Controls and Control Theory Commons^™

The Electric Reel For Soccer Fields, Stephen Taylor

Electrical Engineering

Painting a soccer field consumes too much time. The process of reeling the string after laying out string along the field needs to improve. As a result, my project addresses improvements in how the workers retrieve the string through the production of an electric reel. This electric reel allows the worker to have control of the speed, direction, and on/off state of the device. Direction control allows the user ability to reel and unwind the string. Variable speed allows the user to control how fast the reel unwinds and reels the string. The device gathers string in an orderly manner …

Phase Locked Loop Integrated Circuit, Scott Buchanan, Jonathan Bonello

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Universal Programmable Battery Charger With Optional Battery Management System, Michael Duke Desando

Master's Theses

This report demonstrates improvements made in battery charging and battery management technology through the design of a universal programmable battery charger with optional battery management system attachment. This charger offers improvements in charge efficiency and unique battery charging algorithms to charge a variety of battery chemistries with variety of power requirements. Improvements in efficiency result from a synchronous Buck Controller topology as compared to previous universal chargers that use asynchronous Buck-Boost Converter topologies. This battery charger also surpasses current universal battery chargers by offering different charge modes for different battery chemistries. Charge modes provide the user an option between extending …

Project Labyrinth: Exploration Of Modulating Guitar Signals, Joseph Andrews, Andrew Patterson

Senior Theses

The overall objective of this project is to create a guitar pre-amplifier in the casing of an effects pedal. The pedal must be able to modulate amplitude and pitch. More specifically, the design for this pedal will include floating frequency filtering, phase shifting, and amplitude modulation.

Control System Development And Response Analysis Of An Electronically Actuated Variable-Orifice Nozzle For Agricultural Pesticide Applications, Joe D. Luck, Scott A. Shearer, Michael P. Sama, Santosh K. Pitla

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The goal of this research project was to further the development of an electromechanically controlled variable-orifice nozzle by creating an electronic control system and then evaluating that system based on step and ramp inputs. The control system was developed in a programming environment that combined an electronic data acquisition system and actuator with pressure and flow sensors. A proportional, variable-gain (based on system pressure) control system was developed to adjust nozzle flow rates to meet target application rates. The constraints were to achieve settling time of less than 1.0 s, overshoot of less than 10% of maximum flow (or minimum …

Flow, Spray Pattern, And Droplet Spectra Characteristics Of An Electronically Actuated Variable-Orifice Nozzle, Joe D. Luck, Santosh K. Pitla, Michael P. Sama, Scott A. Shearer

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the flow rate, spray pattern, and droplet spectra characteristics of an actively controlled variable-orifice nozzle at constant carrier pressures. A commercially available variable-orifice nozzle (VariTarget) was modified to allow for direct electromechanical control of the metering stem. The modified system was tested at five carrier pressures ranging from 138 to 414 kPa and five metering stem (and thus orifice) positions. The metering stem position range was chosen because it provided a linear response in flow rate at each carrier pressure. Flow rate testing indicated a turndown ratio of 2.4:1 at …

Development And Operation Of A Mobile Test Facility For Education, Christopher Davis

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The automotive industry saw a large shift towards vehicle electrification after the turn of the century. It became necessary to ensure that new and existing engineers were qualified to design and calibrate these new systems. To ensure this training, Michigan Tech received a grant to develop a curriculum based around vehicle electrification. As part of this agenda, the Michigan Tech Mobile Laboratory was developed to provide hands-on training for professional engineers and technicians in hybrid electric vehicles and vehicle electrification. The Mobile Lab has since then increased the scope of the delivered curriculum to include other automotive areas and even …

Design Of Energy Storage Controls Using Genetic Algorithms For Stochastic Problems, Si Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

