Theoretical problems of geography

(print) ix, 331 p. ; 24 cmEditors' Preface vii -- Acknowledgements xi -- PART ONE : Introduction 3 -- PART TWO : Theoretical Problems of Geography -- Soviet Publisher's Note 21 -- Author's Note 23 -- Chapter One : The Origins of Geography and the Two Trends in Its Development in Ancient Society. Synthesis Under Conditions of Inadequate Concrete Research and Insufficient Ties to Applied Work. 27 -- Chapter Two : The Period of Empirical Development. Initial Attempts to Create Theoretical Geographical Ideas on the Basis of Bourgeois Philosophy. Determinism in the Geography of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. 49 -- Chapter Three : Concerning the Influence of the Philosophies of Kant and Hegel on Geography. Alexander Humboldt and Carl Ritter. Elemental Materialism and Dialectical Idealism in Geography. Origins of Geopolitics. Hettner's Theory. 75 -- Chapter Four : The Reinforcement of Empiricism with Inadequate Synthesis. The Significance of The Works of V. V. Dokuchayev and D. N. Anuchin for Geographic Synthesis. Empiricism in Geography and the Training of Geographers in Universities. 114 -- Chapter Five : The Landscape Envelope and the Geographic Environment. The Subject-Matter Essence of the Unity of Geography. The Influence of the Geographic Environment on Society. Determinism in Dialectical Thought. 145 -- Chapter Six : The Methodological Essence of the Unity of Geography. Regionalization as a Specific Form of the Geographical Method. The Geographic Division of Labor. Economic Geography and the Economic Sciences. The Location of Production and the Locational Definition of the Subject Matter of Economic Geography. 198 -- Chapter Seven : Concerning the Boundary between Geographical Analysis and Geographical Synthesis. The Scale of Inquiry in Geography. Regional Geography as a Part of Geography. The Problem of the General and the Particular in Geography. Theoretical and Practical Questions of Geography. 242 -- Notes 286 -- PART THREE : Appendixes -- Appendix One : Summary of Major Conclusions 309 -- Appendix Two : Selected Bibliography of Publications Relating to Theoretical Problems of Geography and the Ensuing Controversy That Have Appeared in English 31

Traction synchronous homopolar motor: Simplified computation technique and experimental validation

Synchronous homopolar motors (SHMs) have been attracting the attention of researchers for many decades. Various mathematical models of SHM have been proposed to deal with its complicated magnetic circuit. Among them, there are time-consuming 3D finite element models (FEM), equivalent circuit models neglecting some significant features of the machine design, and 2D FEM models with virtual excitation winding distorting its magnetic field picture. This paper proposes a novel 2D FEM of SHM and shows that since there are no sources of excitation in the cross-sections of the rotor and stator stacks, no virtual elements are required. This model uses the general solution of the Gauss's law for magnetism containing excitation flux. The model is based on a set of magnetostatic boundary value problems for various rotor positions. The set of boundary problems is completed with the excitation equivalent circuit. The losses in the armature and field windings and the stator and rotor magnetic cores are computed in postprocessing. All these computations are carried out for a single combination of stator and rotor stack. A symmetrization algorithm is proposed to extend the obtained results to the whole SHM. A comparison of the theoretical and experimental data for a nine-phase three-section 320 kW SHM is carried out. These SHMs were used in a mining truck with a carrying capacity of 90 tons. © 2020 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. All rights reserved.This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under Grant 16-19-10618

Inverter Volt-ampere Capacity Reduction by Optimization of the Traction Synchronous Homopolar Motor

The synchronous homopolar motor (SHM) with an excitation winding on the stator and a toothed rotor is a good alternative to traction induction motors for hybrid mining trucks. The main problem in the design of the SHM electric drives is that the magnetic flux forms three-dimensional loops and, as a result, the lack of high-quality optimization methods, which leads to the need to overrate the installed power of the inverter. This article discusses the procedure and results of optimization of a commercially available 370 kW traction SHM using the Nelder–Mead method. The objective function is composed to mainly improve the following characteristics of the traction SHM: total motor power loss and maximum armature winding current. In addition, terms are introduced into the objective function to make it possible to limit the voltage, the loss in the excitation winding, and the maximum magnetic flux density in the non-laminated sections of the magnetic core. As a result of the optimization, the motor losses and the maximum current required by the motor from the inverter were significantly reduced. The achieved reduction in the maximum current allows the cost of the IGBT modules of the inverter to be reduced by 1.4 times (by $ 2295), and also allows the AC component of the DC-link current to be reduced by the same amount. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: The research was performed with the support of the Russian Science Foundation grant (Project № 21-19-00696)

Design optimization of a traction synchronous homopolar motor

Synchronous homopolar motors (SHMs) have been attracting the attention of researchers for many decades. They are used in a variety of equipment such as aircraft and train generators, weld-ing inverters, and as traction motors. Various mathematical models of SHMs have been proposed to deal with their complicated magnetic circuit. However, mathematical techniques for optimizing SHMs have not yet been proposed. This paper discusses various aspects of the optimal design of traction SHMs, applying the one-criterion unconstrained Nelder–Mead method. The considered motor is intended for use in a mining dump truck with a carrying capacity of 90 tons. The objective function for the SHM optimization was designed to reduce/improve the following main characteristics: total motor power loss, maximum winding current, and torque ripple. One of the difficulties in optimizing SHMs is the three-dimensional structure of their magnetic core, which usually requires the use of a three-dimensional finite element model. However, in this study, an original two-dimensional finite element model of a SHM was used; it allowed the drastic reduction in the computational burden, enabling objective optimization. As a result of optimization, the total losses in the motor decreased by up to 1.16 times and the torque ripple decreased by up to 1.34 times; the maximum armature winding current in the motor mode decreased by 8%. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The research was performed with the support of the Russian Science Foundation grant (Project No. 21-19-00696)

