• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.158-164
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• 2011

Breast cancer is the most frequently appearing cancer in women, these days. To reduce mortality of breast cancer, periodic check-up is strongly recommended. X-ray mammography is one of powerful diagnostic imaging systems to detect 50~100 um micro-calcification which is the early sign of breast cancer. Although x-ray mammography has very high spatial resolution, it is not easy yet to distinguish cancerous tissue from normal tissues in mammograms and new tissue characterizing methods are required. Recently ultrasound elastography technique has been developed, which uses the phenomenon that cancerous tissue is harder than normal tissues. However its spatial resolution is not enough to detect breast cancer. In order to develop a new elastography system with high resolution we are developing x-ray elasticity imaging technique. It uses the small differences of tissue positions with and without external breast compression and requires an algorithm to detect tissue displacement. In this paper, computer simulation is done for preliminary study of x-ray elasticity imaging. First, 3D x-ray breast phantom for modeling woman's breast is created and its elastic model for FEM (finite element method) is generated. After then, FEM experiment is performed under the compression of the breast phantom. Using the obtained displacement data, 3D x-ray phantom is deformed and the final mammogram under the compression is generated. The simulation result shows the feasibility of x-ray elasticity imaging. We think that this preliminary study is helpful for developing and verifying a new algorithm of x-ray elasticity imaging.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.18-25
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• 2013

Recently the requirement of long-term mobile energy source for mobile robot or small-sized unmanned vehicle is highly increased, and the micro turbine generator(MTG) which is known to have high energy and power density is under development. MTG is designed to have air foil bearing and high speed rotor of which operating speed is 400,000rpm. In the development stage of high speed rotor and bearing, stability analysis for the full operational speed range is essential and the dynamic coefficients such as stiffness and damping coefficients of bearing depending on the rotational speed are required for that. Although perturbation method is usually used to identify the dynamic coefficients, it's not easy to give the perturbation to the high speed rotating rotor. In this study, we present the dynamic coefficients measurement system for air foil bearing which consists of electromagnets, gap sensors, high speed motor and controller. This measurement system can exert the sine sweep force to the rotor-bearing, measure the displacement of rotor and get FRF(Frequency response function) of rotor-bearing. The least square estimation method is applied to identify the dynamic coefficients of bearing from the measured frequency response at the different rpm and the identified dynamic coefficients for the wide rotational speed range are presented.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.1 s.244
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• pp.84-89
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• 2006

A wireless capsule endoscope has been developed to replace the conventional endoscope. However, the commercialized capsule endoscope moves passively by peristaltic waves, which has some limitations for doctors to diagnose more thoroughly and actively. In order to solve this problem, a locomotive mechanism is proposed for wireless capsule endoscopes. Based on the tests of various actuators, a piezo actuator is selected as a micro actuator for capsule endoscope. In general, piezo actuators are known to have limited displacement with high voltage supply. In order to overcome the limitation of common piezo actuator, the impact based piezo actuator, is developed to realize long stroke up 11mm. By using the impact based piezo actuator, a prototype of an earthworm-like locomotive mechanism was developed. In addition, the proposed locomotive mechanism has engraved clamps mimicked the claw of an insect. The earthworm-like locomotive mechanism has 15 mm in diameter and 30mm under retraction stage and 41 mm under elongation stage in total length. Hollow space is allocated to comprise essential endoscope components such as a camera, a communication module, bio sensors, and a battery. For the feasibility test of proposed locomotive mechanism, a series of experiments were carried out including in-vitro tests. Based on results of the experiments, we conclude that the proposed locomotive mechanism is effective to be used for micro capsule endoscopes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1824-1827
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• 2005

For application to micro fluid control systems such as ${\mu}TAS$ (Micro Total Analysis Systems) and DDS (Drug Delivery Systems), it is very significant to handle precise and minute flow rates with low pressure pulsation. In this study, a novel valveless piezoelectric pump using peristaltic motion with three disk type PZT actuators is presented. The newly devised pump with an effective size of $70mm{\times}60mm{\times}55mm$ has three actuator layers connected in series from inlet to outlet. The PZT actuator has a maximum displacement of 240 ${\mu}m$ and a maximum force of 1.6 N. When the driving voltage for PZT actuators is sequentially applied with a certain phase shift, the pumping is performed by peristaltic motion of liquid volume. The working fluid is shut off without the driving voltage. Three methods for sequential driving are proposed and experimentally investigated. First and second methods utilize an intermittent sinusoidal waveform with phase shift of $90{\circ}\;and\;120^{\circ}$, respectively. Third method uses a rectangular waveform with phase shift of $90^{\circ}$. A controller with multi-phase shifter is designed and fabricated. Then, frequency and voltage-flow rate characteristics and load pressure-flow rate characteristics are experimentally investigated to verify the validity of the developed pump.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.332-337
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• 2006

Monodisperse polymer particles were prepared via one-step seeded polymerization using PMMA seed particles and HDDA (or EGDMA) as crosslinking monomer. For the study, the effects of 1) the ratio of the absorbed monomer or monomer mixture to the seed polymer particles (swelling ratio), 2) the ratio of EGDMA in absorbed monomer mixture, 3) the dosage of initiator, and 4) electro less Ni plating on the variation of mechanical properties of monodisperse polymer particles, such as recovery rate, K-values, breaking strength and breaking displacement, were investigated by using MCT (micro compression test). It was observed that monomer swelling ratio influenced only breaking strength, but EGDMA ratio in monomer mixture, dosage of initiator and electroless Ni plating affected both K-values and breaking strength.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1227-1233
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• 2011