A successful power system in military applications (warship, aircraft, armored vehicle etc.) must operate acceptably under a wide range of conditions involving different loading configurations; it must maintain war fighting ability and recover quickly and stably after being damaged. The introduction of energy storage for the power system of an electric warship integrated engineering plant (IEP) may increase the availability and survivability of the electrical power under these conditions. Herein, the problem of energy storage control is addressed in terms of maximizing the average performance. A notional medium-voltage dc system is used as the system model in the study. A …

Self-Balancing Two Wheeled Robot, David Laubli, Thomas Garabedian, Jordan Paul, Nikheel Patel, Michael Redle

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Automation is increasingly becoming a larger part of daily life. From automated telephone calls to machines in manufacturing, robots are generally an effective and efficient way to reduce overhead costs, increase consistency in products and services, and perform tasks that may be hazardous to humans. The successful design and building of a two-wheeled balancing robot demonstrates a knowledge of control systems and sensor interfacing that can translate to real world applications. Helping seniors live on their own, performing dangerous mining work, repeatedly screwing the same piece in an assembly line, are great examples of a controls automation system freeing time …

Average-Value Modeling Of Hysteresis Current Control In Power Electronics, Hanling Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Hysteresis current control has been widely used in power electronics with the advantages of fast dynamic response under parameter, line and load variation and ensured stability. However, a main disadvantage of hysteresis current control is the uncertain and varying switching frequency which makes it difficult to form an average-value model. The changing switching frequency and unspecified switching duty cycle make conventional average-value models based on PWM control difficult to apply directly to converters that are controlled by hysteresis current control.

In this work, a new method for average-value modeling of hysteresis current control in boost converters, three-phase inverters, and brushless …

Identification Of Hydrodynamic Forces Developed By Flapping Fins In A Watercraft Propulsion Flow Field, Erdem Aktosun

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this work, the data analysis of oscillating flapping fins is conducted for mathematical model. Data points of heave and surge force obtained by the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) for different geometrical kinds of flapping fins. The fin undergoes a combination of vertical and angular oscillatory motion, while travelling at constant forward speed. The surge thrust and heave lift are generated by the combined motion of the flapping fins, especially due to the carrier vehicle’s heave and pitch motion will be investigated to acquire system identification with CFD data available while the fin pitching motion is selected as a function …

Preface, Wen-Hsiang Hsieh

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

No abstract provided.

Contour Data Acquisition System For Electric Vehicle Distance Estimation System, Kuew Wai Chew, Chee Ken Leong

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The conventional distance estimation system only uses a constant speed and a constant level of road elevation to estimate the driving range of a vehicle. This technique leads to low prediction accuracy. In this project, a new estimation technique namely the Contour Positioning System (CPS) for an electric vehicle is proposed. The CPS provides a more reliable estimation of the electric vehicle battery energy usage by taking into consideration additional factors such as road elevation and regenerative braking energy. In order to perform the CPS calculation, first and foremost, the elevation profile of the selected destination must be determined. In …

Periodic Damage Evaluation Of Aging Offshore Jackets Based On Continuous Dynamic Tests, Fu-Shun Liu, Hong-Chao Lu, Wei-Ying Wang, Dong-Ping Yang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This study proposes a new method for evaluating the damage of aging offshore platforms, based on dynamic tests. The proposed method involves a new damage indicator for reducing the effects of occurred damages accumulated before the first measurement. One theoretical improvement is that the requirement of using the stiffness matrix of the finite element model to replace that of the measured model can be ignored in calculating the modal strain energy of the measured model. The other development is that the proposed approach can be used for providing reasonable evaluations of damages that occurred between two adjacent dynamic tests. This …

Development Of An Intelligent Energy Saving Heat Pump For Water Heater With Fuzzy Logic Controller, Cong-Hui Huang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

There is a growing awareness of the importance of using clean and environmentally friendly sources of energy. This paper presents the development of an intelligent energy saving heat pump for a water heater with a fuzzy logic controller that analyzes the heating efficiency of the heat pump heater. The fuzzy logic controller is employed for developing a heating algorithm to raise the efficiency of the heat pump heater and suppress unnecessary heating at high temperatures. Experimental results show that our heat pump heater produces an energy saving of 60% of total energy input, compared to the 23% for a gas …

