771 research outputs found
Wireless temperature sensing in hostile environments using a microcontroller powered by optical fiber
Uno de los mayores riegos del mundo industrial es el fallo de las
maquinarias y aparatos que los forman. Un error, provocado por la causa que
sea, puede tener consecuencias fatales, no solo para la empresa sino también
para todo su entorno. Estas máquinas trabajan con altas cantidades de energía,
por lo que su control y monitoreo disminuye los riesgos y asegura una mayor
seguridad a la hora de trabajar con ellos.
Un ejemplo de este tipo de máquinas son los transformadores. Estos
dispositivos trabajan con circuitos eléctricos que intercambian altas cantidades
de potencia para el funcionamiento y distribución eléctrica. Existen distintos
parámetros a medir para poder monitorear el estado en que se encuentran estas
máquinas, pero uno de los principales es la temperatura, y en ese se va a basar
este proyecto.
Controlar la temperatura de un transformador supone controlar el interior del
mismo, y con ello asegurarse de que funciona correctamente, y que sigue en el
periodo de su vida útil, ya que el envejecimiento y desgaste de esta puede llegar
a generar graves consecuencias.
La temperatura se va a medir utilizando un sensor de instrumentación. Para su
diseño, la principal característica a tener en cuenta es la necesidad de que se
adapte al entorno hostil que rodea a los transformadores. Es por ello que se va a
utilizar un sensor de fibra óptica, inmune a las interferencias electromagnéticas
y de radiofrecuencia, y garantizando un bajo coste.
La información del sensor se va a obtener con un microprocesador, conectado
en el punto de salida de señal del sensor. Este dispositivo va a obtener la data
correspondiente y la va a transmitir al módulo de comunicación, encargado de
emitir los resultados a la unidad de control.
Como sistema de comunicación, se va a utilizar un protocolo inalámbrico. El
protocolo ZigBee asegura una robustez y rápido start-up, así como un diseño
simple y sencillo.
Finalmente, la interfaz de ordenador se va a diseñar con el programa LabView.
Va a tener la funcionalidad de punto de control, con la capacidad de activar el
funcionamiento de la red sensorial, y su casi inmediato monitoreo. Eso es, que la
interfaz estará diseñada para obtener la data emitida por el sensor, y analizarla,
dándole al usuario la información correspondiente, casi en tiempo inmediato.
Por lo que es posible conocer, casi al momento, la temperatura a la que se
encuentra el sensor, por ende la temperatura en el transformador.
En caso de requerir un sistema totalmente inmune a las interferencias
electromagnéticas, la alimentación del sensor se podría hacer a través de la
tecnología PoF (Power over Fiber). Utilizando un sistema ya diseñado e
implementado de la universidad, se van a adaptar sus parámetros a los requerimientos del sistema para observar sus resultados, tanto teórica como
experimentalmente.
Este proyecto consiste en el diseño e implementación de todos los distintos
componentes del sensor de temperatura, es decir, la fibra óptica y sus circuitos
de adaptación, la programación del microprocesador, el establecimiento de la
comunicación inalámbrica, y el diseño de la interfaz.
Una vez implementado todo el sistema, se van a realizar distintas pruebas,
donde se va a someter al sensor a bruscas variaciones de temperaturas para
estudiar su respuesta. Y una vez comprobado que todo el sistema funciona
correctamente, se va a sustituir la fuente de tensión, por la tecnología PoF,
observando los resultados y su posible futura inclusión en el desarrollo de
sensores.One of the greatest risks of the industrial area is the failure of the
machines and devices composing in. Any mistake may have fatal consequences,
not only for the industry but also for its environment. These machines work
with high quantities of energy, so its control and monitoring decreases the risks
and guarantees a greater security when working with them
The transformers are an example of these machines. These devices work with
electrical circuits exchanging great amounts of energy for the electrical
distribution. There are different parameters that will enable the monitoring of
the machine´s state, but one of the main ones is the temperature, and it is what
this project will focus on.
