• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2010

Since SRC (Short-term Rotation Coppice) such as poplar and willow can be harvested in three years, they are known to be a potential forest biomass as fuel for a power plant. The production system including transplanting and harvesting is, however, necessary to be mechanized because such a biomass should be handled in a massive volumetric size. A pull-type stem-cutting transplanter was developed in the research as the first step to realize the production of SRC. A needle-like transplanting device pushes a stem-cutting into the prepared soil bed by a pneumatic cylinder, and another device firms soil around a stem-cutting transplanted. Since this is an intermittent operation, it was necessary to develop a zero horizontal velocity mechanism which enabled only the transplanting needle part to continue a zero horizontal movement relative to the ground during the transplanting operation even when the tractor kept moving forward. The 2-row transplanter can transplant stem-cuttings at the rate of 6.5 seconds per row without missing a single attempt. The planting depth and distance were well maintained and controlled. Their CVs were between 2.1~3.4% and 0.87~1.7% for the depth and the distance, respectively. Although, the transplanted stem-cuttings tended to lean outward from the back-view and forward from the side view, they were planted within the range of $3^{\circ}$ from the upright position.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.629-636
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• 2013

Pneumatic levitation is based upon Bernoulli's principle. However, this method is known to require a large gas flow rate that can lead to an increase in the cost of products. In this case, the gas flow rate should be increased, and the compressible effects of the gas may be of practical importance. In the present study, a computational fluid dynamics method has been used to obtain insights into Bernoulli levitation flows. Three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations in combination with the SST k-${\omega}$ turbulence model were solved using a fully implicit finite volume scheme. The gas flow rate, workpiece diameter,and clearance gap between the workpiece and the circular cylinder were varied to investigate the flow characteristics inside. It is known that there is an optimal clearance gap for the lifting force and that increasing the supply gas flow rate results in a larger lifting force.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.141-147
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• 2015

Gas foil thrust bearings (GFTBs) have attractive advantages over rolling element bearings and oil film thrust bearings, such as oil-free operation, high speed stability, and high-temperature operation. However, GFTBs have lower load carrying capacity than the other two types of bearings owing to the inherent low gas viscosity. The load carrying capacity of GFTBs depends mainly on the compliance of the foil structure and the formed hydrodynamic wedge, where the gas pressure field is generated between the top foil and the thrust runner. The load carrying capacity of the GFTBs is very important for the suitable design of oil-free turbomachinery with high performance. The aim of the present study is to identify the characteristics of the load carrying performance of GFTBs. A new test rig for the experimental measurements is designed to provide static loads up to 800 N using a pneumatic cylinder. The maximum operating speed of the driving motor is 30,000 rpm. A series of experimental tests—lift-off test, static load performance test, and maximum load capacity test—estimate the performance of a six-pad GFTB, in terms of the static load, driving torque, and temperature. The maximum load capacity is determined by increasing the static load until the driving torque rises suddenly with a sharp peak. The test results show that the torque and temperature increase linearly with the static load. The estimated maximum load capacity per unit area is approximately 80.5 kPa at a rotor speed of 25,000 rpm. The test results can be used as a design guideline for GFTBs for realizing oil-free turbomachinery.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.81-85
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• 2023

This study presents an experimental investigation of the effects of surface roughness on gas foil thrust bearing (GFTB) performance. A high-speed motor with the maximum speed of 80 krpm rotates a thrust runner and a pneumatic cylinder applies static loads to the test GFTB. When the motor speed increases and reaches a specific speed at which a hydrodynamic film pressure generated within the gap between the thrust runner and test GFTB is enough to support the applied static load, the thrust runner lifts off from the test GFTB and the friction mechanism changes from the boundary lubrication to the hydrodynamic lubrication. The experiment shows a series of lift-off test and load-carrying capacity test for two thrust runners with different surface roughnesses. For a constant static load of 15 N, thrust runner A with its lower surface roughness exhibits a higher start-up torque but lower lift-off torque than thrust runner B with a higher surface roughness. The load capacity test at a rotor speed of 60 krpm reveals that runner A results in a higher maximum load capacity than runner B. Runner A also shows a lower drag torque, friction coefficient, and bearing temperature than runner B at constant static loads. The results imply that maintaining a consistent surface roughness for a thrust runner may improve its static GFTB performance.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.237-246
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• 2019

The Electro-Mechanical Brake (EMB) is the next generation braking system for automobiles and railway vehicles. Current brake systems for high-speed trains generate a braking force using a pneumatic cylinder, but EMB systems produce that force through a combination of an electric motor and a gear. In this study, an EMB operation mechanism capable of generating a high braking force was proposed, and structural and vibration analyses of the gears and shafts, which are the core parts of the mechanisms, were performed. Dynamic structural analysis confirmed that the maximum stress in the analysis model was within the yield strength of the material. In addition, the design that maximizes the diameter of the motor shaft was found to be advantageous in strength, and large shear stress could be generated in the bolt fixing the gear and eccentric shaft. In addition, a test apparatus that can reproduce the mechanism of the analytical model was fabricated to measure the strain of the fixed bolt part, which is the most vulnerable part. The strain measurement results showed that the error between the analysis and measurement was within 10%, which could verify the accuracy of the analytical model.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.596-603
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• 2020

'Electro-Mechanical Brake (EMB) is a novel braking system for automobiles and railway vehicles, and research in this area is actively underway. The current braking system for railway vehicles generates a braking force using a pneumatic cylinder, but the EMB system generates the force through a combination of an electric motor and gears. In this study, the design of an EMB system that meets the domestic standards was conducted through the finite element modeling and fatigue analysis of an eccentric rotating shaft-based EMB system capable of generating a high clamping force. At this time, to improve the accuracy of fatigue analysis, three types of fatigue test specimens, which were subjected to the same heat treatment as the materials used in the prototype, were produced, and the fatigue tests were performed for each material. The fatigue properties (S-N curves) were obtained from the fatigue test results for each material and reflected in the analysis model. The results of fatigue analysis confirmed that the design of the EMB prototype could satisfy the maximum commercial braking/relaxation of 530,000 times, which was the endurance life condition for domestic railway vehicles. In addition, based on this design, a prototype will be manufactured, and endurance testing will be completed to demonstrate the durability characteristics of the developed prototype.