• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.771-782
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• 2017

This paper describes the development of a wearable robot to assist ankle power for the elderly. Previously developed wearable robots have generally used motors and gears to assist muscle power during walking. However, the combination of motor and reduction gear is heavy and has limitations on the simultaneous control of stiffness and torque due to the friction of the gear reducer unlike human muscles. Therefore, in this study, Mckibben pneumatic muscle, which is lighter, safer, and more powerful than an electric motor with gear, was used to assist ankle joint. Antagonistic actuation using a pair of pneumatic muscles assisted the power of the soleus muscles and tibialis anterior muscles used for the pitching motion of the ankle joint, and the model parameters of the antagonistic actuator were experimentally derived using a muscle test platform. To recognize the wearer's walking intention, foot load and ankle torque were calculated by measuring the pressure and the center of pressure of the foot using force and linear displacement sensors, and the stiffness and the torque of the pneumatic muscle joint were then controlled by the calculated ankle torque and foot load. Finally, the performance of the developed ankle power assistive robot was experimentally verified by measuring EMG signals during walking experiments on a treadmill.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1371-1381
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• 2006

This paper deals with the active vibration control of a simply-supported beam traversed by a moving mass using fuzzy control. Governing equations for dynamic responses of a beam under a moving mass are derived by Galerkin's mode summation method, and the effect of forces (gravity force, Coliolis force, inertia force caused by the slope of the beam, transverse inertia force of the beam) due to the moving mass on the dynamic response of a beam is discussed. For the active control of dynamic deflection and vibration of a beam under the moving mass, the controller based on fuzzy logic is used and the experiments are conducted by VCM (voice coil motor) actuator to suppress the vibration of a beam. Through the numerical and experimental studies, the following conclusions were obtained. With increasing mass ratio y at a fixed velocity of the moving mass under the critical velocity, the position of moving mass at the maximum dynamic deflection moves to the right end of the beam. With increasing velocity of the moving mass at a fixed mass ratio ${\gamma}$, the position of moving mass at the maximum dynamic deflection moves to the right end of the beam too. The numerical predictions of dynamic deflection of the beam have a good agreement with the experimental results. With the fuzzy control, more than 50% reductions of dynamic deflection and residual vibration of the tested beam under the moving mass are obtained.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.315-321
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• 2014

This paper presents an integrated chassis control system with fail safety using optimum yaw moment distribution for a vehicle with steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire devices. The proposed system has two-level structure: upper- and lower-level controllers. In the upper-level controller, the control yaw moment is computed with sliding mode control theory. In the lower-level controller, the control yaw moment is distributed into the tire forces of active front steering(AFS) and electronic stability control(ESC) with the weighted pseudo-inverse based control allocation(WPCA) method. By setting the variable weights in WPCA, it is possible to take the sensor/actuator failure into account. In this framework, it is necessary to optimize the variables weights in order to enhance the yaw moment distribution. For this purpose, simulation-based tuning is proposed. To show the effectiveness of the proposed method, simulations are conducted on a vehicle simulation package, CarSim.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.1421-1426
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• 2012

Cornering maneuvers with reduced body roll and without comfort loss are important requirements for car manufacturers. An electric active roll control(ARC) system controls the body roll angle by using motor-driven actuators installed at the centers of the front and rear stabilizer bars. Co-simulation using the Matlab/Simulink controller model and the CarSim vehicle model was proposed to evaluate the performance of the ARC control algorithm. To validate the performance of the ARC actuator and system, bench tests and vehicle tests were proposed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1171-1179
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• 2012

In this study, we consider a dynamic positioning system (DPS) design problem that can be extended to many application fields. Toward this end, tracking and positioning control problems are discussed. In particular, we design a tracking control system that incorporates an observer based on the 2-DOF servo system design approach in order to obtain the desired state information. In the case of observer design, a weighted $H_{\infty}$ error bound approach for a state estimator is considered. Based on an algebraic Riccati equation (inequality) approach, a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a full-order estimator that satisfies the weighted $H_{\infty}$ error bound is introduced. The condition for the existence of the estimator is denoted by a linear matrix inequality (LMI) that yields an optimized solution and the observer gain.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.48-53
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• 2012

