Differential Games Controllers That Confine a System to a Safe Region in the State Space, With Applications to Surge Tank Control

Surge tanks are units employed in chemical processing to regulate the flow of fluids between reactors. A notable feature of surge tank control is the need to constrain the magnitude of the Maximum Rate of Change (MROC) of the surge tank outflow, since excessive fluctuations in the rate of change of outflow can adversely affect down-stream processing (through disturbance of sediments, initiation of turbulence, etc.). Proportional + Integral controllers, traditionally employed in surge tank control, do not take direct account of the MROC. It is therefore of interest to explore alternative approaches. We show that the surge tank controller design problem naturally fits a differential games framework, proposed by Dupuis and McEneaney, for controlling a system to confine the state to a safe region of the state space. We show furthermore that the differential game arising in this way can be solved by decomposing it into a collection of (one player) optimal control problems. We discuss the implications of this decomposition technique, for the solution of other controller design problems possessing some features of the surge tank controller design problem

Robot guided 'pen skill' training in children with motor difficulties

Motor deficits are linked to a range of negative physical, social and academic consequences. Haptic robotic interventions, based on the principles of sensorimotor learning, have been shown previously to help children with motor problems learn new movements. We therefore examined whether the training benefits of a robotic system would generalise to a standardised test of 'pen-skills', assessed using objective kinematic measures [via the Clinical Kinematic Assessment Tool, CKAT]. A counterbalanced, cross-over design was used in a group of 51 children (37 male, aged 5-11 years) with manual control difficulties. Improved performance on a novel task using the robotic device could be attributed to the intervention but there was no evidence of generalisation to any of the CKAT tasks. The robotic system appears to have the potential to support motor learning, with the technology affording numerous advantages. However, the training regime may need to target particular manual skills (e.g. letter formation) in order to obtain clinically significant improvements in specific skills such as handwriting.</p

A comparison of EGR correction factor models based on SI engine data

The article compares the accuracy of different exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) correction factor models under engine conditions. The effect of EGR on the laminar burning velocity of a EURO VI E10 specification gasoline (10% Ethanol content by volume) has been back calculated from engine pressure trace data, using the Leeds University Spark Ignition Engine Data Analysis (LUSIEDA) reverse thermodynamic code. The engine pressure data ranges from 5% to 25% EGR (by mass) with the running conditions, such as spark advance and pressure at intake valve closure, changed to maintain a constant engine load of 0.79 MPa gross mean effective pressure (GMEP). Based on the experimental data, a correlation is suggested on how the laminar burning velocity reduces with increasing EGR mass fraction. This correlation, together with existing models, was then implemented into the quasi-dimensional Leeds University Spark Ignition Engine (LUSIE) predictive engine code and resulting predictions are compared against measurements. It was found that the new correlation is in good agreement with experimental data for a diluent range of 5%-25%, providing the best fit for both engine loads investigated, whereas existing models tend to overpredict the reduction of burning velocity due to EGR

Thermodynamic modelling of a stratified charge spark ignition engine

Combustion of a charge with spatially and temporally varying equivalence ratio in a spark ignition engine was modelled using the Leeds University Spark Ignition Engine quasi-dimensional thermodynamic code. New sub-models have been integrated into Leeds University Spark Ignition Engine that simulate the effect of burnt gas expansion and turbulent mixing on an initial equivalence ratio distribution. Realistic distribution functions were used to model the radially varying equivalence ratio. The new stratified fuel model was validated against experimental data, showing reasonable agreement for both the pressure trace and percentage heat released. Including the effect of turbulent mixing was found to be important to reproduce the trend in the differences between the stratified and homogeneous simulations

The influence of visual flow and perceptual load on locomotion speed

Visual flow is used to perceive and regulate movement speed during locomotion. We assessed the extent to which variation in flow from the ground plane, arising from static visual textures, influences locomotion speed under conditions of concurrent perceptual load. In two experiments, participants walked over a 12-m projected walkway that consisted of stripes that were oriented orthogonal to the walking direction. In the critical conditions, the frequency of the stripes increased or decreased. We observed small, but consistent effects on walking speed, so that participants were walking slower when the frequency increased compared to when the frequency decreased. This basic effect suggests that participants interpreted the change in visual flow in these conditions as at least partly due to a change in their own movement speed, and counteracted such a change by speeding up or slowing down. Critically, these effects were magnified under conditions of low perceptual load and a locus of attention near the ground plane. Our findings suggest that the contribution of vision in the control of ongoing locomotion is relatively fluid and dependent on ongoing perceptual (and perhaps more generally cognitive) task demands

