Fabrication and mechanical properties of lightweight ZrO2 ceramic corrugated core sandwich panels

ZrO₂ ceramic corrugated core sandwich panels were fabricated using gelcasting technique and pressureless sintering. The nominal density of the as-prepared ZrO₂ ceramic corrugated panel was only 2.4 g/cm³ (42.9% of bulk ceramic). Lightweight was realized through this sandwich structured design. The three-point bending strength was measured to be 298.4 MPa. And the specific bending strength was as high as 124.3 (114% higher than bulk ceramic). The compressive strength was 20.2 MPa. High strength was also realized through this sandwich structured design. The stress distribution during three-point bending and compression testing was finally simulated using finite element analysis (FEA) method.     

Homogeneous weighted motion planning for cooperated manipulator systems under position-torque constrained processing Environment

Real-time motion planning under position and torque constraints is a critical challenge for cooperative manipulator efficiency and safety operation. Real-time motion planning at the velocity level improves computation efficiency, eliminates the complex derivative calculation of the Jacobian matrix, and the velocity planning solution can be used directly for robotic kinematic control. However, little research attention has been attached to handling the position and torque constraints simultaneously at velocity level for cooperative manipulator systems. In this paper, we introduce a novel homogeneous weighted least-norm method (HWLN) for joint velocity redistribution of cooperated manipulators. Within the coupled kinematics-dynamics model of cooperated manipulators, joint position and torque constraints are simultaneously homogenized and taken into account by the constraint performance index. To avoid joint's constraint saturations, two real-time weight updating laws are designed for the joint position and driving torque respectively. The joint velocities of cooperated manipulators are then adaptively redistributed using the pseudo-kinetic-energy minimum optimization criteria. When compared to single manipulator regulation, this strategy takes greater advantage of cooperative redundancy and significantly enhances the position-torque planning performance. Mathematical stability proof is presented. In the meanwhile, numerical experiment results under various joint position and torque constraints demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed HWLN method. The experimental results for motion planning and control of two 6R ABD-20Kg robotic manipulators are provided.     

A machine learning approach to predict production time using real-time RFID data in industrialized building construction

Industrialized building construction is an approach that integrates manufacturing techniques into construction projects to achieve improved quality, shortened project duration, and enhanced schedule predictability. Time savings result from concurrently carrying out factory operations and site preparation activities. In an industrialized building construction factory, the accurate prediction of production cycle time is crucial to reap the advantage of improved schedule predictability leading to enhanced production planning and control. With the large amount of data being generated as part of the daily operations within such a factory, the present study proposes a machine learning approach to accurately estimate production time using (1) the physical characteristics of building components, (2) the real-time tracking data gathered using a radio frequency identification system, and (3) a set of engineered features constructed to capture the real-time loading conditions of the job shop. The results show a mean absolute percentage error and correlation coefficient of 11% and 0.80, respectively, between the actual and predicted values when using random forest models. The results confirm the significant effects of including shop utilization features in model training and suggest that predicting production time can be reasonably achieved.     

Geometric-thermal error control system for gear profile grinding machine

Geometric and thermal errors, which are the main error factors for reducing the machining accuracy, should be controlled. But the control effect is poor, which is a stumbling block to limit the wide application of the error control. In this study, a geometric-thermal error control system (GTECS) is designed for gear profile grinding machines. For the mist layer of GTECS, the wireless sensor network is designed to realize the data collection and transfer. For the edge layer of GTECS, the edge controller is designed to conduct the sensitive error analysis. For the fog layer, the control module is designed to conduct the geometric and thermal error prediction. In this layer, the analytical model of the rolling guide/slider system is proposed to calculate geometric errors of X- and Z- axes, and the thermal boundary conditions are calculated, and the thermal error models of the spindle and C-axis are proposed based on transfer learning model (TLM) of the sooty tern optimization (STO)-bilinear temporal convolutional network (BTCN). For the cloud layer, the data computation and management are realized by Hadoop and Yet Another Resource Negotiator (YARN), respectively. The geometric and thermal error models of X- and Z-axes, thermal errors models of the spindle and C-axis, and multi-source error model are embedded into it. With the execution of GTECS, the geometric precision for the total tooth profile deviation and tooth profile deviation are increased from ISO level 8 to ISO level 5 and from ISO level 5 to ISO level 3, respectively.     

