Design and testing of a frictionless mechanical inerter device using living-hinges

In this paper a novel type of frictionless mechanical inerter device is presented, where instead of gears, motion of the flywheel is achieved using living-hinges. The design is a type of pivoted flywheel inerter inspired in part by the Dynamic Anti-resonant Vibration Isolator (DAVI) concept, which was first developed in the 1960s. Unlike the DAVI, it will be shown that the pivoted flywheel inerter has the advantage of producing balanced forces. Furthermore the use of living-hinges eliminates the need for gears or other frictional elements in the inerter mechanism. To demonstrate the utility of the new concept, a bench-top experiment was performed using a small-scale living-hinge inerter manufactured using polypropylene hinges. By estimating the experimental system parameters, the transmissibility results from the experiment could be compared to a mathematical model. These results showed that the living-hinge inerter provided an isolation effect of at least three orders of magnitude in terms of the maximum amplitude reduction from the uncontrolled system compared to that with the inerter added. Although friction was eliminated, the living-hinges did introduce additional damping, and this was found to correspond to an increase in the equivalent damping ratio for the uncontrolled system of 1.2%. It is shown that the living-hinge inerter developed in this paper fits all of the essential conditions required to be a practical inerter device. Furthermore, as it operates without mechanical friction, or fluid flow, it represents a new paradigm in experimental inerter technology.     

Sensitivity reduction in modal control systems

The conventional modal control theory is concerned with the problem of determining a state feedback matrix-valued gain which drives the system eigenvalues to prescribed positions. When the parameters of the open-loop system involve certain variations, the closed-loop eigenvalues, obtained by using a feedback gain determined as above, also contain variations. In the present paper the problem of choosing an additional state feedback gain such as to reduce the closed-loop eigenvalue variations as much as desired is solved. Specifically, upon the assumption that a nominal set of parameter values is given, and that a feedback modal control law which drives the eigenvalues of the nominal closed-loop system to the desired positions is known, two alternative expressions for the required additional reduced eigenvalue sensitivity feedback controller are derived. Both cases of known and unknown system state vector are considered. The theory is illustrated by several examples.     

Time-Optimal Control of a Class of Unstable Third-Order Plants

A class of unstable relay-controlled plants possessing one pole at the origin and two non-zero distinct real poles is studied. Cases corresponding to one or both non-zero poles in the right half-plane are considered. In each case a controller which simultaneously reduces the error and its first and second derivatives to zero in minimum time is designed. Also the class of admissible inputs is found which, after a minimum transient time, can be followed without any error. Through some linear transformations, it is shown that the equations of the switch curve and the switch surface can be made independent of the plant's constant gain and dependent only on the ratio of the non-zero pole values. It is established that in both regulating and tracking modes the error and its first and second derivatives can be reduced to zero with at most two switching reversals of the control provided that the initial values of error and/or its derivatives fall in a “controllable region”.     

Scaled telerobotic control of a manipulator in real time with laser assistance for ADL tasks

In this paper we present a novel concept of shared autonomous and teleoperation control of a remote manipulator with a laser-based assistance in a hard real-time environment for people with disabilities to perform activities of daily living (ADL). The laser pointer enables the user to make high-level decisions, such as target object selection, and it enables the system to generate a trajectories and virtual constraints to be used for autonomous motion or scaled teleoperation. Autonomous, position-teleoperation and velocity-teleoperation control methods have been implemented in the control code. Scaling and virtual fixtures have been used in the teleoperation based control depending on the user preference.A real-time QNX operating system has been used to control a PUMA 560 robotic arm using a Phantom Omni master through a TCP/IP port. A SICK laser range finder was used to for the telerobotic control. The system was implemented with different control modes, and three healthy human subjects were trained to use the system for a pick-and-place task. Data were collected and presented for different control modes, and a comparison between these modes based on the time to complete the task was presented.     

Optimal control of a flywheel energy storage system with a radial flux hybrid magnetic bearing

This paper describes the design and implementation of digital controllers for a flywheel energy storage device that incorporates a radial flux hybrid permanent magnetic bearing. Although the uncontrolled device is asymptotically stable, active control is required to: (i) ensure that a finite radial air gap is maintained at all times, and (ii) attenuate the oscillations of the flywheel which reduce the efficiency of the motor generator. The paper presents the design of gain scheduled discrete time linear quadratic regulator (LQR) and linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controllers for this rotordynamic system. Real time experiments are conducted to investigate the performance of the controllers. The result indicates that the LQR controller with approximate system velocities is easier to implement than the LQG controller, and also provides superior performance.     

