A. L. Kulasekera

An Intelligent Control System for an Electrically Power Assisted Cycle (EPAC)

This paper is focused on proposing an enhanced controller for a hybrid drive mechanism in an Electrically Power Assisted Cycle (EPAC) to improve the battery energy utilization while maintaining the rider’s physical comfort. A real time data acquisition system was set up on a conventional bicycle using sensors and interfacing modules to verify the operating parameters. A fuzzy logic based novel control algorithm was developed upon the acquired data, to overcome the limitations in proportional assist control aided EPACs. The fuzzy controller was implemented using a novel ‘iControl’ algorithm. The developed control algorithm was installed on the newly developed EPAC and practically implemented. The developed algorithm showed the capability to improve range via better energy utilization and maintain rider comfort at the same time.

Modelling of an innovative rail conveyor system

Belt conveyors are regarded as the most common material handling systems in the modern world due to their ability to handle a vast range of bulk materials. Modern belt conveyors are used in a wide range of industries ranging from food manufacturing to power generation. Although belt conveyors have been around for centuries, their principle structure have been unchanged. In this paper a novel type of conveyor system is taken into account and a mathematical model that allows the analysis of the dynamic states of the proposed belt conveyor is presented. The novel conveyor system identified as the rail conveyor implements a cart based propagation technique abandoning the traditional idlers. The simulation model is conceived by adopting a finite number of elements consisting of springs, masses, and dampers for various forces existing in the belt and other structures of the rail conveyor. Each rheological model comprised of elements described later in this paper are formulated to characterize innate qualities such as viscoelastic behavior of the belt and resistance forces experienced by the carts in the rail conveyor system.

A novel reconfigurable supporting structure for aircraft maintenance applications

Modern aerospace industries are continuously seeking novel technological solutions to survive in a highly volatile marketplace. The aerospace industry faces a number of difficulties such as minimizing cost, meeting challenging deadlines while maintaining safety. Currently, large volume, fixed position, dedicated supporting structures are used by the industry to accomplish assembly, maintenance and repair requirements. Manufacture of such dedicated supporting structures are expensive, difficult to use with different aircraft sizes, require long manufacturing lead times backed by a skilled workforce, and occupy large floor space during use. As a solution to above issues, there is a need for affordable, robust, and most importantly, reconfigurable aircraft supporting structures. These supporting structures should be reusable so that, it enhances the operational flexibility and reduces development cost. Reconfigurable supporting structures also provide easy system expandability, rapid response to production changes and considerable reduction to setup time. This research investigates required characteristics of such supporting structures for aerospace applications. Some predominant designs are highlighted from the literature which are based on nut and bolt mechanisms that are time consuming to setup and are vibratory unstable. The proposed design focuses on eliminating the nut and bolt joints to minimize the assembly and disassembly time. Hence the proposed design is novel “quick clamping” design for star joint mechanisms for use in reconfigurable supporting structures. The prototype is developed using 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) software and is manufactured using widely available manufacturing processes.

Demand Side Management for Microgrids through Smart Meters

Microgrid is a small scale power system consisting of distributed small power facilities such as solar power, wind power and micro-turbines. The microgrid has been researched and encouraged actively in many countries, because of some merits such as an eco-friendly system, good quality power supply and energy security. Microgrid power generation satisfies the power requirement of considerable number of consumers during the islanded operation. During this off grid time of operation a Demand Side Management (DSM) system can be used for better power distribution among the consumers. DSM promotes the efficient usage of power, while focusing on the network stability and reliability. Because it monitors the real time power consumption of users and automatically distribute the excess power of the system while controlling the power usage of the users to keep the network stability. The authors have developed few smart meter units, robust communication system and a main server to help to transmit the real time information to the consumer as well as to the main control unit which runs the DSM program.