Perturbation rejection control strategy for OWL

The control system of the ESO 100 m telescope (OWL) has to reject slow and fast perturbations in several subsystems. In this paper we focus on the wind rejection control strategies for two subsystems: the main axes and the segmented mirror. It is shown that facing the same disturbance the 2 control designs have to deal with completely different problems: control of a flexible SISO (Single input-Single output) system for the altitude axis versus a dynamically coupled MIMO (Multi input-Multi output) system for the segmented mirror. For both subsystems feasible solutions are given

On-line arithmetic for real-time control of microsystems

The integration of microcontrollers within mechanical systems is a current trend. However, decreasing the size of the system and satisfying higher precision requirements make it necessary to reevaluate the common signal processing techniques for controller implementations, because limited controller size, computation speed, and power consumption become major topics. In this paper, we demonstrate that serial computations with the most significant digits first, that is, on-line arithmetic, offer an important potential for real-time control. They enable a combination of traditional functions, such as analog-to-digital converters and control data computations. This leads to very efficient controller implementations with small size, high speed, and low power consumption. After a brief description of the requirements and challenges of microsystem controller design, the use of on-line arithmetic for real-time control is proposed. A short introduction to on-line arithmetic is given and control-specific implementation guidelines are presented and finally applied to a simple test system.©1999 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to my supervisor, Prof. Roland Longchamp, and to Prof. Dominique Bonvin for having recruted me to their group. The friendship that they grant to their assistants is really invaluable. I spent with them several very fruitful years and for this I thank them. I also want to thank Prof. Hannes Bleuler and Prof. Jean-Michel Muller for their consideration and helpful comments in completing this work, and for acting as my co-examiners, respectively. Prof. Ulf Holmberg is similarly acknowledged for acting as a co-examiner and for his continuing interest and encouragement throughout this work. I also appreciate his large range of interests and all I learnt by working with him. I would also like to thank Dr. Arnaud Tisserand for advice, interaction, and his attention to details during preparation of this thesis. Our collaboration has been extremely profitable for me. Last but not least, I thank Dr. Joseph Moerschel for sharing his competence in industria

The M4 adaptive unit for the E-ELT

International audienceCilas proposes a M4 adaptive mirror (M4AM) that corrects the atmospheric turbulence at high frequencies and residual tip-tilt and defocus due to telescope vibrations by using piezostack actuators. The design presents a matrix of nearly 7000 actuators (hexagonal geometry, spacing equal to 29 mm) leading to a fitting error simulated by Onera reaching the fitting error goal. The mirror is held by a positioning system which ensures all movements of the mirror at low frequency and selects the focus (Nasmyth A or B) using a hexapod concept. This subsystem is fixed rigidly to the mounting system and permits mirror displacements. The M4 control system (M4CS) ensures the connection between the telescope control/monitoring system and the M4 unit - positioning system (M4PS) and piezostack actuators in particular. This subsystem is composed of electronic boards, mechanical support fixed to the mounting structure and the thermal hardware. With piezostack actuators, most of the thermal load is minimized and dissipated in the electronic boards and not in the adaptive mirror. The mounting structure (M4MS) is the mechanical interface with the telescope (and the ARU in particular) and ensures the integrity and stability of M4 unit subsystems. M4 positioning system and mounting structure are subcontracted to Amos company. We will also report on the manufacturing of the demonstration prototype that will be tested in the next phase

Demonstration prototype and breadboards of the piezo stack M4 adaptive unit of the E-ELT

International audienceIn order to mitigate the risks of development of the M4 adaptive mirror for the E-ELT, CILAS has proposed to build a demonstration prototype and breadboards dedicated to this project. The objectives of the demonstration prototype concern the manufacturing issues such as mass assembly, integration, control and polishing but also the check the global dynamical and thermal behaviour of the mirror. The local behaviour of the mirror (polishing quality, influence function, print through...) is studied through a breadboard that can be considered as a piece of the final mirror. We propose in this paper to present our breadboard strategy, to define and present our mock-up and to comment the main results and lessons learned

Last progress concerning the design of the piezo stack M4 adaptive unit of the E-ELT

International audienceCILAS proposes a M4 adaptive mirror (M4AM) that corrects the atmospheric turbulence at high frequencies and residual tip-tilt and defocus due to telescope vibrations by using piezostack actuators. The design presents a matrix of 7217 actuators (triangular geometry, spacing equal to 29 mm) leading to a fitting error reaching the goal. The mirror is held by a positioning system which ensures all movements of the mirror at low frequency and selects the focus (Nasmyth A or B) using a hexapod concept. This subsystem is fixed rigidly to the mounting system and permits mirror displacements. The M4 control system (M4CS) ensures the connection between the telescope control/monitoring system and the M4 unit - positioning system (M4PS) and piezostack actuators of the M4AM in particular. This subsystem is composed of electronic boards, mechanical support fixed to the mounting structure and the thermal hardware. With piezostack actuators, most of the thermal load is minimized and dissipated in the electronic boards and not in the adaptive mirror. The mounting structure (M4MS) is the mechanical interface with the telescope (and the ARU in particular) and ensures the integrity and stability of M4 unit subsystems. M4 positioning system and mounting structure are subcontracted to AMOS company

Bicyclic naphthenic acids in oil sands process water: Identification by comprehensive multidimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Although bicyclic acids have been reported to be the major naphthenic acids in oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) and a well-accepted screening assay indicated that some bicyclics were the most acutely toxic acids tested, none have yet been identified. Here we show by comprehensive multidimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC×GC-MS), that >100 C8-15 bicyclic acids are typically present in OSPW. Synthesis or purchase allowed us to establish the GC×GC retention times of methyl esters of numerous of these and the mass spectra and published spectra of some additional types, allowed us to identify bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane, bicyclo[3.2.1]octane, bicyclo[4.3.0]nonane, bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane and bicyclo[4.4.0]decane acids in OSPW and a bicyclo[2.2.2]octane acid in a commercial acid mixture. The retention positions of authentic bicyclo[3.3.0]octane and bicyclo[4.2.0]octane carboxylic acid methyl esters and published retention indices, showed these were also possibilities, as were bicyclo[3.1.1]heptane acids. Bicyclo[5.3.0]decane and cyclopentylcyclopentane carboxylic acids were ruled out in the samples analysed, on the basis that the corresponding alkanes eluted well after bicyclo[4.4.0]decane (latest eluting acids). Bicyclo[4.2.1]nonane, bicyclo[3.2.2]nonane, bicyclo[3.3.2]decane, bicyclo[4.2.2]decane and spiro[4.5]decane carboxylic acids could not be ruled out or in, as no authentic compounds or literature data were available. Mass spectra of the methyl esters of the higher bicyclic C12-15 acids suggested that many were simply analogues of the acids identified above, with longer alkanoate chains and/or alkyl substituents. Our hypothesis is that these acids represent the biotransformation products of the initially somewhat more bio-resistant bicyclanes of petroleum. Although remediation studies suggest that many bicyclic acids can be relatively quickly removed from suitably treated OSPW, examination by GC×GC-MS may show which isomers are affected most. Knowledge of the structures will allow the toxicity of any residual isomers to be calculated and measured