Transient analysis of an advanced static var compensator using quad-series voltage-source PAM inverters

This paper deals with an advanced static Var compensator (ASVC) using quad-series voltage-source PAM inverters. The ASVC consists of four three-phase voltage-source inverters with a common dc capacitor and four three-phase transformers, each primary winding of which is connected in series with each other. Each inverter outputs a square-wave voltage, while the synthesized output voltage of the ASVC has a 24-step wave shape. This results not only in a great reduction of harmonic currents and dc voltage ripples but also in fewer switching and snubbing losses. In this paper, transient analysis is performed with the focus on the response of reactive power and the resonance between the dc capacitor and ac reactors. Experimental results obtained from a small-rated laboratory model of 10 kVA are also shown to verify analytical results based on the p-q transformation. The analytical results help in the design of system parameters such as the capacity of the dc capacitor and feedback gains.     

Sensorless control of synchronous reluctance motors using on‐line parameter identification method not affected by position estimation accuracy

This paper presents a novel on‐line parameter identification method for sensorless control of Synchronous Reluctance Motors (SynRMs). Although conventional sensorless control methods based on mathematical models usually need some complex measurements of motor parameters in advance, the proposed identification method does not require them and can be realized on‐line. The proposed method identifies motor parameters under sensorless control, so rotor position and velocity cannot be used to identify these parameters. However, the proposed method does not need rotor position and velocity, and identified parameters are not affected by these estimation errors. The sensorless control using identified motor parameters is realized, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experimental results. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 155(3): 62–69, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20258     

Combining natural language with direct manipulation: the conceptual framework for a hybrid human-computer interface

This paper describes the development of a conceptual model of an interaction system for future human-computer interaction. It is suggested that an integrated system is the most promising solution for diverse users and tasks. A ' hybrid interaction system' is considered, which tries to efficiently direct manipulation, menu selection, and natural language. The mechanism of the natural language interface module is described in more detail. Finally, the allocation of functionalities for generalized tasks on the conceptual model is considered from the taxonomic approach.     

Skeletonized hybrid liposomes

Summary Giant hybrid liposomes of polymerizable lipid and cholesterol were prepared by the hydration method and were polymerized by UV irradiation. The obtained giant liposomes were freeze-dried and washed with chloroform to skeletonize the frame structure of the polymerized membrane. The skeletonized liposomes were directly confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The single-layered and fully spherical liposome frame were easily confirmed by the stereo-pair of the obtained micrographs.     

Construction of living cellular automata using the Physarum plasmodium

The plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum is a unicellular and multinuclear giant amoeba that has an amorphous cell body. To clearly observe how the plasmodium makes decisions in its motile and exploratory behaviours, we developed a new experimental system to pseudo-discretize the motility of the organism. In our experimental space that has agar surfaces arranged in a two-dimensional lattice, the continuous and omnidirectional movement of the plasmodium was limited to the stepwise one, and the direction of the locomotion was also limited to four neighbours. In such an experimental system, a cellular automata-like system was constructed using the living cell. We further analysed the exploratory behaviours of the plasmodium by duplicating the experimental results in the simulation models of cellular automata. As a result, it was revealed that the behaviours of the plasmodium are not reproduced by only local state transition rules; and for the reproduction, a kind of historical rule setting is needed.     

Relaxation approach to topology optimization of frame structure under frequency constraint

This paper deals with the frame topology optimization under the frequency constraint and proposes an algorithm that solves a sequence of relaxation problems to obtain a local optimal solution with high quality. It is known that an optimal solution of this problem often has multiple eigenvalues and the feasible set is disconnected. Due to these two difficulties, conventional nonlinear programming approaches often converge to a local optimal solution that is unacceptable from a practical point of view. In this paper, we formulate the frequency constraint as a positive semidefinite constraint of a certain symmetric matrix, and then relax this constraint to make the feasible set connected. The proposed algorithm solves a sequence of the relaxation problems with gradually decreasing the relaxation parameter. The positive semidefinite constraint is treated with the logarithmic barrier function and, hence, the algorithm finds no difficulty in multiple eigenvalues of a solution. Numerical experiments show that global optimal solutions, or at least local optimal solutions with high qualities, can be obtained with the proposed algorithm.     

Polytetrafluoroethylene processing characteristics using high-energy X-ray

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) microstructures’ processing characteristics using X-ray photo dcomposition and desorption are studied in the highest energy region (2 keV to >12 keV). While the exposed surface states are seen melting and boiling from the remaining bubble structure of the irradiated surface, basic photochemistry of PTFE is also same as previous reports and high-aspect ratio structures are successfully formed. We developed new Ni stencil electroformed stencil masks and successfully fabricated first and practical example of PTFE micro fluidic parts. The characteristics of fabricated micro fluidic parts, a PTFE fluid filter for vertical fluid flow operation which works as passive valve, agreed with the calculated results. This suggests that the accuracy of patterning is adequate to apply this technique to fabricate microfluidic parts and other various microparts.     

Parametric polynomial spectral factorization using the sum of roots and its application to a control design problem

This paper presents an algebraic approach to polynomial spectral factorization, an important mathematical tool in signal processing and control. The approach exploits an intriguing relationship between the theory of Gröbner bases and polynomial spectral factorization which can be observed through the sum of roots, and allows us to perform polynomial spectral factorization in the presence of real parameters. It is discussed that parametric polynomial spectral factorization enables us to express quantities such as the optimal cost in terms of parameters and the sum of roots. Furthermore an optimization method over parameters is suggested that makes use of the results from parametric polynomial spectral factorization and also employs two quantifier elimination techniques. This proposed approach is demonstrated in a numerical example of a particular control problem.     

Two-stage subspace identification for softsensor design and disturbance estimation

Softsensors or virtual sensors are key technologies in industry because important variables such as product quality are not always measured on-line. In the present work, two-stage subspace identification (SSID) is proposed to develop highly accurate softsensors that can take into account the influence of unmeasured disturbances on estimated key variables explicitly. The proposed two-stage SSID method can estimate unmeasured disturbances without the assumptions that the conventional Kalman filtering technique must make. Therefore, it can outperform the Kalman filtering technique when innovations are not Gaussian white noises or the characteristics of disturbances do not stay constant with time. The superiority of the proposed method over the conventional methods is demonstrated through numerical examples and application to an industrial ethylene fractionator.     

Solving the irregular strip packing problem via guided local search for overlap minimization

The irregular strip-packing problem (ISP) requires a given set of non-convex polygons to be placed without overlap within a rectangular container having a fixed width and a variable length, which is to be minimized. As a core sub-problem to solve ISP, we consider an overlap minimization problem (OMP) whose objective is to place all polygons into a container with given width and length so that the total amount of overlap between polygons is made as small as possible. We propose to use directional penetration depths to measure the amount of overlap between a pair of polygons, and present an efficient algorithm to find a position with the minimum overlap for each polygon when it is translated in a specified direction. Based on this, we develop a local search algorithm for OMP that translates a polygon in horizontal and vertical directions alternately. Then we incorporate it in our algorithm for OMP, which is a variant of the guided local search algorithm. Computational results show that our algorithm improves the best-known values of some well-known benchmark instances.