Robot Guided ‘Pen Skill’ Training in Children with Motor Difficulties

Motor deficits are linked to a range of negative physical, social and academic consequences. Haptic robotic interventions, based on the principles of sensorimotor learning, have been shown previously to help children with motor problems learn new movements. We therefore examined whether the training benefits of a robotic system would generalise to a standardised test of ‘pen-skills’, assessed using objective kinematic measures [via the Clinical Kinematic Assessment Tool, CKAT]. A counterbalanced, cross-over design was used in a group of 51 children (37 male, aged 5-11 years) with manual control difficulties. Improved performance on a novel task using the robotic device could be attributed to the intervention but there was no evidence of generalisation to any of the CKAT tasks. The robotic system appears to have the potential to support motor learning, with the technology affording numerous advantages. However, the training regime may need to target particular manual skills (e.g. letter formation) in order to obtain clinically significant improvements in specific skills such as handwriting

Effects of valve deactivation on thermal efficiency in a direct-injection spark-ignition engine under dilute conditions

Reported in the current paper is a study into the cycle efficiency effects of utilising a complex valvetrain mechanism in order to generate variable in-cylinder charge motion and therefore alter the dilution tolerance of a Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI) engine. A Jaguar Land Rover Single Cylinder Research Engine (SCRE) was operated at a number of engine speeds and loads with the dilution fraction varied accordingly (excess air (lean), external Exhaust Gas Residuals (EGR) or some combination of both). For each engine speed, load and dilution fraction, the engine was operated with either both intake valves fully open - Dual Valve Actuation (DVA) - or one valve completely closed - Single Valve Actuation (SVA) mode. The engine was operated in DVA and SVA modes with EGR fractions up to 20% with the excess air dilution (Lambda) increased (to approximately 1.8) until combustion stability was duly compromised. At 1500 Revolutions Per Minute (RPM), 3.6 bar and 7.9 bar Gross Mean effective Pressure (GMEP), the dilution tolerance of the engine was significantly increased for a given combustion stability limit utilising SVA. This resulted in fuel consumption reductions of up to 3.8% and 3.1% respectively for these two engine speed and load conditions as a result of being able to operate the engine with more thermodynamically attractive mixtures when adopting SVA. At 2000RPM, 9.8 bar GMEP, the dilution tolerance was only marginally increased which resulted in a fuel consumption reduction of 1.3% when adopting SVA over DVA (for the same reasons outlined above). Increased dilution tolerance in all cases was achieved as a result of significant enhancement in charge motion when adopting SVA. By enhancing the in-cylinder charge motion (confirmed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)), ignition to 10% Mass Fraction Burned (MFB) and 10-90% MFB durations for equivalent levels of dilution were significantly shorter when adopting SVA. This therefore allowed greater dilution tolerance (and ultimately an increase in the thermal efficiency of the working cycle) when adopting SVA over DVA without detrimental increases in the burn duration metrics that would ordinarily result in misfire and partial burn and a significant detriment to combustion stability. Conversely, for equivalent levels of dilution, there was little, if any difference in fuel consumption between DVA and SVA even though burn duration metrics were significantly shorter when adopting SVA over DVA. In combination with CFD, the polytropic coefficient of compression was calculated to be lower in all cases for SVA compared to DVA for a given level of dilution. This indicated greater heat transfer when adopting SVA over DVA for equivalent trapped mass (confirmed using CFD). As such, this detrimental increased heat transfer (again confirmed with CFD) attributed to the increased in-cylinder activity with SVA offset the favourably faster combustion; thus resulting in little, if any reduction in fuel consumption for equivalent levels of dilution when implementing SVA over DVA. This was particularly pertinent at the higher engine speed and load where the significantly increased heat transfer for SVA resulted in an increase in fuel consumption for SVA over DVA for equivalent levels of dilution