device with five-bar/six-bar links, and a patella device for knee covering. The quadriceps device operates in five-bar links with 2-dof motions during swing phase and is changed to six-bar links during stance phase by the contact motion to the patella device. The hamstring device operates in a slider-crank mechanism for entire gait cycle. The kinematics and velocity/force relations are analyzed for the quadriceps and hamstring devices. Finally, the adequate actuators for the suggested kinematic model are designed based on normal gait requirements. The suggested kinematic model will allow a robotic knee orthosis to use compact and light actuators with full support during walking.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.22 no.9
• /
• pp.705-709
• /
• 2016

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) gyroscopes are widely used in various robot applications. However, these conventional gyroscopes need to vibrate the proof mass using a built-in actuator at a fixed resonance frequency to sense the Coriolis force. When a robot is not moving, the meaningless vibration of the gyroscope wastes power. In addition, this continuous vibration makes the sensor vulnerable to external sound waves with a frequency close to the proof-mass resonance frequency. In this paper, a feasibility study of a new type of gyroscope inspired by insect halteres is presented. In dipterous insects, halteres are a biological gyroscope that measures the Coriolis force. Wing muscles and halteres are mechanically linked, and the halteres oscillate simultaneously with wing beats. The vibrating haltere experiences the Coriolis force if the insect is going through a rotational motion. Inspired by this haltere structure, a gyroscope using a thin mast integrated with a robot actuation mechanism is proposed. The mast vibrates only when the robot is moving without requiring a separate actuator. The Coriolis force of the mast can be measured with an accelerometer installed at the tip of the mast. However, the signal from the accelerometer has multiple frequency components and also can be highly corrupted with noise, such that raw data are not meaningful. This paper also presents a suitable signal processing technique using the amplitude modulation method. The feasibility of the proposed haltere-inspired gyroscope is also experimentally evaluated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.7
• /
• pp.645-653
• /
• 2013

Seoul National University flap(SNUF) blade is a small-scale rotor blade incorporating a small trailing-edge flap control surface driven by piezoelectric actuators at higher harmonics for vibration attenuation. Initially, the blade was designed using two-dimensional cross-section analysis and geometrically exact one-dimensional beam analysis, and its material configuration was finalized. A flap-deflection angle of ${\pm}4^{\circ}$ was established as the criterion for enhanced vibration reduction based on an earlier simulation. The flap-linkage mechanism was designed and static bench tests were conducted for verifying the performance of the flap-actuation mechanism. Different versions of test beds were developed and tested with the designed flap and the selected APA 200M piezoelectric actuators. Through significant improvements, a maximum deflection of ${\pm}3.7^{\circ}$ was achieved. High-frequency experiments were conducted for evaluating the performance, and the transfer function of the test bed was determined experimentally. With the static tests almost complete, the rotor power required for testing the blade in a whirl tower (centrifugal environment) was calculated, and further preparations are underway.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.6 s.183
• /
• pp.166-173
• /
• 2006

In this study, a probe array has been developed for use in a data storage device that is based on scanning probe microscope (SPM) and MEMS technology. When recording data bits by poling the PZT thin layer and reading them by sensing its piezoresponse, commercial probes of which the tip heights are typically shorter than $3{\mu}m$ raise a problem due to the electrostatic forces occurring between the probe body and the bottom electrode of a medium. In order to reduce this undesirable effect, a poly-silicon probe with a high aspect-ratio tip was fabricated using a molding technique. Poly-silicon probes fabricated by the molding technique have several features. The tip can be protected during the subsequent fabrication processes and have a high aspect ratio. The tip radius can be as small as 15 nm because sharpening oxidation process is allowed. To drive the probe, electrostatic actuation mechanism was employed since the fabrication process and driving/sensing circuit is very simple. The natural frequency and DC sensitivity of a fabricated probe were measured to be 18.75 kHz and 16.7 nm/V, respectively. The step response characteristic was investigated as well. Overshoot behavior in the probe movement was hardly observed because of large squeeze film air damping forces. Therefore, the probe fabricated in this study is considered to be very useful in probe-based data storages since it can stably approach toward the medium and be more robust against external shock.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.57-61
• /
• 2016

We report a finding of fast(exceeding 2,000 K/s) heating of polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS), one of the most commonly-used microchannel materials, under cyclic loadings at high(~MHz) frequencies. A microheater was created based on the finding. The heating mechanism utilized vibration damping of sound waves, which were generated and precisely manipulated using a conventional surface acoustic wave(SAW) microfluidic system, in PDMS. The penetration depths were measured to range from $210{\mu}m$ to $1290{\mu}m$, enough to cover most microchannel heights in microfluidic systems. The energy conversion efficiency was SAW frequency-dependent and measured to be the highest at around 30 MHz. Independent actuation of each interdigital transducer(IDT) enabled independent manipulation of SAWs, permitting spatiotemporal control of temperature on the microchip. All the advantages of this microheater facilitated a two-step continuous flow polymerase chain reaction(CFPCR) to achieve the billion-fold amplification of a 134 bp DNA amplicon in less than 3 min. In addition, a technique was developed for establishing dynamic free-form temperature gradients(TGs) in PDMS as well as in gases in contact with the PDMS.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 1996.07c
• /
• pp.2004-2006
• /
• 1996

A thermally driven polysilicon micro actuator has been fabricated using surface micromachining techniques. It consists of P-doped polysilicon as a structural layer and TEOS (tetracthylorthosilicate) as a sacrificial layer. The polysilicon was annealed for the relaxation of residual stress which is the main cause to its deformation such as bending and buckling. And the newly developed HF VPE (vapor phase etching) process was also used as an effective release method for the elimination of sacrificial TEOS layer. The thickneas of polysilicon is $2{\mu}m$ and the lengths of active and passive polysilicon cantilevers are $500{\mu}m$ and $260{\mu}m$, respectively. The actuation is incurred by die thermal expansion due to the current flow in the active polysilicon cantilever, which motion is amplified by lever mechanism. The moving distance of polysilicon micro actuator was experimentally conformed as large as $21{\mu}m$ at the input voltage level of 10V and 50Hz square wave. The actuating characteristics are investigated by simulating the phenomena of heat transfer and thermal expansion in the polysilicon layer. The displacement of actuator is analyzed to be proportional to the square of input voltage. These micro actuator technology can be utilized for the fabrication of MEMS (microelectromechanical system) such as micro relay, which requires large displacement or contact force but relatively slow response.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.119-128
• /
• 2004

With the growing traffic density and increasing comfort requirements, the automation of the drive train will gain importance in vehicles. The automatic clutch actuation relieves the drivers especially in urban driving and stop-and-go traffic conditions. This paper describes the dynamic modeling of a clutch actuator and clutch spring. The dynamic model of the clutch system is developed using MATLAB/Simulink, and evaluated by experimental data using a test rig. This performance simulator is useful to develop the clutch-by-wire (CBW) system for an automated manual transmission (AMT). The electro-mechanical type CBW system is also implemented as an automatic clutch for AMT. The prototype of CBW system is designed and implemented systematically, which is composed of an electric motor, worm gear and slider-crank mechanism. The test rig is developed to perform the basic function test of the automatic clutch, and the developed prototype is validated by the experimental data on the test rig.