An extension of the general Struble's method for solving an nth order nonlinear differential equation when the corresponding unperturbed equation has some repeated eigenvalues

This paper attempts to show the more suitability of the extended general Struble's technique than the unified Krylov-Bogoliubov-Mitropolskii (KBM) method in solving the problems that occur during the critical conditions. Recently a critically damped condition of an nth, n=2,3, … order weakly nonlinear autonomous ordinary differential equation has been investigated by the unified KBM method, in which the corresponding unperturbed equation has some real (negative) repeated eigenvalues. But there are more important critical conditions, which are still untouched. One of them occurs when a pair of complex eigenvalues is equal to another. It is complicated to formulate as well as to utilize the KBM method to investigate this condition. However, the extended general Struble's technique is applicable to both autonomous and non-autonomous systems. Solutions obtained for different critical conditions as well as for different initial conditions show a good agreement with the numerical solutions. The method is illustrated by an example of a fourth-order nonlinear differential equation whose unperturbed equation has repeated complex eigenvalues. A steady-state solution is determined for the non-autonomous equation. Moreover, a critical condition of a fourth-order nonlinear equation is investigated when two real eigenvalues of the unperturbed equation are non-positive and equal.     

Roll control using discrete-time robust sliding hyperplanes and fast output sampling

Robustness to unmatched parametric uncertainty is prime requirement of roll control algorithm, especially when it is modelled in discrete time domain and implemented through on-board processor. Sliding mode control is a well established nonlinear control technique, which ensures a robust performance in presence of matched uncertainties and disturbances. In case of the discrete version of sliding mode control, due to finite operational sampling frequency, the system trajectories cannot be forced to slide on the switching manifold. The trajectories remain confined to certain domain around the sliding surface and this is known as Quasi Sliding Mode (QSM) motion. The bound of QSM decides the accuracy and performance of the discrete version of sliding mode. By design, the discrete-time sliding modes are robust to the matched bounded perturbations, however, unmatched perturbations directly affect the boundary layer width and hence the performance of the system. In the present paper, discrete time Lyapunov inequality based sliding hyperplane is designed, which enables robustness to unmatched perturbations arising due to uncertain system matrix A. Further, the requirement of full state-vector for the design of control and sliding surface is met through the multi-rate output feedback (MROF). This control strategy is then demonstrated with application to roll position control of missile with a bandwidth limited actuator.     

Unified Krylov-Bogoliubov-Mitropolskii method under a critical condition

A modified and compact form of Krylov-Bogoliubov-Mitropolskii (KBM) unified method is extended to obtain approximate solution of an nth order, n=2,3,…, ordinary differential equation with small nonlinearities when unperturbed equation has some repeated real eigenvalues. The existing unified method is used when the eigenvalues are distinct whether they are purely imaginary or complex or real. The new form is presented generalizing all the previous formulae derived individually for second-, third- and fourth-order equations to obtain undamped, damped, over-damped and critically damped solutions. Therefore, all types of oscillatory and non-oscillatory solutions are determined by suitable substitution of the eigenvalues in a general result. The formulation of the method is very simple and the determination of the solution is easy. The method is illustrated by an example of a fourth-order equation when unperturbed equation has two real and equal eigenvalues. The solution agrees with a numerical solution nicely. Moreover, this solution is useful when the differences between conjugate eigenvalues (real or complex) are small. Thus the method is a complement of the existing modified and compact form of KBM method.     

Dynamic modeling and neural network compensation for dual-flexible servo system with an underactuated hand

This paper investigates a difficult problem of nonlinear dynamics and motion control of a dual-flexible servo system with an underactuated hand (DFSS-UH). Variation in grasping mass and nonlinear factors of the DFSS-UH including complex flexible deformation and friction torque aggravate the output speed fluctuation, leading to modeling errors in the dynamics, which in turn affects the underactuated hand motion accuracy. A novel neural network sliding mode control (NNSMC) method is designed to control the DFSS-UH. The strategy utilizes neural networks to compensate for dynamics modeling errors, which takes into account neglected nonlinear factors and inaccurate friction torque. The reaching law with the hyperbolic tangent function is proposed to improve sliding mode control, thereby weakening the chattering phenomenon. First of all, the DFSS-UH mechanical model considering many nonlinear factors is established and a dynamic simplification model which ignores higher-order modes is proposed. Secondly, the adaptive law of weighted coefficients is proposed according to the stability of the DFSS-UH. Finally, the physical control platform of the DFSS-UH is built, and simulation and control experiments are conducted. Experimental results show that the improved NNSMC strategy decreases the tracking error of flexible load, thereby enhancing the control accuracy of the DFSS-UH.     