In order to control the temperature of the transformer, the sensor must be
placed inside of it. This means one of the main characteristics of the designed
sensor has to be its immunity to electromagnetic and radiofrequency
interferences, this is why it the selected sensor uses optical fiber.
The data acquisition is going to be done with a microprocessor, which will be
connected to the sensor and programed to obtain the results and transmit them
to communication module, which is set to emit them to the control unit.
The communication is going to use a wireless protocol. The ZigBee protocol is
going to provide roughness and fast commissioning, as well as a simple and nice
design.
The control unit is going to be designed with the LabView program. Its
programming include the acquisition of the data received from the sensor and
its analysis. This means it will take the results and give the user its equivalent
temperature value, almost immediately to the response of the sensor. This way
it is possible to know the temperature the sensor is at, hence the temperature of
the transformer.
In case of requiring a system totally immune to interferences, the system will
have to be powered with a PoF technology. A PoF system already designed and
implemented is going to be adapted to the system, and tested to read its
response.
The project consists on the design and implementation of the sensor
temperature, and all its components, this is the optical fiber and its adaptation
circuits, the microprocessor´s programming, the communication and the
interface design. Once the whole system is implemented, different tests are
going to be done where the sensor is going to be submitted to abrupt
temperature variations and its response studied. Once checked the system is
working correctly the power source will be replaced with the PoF, analyzing its
results and future inclusion on the sensors development.Ingeniería Electrónica Industrial y Automátic
2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy
This document is an update (new photos used) of the PDF version of the 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy that will be available to download on the OCT Public Website. The updated 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy, or "technology dictionary", uses a technology discipline based approach that realigns like-technologies independent of their application within the NASA mission portfolio. This tool is meant to serve as a common technology discipline-based communication tool across the agency and with its partners in other government agencies, academia, industry, and across the world
Advanced Materials and Technologies in Nanogenerators
This reprint discusses the various applications, new materials, and evolution in the field of nanogenerators. This lays the foundation for the popularization of their broad applications in energy science, environmental protection, wearable electronics, self-powered sensors, medical science, robotics, and artificial intelligence
The Boston University Photonics Center annual report 2013-2014
This repository item contains an annual report that summarizes activities of the Boston University Photonics Center in the 2013-2014 academic year. The report provides quantitative and descriptive information regarding photonics programs in education, interdisciplinary research, business innovation, and technology development. The Boston University Photonics Center (BUPC) is an interdisciplinary hub for education, research, scholarship, innovation, and technology development associated with practical uses of light.This annual report summarizes activities of the Boston University Photonics Center in the 2013–2014 academic year.This has been a good year for the Photonics Center. In the following pages, you will see that the center’s faculty received prodigious honors and awards, generated more than 100 notable scholarly publications in the leading journals in our field, and attracted 20M in research funding for the University, are indicative of the breadth of Photonics Center research interests: from fundamental modeling of optoelectronic materials to practical development of cancer diagnostics, from exciting new discoveries in optogenetics for understanding brain function to the achievement of world-record resolution in semiconductor circuit microscopy. Our community welcomed an auspicious cohort of new faculty members, including a newly hired assistant professor and a newly hired professor (and Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department). The Industry/University Cooperative Research Center—the centerpiece of our translational biophotonics program—continues to focus on advancing the health care and medical device industries, and has entered its fourth year of operation with a strong record of achievement and with the support of an enthusiastic industrial membership base
The Boston University Photonics Center annual report 2013-2014
