• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.662-669
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• 2006

The pneumatic muscle actuator consists of an air bellows tube with two end-flanges. The air bellows tube is made from rubber layers and flexible sheathing formed from nylon 6 fibers. This structure can be stretched or compressed to convert the radial expansive forces into contractile forces. We performed the finite element analysis and the performance test of pneumatic muscle actuator. Also, the pneumatic muscle actuator was manufactured and tested by home-made tester. The results of FEA was similar with performance test below the maximum error of 42 %.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제33권10호
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• pp.1081-1086
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• 2009

This paper presents dynamic characteristics of pneumatic artificial muscles. Since the actuating performance of a pneumatic muscle is closely related to the input pressure of a pneumatic muscle, the air flow model on a valve orifice and an elastic bladder of the muscle is formulated to estimate precisely the pressure variance of pneumatic muscles during deflating and inflating process. Frequency response experiments are performed with an antagonistic system consisting of two pneumatic muscles and fast pneumatic control valves. Comparing with experimental results, the proposed model yielded good performance in estimating dynamic motions of the antagonistic system as well as the pressure variance of the pneumatic artificial muscles

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제30권11호
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• pp.1217-1224
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• 2013

In this paper, a hand exoskeleton actuated by air muscles(soft hand exoskeleton) is introduced. Some soft hand exoskeletons have already been developed to overcome the defects of hand exoskeletons based on linkage and pneumatic piston system-they are usually bulky and do not have enough degree of freedom(DOF). However, soft hand exoskeletons still have defects. Their motions are not precise as linkage based hand exoskeletons, because their actuator, such as air muscle is made of soft materials. So we developed a new linkage which is not bulky and has redundant DOF. It is combined with air muscle in a specific way so that it acts as a guide when air muscle is actuated. Some experiments were conducted to evaluate the validity and usability of our hand exoskeleton.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2003년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.1566-1571
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• 2003

PGO(Powered Gait Orthosis) mounted with pneumatic muscle as an actuator is upgraded model from RGO(Replicate Gait Orthosis) for paraplegia patients to walk easy and safe. Pneumatic muscles supply powers to both hip joint during PGO gait. The objective of this research is to develop the PGO gait simulation model. Dynamic model of PGO linkage system is processed. Mathematical model of pneumatic muscle was developed and combined it with PGO linkage system. Developed simulation model will be used as a tool for evaluation of the efficiency of pneumatic muscle and for analysis the PGO system.

• 재활복지공학회논문지
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.161-168
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• 2014

본 연구에서는 Pneumatic air fitting system을 적용한 기립보조기 제품을 뇌병변 소아환자를 대상으로 기립보조기의 신체 고정용 폼패드(foam pad)와 에어패드(air pad) 사용 시, 뇌병변 장애아동들의 체간 및 하지근육의 수축 양상을 비교 분석하였다. 연구결과, 패드(foam pad vs. air pad) 유형에 따른 근육별 근력 활성도는 차이가 있었다. 이러한 차이는 큰 동작(식사동작)에서 크게 나타나고, 작은 동작(쓰기동작, 읽기동작)이 작게 나타났다. 이는 Pneumatic air fitting system을 적용한 기립보조기 제품 사용 시, 기존 폼패드에 비해 사용자에게 좀 더 편안함을 제공하는 것으로 나타났다.

• 전기학회논문지
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• 제57권4호
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• pp.725-728
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• 2008

An elbow orthosis with a pneumatic rubber actuator has been developed to assist and enhance upper limbs movements and has been examined for the effectiveness. The effectiveness of the elbow orthosis was examined by comparing muscular activities during alternate dumbbell curl motion wearing and not wearing the orthosis. The subjects participated in the experiment were younger adults in their twenties. The subjects were instructed to perform dumbbell curl motion in a sitting position wearing and not wearing orthosis in turn and a dynamometer was used to measure elbow joint torque outputs in an isokinetic mode. Orthosis was controlled using contractile muscle force that is measured from force sensor through cDAQ-9172 board. The air pressure of the pneumatic actuator was 0.3MPa the most suitable air pressure. For the analysis of muscular activities, Electromyography of the subjects was measured during alternate dumbbell curl motion. The experiment results showed that the muscular activities wearing the elbow orthosis were reduced. With this, we confirmed the effectiveness of the developed elbow orthosis.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.778-791
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• 2005

