• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.887-893
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• 2009

In this paper, a mask-panel alignment robot system is considered for IT industry applications. Two kinds of solutions are suggested which are required in constructing a control system for the alignment robot with actuation redundancy. First, the kinematic solution for the 4PPR parallel positioning mechanism is formulated for an arbitrary initial posture, which relates the mask-panel misalignment in the task space and the desired actuator displacements in the joint space. Secondly, in order to increase the stiffness of the control motion and also to avoid the mechanical lock which may happen due to the redundant actuation, a new synchronous control method is proposed which has the merit of coordinating joint control motions while not losing individual joint control performance. In addition, the engineering process to develop a visual alignment robot system is described with the results of experimental setup and GUI software. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed alignment system control methodology and how much beneficial it will be in real industrial applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.579-586
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• 2016

This paper describes kinematic analysis of a 6-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) ultra-precision positioning stage based on a flexure hinge. The stage is designed for processes which require ultra-precision and high load capacities, e.g. wafer-level precision bonding/assembly. During the initial design process, inverse and forward kinematic analyses were performed to actuate the precision positioning stage and to calculate workspace. A two-step procedure was used for inverse kinematic analysis. The first step involved calculating the amount of actuation of the horizontal actuation units. The second step involved calculating the amount of actuation of the vertical actuation unit, given the the results of the first step, by including a lever hinge mechanism adopted for motion amplification. Forward kinematic analysis was performed by defining six distance relationships between hinge positions for in-plane and out-of-plane motion. Finally, the result of a circular path actuation test with respect to the x-y, y-z, and x-z planes is presented.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.189-206
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• 2012

This paper focuses on the actuation system combined with a piezoelectric transducer and an electric circuit, which leads to a new insight; the electric actuation system is equivalent to mechanical variable-stiffness actuation systems. By controlling the switch in the circuit, the electric status of the piezoelectric transducer is changed, and consequently a variable-stiffness mechanism is achieved on the electric actuator. This proposed actuator features a shift in the equilibrium point of force, while conventional electrically-induced variable-stiffness actuators feature the variation of the stiffness value. We intensively focus on the equilibrium shift in the actuation system, which has been neglected. The stiffness of the variable-stiffness actuator is periodically modulated by controlling the switch, to suppress the vibration of the system in an open-loop way. It is proved that this electric actuator is equivalent to its mechanical counterpart, and that the electrical version has some practical advantages over the mechanical one. Furthermore, another kind of electrically-induced variable-stiffness actuator, using an energy-recycling mechanism is also discussed from the viewpoint of open-loop vibration control. Extensive numerical simulations provide comprehensive assessment on both electrically-induced variable-stiffness actuators employed for open-loop vibration control.

• International Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

The NEA release mechanism is used to provide restraint and release functions with low shock for critical deployment operations on solar arrays after launch. The GK3 solar array consists of 2 wings and 6 hold down points per panel. The NEA SSD9103S1 is a part of the GK3 solar array hold-down and release mechanism. Each NEA unit is equipped with two Z-diodes which provide power to a NEA unit connected in series after actuation of the fuse wire. This paper presents the hot firing test results of a quadrature NEA SSD9103S1 configuration. One output powers a maximum of 4 NEA SSD9103S1 units simultaneously. The necessary actuation pulse duration has been determined to meet margin requirement for thermal energy of minimum 4. Actuation thermal energy difference is about 6.6% between each half of two fired serial NEAs. Thermal energy margin at worst case is minimum 5.9 in case of an actuation pulse duration of 500 ms. Two series Zener impedance depend on current applied has been characterized by an additional actuation after all fuse wires are open circuit. Total number of actuation commands to the GK3 NEA unit reduce drastically from 24 in case of single NEA configuration down to 8 in case of parallel and quadrature NEA configurations. It can be accommodated by the existing HP2U Pyro design without any impact.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.24 no.2 s.191
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• pp.64-72
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• 2007

