Actuator gains for a toothless permanent-magnet self-bearing motor

Permanent-magnet self-bearing motors provide independent bearing and motoring functionality in a single magnetic actuator. Typically, self-bearing motor designs use toothed stators to provide minimum reluctance flux paths that create the magnetic bearing forces necessary to support the rotor. These toothed designs can have significant cogging torque, rendering them ineffective for smooth torque applications such as those found in aerospace. A toothless permanent-magnet self-bearing motor can provide smooth torque production and adequate bearing force for low-gravity environments. Characterization of the open-loop gains for this actuator is necessary for linear controller development. In this paper simple algebraic equations are derived for the motoring and bearing current gains, and an analytical method is presented for computing the negative stiffness. The analytical method solves the Dirichlet boundary value problem (BVP) in the eccentric annulus for the magnetomotive force (MMF) in the air gap subject to harmonic boundary conditions. A conformal transformation to bipolar coordinates is used, yielding a BVP that is solvable by separation of variables. Expressions for the flux density, Maxwell force on the rotor, and the negative stiffness in terms of the MMF are presented. A sample problem is presented that illustrates the flux distribution in the air gap and the operating principals of this actuator type     

Analytic calculation of axial-flux permanent-magnet motor torque

It is proved that fast semi-analytic methods can be applied to perform the three-dimensional design calculation of axial-flux permanent magnet machines successfully. The analytic calculation can be summarised in the following three steps: first, each axial-flux permanent-magnet machine pole pair - or several pole pairs in the case of fractional slot windings - is divided on the airgap surface radially into sectors-of-rings, which then form the airgap surfaces of elementary machines. Secondly, the behaviour of each elementary machine is calculated individually assuming a two-dimensional flux problem. Thirdly, the machine properties are found by summing the results given by all the elementary machines and all pole pairs of the machine.     

Development and control of a prototype permanent-magnet DC linear motor

Most advanced manufacturing processes require precise linear-position control for material transfer, packaging and assembly. To achieve precise linear motion, most of these high-performance manufacturing machines use rotary motors and rotary-to-linear couplers. Although this method is widely used, it has the disadvantages of low accuracy, complex mechanical adjustments, high cost and low reliability. A prototype permanent-magnet DC linear motor that is used as a direct-linear drive for position-control applications is described. Experimental investigation of the motion system indicates that the constructed prototype has response with good accuracy     

Microfluidic system for planar patch clamp electrode arrays

We present a microfluidic system integrated with disposable cell interface partitions for simultaneous patch clamp recordings. Glass-supported poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) partitions, having a 2 microm air-blown aperture, were reversibly sealed to a microfluidic system including PDMS channels with isolation valves and microfabricated Ag/AgCl electrodes. Gigaseal recordings from RBL-1 cells were obtained with a 24% success rate. Simultaneous whole cell recordings from valve-isolated electrodes were obtained.     

High-density flexible interconnect for two-dimensional ultrasound arrays

We present a method for fabricating flexible multilayer circuits for interconnection to 2-D array ultrasound transducers. In addition, we describe four 2-D arrays in which such flexible interconnect is implemented, including transthoracic arrays with 438 channels operating at up to 7 MHz and intracardiac catheter arrays with 70 channels operating at up to 7 MHz. We employ thin and thick film microfabrication techniques to batch produce the interconnect circuits with minimum dimensions of 12-mum lines, 40-mum vias, and 150-mum array pitch. The arrays show 50-Omega insertion loss of -60 to -84 dB and a fractional bandwidth of 27 to 67%. The arrays are used to obtain real time, in vivo volumetric scans.     

