• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 2013

In nature, many small insects are using jumping as a survival strategy. Among them, fleas jump in a unique method. They use an elastomer, 'Resilin', an extensor muscle and a trigger muscle. By contracting the extensor muscle, the elastic energy, that makes a flea to jump, is stored in the resilin. After storing energy, the trigger muscle begins contracting and pulling the extensor muscle. When the extensor muscle crosses the rotational joint, direction of torque generated from the extensor muscle reverses, 'torque reversal mechanism'. Simultaneously, the elastic energy stored in the resilin releases rapidly and is converted into the kinetic energy. It makes a flea to jump 150 times its body length. In this paper, miniaturized jumping robot using flea-inspired catapult mechanism is presented. This mechanism is based on the 4-bar linkage and the reversal joint and is actuated by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) coiled springs describing the flea's muscle. The robot prototype is fabricated by SCM process using glass fiber prepregs and a sheet of polyimide film. The prototype is 20mm link length, 34mm width and 2.0g weight and can jump 103cm.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.23-30
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• 2020

Laser Assisted Thermo-Compression Bonding (LATCB) has been proposed to improve the "chip tilt due to the difference in solder bump height" that occurs during the conventional semiconductor chip bonding process. The bonding module of the LATCB system has used a piezoelectric actuator to control the inclination of the compression jig on a micro scale, and the piezoelectric actuator has been directly coupled to the compression jig to minimize the assembly tolerance of the compression jig. However, this structure generates a lateral force in the piezoelectric actuator when the compression jig is tilted, and the stacked piezoelectric element vulnerable to the lateral force has a risk of failure. In this paper, the optimal design of the flexure hinge was performed to minimize the lateral force generated in the piezoelectric actuator when the compression jig is tilted by using the displacement difference of the piezoelectric actuator in the bonding module for LATCB. The design variables of the flexure hinge were defined as the hinge height, the minimum diameter, and the notch radius. And the effect of the change of each variable on the stress generated in the flexible hinge and the lateral force acting on the piezoelectric actuator was analyzed. Also, optimization was carried out using commercial structural analysis software. As a result, when the displacement difference between the piezoelectric actuators is the maximum (90um), the maximum stress generated in the flexible hinge is 11.5% of the elastic limit of the hinge material, and the lateral force acting on the piezoelectric actuator is less than 1N.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.297-302
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• 2011

Recently, low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology is widely used in sensors, actuators and microsystems fields because of its very good electrical and mechanical properties, high reliability and stability as well as possibility of making 3D micro structures. In this study, we investigated the effects of sputtering gas ratio and annealing temperature on the crystal structure of $Pb(ZrTi)O_3$ (PZT) thin films deposited on LTCC substrate. The LTCC substrate with thickness of $400\;{\mu}m$ were fabricated by laminating 4 green tapes which consist of alumina and glass particle in an organic binder. The PZT thin films were deposited on Pt / Ti / LTCC substrates by RF magnetron sputtering method. The results showed that the crystallization of the films were enhanced as increasing $O_2$ mixing ratio. At about 25% $O_2$ mixing ratio, was well crystallized in the perovskite structure. PZT thin films was annealed at various temperatures. When the annealing temperature is lower, the PZT thin films become a phyrochlore phase. However, when the annealing temperature is higher than $600^{\circ}C$, the PZT thin films become a perovskite phase. At the annealing temperature of $700^{\circ}C$, perovskite PZT thin films with good quality structure was obtained.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.396-401
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• 1999

In this study, $Ar^+$ ion laser etching process of single/poly-crystalline Si with $CCl_2F_2$ gas is investigated for MEMS applications. In general, laser direct etching process is useful in microelectronic process, fabrication of micro sensors and actuators, rapid prototyping, and complementary processing because of the advantages of 3D micromachining, local etching/deposition process, and maskless process with high resolution. In this study, a pyrolytic method, in which $CCl_2F_2$ gasetches molten Si by the focused laser, was used. In order to analyze the temperature profile of Si by the focused laser, the 3D heat conduction equation was analytically solved. In order to investigate the process parameters dependence of etching characteristics, laser power, $CCl_2F_2$ gas pressure, and scanning speed were varied and the experimental results were observed by SEM. The aspect ratio was measured in multiple scanning and the simple 3D structure was fabricated. In addition, the etching characteristics of $6\mum$ thick poly-crystalline Si on the insulator was investigated to obtain flat bottom and vertical side wall for MEMS applications.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.344-349
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• 2017

Wall-climbing robots have been developed for various purposes, such as cleaning skyscraper windows, maintaining large structures, and welding vessels. Conventional wall-climbing robots use movement systems based on wheels or legs. However, wheeled robots suffer from slipping effects, while legged systems require many actuators and control systems for the complex linkage structure, which also increases the weight of the robot. To overcome these disadvantages, we propose a new wall-climbing robot that walks based on gorilla locomotion. The proposed robot consists of a DC drive motor, a vacuum pump for adsorption, and a micro controller for controlling the system. The performance of the robot was experimentally verified on vertical and horizontal flat surfaces. The robot could be used for various functions in industrial sites or disaster areas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.399-402
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• 2004

