A time delay controller for magnetic bearings

The control of systems with unknown dynamics and unpredictable disturbances has raised some challenging problems. This is particularly important when high system performance needs to be guaranteed at all times. Recently, the Time Delay Control has been suggested as an alternative control scheme. The proposed control system does not require an explicit plant model nor does it depend on the estimation of specific plant parameters. Rather, it combines adaptation with past observations to directly estimate the effect of the plant dynamics. A control law is formulated for a class of dynamic systems and a sufficient condition is presented for control systems stability. The derivation is based on the bounded input-bounded output stability approach using L sub infinity function norms. The control scheme is implemented on a five degrees of freedom high speed and high precision magnetic bearing. The control performance is evaluated using step responses, frequency responses, and disturbance rejection properties. The experimental data show an excellent control performance despite the system complexity

Facilitating Mechanical Design with Augmented Reality

By enhancing a real scene with computer generated objects, Augmented Reality (AR), has proven itself as a valuable Human-Computer Interface (HCI) in numerous application areas such as medical, military, entertainment and manufacturing. It enables higher performance of on-site tasks with seamless presentation of up-to-date, task-related information to the users during the operation. AR has potentials in design because the current interface provided by Computer-aided Design (CAD) packages is less intuitive and reports show that the presence of physical objects help design thinking and communication. This research explores the use of AR to improve the efficiency of a design process, specifically in mechanical design.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Determination of important flow characteristics for leak detection in water pipelines-networks

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.The accuracy of a leak detection method depends greatly on the flow and leak parameters in a given pipeline. This paper gives some insight into the flow characteristics around simulated small leaks. The present computational fluid dynamics studies have indicated clear distinctive features in fluid pressure and fluid acceleration that can be used for the early detection of small leaks with the magnitude of 2.75L/min in water distribution pipelines. The CFD study is based on the steady state turbulent flow simulation which was carried out for different pressure lines in 4-inch (100m) ID pipe. Based on the CFD simulation, it was found out that the pressure gradient in the vicinity of the leaks are quite large, hence a leak detection method based on pressure gradient measurement is proposed. In addition these simulation has shown axial flow acceleration in the flow centerline of the pipe have remarkable gradient which offers another leak detection method based on the use of accelerometer.dc201

An Application of Augmented Reality (AR) in the Teaching of an Arc Welding Robot

Augmented Reality (AR) is an emerging technology that utilizes computer vision methods to overlay virtual objects onto the real world scene so as to make them appear to co-exist with the real objects. Its main objective is to enhance the user’s interaction with the real world by providing the right information needed to perform a certain task. Applications of this technology in manufacturing include maintenance, assembly and telerobotics. In this paper, we explore the potential of teaching a robot to perform an arc welding task in an AR environment. We present the motivation, features of a system using the popular ARToolkit package, and a discussion on the issues and implications of our research.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Adaptive Pulse Width Control for Precise Positioning Under the Influence of Stiction and Coulomb Friction

For the robustness experiment, the friction is increased by increasing the sealing pressure. The PID control exhibits a large overshoot during the transient state, while the other controllers exhibit no overshoot, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In the SMC, errors are reduced very slowly and the steady-state error is relatively large as shown in Fig. 5. Settling times of the PID control, the TDC, and the TDSMC are 3.32 s, 2.96 s, and 1.94 s, respectively, as shown in Figs. 4{b) and 5(^). The PID control and the TDC perform very poorly and their settling times are increased by 90.8 and 105.6 percent, respectively, from their nominal values. On the other hand, the TDSMC performs very well and its settling time is increased only by 9 percent from the nominal value. Therefore, the TDSMC has the best performance robustness. Conclusions The TDSMC which is a combination of the TDC and the SMC is proposed for the system with unknown dynamics and disturbances. This method uses the idea of switching of the sliding mode control while reducing the chattering associated with it. Experiments on the position control of a DC motor system with stick-slip friction, were conducted to evaluate performances of the control algorithms. Experiments show that the TDSMC exhibits the best performance robustness and that the TDC and the TDSMC perform better than the PID control with an anti-windup filter and the integral sliding mode control. 227. Youcef-Touini, K., and Bobbet, J., 1991, "Stability of Uncertain Linear Systems With Time Delay," ASME JOURNAL OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS, MEASUREMENT, AND CONTROL, Vol. 113, pp. 558-567. Youcef-Toumi, K., and Ito, O., 1990, "A Time Delay Controller for Systems With Unknown Dynamics," ASME JOURNAL OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS, MEASURE- MENT, AND CONTROL, Vol. 112, Youcef-Toumi, K., and Reddy, S., 1992, "Analysis of Linear Time Invariant Systems With Time Delay," ASME JOURNAL OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS, MEASURE- MENT, AND CONTROL, Vol. 114, Youcef-Toumi, K., and Wu, S.-T., 1992, "Input/Output Linearization Using Time Delay Control," ASME JOURNAL OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS, MEASUREMENT, AND CONTROL, Vol. 114, pp. 10-19

Identifying the Independent Inertial Parameter Space of Robot Manipulators

This paper presents a new approach to the problem of finding the minimum number of inertial parameters of robot manipulator dynamic equations of motion. Based upon the energy difference equation, it is equally applica ble to serial link manipulators as well as graph structured manipulators. The method is conceptually simple, compu tationally efficient, and easy to implement. In particular, the manipulator kinematics and the joint positions and velocities are the only inputs to the algorithm. Applica tions to a serial link and a graph structured manipulator are illustrated.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67982/2/10.1177_027836499101000606.pd

Nanostructures Technology, Research, and Applications

Contains reports on twenty-four research projects and a list of publications.Joint Services Electronics Program Grant DAAHO4-95-1-0038Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Semiconductor Research Corporation SA1645-25508PGU.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAHO4-95-1-0564Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/U.S. Navy - Naval Air Systems Command Contract N00019-95-K-0131Suss Advanced Lithography P. O. 51668National Aeronautics and Space Administration Contract NAS8-38249National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NAGW-2003Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/U.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAHO4-951-05643M CorporationDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency/U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Contract N66001-97-1-8909National Science Foundation Graduate FellowshipU.S. Army Research Office Contract DAAHO4-94-G-0377National Science Foundation Contract DMR-940034National Science Foundation Grant DMR 94-00334Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Contract F49620-96-1-0126Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Contract SV630304National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NAG5-5105Los Alamos National Laboratory Contract E57800017-9GSouthwest Research Institute Contract 83832MIT Lincoln Laboratory Advanced Concepts ProgramMIT Lincoln Laboratory Contract BX-655