A Study On Optimization Of Ship Hull Form Based On Neuro-Response Surface Method (Nrsm), Soon-Sub Lee, Jae-Chul Lee, Sung-Chul Shin, Soo-Young Kim, Hyun-Sik Yoon

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Building large and eco-friendly ships has become a clear trend in the ship building industry. Research to minimize ship resistance has actively been investigated for energy savings and environmental protection. However, optimization of the full geometry, while taking into account the hydrodynamic performance is difficult because extensive time is needed to calculate the performance factors, such as the resistance and propulsion. Hence we suggest an optimal design framework based on the neuro-response surface method (NRSM) for optimal shape design in consideration of hydrodynamic performance. The optimization algorithm of the constructed framework consists of the back-propagation neural network (BPN) and the …

Research On Sealing Performance Of Hydrostatic Pressure Mechanical Seal, Wei-Bing Zhu, He-Shun Wang, Sheng-Ren Zhou

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The hydrostatic pressure mechanical seal has many advantages, and it can be used in rotating machines with lower speed. Based on the externally pressurized stable gas lubrication theory, the control equation of end face flow field for hydrostatic pressure mechanical seal with orifice compensation was established. The functional extremum algorithm and the finite element method were used to solve this equation. The effects of gas film thickness, air supply pressure, throttle orifice number and diameter, on face opening force and gas film stiffness were discussed in detail. The results show that the opening force decreases with the widening of face …

Performance Evaluation Of Three Types Of Passive Micromixer With Convergent-Divergent Sinusoidal Walls, Arshad Afzal, Kwang-Yong Kim

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

A passive split-and-recombination micromixer with convergent-divergent channel walls of sinusoidal variation has been investigated using numerical simulations. With water and ethanol as working fluids, the analysis was performed using Navier-Stokes equations with convection-diffusion model in a Reynolds number range, 10  Re  70. Performances of three configurations with different split-and-recombination arrangements were evaluated in terms of mixing index and pressure drop. A parametric study was also conducted with two geometrical parameters, i.e., the ratios of throat-width to diameter of circular wall and diameter of circular wall to amplitude. The results showed a significant dependence of the mixing performance on …

Design Of A New Electromagnetic Valve With A Hybrid Pm/Em Actuator In Si Engines, Ly Vinh Dat, Yaojung Shiao

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Numerous devices have been developed for controlling valve timings in SI engines. Among them, the electromagnetic valve train (EMV) actuator can fully control valve timings to improve fuel consumption and emission. In addition, an EMV with a permanent-magnet and electromagnetic-coil (PM/EM) hybrid actuator has several advantages of control, energy consumption, and time response compared over conventional EMVs. This paper proposes a novel EMV with a PM/EM hybrid actuator that differs considerably from existing EMVs. Finite element analysis was used for analyzing the EMV design. The optimization was based on criteria that ensured the EMV to satisfy holding forces in closed …

Effective Orifice Area Of A Newly Developed Polyurethane Aortic Valve: Manufacturing And Evaluation, Wu-Chiao Shih, Ha-Hai Vu, Cheung-Hwa Hsu, Kai-Wen Yang, Yaw-Hong Kang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

An optimal design for a polyurethane (PU) aortic valve was developed in a previous study. The current study investigated an approach for manufacturing PU aortic valves, evaluating the effective orifice areas (EOAs) of the prototypes. Two manufacturing approaches, assembly and single-piece forming methods, were developed. In the assembly method, support frames and valve leaflets were manufactured separately and then glued together by using an adhesive substance. By contrast, in the single-piece forming method, two main components of the valve were fabricated simultaneously by using a molding technique. This study established an experimental loop that mimics natural circulation from the left …