• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.6
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• pp.988-994
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• 2017

The risk of facilities in catenary is increasing because the railway section extension and high-speed train service. And visual check of workforce is not enough time to maintain the extensive railway facilities. Accordingly, The technical development trend of maintenance of railway facilities can be seen by automation and application of IT technology, especially the mechanization work and the information technology are spreading in the maintenance work of the train line solved by manpower. In this paper, we describe the method by obtaining the cantilever image using acquisition device and pole inspection system in high speed vehicle, to check the variation of the cantilever component using image processing.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1990.07a
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• pp.471-474
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• 1990

In this paper, a vision-based inspection algorithm for checking mark quality on an integrated chip(IC) is proposed. In order to reduce the processing time for inspection, we are implemented image arithmetic unit and binary image projection processor in hardware. By adopting the hardwares, the processing time becomes less one sixth of that in case of using software only.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.87-95
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• 2006

The outlet feeder pipe thinning in a PHWR (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) is caused by a high pressure steam flow inside the pipe, which is a well known degradation mechanism called a FAC (Flow Assisted Corrosion). In order to monitor the degradation, the thickness of the outlet bends close to the exit of the pressure tube should be measured and analyzed at every official overhaul. This paper describes a mobile feeder pipe inspection robot that can minimize the irradiation dose to human workers by automating the measurement process. The robot can move by itself on the feeder pipe by using an inch worm mechanism, which is constructed by two gripper bodies that can fix the robot body on to the pipe, one extendable and contractible actuator, and a rotation actuator connected to the two gripper bodies to move forward and backward, and to rotate in a circumferential direction.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.741-749
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• 2014

This paper proposes a machine vision module for PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers). PLC is the industrial controller most widely used in factory automation system. However most of the machine vision systems are based on PC (Personal Computer). The machine vision system embedded in PLC is required to reduce the cost and improve the convenience of implementation. In this paper, we newly propose a machine vision module based on PLC. The image processing libraries are implemented and integrated with the PLC programming tool. In order to interface the libraries with ladder programming, the ladder instruction set was also designed for each vision library. By use of the developed system, PLC users can implement vision systems easily by ladder programming. The developed system was applied to sample inspection system to verify the performance. The experimental results show that the proposed system can reduce the cost of installing as well as increase the ease-of-implementation.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.133-142
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to predict the fracture energy in accordance with the combination variables by applying the mix design nomogram in ready mixed concrete products. In terms of the experiment for drawing up Mix Design Nomogram, the beam is manufactured based on the mixture table described in the specifications of ready mixed concrete manufacturing company and a three-point bending test suggested in RILEM 50-FMC Committee is performed. As a result, this study makes sure the possibility to apply the mix design nomogram that is possible to predict the fracture energy in ready mixed concrete products and enables one to achieve the automation of the design of mixture for the production of ready mixed concrete products with the development of program using it.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.3416-3422
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• 2014

A shock absorber rod is located in the center of the absorber piston and is responsible for the reciprocating movement portion. If it has surface defects, the damping performance of product will be adversely affected. A rod surface has gloss by heat treatment. Therefore, it is difficult to find a defect, such as dust, imprints, and blowholes. Because a total inspection is achieved by visual inspection by workers, it causes eyestrain and the quality of the product is not constant. In this paper, a machine vision system was developed to find a defect using a line-scan camera. The machine can detect surface defects than 0.3mm. To minimize the occurrence probability of defects on the inspection process, the developed auto inspection system had an automatic feeding system and incorporated a protection system. Through the development of this system, which relies on the operator's visual inspection of the surface of the shock absorber, the Rod inspection system constructed quality inspection standards and standardized tests to ensure improved reliability.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.139-152
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• 2008