Fast ultrasound beam prediction for linear and regular two-dimensional arrays

Real-time beam predictions are highly desirable for the patient-specific computations required in ultrasound therapy guidance and treatment planning. To address the longstanding issue of the computational burden associated with calculating the acoustic field in large volumes, we use graphics processing unit (GPU) computing to accelerate the computation of monochromatic pressure fields for therapeutic ultrasound arrays. In our strategy, we start with acceleration of field computations for single rectangular pistons, and then we explore fast calculations for arrays of rectangular pistons. For single-piston calculations, we employ the fast near-field method (FNM) to accurately and efficiently estimate the complex near-field wave patterns for rectangular pistons in homogeneous media. The FNM is compared with the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld method (RSM) for the number of abscissas required in the respective numerical integrations to achieve 1%, 0.1%, and 0.01% accuracy in the field calculations. Next, algorithms are described for accelerated computation of beam patterns for two different ultrasound transducer arrays: regular 1-D linear arrays and regular 2-D linear arrays. For the array types considered, the algorithm is split into two parts: 1) the computation of the field from one piston, and 2) the computation of a piston-array beam pattern based on a pre-computed field from one piston. It is shown that the process of calculating an array beam pattern is equivalent to the convolution of the single-piston field with the complex weights associated with an array of pistons. Our results show that the algorithms for computing monochromatic fields from linear and regularly spaced arrays can benefit greatly from GPU computing hardware, exceeding the performance of an expensive CPU by more than 100 times using an inexpensive GPU board. For a single rectangular piston, the FNM method facilitates volumetric computations with 0.01% accuracy at rates better than 30 ns per field point. Furthermore, we demonstrate array calculation speeds of up to 11.5 X 10(9) field-points per piston per second (0.087 ns per field point per piston) for a 512-piston linear array. Beam volumes containing 256(3) field points are calculated within 1 s for 1-D and 2-D arrays containing 512 and 20(2) pistons, respectively, thus facilitating future real-time thermal dose predictions.     

The dynamics of two-dimensional planar magnets

Spin waves in a two-dimensional planar magnet are considered in the temperature range below the transition point. The resonance line determined by the magnetic susceptibility has an unusual shape. The resonance frequency is the branch point of the susceptibility of the order of 2 – 1, where is the scaling dimensionality of magnetization. The singularity indicated can be displayed in the line shape of ferromagnetic resonance or in inelastic neutron scattering. The effects of a weak external field, an anisotropy, and an interaction between layers in layered systems are discussed.     

Evaluation of experimental permanent-magnet brushless motor utilizing new magnetic material for stator core teeth

We prepared motors with experimental cores using a soft magnetic composite and an amorphous metal and evaluated their performance. We measured the magnetic and motor characteristics, such as iron loss, when the new materials were used in the stator core teeth. The amorphous metal was found to have very high permeability and low iron loss, whereas the soft magnetic composite had low permeability and had a comparable iron loss as low-grade magnetic steel. The soft magnetic composite had the added benefits of being able to form a three-dimensional shape and having relatively low core loss in high frequency conditions. The magnetic properties we measured were able to predict the motor characteristics with high accuracy based on numerical and finite-element-method analysis.     

Numerical Simulations of vector field distributions generated by circular permanent-magnet arrays with side-openings

In the rotary-magnetic refrigerator, a circular permanent-magnet array with side-openings (CPMAS) provides a magnetic field exceeding the remanence of each magnet. Here we show that the magnetic induction in the pole gap as well as inside the magnets of a CPMAS can be calculated using an analytical vectorial formula. The method is based on the representation of the field of a uniformly magnetized magnet by straight current-carrying wires on the surface of the magnet. The Biot-Savart law gives the vector field of a single wire of arbitrary orientation, position, and length; the sum of fields from each wire gives the total field. The magnetization hysteresis loop of the permanent magnet is included by varying the current density; this is then used to calculate modifications to the center field by demagnetization, including remanence inversion under the field generated by the CPMAS itself. The field analysis procedure described here can be used to optimize the structure of permanent-magnet arrays, especially for three-dimensional arrays of restricted or asymmetric geometry, for various applications.     

Band centers and track finding for large two-dimensional infrared spectroscopic arrays

An efficient two-dimensional (2D) peak-finding algorithm is proposed to find peak maps that specify the peak centers of all bands in two-dimensional arrays of time-series infrared spectral data. The algorithm combines the second-derivative method with the intrinsic characteristics of 2D infrared reaction spectral data. Initially, the second-derivative method is used to detect all possible peak center positions, and then three criteria drawn from characteristics of 2D continuous spectral data are employed to filter peak positions. Four 2D peak maps are generated in a sequential order, with better and better approximations to the peak center positions being obtained in each. The 2D peak-finding algorithm has been successfully applied to both simulated spectra (to initially evaluate the algorithm) and then real 2D experimental spectra. The resulting peak maps exhibit very good estimates of the peak center positions. An ordering from the most significant to the least significant bands is obtained. The final peak maps can be used as starting parameters for various applications including the computationally intensive curve-fitting of time-series data.     

