• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.22-27
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• 2022

The demand for new processing technology that can improve productivity is increasing in industries that require large-scale and various products. In response to this demand, a robot machining system with flexibility is required. Because of the low rigidity of the robot, the robot machining system has a large error during machining and is vulnerable to vibration generated during machining. Vibration generated during machining deteriorates machining quality and reduces the durability of the machine. To solve this problem, a stage for fixing the spindle during machining is required. In order to compensate for the robot's low rigidity, a system combining a piezoelectric actuator for generating a large force and a guide mechanism to actuate with a desired direction is required. Since the rigidity of flexible hinges varies depending on the structure, it is important to optimal design the flexible hinge and high-rigidity system. The purpose of this research is to make analytic model and optimize a flexible hinge and to design a high rigidity stage. In this research, to design a flexible hinge stage, a concept design of system for high rigidity and flexure hinge modeling is carried out. Based on analytic modeling, the optimal design for the purpose of high rigidity is finished and the optimal design results is used to check the error between the modeling and actual simulation results.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.172-177
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• 2022

In general, detection robots using ultrasonic sensors are equipped with sensors to protrude outward or to contact objects. However, in the case of a screw-propelled robot that detects the inside of a reactor tendon duct, if the ultrasonic sensor protrudes to the outside, resistance due to grease is generated, and thus the propulsion efficiency is reduced. In order to increase the propulsion efficiency, the screw must be sharp, and the sharper the screw, the more difficult it is to apply a high-performance ultrasonic sensor, and the detection efficiency decreases. This paper proposes a screw shape-changing mechanism that can improve both propulsion efficiency and detection efficiency. This mechanism includes an overlapped helical ring (OHR) structure and a magnetic clutch system (MCS), and thus the shape of a screw may be changed to a compact size. As a result, the Screw-propelled robot with this mechanism can reduce the overall length by about 150 mm and change the shape of the screw faster and more accurately than a robot with a linear actuator.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.243-250
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• 2022

Subsea power cables are subjected to various external loads induced by environmental and mechanical factors during manufacturing, shipping, and installation. Therefore, the prediction of the structural strength is essential. In this study, experimental and theoretical analyses were performed to investigate the axial stiffness of subsea power cables. A uniaxial tensile test of a 6.5 m three-core AC inter-array subsea power cable was carried out using a 10 MN hydraulic actuator. In addition, the resultant force was measured as a function of displacement. The theoretical model proposed by Witz and Tan (1992) was used to numerically predict the axial stiffness of the specimen. The Newton-Raphson method was employed to solve the governing equation in the theoretical analysis. A comparison of the experimental and theoretical results for axial stiffness revealed satisfactory agreement. In addition, the predicted axial stiffness was linear notwithstanding the nonlinear geometry of the subsea power cable or the nonlinearity of the governing equation. The feasibility of both experimental and theoretical framework for predicting the axial stiffness of subsea power cables was validated. Nevertheless, the need for further numerical study using the finite element method to validate the framework is acknowledged.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.437-454
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• 2023

Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS), which has the advantages of a substructure pseudo-dynamic test, is widely used to investigate the rate-dependent mechanical response of structures under earthquake excitation. However, time delay in RTHS can cause inaccurate results and experimental instabilities. Thus, this study proposes a model-based adaptive control strategy using a Kalman filter (KF) to minimize the time delay and improve RTHS stability and accuracy. In this method, the adaptive control strategy consists of three parts-a feedforward controller based on the discrete inverse model of a servohydraulic actuator and physical specimen, a parameter estimator using the KF, and a feedback controller. The KF with the feedforward controller can significantly reduce the variable time delay due to its fast convergence and high sensitivity to the error between the desired displacement and the measured one. The feedback control can remedy the residual time delay and minimize the method's dependence on the inverse model, thereby improving the robustness of the proposed control method. The tracking performance and parametric studies are conducted using the benchmark problem in RTHS. The results reveal that better tracking performance can be obtained, and the KF's initial settings have limited influence on the proposed strategy. Virtual RTHSs are conducted with linear and nonlinear physical substructures, respectively, and the results indicate brilliant tracking performance and superb robustness of the proposed method.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.705-714
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• 2022

In this paper, the effect of magnetic field on the vibration behavior of a Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) sandwich MEMS actuated by electrostatic actuation with conductive skins are examined within the multiple scales (MMS) perturbation method. Magnetorheological smart materials have been widely used in vibration control of various systems due to their mechanical properties change under the influence of different magnetic fields. To investigate the vibrational behavior of the movable electrode, the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, as well as Hamilton's principle is used to derive the equations and the related boundary conditions governing the dynamic behavior of the system are applied. The results of this study show that by placing the Magnetorheological elastomer core in the movable electrode and applying different magnetic fields on it, its natural vibrational frequency can be affected so that by increasing the applied magnetic field, the system's natural frequency increases. Also, the effect of various factors such as the electric potential difference between two electrodes, changes in the thickness of the core and the skins, electrode length, the distance between two electrodes and also change in vibration modes of the system on natural frequencies have been investigated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.557-560
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• 2010

