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Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2020

Mechanical Engineering

Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Microparticle Propulsion For In Vivo Navigation, Louis Rogowski Dec 2020

Microparticle Propulsion For In Vivo Navigation, Louis Rogowski

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

Microscale propulsion impacts a diverse array of fields, with simplistic microrobots allowing for novel innovations in microscale surgery and drug delivery. Propulsion at the microscale is constrained by physics, with time-reversal and geometric symmetries limiting available propulsion mechanisms. However, certain fluid environments and surface coatings allow for the propulsion of microparticles through externally applied magnetic fields. Presented here is a detailed analysis of microparticles propelling using spontaneous symmetry breaking, flagella surface coatings, and multi-modal actuation mechanisms. Spontaneous symmetry breaking in nonlinearly viscoelastic fluids is presented for the first time in literature, with two equal and opposite propulsion states existing along …


Wireless Wearable System For The Assessment Of Gait, Abdallah Jabr Aug 2020

Wireless Wearable System For The Assessment Of Gait, Abdallah Jabr

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

This work investigates the development and use of a wireless wearable system for the assessment of gait. The system proposed consists of a sensor module that is attached to the foot. The sensor proposed is an inertial measurement unit, often abbreviated as IMU - a 9-axis System in Package (SiP) including a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, and a 3-axis magnetometer, as well as a fusion engine for signal processing. While the focus of this work is on evaluating gait metrics, the performance of the proposed IMU in evaluating orientation is quantified. In doing this work, we try to address …


Application Of Optimal Switching Using Adaptive Dynamic Programming In Power Electronics, Ataollah Gogani Khiabani May 2020

Application Of Optimal Switching Using Adaptive Dynamic Programming In Power Electronics, Ataollah Gogani Khiabani

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, optimal switching in switched systems using adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) is presented. Two applications in power electronics, namely single-phase inverter control and permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) control are studied using ADP. In both applications, the objective of the control problem is to design an optimal switching controller, which is also relatively robust to parameter uncertainties and disturbances in the system. An inverter is used to convert the direct current (DC) voltage to an alternating current (AC) voltage. The control scheme of the single-phase inverter uses a single function approximator, called critic, to evaluate the optimal cost …


Control And Locomotion Of Inertially And Magnetically Actuated Multi-Scale Robotic Systems, Ehab Al Khatib May 2020

Control And Locomotion Of Inertially And Magnetically Actuated Multi-Scale Robotic Systems, Ehab Al Khatib

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

In this research, two actuation systems were introduced, inertial and magnetic actuation. In the inertial actuation, the robot used the transfer of momentum to navigate, and this momentum could be generated by spinning masses and wheels. Recent studies in our System Laboratory proved that a wide range of inertially actuated locomotion systems could be generated. This can be achieved by using a family tree approach, starting from a very simple system, and progressively evolving it to more complex ones. The motion diversity of these robots inspired us to extend their locomotion from a macro scale to millimeter and micro scales. …