Thinning and weighting of large planar arrays by simulated annealing

Two-dimensional arrays offer the potential for producing three-dimensional acoustic imaging. The major problem is the complexity arising from the large number of elements in such arrays. In this paper, a synthesis method is proposed that is aimed at designing an aperiodic sparse two-dimensional array to be used with a conventional beam-former. The stochastic algorithm of simulated annealing has been utilized to minimize the number of elements necessary to produce a spatial response that meets given requirements. The proposed method is highly innovative, as it can design very large arrays, optimize both positions and weight coefficients, synthesize asymmetric arrays, and generate array configurations that are valid for every steering direction. Several results are presented, showing notable improvements in the array characteristics and performances over those reported in the literature.     

Efficient dynamic focus control for three-dimensional imaging using two-dimensional arrays

An efficient dynamic focus control scheme for a delay-and-sum-based beamformer is proposed. The scheme simplifies dynamic focus control by exploiting the range-dependent characteristics of the focusing delay. Specifically, the overall delay is divided into a range-independent steering term and a range-dependent focusing term. Because the focusing term is inversely proportional to range, approximation can be made to simplify dynamic focus control significantly at the price of minimal degradation in focusing quality at shallow depths. In addition, the aperture growth controlled by a constant f//sub number/ can also be utilized to devise a nonuniform quantization scheme for the focusing delay values. Efficacy of the proposed scheme is demonstrated using simulated beam plots of a fully sampled, two-dimensional array. Design procedures are also described in detail. One design example shows that, with the proposed dynamic focus control scheme, a 4096-element array only requires 227 independent controllers for the range-dependent focusing term. Moreover, only 28 non-uniform quantization levels are required to achieve the same focusing quality as that of a conventional scheme with 784 uniform quantization levels. The beam plots of a fully sampled array show that sidelobes are slightly increased below the -30 dB level for imaging depths less than 3 cm. At greater depths, there is no observable degradation.     

Phase transition of frustrated two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays

We have investigated the resistive behavior of frustrated Josephson tunnel junction arrays. The transitions nearf=1/2, atf=1 and at a nonspecial value off=0.38 are studied in detail with linear and nonlinear resistance measurements. The parameterf is the frustration index, the applied flux per unit cell of the array normalized to the flux quantum ₀=h/2e. The transition atf=1/2 looks similar to the zero-field Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, including a universal jump in the nonlinear resistance exponent. Compared tof=0, the transition is shifted to much lower temperatures. Nearf=1/2, below the transition temperature, single vortex crossings dominate the resistance. The transition atf=1 is qualitively the same as thef=0 Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, but small deviations are found. Forf=0.38, there is no experimental evidence for a special phase transition; over the whole temperature range, the resistance decreases exponentially with an energy barrier close to two in units of the Josephson coupling energy.     

Fabrication and characterization of transducer elements in two-dimensional arrays for medical ultrasound imaging

Some of the problems of developing a two-dimensional (2-D) transducer array for medical imaging are examined. The fabrication of a 2-D array material consisting of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) elements separated by epoxy is discussed. Ultrasound pulses and transmitted radiation patterns from individual elements in the arrays are measured. A diffraction theory for the continuous wave pressure field of a 2-D array element is generalized to include both electrical and acoustical cross-coupling between elements. This theory can be fit to model the measured radiation patterns of 2-D array elements, giving an indication of the level of cross-coupling in the array, and the velocity of the acoustic cross-coupling wave. Improvements in bandwidth and cross-coupling resulting from the inclusion of a front acoustic matching layer are demonstrated, and the effects of including a lossy backing material on the array are discussed. A broadband electrical matching network is described, and pulse-echo waveforms and insertion loss from a 2-D array element are measured.     

Implementation of an adaptive position control system of a permanent-magnet synchronous motor and its application

This study proposes an adaptive backstepping controller design for a position control system of permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). The proposed system has good performance, including fast transient responses, good steady-state responses and good tracking responses. Based on a proper Lyapunov function, an adaptive backstepping position controller can be systematically developed. In addition, a notch filter is used in the current loop to reduce the limit cycles of the motor current. The control algorithm is implemented by using a Renesas digital signal processor. As a result, the hardware is very simple. The proposed control system includes a position-loop controller and a current-loop controller. All control loops are executed by the digital signal processor. Several experimental results are shown to validate the correctness and feasibility of the proposed control algorithms. The system can achieve a precise position control. In fact, a ball?screw table and a knitting machine have been applied to evaluate the performance of the control system. The study provides a new direction in the use of an advanced control technique in PMSMs and investigates its real industrial applications.     

