Ya Wang

A Passive Wireless Temperature Sensor for Harsh Environment Applications

High temperature sensors capable of operating in harsh environments are needed in order to prevent disasters caused by structural or system functional failures due to increasing temperatures. Most existing temperature sensors do not satisfy the needs because they require either physical contact or a battery power supply for signal communication, and furthermore, neither of them can withstand high temperatures nor rotating applications. This paper presents a novel passive wireless temperature sensor, suitable for working in harsh environments for high temperature rotating component monitoring. A completely passive LC resonant telemetry scheme, relying on a frequency variation output, which has been applied successfully in pressure, humidity and chemical measurement, is integrated with a unique high-k temperature sensitive ceramic material, in order to measure the temperatures without contacts, active elements, or power supplies within the sensor. In this paper, the high temperature sensor design and performance analysis are conducted based on mechanical and electrical modeling, in order to maximize the sensing distance, the Q factor and the sensitivity. In the end, the sensor prototype is fabricated and calibrated successfully up to 235°C, so that the concept of temperature sensing through passive wireless communication is proved.

A survey of control strategies for simultaneous vibration suppression and energy harvesting via piezoceramics

This article presents a summary of passive, semipassive, semiactive, and active control methods for schemes using harvested energy as the main source of energy to suppress vibrations via piezoelectric materials. This concept grew out of the fact that energy dissipation effects resulting from energy harvesting can cause structural damping. First, the existing equivalent electromechanical modeling methods are reviewed for vibration-based energy harvesters using piezoelectric transducers. Modeling of base excitation cantilever beam ranges from lumped to distributed parameter formulations. The commonly used electrical power conditioning circuits and their optimization are also summarized and discussed. The energy dissipation from harvesting induces structural damping, and this leads to the concept of purely passive shunt damping. This article reviews the literature on vibration control laws along the lines of purely passive, semipassive, semiactive, and active control. The classification of pervious results is built on whether external power is supplied to the piezoelectric transducers. The focus is placed on recent articles investigating semipassive and semiactive control strategies derived from synchronized switching damping. However, whether or not the harvested energy is large enough to satisfy a vibration suppression requirement has become an important topic of research but has not yet specifically been addressed in previous studies. Hence, this survey also reviews the possible control methods aiming for less control energy consumption and addresses the potential application for simultaneous vibration control and energy harvesting.

Comparison of Control Laws for Vibration Suppression Based on Energy Consumption

The research study presented here examines four conventional vibration suppression control laws and four hybrid modifications of these laws using a switching method. The motivation is to determine which of these eight controllers results in the least amount of power flow to the actuator to have the same settling time under free vibrations. The reason to look at reduced energy controllers is the idea that in some applications, very little energy is available for control, yet passive and semi-active methods cannot meet performance demands. In particular, the eventual goal is to reduce transient vibrations of smart structures using energy obtained from harvesting and/or low-power storage devices (batteries or super capacitors), as often desirable in aerospace systems. The four conventional active control systems compared in this study are Positive Position Feedback (PPF) control, Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control, non-linear control, and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) controls. A hybrid version of each controller is obtained by implementing a bang-bang control law (on-off control). The bang-bang control algorithm switches the control voltage between an external voltage supply and the feedback signal provided by the PPF, PID, non-linear, or LQR controllers. The purpose of combining the bang-bang control law with the aforementioned controllers is to reduce the power requirement for vibration suppression by providing an active controller with limited voltage input. Free vibrations of a thin cantilevered beam with a piezoceramic transducer are controlled by these eight controllers with a focus on the fundamental transverse vibration mode. Experimental results exhibit that the system with hybrid bang-bang-non-linear controller requires 67.3% less power than its conventional version. The hybrid versions require significantly less power flow compared to their conventional counterparts for the PPF, PID, and LQR controllers as well. Experiments also reveal the presence of substantial piezoelectric non-linearities in the transducer. The voltage-dependent behavior of the electromechanical coupling coefficient is identified empirically and represented by a curve-fit expression. A real-time adaptive control algorithm is developed to account for the voltage-dependent behavior of the coupling coefficient, enabling good agreement between the simulation and experimental results.

