G. A. Kfoury

Design of a robust nonlinear observer for constrained systems

In control applications, a full knowledge of the state variables is generally required for the computation of the control signals. This often translates into using an observer to estimate the state variables that are not readily available through measurements. The focus of this work is to develop a nonlinear robust observer for constrained systems whose dynamics are governed by a set of highly nonlinear differential-algebraic (D-A) equations. For fairly complicated and nonlinear constraint equations, the substitution method is not feasible to eliminate the superfluous coordinates. Therefore, the D-A form of the equations of motion of the system has to be dealt with in the design of the observer. The current study presents a general procedure for developing a robust nonlinear observer capable of accurately estimating all the state variables of a constrained system, including the superfluous ones. To assess the performance of the proposed observer, the multi-body dynamics of a piston/connecting-rod/crankshaft mechanism for a single cylinder internal combustion engine is considered. The equations of motion account for both the rigid and flexible motions of the crank-slider mechanism. The simulation results illustrate the capability of the proposed observer in accurately estimating all the state variables of the system. They demonstrate the robustness of the observer to modeling uncertainties and external disturbances. Moreover, the estimated state variables are shown to satisfy the nominal constraint equations.

Development of a Robust Nonlinear Observer for a Single-Link Flexible Manipulator

Accurate measurements of all the state variables of a given system are often not available due to the high cost of sensors, the lack of space to mount the transducers or the hostile environment in which the sensors must be located. The purpose of this study was to design a robust sliding mode observer that is capable of accurately estimating the state variables of the system in the presence of disturbances and model uncertainties. It should be emphasized that the proposed observer design can handle state equations expressed in the general form. The performance of the nonlinear observer is assessed herein by examining its capability of predicting the rigid and flexible motions of a compliant beam that is connected to a revolute joint. The simulation results demonstrate the ability of the observer in accurately estimating the state variables of the system in the presence of structured uncertainties and under different initial conditions between the observer and the plant. Moreover, they illustrate the deterioration in the performance of the observer when subjected to unstructured uncertainties of the system. Furthermore, the nonlinear observer was successfully implemented to provide on-line estimates of the state variables for two model-based controllers. The simulation results show minimal deterioration in the closed-loop response of the system stemming from the usage of estimated rather than exact state variables in the computation of the control signals.

Direct Measurement of the Piston-Assembly Friction Force in a Single Cylinder Engine Under Motoring Conditions

Characterization of the lubrication regimes and quantification of the frictional losses are very important factors for the design of durable IC engines with improved fuel economy. Therefore, the current work has focused on the development of a tribology test rig that allows for the direct measurement of the instantaneous piston-assembly friction force under motoring conditions. The test rig was used to examine the effects of oil viscosity and engine speed on both the lubrication regimes and the friction force of the piston-assembly. Furthermore, the experimental data served to generate Stribeck curves for the coefficient of friction at different points in the cycle. Tear-down experiments were conducted to assess the friction contribution of each component in the piston-assembly. The results demonstrated that the magnitude of the friction force decreases with increasing oil grade under both boundary and mixed lubrication regimes. However, it tends to increase with increasing oil viscosity under a hydrodynamic lubrication regime. Moreover, the engine speed above which the hydrodynamic lubrication regime becomes prevalent at the midpoint of the stroke tends to decrease with increasing oil viscosity.Copyright

Solving Military Vehicle Transient Heat Load Issues Using Phase Change Materials

Thermal management systems (TMS) of armored ground vehicle designs are often incapable of sustained heat rejection during high tractive effort conditions and ambient conditions. Latent heat energy storage systems that utilize Phase Change Materials (PCMs) present an effective way of storing thermal energy and offer key advantages such as high-energy storage density, high heat of fusion values, and greater stability in temperature control. Military vehicles frequently undergo high-transient thermal loads and often do not provide adequate cooling for powertrain subsystems.This work outlines an approach to temporarily store excess heat generated by the transmission during high tractive effort situations through the use of a passive PCM retrofit thereby extending the operating time, reducing temperature transients, and limiting overheating.A numerical heat transfer model has been developed based on a conceptual vehicle transmission TMS. The model predicts the transmission fluid temperature response with and without a PCM retrofit. The developed model captures the physics of the phase change processes to predict the transient heat absorption and rejection processes. It will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed candidate implementations and provide input for TMS evaluations.Parametric studies of the heat transfer model have been conducted to establish desirable structural morphologies and PCM thermophysical properties. Key parameters include surface structural characteristics, conduction enhancing material, surface area, and PCM properties such as melt temperature, heat of fusion, and thermal conductivity.To demonstrate proof-of-concept, a passive PCM enclosure has been designed to be integrated between a transmission bell housing and torque converter. This PCM-augmented module will temporarily strategically absorb and release heat from the system at a controlled rate. This allows surging fluid temperatures to be clamped below the maximum effective fluid temperature rating thereby increasing component life, reliability, and performance. This work outlines cooling system boundary conditions, mobility/thermal loads, model details, enclosure design characteristics, potential PCM candidates, design considerations, performance data, cooling system impacts, conclusions, and potential future work.Copyright

