Sun follower with parallel kinematics and process for controlling such follower

Il brevetto riguarda un inseguitore solare a cinematica parallela e il relativo sistema di controllo

Performance assessment of a 2 dof gyroscopic wave energy converter

Wave Power is one of the most investigated energy sources today. So far, several devices have been tested and built up to the pre-commercial stage. ISWEC (Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter) has developed at the Politecnico di Torino, exploiting gyroscopes to extract wave energy. It allows power extraction without using any moving part immersed into water. The previous version of ISWEC presented 1 DOF (Degree Of Freedom), therefore requiring alignment of the device to the incoming wave; this paper describes a novel version of ISWEC, with 2 DOFs and consequently able to absorb power from every wave direction.The kinematics and the dynamics of the device are investigated, in order to compare the 1 DOF and the 2 DOF architectures from the point of view of the extracted power. The resulting simulations show that the 1 DOF prototype is more efficient when aligned with the incoming wave, while the behavior of the 2 DOF device is substantially independent of the wave direction. Such a difference of the performances is quantified and discussed along with considerations on the design and realization of the full-scale prototype

Kinematic and dynamic modeling of a helicopter rigid main rotor

Analysis of the kinematics and dynamics of a helicopter main rotor is presented in the paper. A rigid rotor type is assumed, where feathering angle of the blade is controlled by a swashplate mechanism. Kinematic constrains and links equilibrium are studied in order to determine the mechanism movement and the forces on the servoactuators which drive the swashplate position and orientation. The modeling presented is intended to be part of a simulation platform to evaluate fly-bywire actuation systems performances applied to helicopter main rotors control

Kinematic and dynamic modeling of a helicopter rigid main rotor

Analysis of the kinematics and dynamics of a helicopter main rotor is presented in the paper. A rigid rotor type is assumed, where feathering angle of the blade is controlled by a swashplate mechanism. Kinematic constrains and links equilibrium are studied in order to determine the mechanism movement and the forces on the servoactuators which drive the swashplate position and orientation. The modeling presented is intended to be part of a simulation platform to evaluate fly-bywire actuation systems performances applied to helicopter main rotors contro

Performance assessment of a 2 DOF gyroscopic wave energy converter

Wave Power is one of the most investigated energy sources today. So far, several devices have been tested and built up to the pre-commercial stage. ISWEC (Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter) has developed at the Politecnico di Torino, exploiting gyroscopes to extract wave energy. It allows power extraction without using any moving part immersed into water. The previous version of ISWEC presented 1 DOF (Degree Of Freedom), therefore requiring alignment of the device to the incoming wave; this paper describes a novel version of ISWEC, with 2 DOFs and consequently able to absorb power from every wave direction. The kinematics and the dynamics of the device are investigated, in order to compare the 1 DOF and the 2 DOF architectures from the point of view of the extracted power. The resulting simulations show that the 1 DOF prototype is more efficient when aligned with the incoming wave, while the behavior of the 2 DOF device is substantially independent of the wave direction. Such a difference of the performances is quantified and discussed along with considerations on the design and realization of the full-scale prototyp

Stiffness of an EVA glove: objective evaluation and testing procedures

Hand fatigue is one of the major problems of astronauts during Extravehicular Activity (EVA), due to the stiffness of the space suit, in particular of the glove. In order to evaluate the stiffness of EVA gloves, different methods have been proposed in the past, mainly focused on the effects of wearing an EVA glove on hand performance when executing test protocols. In this paper, an objective method for the evaluation of the stiffness of EVA gloves is proposed, by means of a tendon-actuated finger probe. The finger probe is equipped with accelerometers, to measure the angles of its phalanges. These are actuated by applying different torques using the finger probe tendons. The EVA glove is tested in both pressurized and non pressurized conditions, thanks to a hypobaric glove box. An Orlan-DM EVA glove is tested and stiffness results are presented. This setup can be used for different kinds of gloves, not necessarily for EVA application, and allows direct, numerical measurement of their stiffnes