Hybrid pitch angle controller approaches for stable wind turbine power under variable wind speed

The production of maximum wind energy requires controlling various parts of medium to large-scale wind turbines (WTs). This paper presents a robust pitch angle control system for the rated wind turbine power at a wide range of simulated wind speeds by means of a proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller. In addition, ant colony optimization (ACO), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and classical Ziegler–Nichols (Z-N) algorithms have been used for tuning the PID controller parameters to obtain within rated stable output power of WTs from fluctuating wind speeds. The proposed system is simulated under fast wind speed variation, and its results are compared with those of the PID-ZN controller and PID-PSO to verify its effeteness. The proposed approach contains several benefits including simple implementation, as well as tolerance of turbine parameters and several nonparametric uncertainties. Robust control of the generator output power with wind-speed variations can also be considered a significant advantage of this strategy. Theoretical analyses, as well as simulation results, indicate that the proposed controller can perform better in a wide range of wind speed compared with the PID-ZN and PID-PSO controllers. The WT model and hybrid controllers (PID-ACO and PID-PSO) have been developed in MATLAB/Simulink with validated controller models. The hybrid PID-ACO controller was found to be the most suitable in comparison to the PID-PSO and conventional PID. The root mean square (RMS) error calculated between the desired power and the WT’s output power with PID-ACO is found to be 0.00036, which is the smallest result among the studied controllers

Ant colony based model prediction of a twin rotor system

Interest in biologically-inspired optimization techniques has increased due to its accurate results, fast performance and ease of use. In this paper, an ant colony optimization (ACO) technique is deployed and used for modelling a twin rotor system. The system is perceived as a challenging engineering problem due to its strong cross coupling between horizontal and vertical axes and inaccessibility of some of its states and outputs for measurements. Accurate modelling of the system is thus required so as to achieve satisfactory control objectives. It is demonstrated that ACO can be effectively used for modelling the system with highly accurate results. The accuracy of the modelling results is demonstrated through validation tests including training and test validation and correlation tests

A review of advances in magnetorheological dampers: their design optimization and applications

© 2017, Zhejiang University and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. In recent years, magnetorheological (MR) fluid technology has received much attention and consequently has shown much improvement. Its adaptable nature has led to rapid growth in such varied engineering applications as the base isolation of civil structures, vehicle suspensions, and several bio-engineering mechanisms through its implementation in different MR fluid base devices, particularly in MR dampers. The MR damper is an advanced application of a semi-active device which performs effectively in vibration reduction due to its control ability in both on and off states. The MR damper has the capacity to generate a large damping force, with comparatively low power consumption, fast and flexible response, and simplicity of design. With reference to the huge demand for MR dampers, this paper reviews the advantages of these semi-active systems over passive and active systems, the versatile application of MR dampers, and the fabrication of the configurations of various MR dampers, and provides an overview of various MR damper models. To address the increasing adaptability of the MR dampers, their latest design optimization and advances are also presented. Because of the tremendous interest in self-powered and energy-saving technologies, a broad overview of the design of MR dampers for energy harvesting and their modeling is also incorporated in this paper

Impact of rain weather over free space optic communication transmission

This paper focuses the rain effect over FSO link medium in Malaysia environment. In this work, a rain data samples that collected from Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) to determine the scattering coefficient, atmospheric attenuation and total attenuation. From the analysis, the precipitation rate give different impact over FSO link which can cause the attenuation and bit error rate increase. The results also show the comparison parameter for optimal geometrical loss such as beam divergence, aperture size and receiver sensitivity

Impact of rain weather over free space optic communication transmission

This paper focuses the rain effect over FSO link medium in Malaysia environment. In this work, a rain data samples that collected from Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) to determine the scattering coefficient, atmospheric attenuation and total attenuation. From the analysis, the precipitation rate give different impact over FSO link which can cause the attenuation and bit error rate increase. The results also show the comparison parameter for optimal geometrical loss such as beam divergence, aperture size and receiver sensitivity

Amino Anthraquinone: Synthesis, Characterization, and Its Application as an Active Material in Environmental Sensors.

This work reports synthesis, thin film characterizations, and study of an organic semiconductor 2-aminoanthraquinone (AAq) for humidity and temperature sensing applications. The morphological and phase studies of AAq thin films are carried out by scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. To study the sensing properties of AAq, a surface type Au/AAq/Au sensor is fabricated by thermally depositing a 60 nm layer of AAq at a pressure of ~10-5 mbar on a pre-patterned gold (Au) electrodes with inter-electrode gap of 45 µm. To measure sensing capability of the Au/AAq/Au device, the variations in its capacitance and resistance are studied as a function of humidity and temperature. The Au/AAq/Au device measures and exhibits a linear change in capacitance and resistance when relative humidity (%RH) and temperature are varied. The AAq is a hydrophobic material which makes it one of the best candidates to be used as an active material in humidity sensors; on the other hand, its high melting point (575 K) is another appealing property that enables it for its potential applications in temperature sensors