SmartRolling: A human–machine interface for wheelchair control using EEG and smart sensing techniques

Smart wheelchairs based on brain–computer interface (BCI) have been widely utilized recently to address certain mobility problems for people with disability. In this paper, we present SmartRolling, an intuitive human–machine interaction approach for the direct control of robotic wheelchair that jointly leverages EEG signals and motion sensing techniques. Specifically, SmartRolling offers two wheelchair-actuation modes for users with different physical conditions: (1) head motion only — people who are severely disabled but able to do basic tasks using eyes and head, and (2) head and hands motion — in addition to type 1, people who can use functioning hands/arms for extra tasks. The system issues operation commands by recognizing different EEG patterns elicited by motor execution (ME) tasks including eye blink, jaw clench, and fist open/close, while at the same time estimates users’ steering intentions based on their facing direction by leveraging inertial measurements and computer vision techniques. The experiment results demonstrate that the proposed system is robust and effective to meets the individual’s needs and has great potential to promote better health.     

Large angle maneuver and high accuracy attitude pointing steering law for variable speed control momentum gyroscopes

In the variable speed control momentum gyroscopes (VSCMG), the output torque of the VSCMG can be supported by the gyroscopic torque by a large margin with low resolution. The output torque of the VSCMG can be only supported by the reaction torque of the flywheels with high resolution when the gimbals are locking. Consequently, the torque error that is determined by the low spin rate fluctuation or servo tracking error of the gimbals can be vanished, and the VSCMG can be suitable for large maneuver and high accuracy attitude pointing as the actuator. Unfortunately, the singularity of the flywheel torque co-plane may be encountered. In this paper, the singularity of the flywheel torque co-plane is visualized based on geometry method. The singularity can be effectively avoided by locking gimbals. The locking gimbals positions are optimized with the maximum angular momentum. The steering laws with two phases are proposed to operate the task of the large angle maneuver and high accuracy control for a spacecraft. In the phase 1, a large margin torque can be achieved by the new designed steering law, and the gimbals can be steered to the optimization gimbals positions at the final stage of the phase 1. In the phase 2, the high precision torque can be achieved by only steering the flywheels and the locking the gimbals. Consequently, the torque error that is caused by the spin rate fluctuation or servo tracking error of the gimbals can be effectively eliminated.     

Regional eigenvalue-clustering robustness of linear uncertain multivariable output feedback PID control systems

This paper proposes a time domain approach to deal with the regional eigenvalue-clustering robustness analysis problem of linear uncertain multivariable output feedback proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control systems. The robust regional eigenvalue-clustering analysis problem of linear uncertain multivariable output feedback PID control systems is converted to the regional eigenvalue-clustering robustness analysis problem of linear uncertain singular systems with static output feedback controller. Based on some essential properties of matrix measures, a new sufficient condition is proposed for ensuring that the closed-loop singular system with both structured and mixed quadratically-coupled parameter uncertainties is regular and impulse-free, and has all its finite eigenvalues retained inside the same specified region as the nominal closed-loop singular system does. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the application of the presented sufficient condition.     

Online partitioning method for decentralized control of linear switching large-scale systems

A novel partitioning approach for linear switching large-scale systems is presented. We assume that the modes of the switching system are unknown a priori but can be detected. We propose an online partitioning scheme that can partition the system when the mode switches, thus adapting the partition to the mode. Moreover, after the system has been partitioned, we apply a decentralized state-feedback control scheme to stabilize the system. We also apply a dwell time stability scheme to prove that the closed-loop system remains stable even after both the mode and partition changes. The proposed approach is illustrated by means of an automatic generation control problem related to frequency deviation regulation in a large-scale power network.     

A design of fine motion assist equipment for disabled hand in robotic rehabilitation system

This paper reports a newly designed system intended to aid in hand rehabilitation. The motion assistance equipment consists of three parts: mechanisms for the fingers and thumb, a base of these mechanisms, and a motion assistance mechanism for the wrist. The structure of each mechanism is designed to achieve independent, fine motion assistance, especially, for the individual fingers. First, the features of each mechanism in the equipment are explained. Next, the control systems are introduced, which are constructed to realize a self-motion control strategy (i.e., the motion is controlled by its user). Using this control system, the transient response and steady state characteristics of the motion assistance mechanisms for the thumb are evaluated. Consequently, the possibility of practical application is found in regard to some improved points.     