This repository item contains an annual report that summarizes activities of the Boston University Photonics Center in the 2013-2014 academic year. The report provides quantitative and descriptive information regarding photonics programs in education, interdisciplinary research, business innovation, and technology development. The Boston University Photonics Center (BUPC) is an interdisciplinary hub for education, research, scholarship, innovation, and technology development associated with practical uses of light.This annual report summarizes activities of the Boston University Photonics Center in the 2013–2014 academic year.This has been a good year for the Photonics Center. In the following pages, you will see that the center’s faculty received prodigious honors and awards, generated more than 100 notable scholarly publications in the leading journals in our field, and attracted 20M in research funding for the University, are indicative of the breadth of Photonics Center research interests: from fundamental modeling of optoelectronic materials to practical development of cancer diagnostics, from exciting new discoveries in optogenetics for understanding brain function to the achievement of world-record resolution in semiconductor circuit microscopy. Our community welcomed an auspicious cohort of new faculty members, including a newly hired assistant professor and a newly hired professor (and Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department). The Industry/University Cooperative Research Center—the centerpiece of our translational biophotonics program—continues to focus on advancing the health care and medical device industries, and has entered its fourth year of operation with a strong record of achievement and with the support of an enthusiastic industrial membership base
Converged data and sensing over optical fiber networks
Internet connectivity, data and sensors have become increasingly important across all spheres of business and industry, especially in the mining sector. Recent years have seen deeper mining explorations as a result of the depletion of natural resources in shallow strata. Due to complex and unexpected geological conditions as well as significant ground stresses, deep stratum mining operations encounter a number of difficulties. It is essential that the mining industry be more innovative with their equipment and monitoring systems given the rise in expenses caused by energy consumption, concessions to surface integrity, worldwide freshwater shortage, as well as health and safety of miners. Any attempt to eliminate these mining consequences must start with early discovery. An effective plan to anticipate, prevent, or manage geohazards events must be in place because to these complex and unpredictably occurring geological circumstances. Due to their capacity to combine gigabits of data from remote locations within the mine to a centralized control centre, optical fiber offers a variety of distinctive advantages within the mining industry. In order to attain maximum productivity, modern and effective mining operations use enhanced control techniques and increasing mechanization. Additionally, optical fibers can be utilized in a mine to safely monitor seismic activity, methane, roof collapses, rock bursts, explosions, and dangerous underground mine settings. Multimode or multi-core fibers represent a particularly intriguing alternative for transmissions over small distances, especially for broad band local area networks like LANs, as they enable the use of affordable components. Due to the current state of these issues, there is a drive to create fiber optic communication links that can also function as distributed optical fiber sensors, where each point along the fiber can function as a continuous array of sensors. In this thesis, we suggested and experimentally demonstrated a converged solution for precise vibration sensing and high-speed data in mining applications. With wireless access for people and equipment inside cavities, the solution uses multimode fiber to link nearby mining cavities. To track vibrations and earth tremors causing rock falls, polarization-based vibration sensors over multimode fiber is used. With a modal dispersion penalty of just 1.6 dB, photonic data transmission across 100 m of multimode fiber is successfully accomplished. Successful 1.7 GHz wireless transmission across a distance of 1 m is demonstrated, and vibrations between 50 Hz and 1 kHz may be reliably detected to within 0.02 percent of the true value.Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, School of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, 202
The Boston University Photonics Center annual report 2012-2013
This repository item contains an annual report that summarizes activities of the Boston University Photonics Center in the 2012-2013 academic year. The report provides quantitative and descriptive information regarding photonics programs in education, interdisciplinary research, business innovation, and technology development. The Boston University Photonics Center (BUPC) is an interdisciplinary hub for education, research, scholarship, innovation, and technology development associated with practical uses of light.This report summarizes activities of the Boston University Photonics Center during the period July 2012 through June 2013. These activities span the Center’s complementary missions in education, research, technology development, and commercialization. The Photonics Center continues to grow as an international leader in photonics research, while executing the Center’s strategic plan and serving as a university-wide resource for several affiliate Centers. For more information about the strategic plan, read the Photonics Center Strategic Plan section on page 10. In research, Photonics Center faculty published nearly 150 journal papers spanning the field of photonics. A number of awards for outstanding achievement in education and research were presented to Photonics Center faculty members, including a Peter Paul Professorship for Professor Xue Han, an NSF Career Award for Professor Ajay Joshi, and