Comparison of Interior Permanent Magnet and Synchronous Homopolar Motors for a Mining Dump Truck Traction Drive Operated in Wide Constant Power Speed Range

Synchronous homopolar motors (SHMs) with an excitation winding located at the stator and a toothed salient pole rotor are a good alternative to motors traditionally used in traction applications such as induction motors or interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSM). This study presents the results of a theoretical comparison between an IPMSM and an SHM in a traction application with a constant power speed range of 1:10, which is specific to the mining truck drives, and with a rated power of 370 kW. The considered IPMSM and SHM have the same number of phases, poles and stator slots, and the same outer diameter of the stator lamination. The IPMSM design is optimized using the Nelder–Mead method. The main objectives of optimization are to minimize the average losses in the operating cycle and to limit the required power of the semiconductor inverter. The performance of the optimized IPMSM is compared with the previously obtained performance of the SHM optimized by the same method. Although the average losses in the operating cycle in the compared motors are approximately equal, the losses at high speed for the IPMSM are about two times greater than at low speed with maximum torque, which means that there is a need to intensify the IPMSM cooling system and there is deterioration of reliability. The advantage of the IPMSM is the reduction in the length of the active part by 30%. The advantage of the SHM is that there is 4.6 times lower cost of active materials. In addition, the SHM is more reliable than the IPMSM, as there is no risk of overheating, demagnetization or degradation of permanent magnets over time. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Russian Science Foundation, RSF: 21-19-00696Funding: The research was performed with the support of the Russian Science Foundation grant (project № 21-19-00696)

Применение метода Нелдера–Мида для оптимизации одноименнополюсного синхронного двигателя для карьерного самосвала

The relevance of the study is in the increasing need for the use of mining dump trucks with a diesel-electric (hybrid) drive for the development of minerals. Improving the operational and cost characteristics of the electric drive of mining dump trucks helps to reduce costs in the development of minerals. The main aim of the study is to find an effective approach to optimizing a synchronous homopolar motor for driving the rear wheels of a mining dump truck, which makes it possible to solve the problem of the high demand for computing resources when simulating a three-dimensional magnetic field of the motor; develop the recommendations for the design of a synchronous homopolar motor with an excitation winding on the stator; apply the optimization to reduce power losses and maximum motor current for a given traction characteristic of the drive, and to reduce the current rating and cost of the semiconductor inverter module of the electric drive of a mining dump truck with the type of motor under consideration. Object of the research is a design of a six-pole nine-phase synchronous homopolar motor with an excitation winding on the stator with a power rating of 370 kW. Methods: derivative-free optimization method; equivalent circuit method; mathematical modeling; two-dimensional finite element method. Results. A novel approach to optimization of a synchronous homopolar motor is proposed. This approach is effective from the point of view of the accuracy of calculating the characteristics and computational costs. As a result of optimization, the motor losses and the maximum current required by the motor from the inverter have been significantly reduced. The achieved reduction of the motor current allows reducing the cost of the semiconductor modules of the inverter by 1,4 times (by 2295 United States dollars), and also allows reducing the alternating component in the current of the direct current link of the inverter by the same amount. © 2022 Tomsk Polytechnic University, Publishing House. All rights reserved.The research was performed with the support of the Russian Science Foundation grant (Project No. 21-19-00696)

Scientific, institutional and personal rivalries among Soviet geographers in the late Stalin era

Scientific, institutional and personal rivalries between three key centres of geographical research and scholarship (the Academy of Sciences Institute of Geography and the Faculties of Geography at Moscow and Leningrad State Universities) are surveyed for the period from 1945 to the early 1950s. It is argued that the debates and rivalries between members of the three institutions appear to have been motivated by a variety of scientific, ideological, institutional and personal factors, but that genuine scientific disagreements were at least as important as political and ideological factors in influencing the course of the debates and in determining their final outcome

Landscape science: a Russian geographical tradition

The Russian geographical tradition of landscape science (landshaftovedenie) is analyzed with particular reference to its initiator, Lev Semenovich Berg (1876-1950). The differences between prevailing Russian and Western concepts of landscape in geography are discussed, and their common origins in German geographical thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are delineated. It is argued that the principal differences are accounted for by a number of factors, of which Russia's own distinctive tradition in environmental science deriving from the work of V. V. Dokuchaev (1846-1903), the activities of certain key individuals (such as Berg and C. O. Sauer), and the very different social and political circumstances in different parts of the world appear to be the most significant. At the same time it is noted that neither in Russia nor in the West have geographers succeeded in specifying an agreed and unproblematic understanding of landscape, or more broadly in promoting a common geographical conception of human-environment relationships. In light of such uncertainties, the latter part of the article argues for closer international links between the variant landscape traditions in geography as an important contribution to the quest for sustainability