196,074 research outputs found
A numerical approach to robust in-line control of roll forming processes
The quality of roll formed products is known to be highly sensitive and dependent on the process parameters and thus the unavoidable variations of these parameters during mass production. To maintain a constant high product quality, a new roll former with an adjustable final roll forming stand is developed at Deakin University enabling the continuous compensation for possible shape defects. In this work, a numerical approach to robust in-line control of the roll forming of a V-section profile is presented, combining the aspects of robust process design and in-line compensation methods. A numerical study is performed to determine the relationship between controllable process settings and uncontrollable variation of incoming material properties with respect to the common product defects longitudinal bow and springback. The computationally expensive non-linear FE simulations used in this study are subsequently replaced by metamod-els based on efficient Single Response Surfaces. Using these metamodels, the optimal setting for the adjustable stand is determined with robust optimization techniques and the effect on product quality analyzed. It is shown that the subsequent adjustment of the final roll stand position leads to a significantly improved product quality by preventing product defects and minimizing the deteriorating effects of scattering variables
Aerodynamic performance sensitivity analysis of blade design for a 100 kW HAWT
Wind energy is gaining ever increasing popularity among renewable energy sources. In some European countries installed wind turbine capacity has reached over 20 % of the total power generation capacity. This paper examines aerodynamic performance sensitivity of wind turbine blades for main design variables. The sensitivity analysis has been conducted on a sample 100 kW three-bladed horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT). Taguchi robust design techniques and orthogonal arrays have been used to perform experimental optimization using five main parameters: airfoil NACA profile, root chord length, tip chord length, root radius and chord profile distribution along the blade’s length. The airfoil profiles and their aerodynamic data are taken from the NACA airfoil database for which experimental lift and drag coefficient data are available. The airfoils for the studied blades have the same profile from root to tip. Three sets of analyses have been performed according to three different base load wind speeds. The sensitivity results have been presented for the optimal tip speed ratio values
Dependable Digitally-Assisted Mixed-Signal IPs Based on Integrated Self-Test & Self-Calibration
Heterogeneous SoC devices, including sensors, analogue and mixed-signal front-end circuits and the availability of massive digital processing capability, are being increasingly used in safety-critical applications like in the automotive, medical, and the security arena. Already a significant amount of attention has been paid in literature with respect to the dependability of the digital parts in heterogeneous SoCs. This is in contrast to especially the sensors and front-end mixed-signal electronics; these are however particular sensitive to external influences over time and hence determining their dependability. This paper provides an integrated SoC/IP approach to enhance the dependability. It will give an example of a digitally-assisted mixed-signal front-end IP which is being evaluated under its mission profile of an automotive tyre pressure monitoring system. It will be shown how internal monitoring and digitally-controlled adaptation by using embedded processors can help in terms of improving the dependability of this mixed-signal part under harsh conditions for a long time
Mid-infrared sub-wavelength grating mirror design: tolerance and influence of technological constraints
High polarization selective Si/SiO2 mid-infrared sub-wavelength grating
mirrors with large bandwidth adapted to VCSEL integration are compared. These
mirrors have been automatically designed for operation at \lambda = 2.3 m
by an optimization algorithm which maximizes a specially defined quality
factor. Several technological constraints in relation with the grating
manufacturing process have been imposed within the optimization algorithm and
their impact on the optical properties of the mirror have been evaluated.
Furthermore, through the tolerance computation of the different dimensions of
the structure, the robustness with respect to fabrication errors has been
tested. Finally, it appears that the increase of the optical performances of
the mirror imposes a less tolerant design with severer technological
constraints resulting in a more stringent control of the manufacturing process.Comment: The final publication is available at
http://iopscience.iop.org/2040-8986/13/12/125502
Extracting 3D parametric curves from 2D images of Helical objects
Helical objects occur in medicine, biology, cosmetics, nanotechnology, and engineering. Extracting a 3D parametric curve from a 2D image of a helical object has many practical applications, in particular being able to extract metrics such as tortuosity, frequency, and pitch. We present a method that is able to straighten the image object and derive a robust 3D helical curve from peaks in the object boundary. The algorithm has a small number of stable parameters that require little tuning, and the curve is validated against both synthetic and real-world data. The results show that the extracted 3D curve comes within close Hausdorff distance to the ground truth, and has near identical tortuosity for helical objects with a circular profile. Parameter insensitivity and robustness against high levels of image noise are demonstrated thoroughly and quantitatively
Optimization of cut surface quality during CNC Plasma Arc Cutting process
Optimization of cut surface quality during CNC
plasma-arc cutting (PAC) of mild steel plates is presented. Using
design of experiments (DOE) the optimum process parameters are
estimated. The process parameters tested include cutting speed,
cutting height and arc voltage. Analysis of means (ANOM) and
analysis of variances (ANOVA) were used in order for the effect of
each parameter on the surface quality to be assessed
Insight into High-quality Aerodynamic Design Spaces through Multi-objective Optimization
An approach to support the computational aerodynamic design process is presented
and demonstrated through the application of a novel multi-objective variant of
the Tabu Search optimization algorithm for continuous problems to the
aerodynamic design optimization of turbomachinery blades. The aim is to improve
the performance of a specific stage and ultimately of the whole engine. The
integrated system developed for this purpose is described. This combines the
optimizer with an existing geometry parameterization scheme and a well-
established CFD package. The system’s performance is illustrated through case
studies – one two-dimensional, one three-dimensional – in which flow
characteristics important to the overall performance of turbomachinery blades
are optimized. By showing the designer the trade-off surfaces between the
competing objectives, this approach provides considerable insight into the
design space under consideration and presents the designer with a range of
different Pareto-optimal designs for further consideration. Special emphasis is
given to the dimensionality in objective function space of the optimization
problem, which seeks designs that perform well for a range of flow performance
metrics. The resulting compressor blades achieve their high performance by
exploiting complicated physical mechanisms successfully identified through the
design process. The system can readily be run on parallel computers,
substantially reducing wall-clock run times – a significant benefit when
tackling computationally demanding design problems. Overall optimal performance
is offered by compromise designs on the Pareto trade-off surface revealed
through a true multi-objective design optimization test case. Bearing in mind
the continuing rapid advances in computing power and the benefits discussed,
this approach brings the adoption of such techniques in real-world engineering
design practice a ste
Skyhook surface sliding mode control on semi-active vehicle suspension systems for ride comfort enhancement
A skyhook surface sliding mode control method was proposed and applied to the control on the semi-active vehicle suspension system for its ride comfort enhancement. A two degree of freedom dynamic model of a vehicle semi-active suspension system was given, which focused on the passenger’s ride comfort perform-ance. A simulation with the given initial conditions has been devised in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The simula-tion results were showing that there was an enhanced level of ride comfort for the vehicle semi-active sus-pension system with the skyhook surface sliding mode controller
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