• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.1259-1260
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.99-100
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• 2007

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.169-172
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• 2004

This paper proposes a new MR(magneto-rheological) brake utilizing composite modes of MR fluid. Its basic structure and design scheme are almost the same with the conventional MR brake, but for slots in a rotating disk or shell. The slots enable the proposed MR brake to use a new mode, so-called, ‘direct cutting chain mode’as well as shear mode, which results in increasing the braking force(almost 150% compared to the case without slots). Some experimental results show that the proposed MR brake provide the sufficient braking force to be adopted for small portable force feedback devices.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.832-839
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• 2007

In this study, a new bicycle system was developed to improve muscular strength using the Magneto-Rheological(MR) rotary brake. The friction load of the MR rotary brake is adjusted according to muscle strength of the subjects. The characteristic of muscular strength was studied with various friction loads of MR rotary brake. The friction load was occurred with the current, applied to the MR. rotary brake. Experiments was composed of several cycling trials for various friction loads. In training programs involving muscle improvement, it is necessary to confirm muscle activity and fatigue. To measure the muscle activity and fatigue, EMG signals of rectus femoris (RF), biceps femoris (BF), tensor fasciae latae (TFL), vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VAS), gastrocnemius (GAS), tibialis anterior (TA) and soleus (SOL) muscles were collected with surface electromyography and analyzed into time and frequency domain. The experimental results showed that the muscle activity according to the applied current to the MR rotary brake was significantly different. The more the current was applied, the higher value of the integrated EMG (IEMG) was obtained. Especially, the magnitude of IEMG of the RF, BF, TFL and VL varied in direct proportion to the current. However, there was not significant in the median frequency as the cycling time continue.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.2878-2885
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• 2012

In this study, the training and sporting equipment for leg rehabilitation featuring the MR fluids is proposed. The compact MR fluid brake is designed and manufactured to apply to the rehabilitation training and sporting mechanism. The resistance characteristic of the MR fluid brake is controllable by varying the magnetic field around the fluid. Under consideration of spatial limitation, design parameters which are related with the magnetic strength are determined to maximize to a torque using finite element method. The FE analysis is performed using a commercial code, ANSYS Workbench. The proposed brake device is manufactured, and its field-dependant torque is experimentally evaluated. When the electric current is supplied, the torque of the MR fluid brake is increased and the response is very fast. Depending on the strength of the current supply, torques of the MR fluid brake also increase similar to Bingham property of MR fluid.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.9
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• pp.1669-1673
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• 2008

A new cycle ergometer using a Magneto-Rheological (MR) rotary brake system has been developed for rehabilitation of hemiplegia patients to reduce uneven pedaling characteristics. For this purpose, a control method to adjust the resistance of the MR rotary brake in real time based on the magnitude of the muscular force exerted by the subject has been devised so that the mechanical resistance to the pedaling can be minimized when the affected leg was engaged for pedaling. A series of experiments were carried out with and without the engagement of this real-time control mode of MR rotary brake at different pedaling rate to find out the effect of the real-time control mode. The characteristics of the pedaling for these specific conditions were analyzed based on the variations in angular velocities of the pedal unit. The results showed that the variations in the angular velocities were decreased by 42.9% with the control mode. The asymmetry of pedaling between dominant and non-dominant leg was 19.63% in non-control mode and 1.97% in the control mode. The characteristics of electromyography(EMG) in the lower limbs were also measured. The observation showed that Integrated EMG(IEMG) reduced with the control mode. Therefore, the new bicycle system using MR brake with the real time control of mechanical resistance was found to be effective in recovering the normal pedaling pattern by reducing unbalanced pedaling characteristics caused by disparity of muscular strength between affected and unaffected leg.