We have designed a digital variable-focal-length liquid lens by using 4-bit actuators. Each bit actuator consists of 1, 2, 4, and 8 unit actuators, squeezes discrete fluidic volume of $2^4$ different levels into the lens The 4-bit digital actuation mode ($b_4b_3b_2b_1$) affords $2_4$ different lens curvatures and focal lengths. The on/off control of the bit actuators helps in solving the main problem associated with analog liquid lenses, i.e., precise control of the pressure or volume of the fluid for changing the lens curvature and focal length. Experimentally, it has been found that the 4-bit actuators allow 0.074 nl (${\pm}0.02\;nl$) of the given fluid per bit to enter the lens and help in increasing the focal length from 3.63 mm to 38.6 mm in $2^4$ different levels; no high-cost controllers are required for precise control of the pressure or volume in this case. Therefore, the present digital liquid lens is more suitable to integrated optical systems by reducing additional component for pressure and volume control.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.899-903
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• 2013

A self-bearing is an electric machine that achieves both rotational actuation and magnetic levitation using a single magnetic structure. To be able to stably levitate the rotor in a self-bearing, one needs to have an inverse of the force-current model. However, the force-current model in a self-bearing motor is typically not square. Furthermore, the elements of the matrix vary with respect to the rotational angle, resulting in singularities of the pseudo-inverse at various angles. In this paper, we propose a new force-current model that eliminates the singularities by adding a constraint in coil currents. This constraint eliminates the flux density in the stator core so that the saturation problem in the previous study is avoided. By implementing this force-current model, we are able to implement a levitation controller for a toroidally-wound self-bearing BLDC motor. The model inversion and levitation are validated experimentally.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.409-422
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• 2019

Sloshing is a phenomenon which may lead to dynamic stability and damages on the local structure of the tank. Hence, several anti-sloshing devices are introduced in order to reduce the impact pressure and free surface elevation of liquid. A fixed baffle is the most prevailing anti-sloshing mechanism compared to the other methods. However, the additional of the baffle as the internal structure of the LNG tank can lead to frequent damages in long-term usage as this structure absorbs the sloshing loads and thus increases the maintenance cost and downtime. In this paper, a novel type of floating baffle is proposed to suppress the sloshing effect in LNG tank without the need for reconstructing the tank. The sloshing phenomenon in a membrane type LNG tank model was excited under sway motion with 30% and 50% filling condition in the model test. A regular motion by a linear actuator was applied to the tank model at different amplitudes and constant period at 1.1 seconds. Three pressure sensors were installed on the tank wall to measure the impact pressure, and a high-speed camera was utilized to record the sloshing motion. The floater baffle was modeled on the basis of uniform-discretization of domain and tested based on parametric variations. Data of pressure sensors were collected for cases without- and with-floating baffle. The results indicated successful reduction of surface run-up and impulsive pressure by using a floating baffle. The findings are expected to bring significant impacts towards safer sea transportation of LNG.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1886-1896
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• 1991

This paper presents a method to predict the flying height of the head slider in a hard disk drive. Quantitative predicts of the flying height according to the variations of the external load and the disk velocity have been done by numerical computation. In addition, the magnitude of the external load to keep flying height constant were also suggested. The Modified Reynolds' equation driven from hydrodynamic lubrication theory under slip flow condition was used to describe air-bearing system under the slider. To solve the equation, a Finite Volume Method (FVM) has been applied. To determine the final minimum flying height and pitch angle of the head slider, the Secant iteration method is used which update initial guess of the minimum flying height and pitch angle of the slider. In this study, the model head slider has been selected from a real hard disk drive which is equipped in many commercial personal computers. As a result, as the disk velocity increases at constant external load, the minimum flying height and the pitch angle increase due to the in crease of the air-bearing force at the bottom of slider.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.5 s.236
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• pp.777-785
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• 2005

The swing motion control problem of a container hanging on the trolly is considered in the paper. In the container crane control problem, suppressing the residual swing motion of the container at the end of acceleration, deceleration or the case of that the unexpected disturbance input exists is main issue. For this problem, in general, many trolley motion control strategies are introduced and applied. In this paper, we introduce and synthesize a swing motion control system in which a small auxiliary mass is installed on the spreader made by ourselves. In this control system, the actuator reacting against the auxiliary mass applies inertial control forces to the container to reduce the swing motion in the desired manner. In many studies, the controllers used to suppress the vibration have been synthesized for the given mathematical model of plants. And, the designers have not been able to utilize the degree of freedom to adjust the structural parameters for the control object. To overcome this problem, so called 'Structure/control Simultaneous Method' is used. In this paper, the simultaneous design method is used to determine the optimum weight of moving mass such that the optimal system performance would be achieved. And the experimental result shows that the proposed control strategy is useful to the case of that the controlled system is exposed to the uncertainties and, robust to the unexpected disturbance inputs.