Development of a Robust Observer for Constrained Nonlinear Systems

The equations of motion for a constrained multi-body system are usually governed by a set of highly nonlinear differential-algebraic (D-A) equations. For nonlinear complex systems, the substitution method cannot be implemented to eliminate the superfluous coordinates. Thus, the differential-algebraic form of the equations of motion has to be retained. For control purposes, the state variables of the system should be available for the computation of the control signals. The current study presents a general procedure for developing a robust nonlinear observer capable of yielding accurate estimates of the state variables for a complex system whose dynamics are governed by a set of D-A equations. To assess the viability of the proposed approach, the multi-body dynamics of a piston/connecting-rod/crankshaft mechanism for a single cylinder internal combustion engine is considered in this study. The equations of motion account for both the rigid and flexible motions of the crank-slider mechanism. The simulation results demonstrate the capability of the proposed observer in accurately estimating all the state variables of the system including the superfluous ones. They illustrate the robustness of the observer to both structured and unstructured uncertainties. Moreover, they demonstrate that the nominal constraint equations are satisfied by the estimated state variables.Copyright

Computation of the Instantaneous Frictional Losses of Internal Combustion Engine Components

An inverse dynamics scheme, based on a detailed differential-algebraic model of the crank-slider mechanism of a single cylinder internal combustion (IC) engine, is developed for the computation of the instantaneous frictional losses of engine components. The proposed approach requires accurate measurements of the independent and superfluous coordinates of the crank-slider mechanism as well as their time derivatives. This was achieved by implementing a sliding mode observer, previously developed by the authors, to provide the required estimates of the state variables. The aforementioned observer is suitable for use with differential-algebraic nonlinear equations of motion and was shown to be robust to both modeling imprecision and external disturbances. The digital simulation results show the capability of the combined inverse dynamics scheme with the observer in producing good estimates of the instantaneous frictional losses of the various engine components.Copyright

Nonlinear observers for constrained systems

Three procedures for designing robust observers to estimate the state variables of nonlinear constrained systems have been developed in this work. All observers are based on the sliding mode methodology and assume that the number of transducers matches that of the degrees of freedom of the system. The conceptual differences between the proposed observer designs are in the number and selection of the sliding surfaces along with the formulations pertaining to their nominal models. The observers have been applied to estimate the state variables of a crank-slider mechanism of a single cylinder engine. The simulation results demonstrate the capabilities of the observers in accurately estimating the state variables of the system, including the superfluous ones, in the presence of significant structured and unstructured uncertainties. In addition, the results show that the nominal constraint equations are satisfied by the estimated state variables.© 2009 ASME

Enhancement of the Accuracy of the Modified (P–ω) Method Through the Implementation of a Nonlinear Robust Observer

The original version of the (P–ω) method is a model-based approach developed for determining the instantaneous friction torque in internal combustion engines. This scheme requires measurements of the cylinder gas pressure, the engine load torque, the crankshaft angular displacement and its time derivatives. The effects of the higher order dynamics of the crank-slider mechanism on the measured angular motion of the crankshaft have caused the (P–ω) method to yield erroneous results, especially, at high engine speeds. To alleviate this problem, a nonlinear sliding mode observer has been developed herein to accurately estimate the rigid and flexible motions of the piston-assembly/connecting-rod/crankshaft mechanism of a single cylinder engine. The observer has been designed to yield a robust performance in the presence of disturbances and modeling imprecision. The digital simulation results, generated under transient conditions that represent a decrease in the engine speed, have illustrated the rapid convergence of the estimated state variables to the actual ones in the presence of both structured and unstructured uncertainties. Moreover, this study has proven that the use of the estimated rather than the measured angular displacement of the crankshaft and its time derivatives can significantly improve the accuracy of the (P–ω) method in determining the instantaneous engine friction torque. However, the effects of structural deformations of the crank-slider mechanism have rendered the original version of the (P–ω) method to be inapplicable at high engine speeds. This problem has been addressed herein by modifying the formulation of the (P–ω) method in order to account for the first two elastic modes of the crankshaft torsional vibration. The simulation results confirm the good performance of the modified (P–ω) method in determining the instantaneous friction torque at high engine speeds.© 2005 ASME

Development of a Robust Controller and Observer for the Control of a Single-Link Flexible Robotic Manipulator

A fuzzy-sliding mode controller (FSMC) has been developed in this study to control the rigid and flexible motions of a single-link robotic manipulator. Only the angular displacement at the base joint of the beam is assumed to be measured. Therefore, a robust nonlinear observer has been designed, based on the sliding mode methodology, to accurately estimate the state variables in the presence of both structured and unstructured uncertainties. Both the controller and the observer account for the first elastic mode of the beam in their design. The dynamic model, used in assessing the performance of the closed-loop system, considers the first two elastic modes of the beam. The second elastic mode is included in order to investigate the effects of the higher order dynamics on the overall performance of the system. The digital simulations demonstrate the capability of the observer in yielding accurate estimates of the state variables in the presence of modeling inaccuracies. Furthermore, they serve to prove the viability of using the observer to provide on-line estimates of the state variables for the computation of the control signals. The simulation results illustrate robust performances of the controller and the observer in controlling the rigid and flexible motions of the single-link robot in the presence of both structured and unstructured uncertainties.Copyright