Simultaneous energy harvesting and gust alleviation for a multifunctional composite wing spar using reduced energy control via piezoceramics

This article examines the concept and design of a multifunctional composite sandwich structure for simultaneous energy harvesting and vibration control. The intention is to design a composite wing spar for a small unmanned aerial vehicle which is able to harvest energy itself from ambient vibrations during normal flight along with available sunlight. If the wing experiences any strong wind gust, it will sense the increased vibration levels and provide vibration control to maintain its stability. The proposed multifunctional composite wing spar integrates a flexible solar cell array, piezoelectric wafers, a thin film battery, and an electronic module into a composite sandwich structure. The piezoelectric wafers act as sensors, actuators, and harvesters. The basic design factors are discussed for a beam-like multifunctional wing spar with energy harvesting, strain sensing, and self-controlling functions. The configurations, locations, and operating modes of piezoelectric transducers are also discussed for optimal power generation. The equivalent electromechanical representations of a multifunctional wing spar is derived theoretically and simulated numerically. Special attention is given to the self-contained gust alleviation with the goal of using available energy harvested from ambient vibrations. A reduced energy control law is implemented to reduce the actuation energy and the dissipated heat. This law integrates saturation control with a positive strain feedback controller and is represented by a positive feedback operation amplifier and a voltage buffer operation amplifier for each mode. This study builds off of our previous research and holds promise for improving unmanned aerial vehicle performance in wind gusts. Here, we also include, but not use, a flexible solar panel in our modeling.

Experimental Validation for a Multifunctional Wing Spar With Sensing, Harvesting, and Gust Alleviation Capabilities

This paper experimentally examines a multifunctional gust alleviation system and holds promise for improving small unmanned aerial vehicles performance in wind gusts. The designed multifunctional wing spar is able to harvest energy itself from the normal vibrations during flight. If the wing experiences any strong wind gust, it will provide vibration control to maintain its stability. The proposed wing spar carries on the functions of energy harvesting, strain sensing, and gust alleviation via piezoelectric materials. A closed form electromechanical cantilever multifunctional beam model is developed, which captures the basics of piezoelectric constitute equations using Euler-Lagrange equations. An enhanced two mode reduced energy control (REC) law is developed to saturate a positive strain feedback (PSF) control law, and therefore decrease energy consumption but maintains the same gust alleviation performance. An equivalent circuit model is also developed based on the distributed parameter method to represent a multifunctional gust alleviation system using harvested energy. Experimental results show that compared to conventional PSF control law, the REC decreases voltage supply from ±20 to ±4 V, uses 76% less energy whereas maintaining the same performance. Experimental results also show that it is feasible to alleviate wind gust disturbance using harvested power from ambient vibrations, but requires the harvesting time to be 0.42 times longer than the wind gust duration.

Autonomous Air Duct Cleaning Robot System

This paper presents a new type of autonomous air duct cleaning robot system, which consists of three devices: the monitor and control device, the remote robot and the dust collection device. The control principle and structure design of the proposed robot system are introduced. The guiding device is proposed and designed to ensure the remote robot to move in straight route and turn automatically at corner. The control mechanisms of the remote robot and the rotating brush device are described in detail. In this paper, the 3D model of the remote robot is created and the assembly analysis is accomplished using Pro/E. Finally, a prototype of the rotating brush device is made manually to test the cleaning effect of the proposed robot system.

Piezoelectric stack energy harvesting with a force amplification frame: Modeling and experiment

This article presents the modeling and experimental validation of a piezoelectric stack energy harvester with a flexure-free convex force amplification frame to convert walking force into electricity. Compared to a stand-alone piezoelectric stack, experiments show an 8 times greater voltage output and a 112 times greater power output of such an energy harvester. A finite element method is used to provide a more accurate electromechanical model using Hamilton’s principle and the piezoelectric constitutive equations. Simulation results from such a finite element method agree with the single-degree-of-freedom model. Experimental measurement shows the percentage errors of the output power are of 3.53% for the finite element method and 8.04% for the single-degree-of-freedom model of the piezoelectric stack energy harvester.

