• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2013

Smart material such as SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) has been studied in various ways because it can perform continuous, flexible, and complex actuation in simple structure. Smart soft composite (SSC) was developed to achieve large deformation of smart material. In this paper, a shell actuator using woven type SSC was developed to enhance stiffness of the structure while keeping its deformation capacity. The fabricated actuator consisted of a flexible polymer and woven structure which contains SMA wires and glass fibers. The actuator showed various actuation motions by controlling a pattern of applied electricity because the SMA wires are embedded in the structure as fibers. To verify the actuation ability, we measured its maximum end-edge bending angle, twisting angle, and actuating force, which were $103^{\circ}$, $10^{\circ}$, and 0.15 N, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1154-1162
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• 2020

In this study, the soft textile actuator is produced for a smart wearable with the shape memory effects from linear shape memory alloys of Nickel and Titanium using the driving force through the fabrication process. The measurement model was designed to measure dynamic characteristics. The heating method, and memory shape of the linear shape memory alloy were set to measure the operating temperature. A shape memory alloy at 40.13℃, was used to heat the alloy with a power supply for the selective operation and rapid reaction speed. The required amount of current was obtained by calculating the amount of heat and (considering the prevention of overheating) set to 1.3 A. The fabrication process produced a soft textile actuator using a stitching technique for linear shape memory alloys at 0.5 mm intervals in the general fabric. The dynamic characteristics of linear shape memory alloys and actuators were measured and compared. For manufactured soft textile actuators, up to 0.8 N, twice the force of the single linear shape memory alloy, 0.38 N, and the response time was measured at 50 s.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2021

Traditional actuation system such as electric and pneumatic actuator has obvious advantages and disadvantages. To combine advantages and compensate disadvantages of the traditional actuation, a pneumatic actuation system with an internal air pressure source is noteworthy approach. In this paper, a soft pneumatic actuation system based on origami pump is described for haptic feedback glove. To improve wearability, an origami pump is introduced because the origami pump is much lighter than air compressor. The miniaturized electric actuation system is also designed with 3D printed planetary gear in order to reduce the volume of the system. To figure out the performance of the system, shrinkage distance of origami pump was measured with vision camera. The pressure in the origami pump was also estimated to understand the performance of the system.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.1225-1228
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• 2004

Principles and mechanism of energy transduction of dielectric polymer materials are well known from the various smart material related publications. However their introduction to industrial actuator applications is limited mainly due to difficulties guarantee controllability and reliability. Most of the previous publications have elaborates energy transduction physics of chunk of polymer while development of construction methods for feasible actuators made of the material is rarely proposed. In the present article, a conceptual design of multi-DOF linear polymer actuator construction that is to be controllable with moderate level of control work os introduced. In addition, numerical models that are developed with a unified energy based approach are presented not only for basic working mechanism analysis of the polymetric soft actuator but for providing analytical foundation to expend the concept toward design of multi-DOF actuator controls.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.803-804
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• 2010

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.81-85
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• 2017

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites, which are made by combining a continuous fiber that acts as reinforcement and a homogeneous polymeric material that acts as a host, are engineering materials with high strength and stiffness and a lightweight structure. In this study, a shape memory alloy(SMA) reinforced composite actuator is presented. This actuator is used to generate large deformations in single lightweight structures and can be used in applications requiring a high degree of adaptability to various external conditions. The proposed actuator consists of numerous individual laminas of the glass-fiber fabric that are embedded in a polymeric matrix. To characterize its deformation behavior, the composition of the actuator was changed by changing the matrix material and the number of the glass-fiber fabric layers. In addition, current of various magnitudes were applied to each actuator to study the effect of the heating of SMA wires on applying current.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.92-96
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• 2018

In this paper, a soft robotic arm which can prevent impact injury during human-robot interaction is introduced. Two degrees of freedom joint are required to realize free movement of the robotic arm. A robotic joint concept with a single degree of freedom is presented using simple inflatable elements, and then extended to form a robotic joint with two degrees of freedom joint using similar manufacturing methods. The robotic joint with a single degree of freedom has a joint angle of $0^{\circ}$ bending angle when both chamber are inflated at equal pressures and maximum bending angles of $28.4^{\circ}$ and $27.1^{\circ}$ when a single chamber if inflated. The robotic joint with two degrees of freedom also has a bending angle of $0^{\circ}$ in both direction when all three chambers are inflated at equal pressures. When either one or two chambers were pressurized, the robotic joint performed bending towards the uninflated chambers.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3259-3263
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• 2007

This paper describes the proceedings of creating countermeasures after analysis and maintenance be able to conduct operation safely in a power plant. in order to operate the power plant in a stable and reliable way, the best condition of the govemor system can be maintained through the response characteristic analysis of the control device for the pitch blade control hydraulic actuator. The fan pitch blade control hydraulic actuator of a 500MW large-scale boiler is frequently operated under normal operation conditions. Common problems or malfunctions of the pitch blade control hydraulic actuators leads to the decline of boiler thermal efficiency and unexpected power plant trip. The inlet and outlet gas can be controlled by using the fan pitch blade control hydraulic actuator in order to regulate the internal pressure of the furnace and control the frequency in the power plant facility which utilizes soft coals as a power source.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.2
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• pp.167-177
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• 2021

Due to various benefits such as unlimited degrees of freedom, environment adaptability, and safety for humans, engineers have used soft materials with hyperelastic behavior in various industrial, medical, rescue, and other sectors. One of the applications of these materials in the fabrication of bending soft actuators (SA) is that they have eliminated many problems in the actuators such as production cost, mechanical complexity, and design algorithm. However, SA has complexities, such as predicting and monitoring behavior despite the many benefits. The first part of this paper deals with the prediction of SA behavior through mathematical models such as Ogden and Darijani, and its comparison with the results of experiments. At first, by examining different geometric models, the cubic structure was selected as the optimal structure in the investigated models. This geometrical structure at the same pressure showed the most significant bending in the simulation. The simulation results were then compared with experimental, and the final gripper model was designed and manufactured using a 3D printer with silicone rubber as for the polymer part. This geometrical structure is capable of bending up to a 90-degree angle at 70 kPa in less than 2 seconds. The second section is dedicated to monitoring the bending behavior created by the strain sensors with different sensitivity and stretchability. In the fabrication of the sensors, silicon is used as a soft material with hyperelastic behavior and carbon fiber as a conductive material in the soft material substrate. The SA designed in this paper is capable of deforming up to 1000 cycles without changing its characteristics and capable of moving objects weigh up to 1200 g. This SA has the capability of being used in soft robots and artificial hand making for high-speed objects harvesting.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.527-532
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• 2005

Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) are soft polymeric smart materials having large displacement at low voltage in air and water. The polymeric electrolyte actuator consists of a thin and porous membrane and metal electrodes plated on both faces, in impregnation electro-plating method. The response and actuation of actuator are governed. Among many factors governing the activation and response of IPMC actuator, the surface electrode plays an important role. In this study, the well-designed modification of electrode surface was carried out in order to improve the chemical stability well as electromechanical characteristics of the IPMC actuator. We employed Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) method to prepare the topologically homogeneous thin surface electrode. After roughing the surface of Nafion membrane in order to get a larger surface area, the IPMC was prepared by impregnation for electro-plating and re- coating on the surface through traditional chemical deposition, followed by an additional surface treatment with high conductive metals with IBAD. It was observed that our IPMC specimen shows the enhanced surface electrical properties as well as the improved actuation and response characteristics under applied electric field.