Hysteresis model for finite-element analysis of permanent-magnet demagnetization in a large synchronous motor under a fault condition

This paper describes a rare-earth-transition metal alloy permanent-magnet (Nd/sub 2/Fe/sub 14/B) hysteretic behavior model within finite-element analysis. The present work analyzes the demagnetization states of permanent magnets during fault conditions in a permanent-magnet synchronous motor and characterizes the ability of the motor to sustain the designed rated outputs after the fault conditions occur.     

Bifurcation of crack pattern in arrays of two-dimensional cracks

Theoretical calculations based on simple arrays of two-dimensional cracks demonstrate that bifurcation of crack growth patterns may exist. The approximation used involves the dipole asymptotic or pseudo-traction method to estimate the local stress intensity factor. This leads to a crack interaction parametrized by the crack length/spacing ratio =a/h. For parallel and edge crack arrays under far field tension, uniform crack growth patterns (all cracks having same size) yield to nonuniform crack growth patterns (bifurcation) if is larger than a critical value _cr. However, no such bifurcation is found for a collinear crack array under tension. For parallel and edge crack arrays, respectively, the value of _cr decreases monotonically from (2/9)^1/2 and (2/15.096)^1/2 for arrays of 2 cracks, to (2/3)^1/2/ and (2/5.032)^1/2/ for infinite arrays of cracks. The critical parameter _cr is calculated numerically for arrays of up to 100 cracks, whilst discrete Fourier transform is used to obtain _cr for infinite crack arrays. For infinite parallel crack arrays under uniaxial compression, a simple shear-induced tensile crack model is formulated and compared to the modified Griffith theory. Based upon the model, _cr can be evaluated numerically depending on (the frictional coefficient) and c ₀/a (c ₀ and a are the sizes of the shear crack and tensile crack, respectively). As an iterative method is used, no closed form solution is presented. However, the numerical calculations do indicate that _cr decreases with the increase of both and c ₀/a.     

Resonant scattering and mode coupling in two-dimensional textured planar waveguides

A heuristic formalism is developed for efficiently determining the specular reflectivity spectrum of two-dimensionally textured planar waveguides. The formalism is based on a Green's function approach wherein the electric fields are assumed to vary little over the thickness of the textured part of the waveguide. Its accuracy, when the thickness of the textured region is much smaller than the wavelength of relevant radiation, is verified by comparison with a much less efficient, exact finite difference solution of Maxwell's equations. In addition to its numerical efficiency, the formalism provides an intuitive explanation of Fano-like features evident in the specular reflectivity spectrum when the incident radiation is phase matched to excite leaky electromagnetic modes attached to the waveguide. By associating various Fourier components of the scattered field with bare slab modes, the dispersion, unique polarization properties, and lifetimes of these Fano-like features are explained in terms of photonic eigenmodes that reveal the renormalization of the slab modes due to interaction with the two-dimensional grating. An application of the formalism, in the analysis of polarization-insensitive notch filters, is also discussed.     

Coherent imaging with two-dimensional focal-plane arrays: design and applications

Scanned, single-channel optical heterodyne detection has been used in a variety of lidar applications from ranging and velocity measurements to differential absorption spectroscopy. We describe the design of a coherent camera system that is based on a two-dimensional staring array of heterodyne receivers for coherent imaging applications. Experimental results with a single HgCdTe detector translated in the image plane to form a synthetic two-dimensional array demonstrate the ability to obtain passive heterodyne images of chemical vapor plumes that are invisible to normal video infrared cameras. We describe active heterodyne imaging experiments with use of focal-plane arrays that yield hard-body Doppler lidar images and also demonstrate spatial averaging to reduce speckle effects in static coherent images.     

A three-dimensional image reconstruction algorithm for electrical impedance tomography using planar electrode arrays

We present a three-dimensional non-iterative reconstruction algorithm developed for conductivity imaging with real data collected on a planar rectangular array of electrodes. Such an electrode configuration as well as the proposed imaging technique is intended to be used for breast cancer detection. The algorithm is based on linearizing the conductivity about a constant value and allows real-time reconstructions. The performance of the algorithm was tested on numerically simulated data and we successfully detected small inclusions with conductivities three or four times the background lying beneath the data collection surface. The results were fairly stable with respect to the noise level in the data and displayed very good spatial resolution in the plane of electrodes.