Simultaneous Energy Harvesting and Gust Alleviation for a Multifunctional Wing Spar Using Reduced Energy Control Laws via Piezoceramics

The increasing need for lightweight structures in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications raise issues involving gust alleviation. Here we examine the gust alleviation problem using a self-sensing, self-charging, and self-actuating structure. The basic idea is that the wing itself is able to harvest and store energy from the normal vibrations during flight along with any available sunlight. If the wing experiences any strong, unexpected wind gust, it will sense the increased vibration levels and provide vibration control to maintain its stability. In this paper, a multifunctional wing spar is designed, which integrates a flexible solar cell array, piezoceramic wafers, a thin film battery and an electronics module into a composite structure. This multifunctional wing spar therefore carries on the functions of energy harvesting and storage, as well as the functions of gust alleviation via piezoelectric materials. The piezoceramic wafers act as sensors, actuators, and harvesters. The global modulus and stiffness of this multifunctional wing spar are estimated using both the rule of mixtures and the cross section transformation method. These values are then used in an Euler-Bernoulli cantilever beam model of the multifunctional spar. The first two dominant modes are predicted analytically for the distributed parameter model. The finite element method is employed to confirm the analytical eigenvalues estimation. Special attention is given to the self-contained gust alleviation with the goal of using harvested energy. The gust signals are generated using a Gaussian white noise source n (t) ∼ N (0,1) fed into a linear filter, with the required intensity, scale lengths, and power spectral density (PSD) function for the given flight velocity and height. The Dryden PSD function is implemented for atmospheric turbulence modeling. The recently developed reduced energy control law is combined with a positive strain feedback controller to minimize the actuation energy and the dissipated heat energy. Positive feedback operation amplifiers (op-amps) and voltage buffer op-amps are implemented for two dominant mode gust disturbance controls. This work builds off of our previous research in self-charging structures and holds promise for improving UAV performance in wind gust alleviation.Copyright

MOBILITY AND GEOMETRICAL ANALYSIS OF A TWO ACTUATED SPOKE WHEEL ROBOT MODELED AS A MECHANISM WITH VARIABLE TOPOLOGY

In this paper, the mobility and geometrical analysis of a novel mobile robot that utilizes two actuated spoke wheels is presented. Intelligent Mobility Platform with Active Spoke System (IMPASS) is a wheel-leg hybrid robot that can walk in unstructured environments by stretching in or out three independently actuated spokes of each wheel. First, the unique locomotion scheme of IMPASS is introduced and the definitions of the coordinate systems are developed to describe the kinematic configurations. Since this robot is capable of utilizing its metamorphic configurations to implement different types of motion, its topology structures are classified into different groups based on the cases of ground contact points. For each contact point case, the mobility analysis is performed using the conventional Grubler and Kutzbach criterion. However, as for the cases in which the structure is overconstrained, the Modified Grubler and Kutzbach criterion based on reciprocal screws are implemented to obtain the correct number of degrees of freedom. Line geometry is adopted to assist in the process. Additionally, the geometrical constraint equations of the robot are derived. The results in this work lay the foundation of the future research on inverse and forward kinematics, instantaneous kinematics, dynamics analysis and motion planning of this unique locomotion robot.Copyright

Three-Dimensional Kinematic Analysis of a Two Actuated Spoke Wheel Robot Based on Its Equivalency to a Serial Manipulator

In this paper, the inverse and forward kinematics of a novel mobile robot that utilizes two actuated spoke wheels is presented. Intelligent Mobility Platform with Active Spoke System (IMPASS) is a wheel-leg hybrid robot that can walk in unstructured environments by stretching in or out three independently actuated spokes of each wheel. First, the unique locomotion scheme of IMPASS is introduced. Then the configuration of the robot when each of its two spoke wheels has one spoke in contact with the ground is modeled as a two-branch parallel mechanism with spherical and prismatic joints. An equivalent serial manipulator of the 2-SP mechanism with the same degrees of freedom is proposed to solve for the inverse and forward kinematic problems. The relationship between the physical limits of the stroke of the spokes (effective spoke length) and the limits of its equivalent degree of freedom is established. This approach can also be expanded to deal with the forward and inverse kinematics of other configurations which has more than two ground contact points. Several examples are used to illustrate the method. The results obtained will be used in the future research on the motion planning of IMPASS walking in unstructured environment.Copyright