厂房监控系统软件的设计与实现

根据厂房安防监控的实际问题,提出现场、前台、后台三层架构的解决方案。在阐述方案总体结构和硬件平台的基础上,设计软件框架,设计实现了信息检索、移动侦测算法、广域网监控等关键技术。实验表明,移动侦测算法比常规的移动侦测算法稳定性好效率高,监控软件成本低、易于维护、运行稳定,具有推广应用价值。     

Realization and canonical representation of linear systems through I/O maps

In this paper, we use input and output maps to develop simple procedures to obtain minimal realizations for linear continuous-time systems. The procedures developed are numerically efficient and yield explicit formulae for the state-space matrices of the realization in terms of the system parameters, notably the system eigenvalues. Both systems with distinct eigenvalues and repeated eigenvalues are treated. We also present a procedure for transforming a realization obtained through the input or output map to Jordan canonical form. The transformation matrices required to transform the realization to Jordan canonical form are specified entirely in terms of the system eigenvalues. We illustrate the results obtained with several examples.     

Towards mesoscale analysis of inter-vehicle communications

Cooperative traffic systems renew much research interest with the rapid development of communication technologies. This paper considers a finite number of vehicles moving in a single lane from a mesoscale perspective and explores the spectral properties of such a cooperative system, in particular how the communication range and the coupling weights influence the eigenvalues of the global disturbance transition matrix (DTM), i.e., disturbance modes of the traffic system. Dynamics of these vehicles are described by a modified coupled-map car-following model under periodic boundaries with inter-vehicle communications. From a state-space approach, a system DTM is established from a global view and a closed-form solution of its eigenvalues is derived. Linear stability conditions are subsequently obtained. It is found that the eigenvalue distribution of system DTM is essentially dominated by the communication range and the coupling weights, but nearly independent of the system size. By analyzing the magnitudes of the dominant poles, the synchronization of the traffic system is enhanced if the weights of the vehicles within the communication range are more evenly distributed or the communication range is increased. Particularly, it is shown that the optimal communication network tends to be a mean-field network w.r.t. global synchronization, indicating that a communication network emphasizing uniform importance among vehicles within each vehicle’s communication range is helpful for improving the synchronizability. Finally, numerical simulations verify the results.     

A bifurcation method to calculate flutter characteristics of a helicopter blade having complex damping

A new method is presented for determining the stability and vibration modes of a class of parametric oscillations where the damping terms in the Mathieu-Hill type of differential equations are complex as well as periodic. The imaginary terms are converted to phase lagged terms in a set of simultaneous first-order differential equations used to express these equations with first-order derivatives treated as additional variables, thereby doubling the number of equations but allowing matrix methods to be conveniently used in a bifurcation procedure to obtain solutions and stability boundaries. The method has advantages over methods using series expansions in determining stability boundaries and vibration modes where convergence and summability become important considerations in the case of differential-difference equations with periodic damping terms. A particular example of a fluttering helicopter blade in slow forward flight is studied and stability boundaries shown to be displaced by up to 10% from those when the nature and extent of the rows of wakes below the rotor are neglected. The range of the parameters governing the stability are given for a specific numerical example. Application to an actual blade motion study shows reconciliation with previous experimental results and theory when the new method is applied. The importance of the effect of lagged arguments in simultaneous differential-difference equations is discussed with reference to two other examples in structural vibrations.     

Evaluation of split-path extended range continuously-variable transmissions for automotive applications

One potentially important application of continuously-variable transmissions (CVT's) is the improvement in fuel economy of internal combustion engine vehicles. However, many otherwise attractive CVT designs have a ratio coverage less than ideal for such applications. Split-path configurations can be used to extend the ratio coverage, providing even a geared neutral and reverse capability with some combinations of parameters. The increased coverage is in general achieved, however, only at the expense of lower overall CVT efficiency and a larger required variable unit capacity. All possible single-regime designs which use a single differential to extend the ratio coverage of the basic variable unit are considered, as well as two 2- regime designs. Data for the CVT efficiency characteristics are developed for both otherwise conventional vehicles and those utilizing an energy-storage flywheel, with steady speeds and three driving cycles used for the evaluation. It is found that the efficiency penalty for extending the ratio coverage can be quite severe for some combinations of system parameters and operating conditions, so that a complete analysis of this aspect is important when considering the concept for any specific application.     

Advances in flywheel performance for space power applications

Power derived from stored energy rather than directly from the primary thermal source is an attractive alternative in certain space applications. To meet the stringent requirements for space needs will, however, require that flywheel performance be advanced from its current levels. Previous flywheel development programmes focused on the use of composite materials and resulted in storage densities, at ultimate speed, of 286 kJ/kg being attained. More recent work, directed at the space application, has advanced flywheel storage densities at ultimate speed to 878 kJ/kg.