Cellulose Electro-Active Paper (EAPap) has been known as a new smart material that is attractive for a bio-mimetic actuator due to its merits in terms of lightweight, dry condition, large displacement output, low actuation voltage and low power consumption. Cellulose EAPap is made by regenerating cellulose and aligning its micro-fibrils. This paper introduces several EAPap materials, which are based on natural cellulose and its hybrid nanocomposites mixed/blended with inorganic functional materials. By chemically bonding and mixing with carbon nanotubes and inorganic nanoparticles, the cellulose EAPap can be a hybrid nanocomposite that has versatile properties and can meet material requirements for many applications. Recent research trend of the cellulose EAPap is introduced in terms of material preparations as well as application devices including actuators, temperature and humidity sensors, biosensors, chemical sensors, and so on. This paper also explains wirelessly driving technology for the cellulose EAPap, which is attractive for bio-mimetic robotics, surveillance and micro-aerial vehicles.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1896-1911
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• 1997

Effects of fiber-matrix interphases on the micro-and macro-mechanical behaviors of unidirectionally fiber-reinforced composites subjected to transverse shear loading at remote distance have been studied. The interphases between fibers and matrix have been modeled by the spring-layer which accounts for continuity of tractions, but allows radial and circumferential displacement jumps across the interphase that are linearly related to the normal and tangential tractions. Numerical calculations for basic cells of the composites have been carried out using the boundary element method. For an undamaged composite the micro-level stresses at the matrix side of the interphase and effective shear stiffness have been computed as functions of fiber volume ratio $V_f$ and interphase stiffness k. Results are presented for various interphase stiffnesses from the perfect bonding to the case of total debonding. For a square array composite the results show that for a high interphase stiffness k>10, an increase of $V_f$ increases the effective transverse shear modulus G over bar of the composite. For a relatively low interphase stiffness k<1, it is shwon that an increase of $V_f$ slightly decreases the effective transverse shear modulus. For the perfect bonding case, G over bar for a hexagonal array composite is slightly larger than that for a square array composite. Also for a damaged composite partially debonded at the interphase, local stress fields and effective shear modulus are calculated and a decrease in G over bar has been observed.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.271-274
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• 2013

Inclinometer sensors are widely applied in many fields. Especially in the field of construction of high-rise buildings also measure the horizontal and vertical help has been applied to monitor. Recent micro electro-mechanical system(MEMS) technology with the development of the many sensors have been developed. In this paper, a MEMS inclinometer is based on a MEMS accelerometer. The sensor can measure the angle of inclination using the relationship between static acceleration and gravity acceleration from an accelerometer. From this principle, inclinometer has been developed that has more accurate. The accuracy is proved by the experiment with laser displacement. Results in the experiment express high-accuracy, stability and economics of MEMS inclinometer. In conclusion, wireless MEMS inclinometer sensor is expected to be applicable in the areas of construction and many other industries with accurate and convenient monitoring system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.361-379
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• 2017

In this article, the vibration behavior of double-bonded sandwich microplates with homogeneous core and nanocomposite facesheets reinforced by carbon nanotube and boron nitride nanotube under multi physical fields such as 2D magnetic and electric fields is investigated. Symmetric and un-symmetric distributions of nanotubes are considered for facesheets of sandwich microplates such as uniform distribution and various functionally graded distributions. The double-bonded sandwich microplates rest on visco-Pasternak foundation. Material properties of sandwich microplates are obtained by the extended rule of mixture. The sinusoidal shear deformation theory (SSDT) is employed to describe displacement fields of sandwich microplates. Also, the dimensionless natural frequency is obtained by classical plate theory (CPT) and compared with the obtained results by SSDT. It can be seen that the obtained dimensionless natural frequencies by CPT are higher than SSDT. In order to study the material length scale parameters, modified strain gradient theory at micro scale is utilized and then, the equations of motion are derived using Hamilton's principle. The effects of different parameters such as foundation parameters including Winkler, shear layer and damping coefficients, various distributions and volume fraction of nanotubes, core to facesheet thickness ratio, aspect and side ratios on the dimensionless natural frequencies are discussed in details. The results of present work can be used to optimum design and control of similar systems such as micro-electro-mechanical and nano-electro-mechanical devices.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.469-475
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• 2009

Diseases caused by indurate tissues of the internal organs are liver cirrhosis and abdominal sclerosis. The cause of chronic gastro-intestinal disease is a digestive system disorder and a defecation disorder. They impede peristaltic movement and digestive system with the symptom that indurate tissues. The purpose of the present study was to determine the disease grade quantitatively by measuring an indurated standard of tissues and organs. For the measurement of elasticity, we designed the system that measure the displacement of the substance and approved pressure using ultrasound transducer. For verification of developed system, we compared elasticity as results of experiment between the developed system and public elasticity measurement machine at individual plastic phantoms made by plastic hardener and softener. Elasticity of the plastic phantoms is averagely 0.007MPa lower measured by developed system than Micro-indenter, and less than 10% errors. Comparing with economical value and accuracy between developed system and Micro-indenter, the system is significant of measurement for tissue elasticity. Thus, it is possible to measure a elasticity at human tissue and organ. A chronic gastro-disease as well as grade could be decided objective validity using this system.