Smooth trajectory planning for a parallel manipulator with joint friction and jerk constraints

In order to achieve better tracking accuracy effectively, a new smooth and near time-optimal trajectory planning approach is proposed for a parallel manipulator subject to kinematic and dynamic constraints. The complete dynamic model is constructed with consideration of all joint frictions. The presented planning problem can be solved efficiently by formulating a new limitation curve for dynamic constraints and a reduced form for jerk constraints. The motion trajectory is planned with quartic and quintic polynomial splines in Cartesian space and septuple polynomial splines in joint space. Experimental results show that smaller tracking error can be obtained. The developed method can be applied to any robots with analytical inverse kinematic and dynamic solutions.     

An automatic docking method for large-scale sections based on real-time pose measuring and assembly deviation control

Aiming at the problem of poor accuracy consistency of large sections’ docking assembly, an automatic docking method using multiple laser trackers to measure the position and posture of the docking sections in real time was proposed. In the solution of the pose of the docking section, real-time pose measurement of the docking section was realized by establishing a global coordinate system and a coordinate fusion method of three or more laser trackers. In the automatic control of the docking process, the real-time communication protocol and the circular negative feedback control strategy of measurement-adjustment-re-measurement are adopted, and the fully-automated docking of large sections is realized. Finally, an experimental verification system was set up, and the docking of the large-scale section reduction models was realized under the requirements of docking accuracy, and the effectiveness of the automatic docking scheme was successfully verified.     

A calibration method of external parameters of 2D laser in rotary 3D scanning

Aiming at the problem of external parameter calibration in the combined rotating three-dimensional (3D) scanning process of laser radar and turntable, a fast 3D data scanning and accurate equipment calibration method suitable for industrial application scenarios is proposed. The coordinates of the center of the circle in the laser radar coordinate system are obtained by fitting the coordinates of the center of the circle with the scanning arc. Through the standard size and rotation angle of the target ball, the coordinates of the ball center in the turntable coordinate system are obtained. The rotation parameter R and the translation parameter T of the minimum value of the data set conversion error function in the two coordinate systems are calculated. The experimental results show that the error between the converted data and the actual data is within 0.1 mm, which meets the actual work requirements. This calibration method has the advantages of high accuracy and strong robustness.     

An asymmetrically substituted dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]pyrrole organic small-molecule hole-transporting material for high-performance perovskite solar cells

Hole-transporting materials play a vital role in terms of the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]pyrrole (DTP), an S,N-heterocyclic building block, has been proved to be desirable for molecular design of hole-transporting materials in PSCs. We developed an asymmetrically substituted DTP small-molecule (JW12) and a reference compound (JW11). The asymmetrical structure of JW12 leads to different absorption properties and electron distribution. The device in a planar n-i-p architecture using JW12 shows a much higher PCE (18.07%) than that based on JW11 (15.46%), which is also better than the device based on spiro-OMeTAD (17.47%). We hope our research can provide a new perspective in molecular design of organic HTMs for perovskite solar cells.     

单晶铜塑性变形的二维离散位错动力学模拟研究

针对亚微米尺度晶体元器件在加工和服役中出现的反常力学行为和动态变形等问题,基于离散位错动力学理论建立了单晶铜塑性变形过程的二维离散位错动力学模型。该模型考虑外加载荷、位错间相互力和自由表面镜像力对位错的作用机制,引入了截断位错速度准则。与微压缩实验对比验证了模型的正确性,并且能够描述力加载描述的位错雪崩现象。应用该模型分析了不同加载方式和应变率下位错演化及力学行为,结果表明:当外部约束为力加载和位移加载时,应力应变曲线分别呈现出台阶状的应变突增和锯齿状的应力陡降,位错雪崩效应的内在机制则分别归结为位错速度的随机性和位错源开动的间歇性;应变率在102～4×104 s?1范围内,单晶铜屈服应力的应变率敏感性发生改变,位错演化特征由单滑移转变为多滑移面激活的均匀变形,位错增殖逐渐代替位错源激活作为流动应力的主导机制。      

Thermal performance analysis of fin-and-tube heat exchanger circuit in supercritical hydrogen refrigeration cycle system

A circuit arrangement model for air-to-refrigerant fin-and-tube heat exchanger with supercritical hydrogen as the refrigerant is developed. The mass, momentum and energy balance equations in the circuit arrangement model are solved by the effectiveness-NTC method. The effects of gravity force, flow state and inhibit heat conduction on the heat transfer in the supercritical hydrogen refrigerant heat exchanger are investigated. Results show that the flow arrangement placed at a location where the fluid flows from the high place to the low one can achieve a better heat heat transfer performance. The form of counter-flow has a better heat transfer performance compared to that of parallel-flow. The heat transfer performance in the six-in-three-out arrangement is the better compared to that of three-in-three-out arrangement. Thus, the structure of the six-in-three-out with counter-flow from high to low one is recommend to achieve a better heat transfer performance in the supercritical hydrogen refrigerant heat exchanger.     

