Lyapunov-based control for switched power converters

Beginning with fundamental properties such as passivity or incremental passivity of the network elements comprised by a switched power converter, the nominal open-loop operation of a broad class of such converters is shown to be stable in the large via a Lyapunov argument. The obtained Lyapunov function is then shown to be useful for designing globally stabilizing controls that include adaptive schemes for handling uncertain nominal parameters. Numerical simulations illustrate the application of this control approach in DC-DC converters     

High-breakdown-voltage AlSbAs/InAs n-channel field-effecttransistors

InAs channel field-effect transistors of 1-μm gate length were grown by molecular beam epitaxy and observed to operate at channel electric fields (20 kV/cm) higher than previously demonstrated and several times greater than the threshold for impact ionization in bulk InAs. Voltage gains on the order of 10 were observed with transconductances as high as 414 mS/mm and output conductances as low as 33 mS/mm. These voltage gains are comparable to those of GaAs-based devices and are the highest observed for InAs channel devices. The results demonstrate the potential for practical room-temperature operation of InAs FETs     

High-transconductance n-type Si/SiGe modulation-doped field-effecttransistors

The authors report on the fabrication and the resultant device characteristics of the first 0.25-μm gate-length field-effect transistor based on n-type modulation-doped Si/SiGe. Prepared using ultrahigh vacuum/chemical vapor deposition (UHV/CVD), the mobility and electron sheet charge density in the strained Si channel are 1500 (9500) cm²/V-s and 2.5×10¹² (1.5×10¹² ) cm^-2 at 300 K (77 K). At 77 K, the devices have a current and transconductance of 325 mA/mm and 600 mS/mm, respectively. These values far exceed those found in Si MESFETs and are comparable to the best results achieved in GaAs/AlGaAs modulation-doped transistors     

Large scale transmission network planning using optimization andheuristic techniques

Pursuing optimal solutions for large scale transmission network planning problems is a formidable task due to their combinatorial nature and also due to the nonconvexities involved. Successful approaches using hierarchical Benders decomposition incur in a high computational cost mainly due to the need to solve a large integer program (the investment sub-problem) for every Benders iteration. In this work the authors propose to use heuristics within the decomposition framework, therefore avoiding to solve to optimality each integer sub-problem. The global computational effort is substantially reduced, and allows coping with large problems that would be intractable using classical combinatorial techniques. Case studies with the 6 bus Garver test system and a reduced Southeastern Brazilian power network are presented and discussed     

Performance Characteristics of a Drying Heat Pump Using Superheated Steam

A complete mathematicalhumerical model is proposed, in order to simulate the performance characteristics of a novel concept of a drying heat pump based on the theory of minimum energy cyclcs. The drying heat pump involvcs vapour condensation in a Lava1 nozzle. removal of the liquid phase in a supersonic separator as well as compression of the working medium. which is superheared vapour.     

The effect of error control coding in multichannel FSK coherentlightwave communication systems influenced by laser phase noise

It has been shown that coherent optical fiber receivers with a two-filter structure (TFS) consisting of a wide-band IF filter and a narrow-band postdetection filter are less susceptible to the influence of phase noise. However, the expanded IF bandwidth required to achieve optimum sensitivity performance is large, particularly in multichannel FSK systems. Forward error control coding can relax the laser linewidth requirement and improve receiver sensitivity. In this paper a multichannel asynchronous FSK scheme equipped with (31, k) Reed-Solomon codes is used to verify the coding benefit. A systematic error probability analysis is developed and a stable and accurate performance evaluation procedure is provided. The sensitivity penalties due to the combined phase noise and interchannel crosstalk for both coded and uncoded systems are calculated for comparison. The results show that the performance reduction due to phase noise can be largely alleviated by choosing a proper code rate and an optimum value of the expanded IF bandwidth     

Modelling and controller design of an isolated diesel enginepermanent magnet synchronous generator

A method to analyze the steady-state performance of a stand-alone permanent magnet synchronous generator driven by a diesel engine is presented. The proposed method is based on equivalent d-q circuits and the phasor diagram of such a generator under steady-state conditions. A fixed capacitor-thyristor controlled reactor scheme is used to regulate the generator terminal voltage by controlling the thyristor ignition angle. Furthermore the overall system dynamics are modelled in terms of state variables and control inputs. Based on a reduced order linearized model, digital optimal state and output feedback controllers are designed by minimising a quadratic performance index using the dynamic programming technique. The objective of the controller is to maintain the load voltage and frequency constant under varying load conditions. The controller's effectiveness is assessed by examining the closed-loop system response to sudden load changes