In order to survive worldwide competition, today's industries are experiencing strong pressure to introduce higher quality products with lower cost and shorter lead-time. Therefore, the role of design in the process of product development is increasing in significance. In this research, two methods for improving the design capability are proposed: construction of design environment and design automation using 3D CAD system. The designers and design process are the core of product design using 3D CAD system. In order to maximize the design performance, construction of the design environment including selection of a suitable system, designer training for best use of the system, establishment of an efficient design process, and stabilization of the environment are required. A method is suggested to construct design environment by systematizing the contents of the projects and consulting experiences carried out for various categories of business such as electronic devices, motorcycles, electricity parts, sanitary wares, injection molds, and die casing molds. Design automation helps reduce tedious and time-consuming jobs, simplify complicated and error-prone modeling and drawing works to shorten the lead time and improve the product quality. To develop a design automation system, understanding the process and the related knowledge on design are very important before implementing the system using API provided by 3D CAD system. In this research, an eight-step procedure is proposed for the development of a design automation system. These eight steps are analysis of needs, determination of specification, verification of specification using 3D CAD system, inspection of related API functions, programming, field test, application in practice, and maintenance. A case study in which five design automation systems in the design of turbine generators using the proposed method is introduced in detail. These systems play important roles in the generation of various output items including 3D models, drafts, material information, and NC data. The case study shows how effectively the design time is reduced and the quality improved using those systems.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.4191-4203
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• 2023

Robotics applications are greatly needed in hazardous locations, e.g., fusion and fission reactors, where robots must perform delicate and complex tasks under ionizing radiation conditions. The drawback is that some robotic parts, such as active electronics, are susceptible to radiation. It can lead to unexpected failures and early termination of the robotic operation. This paper analyses the ionizing radiation effect from 0.09 to 1.5 Gy/s in robotic components (microcontrollers, servo motors and temperature sensors). The first experiment compares the performance of various microcontroller types and their actuators and sensors, where different mitigation strategies are applied, such as using Radiation-Hardened (Rad-Hard) microcontrollers or shielding. The second and third experiments analyze the performance of a 3-Degrees of Freedom (DoF) robotic arm, evaluating its components' responses and trajectory. This study enhances our understanding and expands our knowledge regarding radiation's impact on robotic arms and components, which is useful for defining the best strategies for extending the robots' operational lifespan, especially when performing maintenance or inspection tasks in radiation environments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.59-65
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• 2011

$CO_2$ Welding which uses $CO_2$ instead of inert gas is most widely used in industrial sites. Welding rod for $CO_2$ Welding is roughly divided into solid wire and flux cored wire. $CO_2$ Welding has higher efficiency than any other welding methods, and also economic and speedy to handle, that's why is used frequently for welding general structures. As most of studies about $CO_2$ Welding are focused on metallurgical changes of successful joints, they developed theories about the change of configuration on weld parts. This study is especially focused on not only the change of configuration on weld parts, but also the change of the penetrating depth through changing the position of welding torch. For inspection, applied AWS A5.20 E70-1 among welding wires and fixed moving angles of torch, but controled the values of voltage and the position of welding. Also Automatic Feed Mechanism is used for exact movement of material, specimen is a piece of steel for general structures. By measuring and analyzing the configuration of sliced section and the values of welding leg length and welding throat after welding, the outcome about the changes turned out.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1485-1494
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• 2023

The bow of the nuclear fuel assembly is a well-known phenomenon. One of the vital criteria during the history of nuclear fuel development has been fuel assembly's mechanical stability. Once present, the fuel assembly bow can lead to safety issues like excessive water gap and power redistribution or even incomplete rod insertion (IRI). The extensive bow can result in assembly handling and loading problems. This is why the fuel assembly's bow is one of the most often controlled geometrical factors during periodic fuel inspections for VVER when compared e.g. to on-site fuel rod gap measurements or other instrumental measurements performed on-site. Our proposed screening method uses existing video records for fuel inspection. We establish video frames normalization and aggregation for the purposes of bow measurement. The whole process is done by digital image processing algorithms which analyze rotations of video frames, extract angles whose source is the fuel set torsion, and reconstruct torsion schema. This approach provides results comparable to the commonly utilized method. We tested this new approach in real operation on 19 fuel assemblies with different campaign numbers and designs, where the average deviation from other methods was less than 2 % on average. Due to the fact, that the method has not yet been validated during full scale measurements of the fuel inspection, the preliminary results stand for that we recommend this method as a complementary part of standard bow measurement procedures to increase measurement robustness, lower time consumption and preserve or increase accuracy. After completed validation it is expected that the proposed method allows standalone fuel assembly bow measurements.