A novel robot co-worker system for paint factories without the need of existing robotic infrastructure

This paper presents a human–robot co-working system to be applied to industrial tasks such as the production line of a paint factory. The aim is to optimize the picking task with respect to manual operation in a paint factory. The use of an agile autonomous robot co-worker reduces the time in the picking process of materials, and the reduction of the exposure time to raw materials of the worker improves the human safety. Moreover, the process supervision is also improved thanks to a better traceability of the whole process. The whole system consists of a manufacturing process management system, an autonomous navigation system, and a people detection and tracking system. The localization module does not require the installation of reflectors or visual markers for robot operation, significantly simplifying the system deployment in a factory. The robot is able to respond to changing environmental conditions such as people, moving forklifts or unmapped static obstacles like pallets or boxes. The system is not tied to specific manufacturing orders. It is fully integrated with the manufacturing process management system and it can process all possible orders as long as their components are placed into the warehouse. Real experiments to validate the system have been performed in a paint factory by a real holonomic platform and a worker. The results are promising from the evaluation of performance indicators such as exposure time of the worker to raw materials, automation of the process, robust and safe navigation, and the assessment of the end-user.     

Finite Element Analysis of Osteocytes Mechanosensitivity Under Simulated Microgravity

It was found that the mechanosensitivity of osteocytes could be altered under simulated microgravity. However, how the mechanical stimuli as the biomechanical origins cause the bioresponse in osteocytes under microgravity is unclear yet. Computational studies may help us to explore the mechanical deformation changes of osteocytes under microgravity. Here in this paper, we intend to use the computational simulation to investigate the mechanical behavior of osteocytes under simulated microgravity. In order to obtain the shape information of osteocytes, the biological experiment was conducted under simulated microgravity prior to the numerical simulation The cells were rotated by a clinostat for 6 hours or 5 days and fixed, the cytoskeleton and the nucleus were immunofluorescence stained and scanned, and the cell shape and the fluorescent intensity were measured from fluorescent images to get the dimension information of osteocytes The 3D finite element (FE) cell models were then established based on the scanned image stacks. Several components such as the actin cortex, the cytoplasm, the nucleus, the cytoskeleton of F-actin and microtubules were considered in the model. The cell models in both 6 hours and 5 days groups were then imposed by three magnitudes (0.5, 10 and 15 Pa) of simulating fluid shear stress, with cell total displacement and the internal discrete components deformation calculated. The results showed that under the simulated microgravity: (1) the nuclear area and height statistically significantly increased, which made the ratio of membrane-cortex height to nucleus height statistically significantly decreased; (2) the fluid shear stress-induced maximum displacements and average displacements in the whole cell decreased, with the deformation decreasing amplitude was largest when exposed to 1.5Pa of fluid shear stress; (3) the fluid shear stress-induced deformation of cell membrane-cortex and cytoskeleton decreased, while the fluid shear stress-induced deformation of nucleus increased. The results suggested the mechanical behavior of whole osteocyte cell body was suppressed by simulated microgravity, and this decrement was enlarged with either the increasing amplitude of fluid shear stress or the duration of simulated microgravity. What’s more, the mechanical behavior of membrane-cortex and cytoskeleton was suppressed by the simulated microgravity, which indicated the mechanotransduction process in the cell body may be further inhibited. On the contrary, the cell nucleus deformation increased under simulated microgravity, which may be related to either the decreased amount of cytoskeleton or the increased volume occupied proportion of nucleus in whole cell under the simulated microgravity. The numerical results supported our previous biological experiments, and showed particularly affected cellular components under the simulated microgravity. The computational study here may help us to better understand the mechanism of mechanosensitivity changes in osteocytes under simulated microgravity, and further to explore the mechanism of the bone loss in space flight.     

A wireless reconfigurable modular manipulator and its control system

As the core of Industry 4.0, the intelligent manufacturing technology requires robotic arms to be networked, customized and flexible. Traditional industrial robots have a large number of electrical cables. The end effectors cannot be easily replaced. In this paper, a reconfigurable modular arm with quick replacement of tools and its neural adaptive control system are developed. It consists of an anthropomorphic 7 degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulator, a reconfigurable connection mechanism (RCM) and a wireless controller. Based on the modular design ideas, each joint is integrated with a motor, a harmonic reducer, two encoders and a servo controller to achieve high torque capacity but keep light weight. Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires and steel spheres are used in the RCM to provide mechanical and electrical connections between the arm and the end effector for rapid replacement. The central controller communicates with each servo controller through wireless communication links. Furthermore, the neural adaptive control method compensating position and force tracking errors caused by the model uncertainty and time delay is addressed. Finally, the prototype is fabricated and experiments are carried out. The developed arm has high position accuracy, force control accuracy, and reliable reconfigurable capability.     

纳米抛光碳化硅压力对相变影响的分子动力学模拟

为了研究纳米抛光碳化硅时压力变化对表面的影响规律,建立了金刚石磨粒纳米抛光碳化硅的分子动力学模型,数值模拟了纳米尺度下的碳化硅抛光过程,具体分析了抛光压力线性增大过程中的配位数为1至6的原子数量的变化规律,揭示了线性改变抛光压力对被加工表面相变的影响规律,仿真结果表明:压力是诱导碳化硅相变的主要因素,当抛光压力增大时,发生相变的原子数增多,碳化硅的相变深度增加,其中配位数为1、2和4的原子数减少,配位数为3、5和6的原子数增多。