the 2012 Innovator of the Year Award from Boston University for Professor Theodore Moustakas. New external grant funding for the 2012- 2013 fiscal year totaled over $21.8M. For more information on our research activities, read the Research section on page 24. In technology development, the Photonics Center has turned a chapter, by completing the transition from a focus on Defense/ Security applications to a focus on the healthcare market sector. The commercial sector is expected to energize the technology development efforts for the foreseeable future, but the roots in defense/security are still important and the Center will continue to pursue new research grants in this area. For more information on our technology development program and on specific projects, read the Technology Development section on page 45. In education, 20 Photonics Center graduate students received Ph.D. diplomas. Photonics Center faculty taught 32 photonics courses. The Center supported a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) site in Biophotonic Sensors and Systems for 10 middle school and high school teachers. The Photonics Center sponsored the Herbert J. Berman “Future of Light” Prize at the University’s Scholars Day. For more on our education programs, read the Education section on page 54. In commercialization, Boston University’s Business Innovation Center (BIC) currently hosts seven technology start-up companies. There is a healthy turnover in the Innovation Center space with a total of 19 companies residing at BIC over the past year. The mix of companies includes: life sciences, biotechnology, medical devices, photonics, and clean energy; and nine of the 19 companies originated from within BU. All the BIC tenants are engaged in the commercialization of new technologies of importance to society and all are active in the BU community in terms of offering internships, employment opportunities or research collaborations. For more information about Business Innovation Center activities, read the Business Innovation Center chapter in the Facilities and Equipment section on page 66
Wireless sensor system for infrastructure health monitoring
In this thesis, radio frequency identification (RFID)-based wireless sensor system for infrastructure health monitoring (IHM) is designed and developed. It includes mountable semi-passive tag antenna integrated sensors capable of measuring critical responses of infrastructure such as dynamic acceleration and strain. Furthermore, the system is capable of measuring structural displacement. One of the most important parts of this system is the relatively small, tunable, construction material mountable RFID tag antenna. The tag antenna is electronically integrated with the sensors. Leading to the process of developing tag antenna integrated sensors having satisfactory wireless performance (sensitivity and read range) when mounted on concrete and metal structural members, the electromagnetic performance of the tag antenna is analyzed and optimized using both numerical and experimental procedures. Subsequently, it is shown that both the simulation and the experimental measurement results are in good agreement.
The semi-passive RFID-based system is implemented in a wireless IHM system with multiple sensor points to measure dynamic acceleration and strain. The developed system can determine the natural frequencies of infrastructure and identify any state changes of infrastructure by measuring natural frequency shifts. Enhancement of the spectral bandwidth of the system has been performed under the constraints of the RFID hardware. The influence of the orientation and shape of the structural members on wireless power flow in the vicinity of those members is also investigated with the RFID reader-tag antenna system in both simulation and experiments. The antenna system simulations with a full-scale structural member have shown that both the orientation and the shape of the structural member influence the wireless power flow towards and in the vicinity of the member, respectively. The measurement results of the conducted laboratory experiments using the RFID antenna system in passive mode have shown good agreement with simulation results. Furthermore, the system’s ability to measure structural displacement is also investigated by conducting phase angle of arrival measurements. It is shown that the system in its passive mode is capable of measuring small structural displacements within a short wireless distance.
The benchmarking of the developed system with independent, commercial, wired and wireless measurement systems has confirmed the ability of the RFID-based system to measure dynamic acceleration and strain. Furthermore, it has confirmed the system’s ability to determine the natural frequency of an infrastructure accurately. Therefore, the developed system with wireless sensors that do not consume battery power in data transmission and with the capability of dynamic response measurement is highly applicable in IHM
Dissection of Affective Catecholamine Circuits Using Traditional and Wireless Optogenetics
Parsing the complexity of the mammalian brain has challenged neuroscientists for thousands of years. In the early 21st century, advances in materials science and neuroscience have enabled unprecedented control of neural circuitry. In particular, cell-type selective manipulations, such as those with optogenetics and chemogenetics, routinely provide answers to previously intractable neurobiological questions in the intact, behaving animal.