A novel pneumatic artificial muscle actuator (PAM actuator), which has achieved increased popularity to provide the advantages such as high strength and high power/weight ratio, low cost, compactness, ease of maintenance, cleanliness, readily available and cheap power source, inherent safety and mobility assistance to humans performing tasks, has been regarded during the recent decades as an interesting alternative to hydraulic and electric actuators. However, some limitations still exist, such as the air compressibility and the lack of damping ability of the actuator bring the dynamic delay of the pressure response and cause the oscillatory motion. Then it is not easy to realize the performance of transient response of pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator (PAM manipulator) due to the changes in the external inertia load with high speed. In order to realize satisfactory control performance, a variable damper-Magneto­Rheological Brake (MRB), is equipped to the joint of the manipulator. Superb mixture of conventional PID controller and a phase plane switching control method brings us a novel controller. This proposed controller is appropriate for a kind of plants with nonlinearity, uncertainties and disturbances. The experiments were carried out in practical PAM manipulator and the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm was demonstrated through experiments, which had proved that the stability of the manipulator can be improved greatly in a high gain control by using MRB with phase plane switching control method and without regard for the changes of external inertia loads.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 제어로봇시스템학회 2005년도 ICCAS
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• pp.1983-1989
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• 2005

Industrial robots are powerful, extremely accurate multi-jointed systems, but they are heavy and highly rigid because of their mechanical structure and motorization. Therefore, sharing the robot working space with its environment is problematic. A novel pneumatic artificial muscle actuator (PAM actuator) has been regarded during the recent decades as an interesting alternative to hydraulic and electric actuators. Its main advantages are high strength and high power/weight ratio, low cost, compactness, ease of maintenance, cleanliness, readily available and cheap power source, inherent safety and mobility assistance to humans performing tasks. The PAM is undoubtedly the most promising artificial muscle for the actuation of new types of industrial robots such as Rubber Actuator and PAM manipulators. However, some limitations still exist, such as the air compressibility and the lack of damping ability of the actuator bring the dynamic delay of the pressure response and cause the oscillatory motion. In addition, the nonlinearities in the PAM manipulator still limit the controllability. Therefore, it is not easy to realize motion with high accuracy and high speed and with respect to various external inertia loads in order to realize a human-friendly therapy robot To overcome these problems a novel controller, which harmonizes a phase plane switching control method with conventional PID controller and the adaptabilities of neural network, is newly proposed. In order to realize satisfactory control performance a variable damper - Magneto-Rheological Brake (MRB) is equipped to the joint of the manipulator. Superb mixture of conventional PID controller and a phase plane switching control using neural network brings us a novel controller. This proposed controller is appropriate for a kind of plants with nonlinearity uncertainties and disturbances. The experiments were carried out in practical PAM manipulator and the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm was demonstrated through experiments, which had proved that the stability of the manipulator can be improved greatly in a high gain control by using MRB with phase plane switching control using neural network and without regard for the changes of external inertia loads.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 제어로봇시스템학회 2003년도 ICCAS
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• pp.1500-1503
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• 2003

One of the main goals in the rehabilitation of SCI patients is to enable the patient to stand and walk themselves. We are developing high-thrust powered gait orthosis(PGO) that use air muscle actuator(shadow robot Co., UK) to be assisted gait and rehabilitation purposes of them. We made of PD controller and measured hip joint angle by its load and the pressure to control air muscle of PGO. As a results, maximum flexion angle of hip joint is $20^{\circ}$, and angular velocity is 30.4${\pm}2.5^{\circ}/sec$, and then delay time of system was average 0.62${\pm}$0.03s. As the hip flexion angle and the pelvic angle is decreased during the gait with PGO, the patient can walk faster. By using the PGO, the energy consumption can also be decreased. therefore, the proposed PGO can be a very useful assitive device for the paraplegics to walk.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.289-296
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• 2016

본 연구에서는 공압인공근육을 구동부로 가지는 내부형 연속체로봇의 기구학을 제시한다. 연속체로봇 단일마디는 세 개 인공근육의 병렬구조로 구성되며, 각 인공근육은 가해지는 공기압력에 의해서 독립적으로 수축하여 근육의 한쪽이 부착된 기준 마디절에 대해서 근육의 다른쪽이 연결된 원격의 마디절의 공간상 운동이 발생한다. 인공근육의 굽힘형상을 고려하여 원격 마디절 중심에서의 방위와 위치를 예측하는 기구식을 유도하였으며, 단일 마디를 여러 층으로 적층하였을 때 로봇 말단장치에서의 방위와 위치도 변환행렬의 곱으로 제시한다. 그리고 인공근육의 길이/압력 변화에 따른 말단장치에서의 속도를 계산하는 자코비안 행렬을 구동부의 위치배열을 고려하여 유도하였고 실제 실험을 통해서 제시한 기구식의 유효성을 검증하였다.