In the optical drive system, adopting the optical flying-type head (OFH) flying on a removable plastic disk, the flying stability of the small OFH should be carefully considered to ensure the reliability for first surface recording. Additional micro actuators for focus servo are discussed for better interface of optical flying head on thin cover layered plastic disk to eliminate focus error due to the non-uniformity of cover layer thickness and the tolerance of lens assembly. This study gives two simulation results on the flying stability of the OFH. One is the dependence of the flying height and pitch angle variations on the wavelength and amplitude of disk waviness. The other is the flying stability of the slider and suspension system during the dynamic load/unload (U/UL) process.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.703-718
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• 2021

An irrigation monitoring system is an efficient approach to save water and to provide effective irrigation scheduling for rice cultivation in desert soils. This research aimed to design, fabricate, and evaluate the basic performance of an irrigation monitoring system based on information and communication technology (ICT) for rice cultivation under drip and micro-sprinkler irrigation in desert soils using a Raspberry Pi. A data acquisition system was installed and tested inside a rice cultivating net house at the United Arab Emirates University, Al-Foah, Al-Ain. The Raspberry Pi operating system was used to control the irrigation and to monitor the soil water content, ambient temperature, humidity, and light intensity inside the net house. Soil water content sensors were placed in the desert soil at depths of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 cm. A sensor-based automatic irrigation logic circuit was used to control the actuators and to manage the crop irrigation operations depending on the soil water content requirements. A developed webserver was used to store the sensor data and update the actuator status by communicating via the Pi-embedded Wi-Fi network. The maximum and minimum average soil water contents, ambient temperatures, humidity levels, and light intensity values were monitored as 33.91 ± 2 to 26.95 ± 1%, 45 ± 3 to 24 ± 3℃, 58 ± 2 to 50 ± 4%, and 7160-90 lx, respectively, during the experimental period. The ICT-based monitoring system ensured precise irrigation scheduling and better performance to provide an adequate water supply and information about the ambient environment.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.681-687
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• 2016

It is essential for micro jet injectors in the biomedical sector to operate under high pressure. High pressure injection, however, is accompanied by high volumes. On/Off valves that can be operated at high speeds have been used to address this problem. In this research, piezoelectric actuators which have a response frequency of the order of hundreds of kilohertz were used as the On/Off valve and experiments were applied. Researchers developed a controller to precisely manipulate the piezoelectric valve with various waveforms. They also fabricated five types of nozzles to consider the effect of nozzle type on injection. This allowed researchers to manipulate and confirm factors that can affect the injection volume and force. Results of this experiment have shown how to decrease the injection volume and increase the injection force. and it is predicted that the optimized injection volume and force value can be determined depending on the skin type.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.65-75
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• 2017

This study proposes development of 3U CubeSat standard platform whose function and performance are verified via KAUSAT-5 development. 3U CubeSat platform specification was selected for the design of 3U Cubesat standard platform by examining existing CubeSat and state-of-art technology, and consequently a universally usable 3U CubeSat platform was designed. Standard platform was manufactured in 1.5U size and developed with a modular concept to be able to add and expand payloads and ADCS actuators for meeting the user's needs. In addition, in case of the power system, the solar panel, the battery, and the deployment mechanism are designed to be configured by the user. In the mechanical system design of a standard platform, subsystem and micro equipment functions/performance could be integrated and miniaturized on micro-sized PCBs and maximized electrical capability to accommodate multiple payloads. In the development of the 3U CubeSat, the satellite platform adopts the developed standard platform, which can reduce the cost and schedule for the whole satellite development by reducing the additional function verification.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.83-89
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• 2015

In this paper, we propose a fabrication technique for enhanced electrical properties of piezoelectric thick films with excellent patterning property using sol-infiltration and a direct-patterning process. To achieve the needs of high-density and direct-patterning at a low sintering temperature (< $850^{\circ}C$), a photosensitive lead zirconate titanate (PZT) solution was infiltrated into a screen-printed thick film. The direct-patterned PZT films were clearly formed on a locally screen-printed thick film, using a photomask and UV light. Because UV light is scattered in the screen-printed thick film of a porous powder-based structure, there are needs to optimize the photosensitive PZT sol infiltration process for obtaining the enhanced properties of PZT thick film. By optimizing the concentration of the photosensitive PZT sol, UV irradiation time, and solvent developing time, the hybrid films prepared with 0.35 M of PZT sol, 4 min of UV irradiation and 15 sec solvent developing time, showed a very dense with a large grain size at a low sintering temperature of $800^{\circ}C$. It also illustrated enhanced electrical properties (remnant polarization, $P_r$, and coercive field, $E_c$). The $P_r$ value was over four times higher than those of the screen-printed films. These films integrated on silicon wafer substrate could give a potential of applications in micro-sensors and -actuators.