• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.551-555
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• 2005

This paper presents the temperature-pressure characteristics of SMH actuator using a peltier module. The simple SMH actuator, consisting of the plated hydrogen-absorbing alloy as a power source, Peltier elements as a heat source and a cylinder with metal bellows a functioning part has been developed. The SMH actuator is characterized by its small size, low weight, noiseless operation and a compliance similar to that of the human body. A new special metal hydride(SMH) actuator that uses the reversible reaction between the heat energy and mechanical energy of a hydrogen absorbing ally. It is well known that hydrogen-absorbing alloys can reversibly absorb and desorb a large amount of hydrogen, more than about 1000 times as their own volume. To improve the thermal conductivity of the hydrogen-absorbing alloy, an electro-less copper plating has been carried out. The effects of the electro-less copper plating and the dynamic characteristics of the SMH actuator have been studied. The hydrogen equilibrium pressure increases and hydrogen is desorbed by heating the hydrogen-absorbing alloys, whereas by cooling the alloys, the hydrogen equilibrium pressure decreases and hydrogen is absorbed. Therefor, the SMH actuator has the characteristic of being light and easy to use and so is suitable for use in medical and rehabilitation applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.513-514
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• 2007

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.1067-1073
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• 2007

This paper presents development of an special metal hydride(SMH) actuator system using a peltier module. The newly developed simple SMH actuator, consisting of the plated hydrogen-absorbing alloy as a power source, Peltier elements as a heat source and a cylinder with metal bellows as a functioning part, has been developed. The SMH actuator is characterized by its small size, low weight, noiseless operation and a compliance similar to that of human body. A new SMH actuator that uses reversible reactions between the heat energy and mechanical energy of a hydrogen absorbing alloy. It is well known that hydrogen-absorbing alloys can reversibly absorb and desorb a large amount of hydrogen, more than about 1000 times of their own volume. To improve the thermal conductivity of the hydrogen-absorbing alloy, an electro-less copper plating has been carried out. For this purpose, the effects of the electro-less copper plating and the dynamic characteristics of the SMH actuator have been studied. The hydrogen equilibrium pressure increases and hydrogen is desorbed by heating the hydrogen-absorbing alloys, whereas by cooling the alloys, the hydrogen equilibrium pressure decreases and hydrogen is absorbed. The SMH actuator has the characteristic of being light and easy to use. Therefore, it is suitable for medical and rehabilitation applications.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1328-1333
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• 2005

This paper presents the temperature-pressure characteristics of a new SMH actuator using a Peltier module. The SMH actuator is characterized by its small size, low weight, noiseless operation, and compliance similar to that of the human body. The simple SMH actuator, consisting of the plated hydrogen-absorbing alloys as a power source, Peltier elements as a heat source, and a cylinder with metal bellows as a functioning part has been developed. To improve the thermal conductivity of the hydrogen-absorbing alloy, an assembly of copper pipes has been used. It is well known that hydrogen-absorbing alloys can reversibly absorb and desorb a large amount of hydrogen, more than about 1000 times of their own volume. The hydrogen equilibrium pressure increases when hydrogen is desorbed by heating of the hydrogen-absorbing alloys, whereas by cooling the alloys, the hydrogen equilibrium pressure decreases and hydrogen is absorbed. The new special metal hydride (SMH) actuator uses the reversible reaction between the heat energy and mechanical energy of a hydrogen absorbing alloys. The desirable characteristics of SMH actuator, which makes it suitable for the uses in medical and rehabilitation applications, have been also studied. For this purpose, the characteristics of the new SMH actuator for different temperature, pressure, and external load were explored.