A/C Energy Management and Vehicle Cabin Thermal Comfort Control

This paper introduces a novel multi-objective controller which regulates A/C system operation in a trade-off between vehicle cabin comfort and fuel consumption for a conventional vehicle with internal combustion engine. The controller has been developed and tested in a simulated environment, where an energy-based model of the A/C system is combined with a thermal dynamic model of the cabin which considers heat transfer to the environment. The control algorithm proposed herein is compared with two widely used control techniques in the industry, respectively the thermostat and PI control, under different driving cycles. This novel method is implementable in real-time, and simulation results show a reduction of up to 2% in A/C system fuel consumption compared to existing methods with similar thermal performance

Improved performance of motor-drive systems by SAW shaft torque feedback

The paper describes the application of a non-contact, high bandwidth, low cost, SAW-based torque measuring system for improving the dynamic performance of industrial process motor-drive systems. Background to the SAW technology and its motor integration is discussed and a resonance ratio control (RRC) technique for the coordinated motion control of multi-inertia mechanical systems, based on the measurement of shaft torque via a SAW-based torque sensor is proposed. Furthermore, a new controller structure, RRC plus disturbance feedback is proposed, which enables the controller to be designed to independently satisfy tracking and regulation performance. A tuning method for the RRC structure is given based on the ITAE index, normalized as a function of the mechanical parameters enabling a direct performance comparison between a basic proportional and integral (PI) controller. The use of a reduced-order state observer is presented to provide a dynamic estimate of the load-side disturbance torque for a multi-inertia mechanical system, with an appraisal of the composite closed-loop dynamics. The control structures are experimentally validated and demonstrate significant improvement in dynamic tracking performance, whilst additionally rejecting periodic load side disturbances, a feature previously unrealisable except by other, high-gain control schemes that impose small stability margins

Hydraulic fluid interaction servovalve

Fluidic vortex valves used as fluid control elements in hydraulic servoactuator control syste

Energy Efficient Engine: Control system component performance report

An Energy Efficient Engine (E3) program was established to develop technology for improving the energy efficiency of future commercial transport aircraft engines. As part of this program, General Electric designed and tested a new engine. The design, fabrication, bench and engine testing of the Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) system used for controlling the E3 Demonstrator Engine is described. The system design was based on many of the proven concepts and component designs used on the General Electric family of engines. One significant difference is the use of the FADEC in place of hydromechanical computation currently used