In this two-part dissertation, I first introduce new minimally invasive, wireless technology to perturb neural activity in the ventral tegmental area dopaminergic system of freely moving animals. I report a series of novel devices for studying and perturbing intact neural systems through optogenetics, microfluidic pharmacology, and electrophysiology. Unlike optogenetic approaches that rely on rigid, glass fiber optics coupled to external light sources, these novel devices utilize flexible substrates to carry microscale, inorganic light emitting diodes (μ-ILEDs), multimodal sensors, and/or microfluidic channels into the brain. Each class of device can be wirelessly controlled, enabling studies in freely behaving mice and achieving previously untenable control of catecholamine neural circuitry.
In the second part of this dissertation, I apply existing cell-type selective approaches to dissect the role of the locus coeruleus noradrenergic (LC-NE) system in anxiety-like and aversive behaviors. The LC-NE system is one of the first systems engaged following a stressful event. While LC-NE neurons are known to be activated by many different stressors, the underlying neural circuitry and the role of this activity in generating stress-induced anxiety has not been elucidated until now. I demonstrate that increased tonic activity of LC-NE neurons is both necessary and sufficient for stress-induced anxiety; a behavior which is driven by LC projections to the basolateral amygdala. Furthermore, this activity and behavior is elicited by corticotropin releasing hormone-containing afferent inputs into the LC from the central amygdala. These studies position the LC-NE system as a critical mediator of acute stress-induced anxiety and offer a potential intervention for preventing stress-related affective disorders.
Together these two objectives provide a rich technological toolbox for neuroscientists and yield important knowledge of how small catecholamine structures with widespread forebrain innervation can selectively mediate higher order behaviors
The Boston University Photonics Center annual report 2012-2013
This repository item contains an annual report that summarizes activities of the Boston University Photonics Center in the 2012-2013 academic year. The report provides quantitative and descriptive information regarding photonics programs in education, interdisciplinary research, business innovation, and technology development. The Boston University Photonics Center (BUPC) is an interdisciplinary hub for education, research, scholarship, innovation, and technology development associated with practical uses of light.This report summarizes activities of the Boston University Photonics Center during the period July 2012 through June 2013. These activities span the Center’s complementary missions in education, research, technology development, and commercialization. The Photonics Center continues to grow as an international leader in photonics research, while executing the Center’s strategic plan and serving as a university-wide resource for several affiliate Centers. For more information about the strategic plan, read the Photonics Center Strategic Plan section on page 10. In research, Photonics Center faculty published nearly 150 journal papers spanning the field of photonics. A number of awards for outstanding achievement in education and research were presented to Photonics Center faculty members, including a Peter Paul Professorship for Professor Xue Han, an NSF Career Award for Professor Ajay Joshi, and the 2012 Innovator of the Year Award from Boston University for Professor Theodore Moustakas. New external grant funding for the 2012- 2013 fiscal year totaled over $21.8M. For more information on our research activities, read the Research section on page 24. In technology development, the Photonics Center has turned a chapter, by completing the transition from a focus on Defense/ Security applications to a focus on the healthcare market sector. The commercial sector is expected to energize the technology development efforts for the foreseeable future, but the roots in defense/security are still important and the Center will continue to pursue new research grants in this area. For more information on our technology development program and on specific projects, read the Technology Development section on page 45. In education, 20 Photonics Center graduate students received Ph.D. diplomas. Photonics Center faculty taught 32 photonics courses. The Center supported a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) site in Biophotonic Sensors and Systems for 10 middle school and high school teachers. The Photonics Center sponsored the Herbert J. Berman “Future of Light” Prize at the University’s Scholars Day. For more on our education programs, read the Education section on page 54. In commercialization, Boston University’s Business Innovation Center (BIC) currently hosts seven technology start-up companies. There is a healthy turnover in the Innovation Center space with a total of 19 companies residing at BIC over the past year. The mix of companies includes: life sciences, biotechnology, medical devices, photonics, and clean energy; and nine of the 19 companies originated from within BU. All the BIC tenants are engaged in the commercialization of new technologies of importance to society and all are active in the BU community in terms of offering internships, employment opportunities or research collaborations. For more information about Business Innovation Center activities, read the Business Innovation Center chapter in the Facilities and Equipment section on page 66
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