The purpose of this paper studies the failure cases including with system of liquefied phase injection in liquified petroleum gas vehicle. The first case, resulting with inspection the injector of LPG, it occasionally certified the injection damage phenomenon that the fuel efficiency(km/l) was decreased to 5% by carbon deposit with injector hole when the driver operates the vehicle. The second case, it certified the interference phenomenon of air flow with carbon deposit in ISA system control for idle speed of engine and throttle body suppling air into engine. As a result, the fuel efficiency was decreased 7%. The third case, the outer air during intake stroke was intermittently flowed in this gasket gap because of weaken adhesion power phenomenon for cylinder block by intake manifold gasket tearing. Consequentially, it certified the decrease for fuel efficiency to 3% by risen the amount of fuel injection as the air inflow quantity. These failure examples reduced the power performance of engine and the fuel efficiency of vehicle. It have to minimize of failure phenomenon preparing through quality management.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.619-628
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• 2010

Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) has recently received attention in developing implantable surgical equipments and it is expected to lead the future medical device market by adequately imitating surgeons' flexible and delicate hand movement. However, SMA actuators have not been used widely because of their nonlinear behavior called hysteresis, which makes their control difficult. Hence, we propose a parameter, $t_1$, which is necessary for temperature control, by analyzing the open-loop step response between current and temperature and by comparing it with the values of linear differential equations. $t_1$ is a pole of the transfer function in the invariant linear model in which the input and output are current and temperature, respectively; hence, $t_1$ is found to be related to the state variable used for temperature control. When considering the parameter under heat treatment conditions, $T_{max}$ was found to assume the lowest value, and $t_1$ was irrelevant to the heat treatment.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.163-170
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• 1998

The ultimate goal of total artificial heart is permanent substitute for a failed heart in a patient without any other therapeutic modality. Until now, infection has been the main problem related to the mechanical circulatory support system. The best way to solve this catastrophic complication and to improve the quality of life of TAH patients in terms of tethering must be implantation of TAH totally. The EH-TAH has been developed in NCVC from 1987 for this purpose. The system consists of an energy converter and pumps, which are designed to be placed in abdomen and pericardial space separately for a good anatomical fit. To evaluate the anatomical fit and hemodynamic performance of the EH-TAH, in vivo test was done. General condition of the animal and hemodynamic status had been stable until the TAH stopped on the 11th pumping day. The estimated cardiac output was about 7.7L/min. The values of mean aortic pressure, left and right atrial pressure were 93$\pm$10, 19$\pm$3 and 15$\pm$4 mmHg, respectively. The correlation coefficient between left and right atrial pressure was 0.96, which represents the dynamic function of the interatrial shunt in controlling left-right imbalance of cardiac output. During pumping days, the temperature on the surface of actuator had been maintained at 39.7$\pm$0.4$^{\circ}C$, less than 1$^{\circ}C$ higher than the rectal temperature. The TAH stopped on the 11th day due to mechanical problems. We concluded that the EH-TAH possessed satisfactory basic performance including anatomic fit and hemodynamic adequacy, although there were several mechanical problems to be solved yet.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.308-316
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• 2015

This study was conducted to investigate the situation of ICT apply to plastic greenhouse, and the results be apply to design of new one. A CFD analysis were conducted to monitering the ventilation and energy saving of the single span greenhouse newly designed. The causes of delay to apply ICT to plastic greenhouse are the high cost for installation(24%), insufficiency of after services(19%), often disorder(16%), unskillful management of soft ware(15%), insufficient ICT efficiency(13%) and unsatisfying of income increase(12%). The parts of problem occurred in ICT plastic greenhouse are the structure, actuator, environmental control system and sensor(approximate 14%, respectively), remote control technique(13%), plant management technique(12%), energy saving technique(10%) and utilization of software(8%). In the condition of lateral window closed, the average wind speed changed to slow, but it was faster in the condition of leeward side window opened than in the condition of lee and winward side window opened. The air movement in the condition of lateral window closed occur by air moving fan not by out air. It is not affect the room temperature but effective the uniformity of room temperature. The average temperature of low height greenhouse was uniform than high height one. The average temperature in condition of 3rd curtain opened become same with outside temperature after 2 hours, but take more 5 hours in condition of 3rd curtain closed.