Search

Mechanical testers have commonly been used to measure the frictional properties of socks. However, the friction values may be susceptible to the level of stretchiness of tested fabrics or human variability. Thus, the aim of this study was to propose a novel method that enables friction measurement of socks in a sock-wearing condition with less human variability effects. Five socks with different frictional properties were chosen. Three experimental ramp tests were performed with an artificial structure shaped like the foot-ankle complex (last) and a ramp tester to quantify the static coefficient of friction (COF) at the foot against sock, at the sock against an insole, and the foot wearing socks against the insole, respectively. The angle where the last slipped while the ramp surface was gradually inclined was used to compute the static COF values for each sock. The reliability was 0.99, and COF values ranged from 0.271 to 0.861 at the foot-sock interface, 0.342 to 0.639 at the sock-insole interface, and 0.310 to 0.614 in the third test. Socks with different frictional properties were successfully distinguished each other. Thus, the suggested protocol could be a reliable option for measuring the static COF values in the tension similar with it found in a sock-waring condition with reduced effects of human variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines surface roughness measurements via piezo acoustic disks and appropriate signal processing. Surface roughness is one characteristic of surface texture that can have various irregularities inherent to manufacturing methods. The surface roughness parameters and corresponding surface profiles are acquired by a stylus profilometer. Simultaneously, elastic waves propagated along metal surfaces caused by the friction of a diamond tip are obtained in the form of raw sound via piezo acoustic disks. Frequency spectrum analysis showed apparent correlations between the traditionally obtained measurement parameters and the piezo acoustic measurement data. Thus, it is concluded that acoustic friction measurement shows promising results as a novel measurement method for the surface roughness states of certain materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presented here is a slotted-quad-beam structure sensor for the measurement of friction in micro bearings. Stress concentration slots are incorporated into a conventional quad-beam structure to improve the sensitivity of force measurements. The performance comparison between the quad-beam structure sensor and the slotted-quad-beam structure sensor are performed by theoretical modeling and finite element (FE) analysis. A hollow stainless steel probe is attached to the mesa of the sensor chip by a tailor-made organic glass fixture. Concerning the overload protection of the fragile beams, a glass wafer is bonded onto the bottom of sensor chip to limit the displacement of the mesa. The calibration of the packaged device is experimentally performed by a tri-dimensional positioning stage, a precision piezoelectric ceramic and an electronic analytical balance, which indicates its favorable sensitivity and overload protection. To verify the potential of the proposed sensor being applied in micro friction measurement, a measurement platform is established. The output of the sensor reflects the friction of bearing resulting from dry friction and solid lubrication. The results accord with the theoretical modeling and demonstrate that the sensor has the potential application in measuring the micro friction force under stable stage in MEMS machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing requirements for the safety of human-robot interaction and the cost-effectiveness of collision detection rapidly promote the development of collision detection technology without torque sensors. To address nonlinear disturbance factors in collision detection that may cause unstable or even incorrect detection, this paper proposed a research strategy that considered the friction as the disturbance term in manipulator motion for the collision detection. The manipulator joint disturbance model was established based on the LuGre dynamic friction model, and the external torque observer was designed based on the generalized momentum. Then, the friction measurement was realized using the external torque observer, and the model parameters were identified through the genetic algorithm. The collision detection can be reduced errors after the friction model by compensating the disturbance and can be applicable to variable working conditions. Finally, the accuracy of the constructed disturbance model and the performance of the proposed collision detection method were validated by the experimental studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]