Many human-body motions such as walking, running, jumping, etc. require a significant amount of power. To achieve a high power-to-weight ratio of the humanoid robot system, this paper proposes a new design of the bio-mimetic leg mechanism resembling musculoskeletal system of the human body. The hip joints of the system considered here are powered by 5 human-like bi-and mono-articular muscles, and the joints of knee and ankle are redundantly actuated by both bi-articular muscles and joint actuators. The kinematics for the leg mechanism is derived and a kinematic index to measure force transmission ratio is introduced. It is demonstrated through simulation that incorporation of redundant muscles into the leg mechanism enhances the power of the mechanism approximately 2 times of the minimum actuation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.39-48
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• 2014

Variable valve actuation system is one of the widely used techniques to improve the fuel efficiency and power of automotive engines. 2-step variable valve actuation systems are also paid attention for the application to direct acting type valve train systems. Besides its advantages in size, weight, relatively simple structure, ets, however, 2-step variable valve actuation system has inherent disadvantages in dynamic instability of switching system to alter discontinuous lift modes. In this study, both experimental and analytical studies are performed to understand the dynamic behavior of a switching mechanism of a 2-step variable valve actuation system, and present a design method to improve its dynamic instability.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.456-465
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• 2003

It is well-known that bio-systems does not calculate inverse dynamics for trajectory planning, but they move by proper modulation of system impedances. Inspired by bio-systems, a biomimetic trajectory planning method is proposed in this work. This scheme is based on employment of redundant actuation which prevails in bio-systems. We discuss that for the generation of the biomimetic trajectory, intelligent structure of bio-systems plays an important role. Redundant actuation and kinematic redundancy fall into such a category of intelligent structure. The proposed biomimetic trajectory planning modulates the complete dynamic behavior such as natural frequencies and damping ratios by using the intelligent structure. Experimental work is illustrated to show the effectiveness of the proposed biomimetic trajectory planning for a five-bar mechanism with redundant actuators.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.221-227
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• 2019

This paper studies an effect of vibration on twisted string actuation inside conduit at high curvature angles. In our previous work. we have mentioned that twisted string actuators can be used to transmit power even at significant curvature angles of the conduit. However, several undesirable effects, namely pull-back, hysteresis, and chattering, were present during actuation due to friction between strings and the internal sheath of the conduit. This paper reports the results of experimental study on effects of vibration on twisted string actuation inside curved conduits. We have demonstrated that applying vibration generated near natural frequency of the system during the stages of twisting and untwisting cycles helped reduce pull-back and hysteresis and increase string contraction. In case when sheath was deflected by $180^{\circ}$ under a constant load of 3 kg, we were able to achieve over 40% decrease in pull-back and 30% decrease in hysteresis, compared with no vibration case.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.355-360
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• 2002

To calibrate a non-redundantly actuated parallel mechanism, one can find actual kinematic parameters by means of geometrical constraint of the mechanism's kinematic structure and measurement values. However, the calibration algorithm for a non-redundant case does not apply fur a redundantly actuated parallel mechanism, because the angle error of the actuating joint varies with position and the geometrical constraint fails to be consistent. Such change of joint angle error comes from constraint torque variation with each kinematic pose (meaning position and orientation). To calibrate a redundant parallel mechanism, one therefore has to consider constraint torque equilibrium and the relationship of constraint torque to torsional deflection, in addition to geometric constraint. In this paper, we develop the calibration algorithm fir a redundantly actuated parallel mechanism using these three relationships, and formulate cost functions for an optimization algorithm. As a case study, we executed the calibration of a 2-DOF parallel mechanism using the developed algorithm. Coordinate values of tool plate were measured using a laser ball bar and the actual kinematic parameters were identified with a new cost function of the optimization algorithm. Experimental results showed that the accuracy of the tool plate improved by 82% after kinematic calibration in a redundant actuation case.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.152-157
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• 2001

An ultraprecision rotary motor is developed using inchworm motion of two belts actuated by elongation of piezoelectric elements. A symmetric lever mechanism with flexure hinges is designed to connect belts with piezoelectric elements. The lever mechanism is used not only to amplify the elongation of piezoelectric element but also to minimize the numbers of components and the effort for assembly. By experiment, the rotational angle by one cycle is varied from $0.2{\times}10-4 rad to 9.76{\times}10-4$ rad depending on input signal amplitude. Further, the motor has the capability of getting more precise rotational resolution by enlarging the radius of the rotor.