In this study, quality keywords of frequent mention of failures were extracted by analyzing the field operational data of main battle tanks recorded for about 5 years. As a result of the data analysis, the leaf spring assembly of the crew hatches corrosion and failure was frequently occurred. FEA(Finite Element Analysis) and tests were performed to analyze the cause of the failure, and it was confirmed that durability of the leaf spring was insufficient. Therefore a design modification study was conducted to improve durability of the leaf spring, and FEA and durability tests demonstrated the improvement. As a result, the durability of leaf spring was improved at least 3.3 times compared to before improvement. This study will contribute to suggesting the use of data analysis in the defense area and improving the operability of the main battle tanks.

The customer of massage chair is expanding day by day from middle age to all ages. In 2018, the market size was 700 billion KRW, an increase of 30 times over 10 years. However, most related SMEs suffer from excessive competition by the market monopoly of some major companies. In this situation, in order for a related company to survive, it is necessary to steadily research and develop new products. Founded in 2009, company L produces massage chairs for health and relaxation of customers. L’s products use a sound wave vibration module that is favorable for human body, unlike other products that use vibration motor type. However, frequent breakdowns of massage chair due to the vulnerability of plate (leaf) springs, which play an important role in sound wave vibration modules, made sap its competitiveness. In this paper, we propose a method to design desirable plate spring structure by sequentially experimenting with five different plate springs. The results of this study are expected to contribute to improve the quality of plate spring and the reliability of sound wave vibration module. In the future, it is necessary to find a way to use it in the development of foot massage or scalp management device as well as continuous research to find optimal plate spring structure through various analysis.

본 논문에서는 복합재 판 스프링의 설계 최적화를 위해 유전자 알고리즘을 사용한 적층 최적화 과정을 제시하였다. 다목적 소형 승합 자동차 판 스프링을 유한요소모델로 구성하여 초기 설계를 검증한 이후, 유전자 알고리즘을 통해 복합재료의 적층수와 적층각도를 최적화하는 과정을 기술하였다. 최적화 과정을 통해 판 스프링의 하중 감소과정, 반복수에 따라 강 구조의 해석 결과와 비교하였다. 더불어 유전자 알고리즘을 통해 최적화된 적층 시퀀스를 구조에 적용하여 구조의 건전성을 검증하기 위해 유한요소 모델로 구성하여 안전여유를 계산하였다. GA를 적용할 때, 복합재료 판 스프링의 적층 두께와 적층각을 획득하였으며, 이는 적절한 강도와 강성으로 최소 무게를 달성하는데 기여한다. 동일한 설계 매개 변수 및 최적화 조건에서 강철된 판 스프링을 복합재 판 스프링으로 교체하면 65.6%의 중량이 감소한다.

This paper shows the feasibility on the application of E-glass fiber/epoxy(GFRP) composite materials to an automotive leaf spring. In order to keep much lighter weight by replacing the steel with the composite material, it is important to optimize the material parameters and design variables consisting of the structure. This paper focused on the effects of material compositions and its fiber orientations for estimating the static behaviors of leaf spring. First of all, basic material properties of GFRP composite were measured by five types of coupon specimens from ASTM standard test. The reverse implementation was also done to obtain the complete set of in-situ fiber and matrix properties from ply test results. Finally, the static spring rates was examined for the variation of thickness and material parameters such as fiber angles and resin contents of composite leaf spring.