A robust support vector algorithm for harmonic and interharmonic analysis of electric power system

A novel robust algorithm to harmonic and interharmonic analysis based on support vector machines (SVM) and solved by iterative reweighted least squares (IRWLS) algorithm to overcome the difficulty of exponential computation complexity, is proposed in the paper. It has a good precision for analyzing harmonics and interharmonics without synchronized sampling that is essential for fast Fourier transform (FFT). By introducing a specific loss function, the method can mitigate the infection of outliers and noises and exhibits robustness characteristics. Its IRWLS-based implementation makes it efficient and suitable for harmonic and interharmonic analysis of electric power system. The case studies showed its high precision and robustness of the SVM spectral analysis algorithm.     

高温合金磨削热力耦合及其对表面完整性的影响研究现状

高温合金具有耐热性、耐腐蚀性等优良性能,被广泛应用于航空发动机的精密制造与修复。磨削能够提高部件的加工精度和表面完整性,是加工高温合金材料的重要方法。在磨削过程中,高温合金因材料的高强韧性,使得磨具磨损严重,并且磨削时冷却液难以进入磨削弧区,导致高温合金的磨削力和磨削温度较高。在多刃磨削加工下,复杂的热-力耦合过程对高温合金表面完整性有着重要影响,表面完整性直接影响服役性能。从产生机理、表征方法及控制等方面阐述了磨削热和磨削力的研究现状,首先介绍了高温合金磨削热及磨削力产生的机理及原因,进而从刚性磨削和柔性磨削的角度综述了磨削温度和磨削力的预测模型及方法,从冷却润滑、工艺参数优化及砂轮结构改进等方面调研了磨削温度和磨削力的控制策略。从间接耦合法的角度介绍了磨削热-力耦合建模过程。最后,在概述磨削热力耦合的基础上,总结了在磨削热力耦合作用下高温合金的表面粗糙度、表面形貌、组织结构及残余应力等方面的研究成果,并对高温合金磨削热力耦合作用的研究方向进行了展望。     

Sizing of a fuel cell electric vehicle: A pinch analysis-based approach

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells are considered as a promising alternative to mitigate the CO₂ emission in the transport sector. To achieve an efficient and cost-effective system, hybridisation of the energy storage system with a fuel cell is important. Efficient management of energy is the key in order to achieve an efficient and cost-effective configuration for fuel cell electric vehicle. Optimum sizing of the power source and energy storage system, which is capable of meeting the load requirement of the driving cycle is the key challenge for achieving efficient and cost-effective system. In this work, an alternative methodology based on the principles of pinch analysis is proposed, for sizing the energy storage system and the fuel cell for fuel cell-based electric vehicle, and validated for the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Cycle (WLTC) class-3 driving cycle.     

Novel closed anode pressure-swing system for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

To overcome the low system efficiency and fuel efficiency in conventional recirculation systems and purging systems, a new anode closed pressure-swing system for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is proposed in this paper. Only two pressure regulators set at different pressures and a buffer tank are applied to produce pressure-swing inside the anode through the process of hydrogen feed and reaction, thereby achieving the anode-dead-end (ADE) operation (no purging). This system was successfully tested on a 20-cell open-cathode stack. The results indicate that the performance of the stack with the developed system is stable and efficient over 13,000 s, while its performance in ADE mode without purging deteriorates rapidly because of active area reduction. It can be concluded that the pressure swing system provides the following advantages: close to 100% hydrogen utilization; improved stack performance of around 12.5% for the power compare to the ADE mode with intermittent purging at 12 V load; improved humidification of the anode and membrane; and ease of implementation as there are no extra pumps.     

汽车涡轮增压系统泄压噪声分析及控制

涡轮增压系统在改善汽车动力性和燃油经济性的同时也带来了严重的噪声问题。为控制汽车涡轮增压系统泄压噪声,综合运用计算气动声学方法和动网格技术,分析泄压工况下泄压阀的准稳态响应和涡轮增压系统的瞬态响应,并结合宽带噪声源模型和声类比方法获取涡轮增压系统泄压噪声特性,揭示汽车涡轮增压器连续瞬变工况下泄压噪声的产生原因,明确泄压噪声强度与进气质量流量的关联。泄压噪声主要由壁面涡脱效应引起,呈现宽频特征,且声源强度随质量流量减小而降低。鉴于此,提出通过改进泄压阀结构进行进气质量流量控制进而实现泄压噪声控制,并对泄压阀结构进行改进设计。仿真分析结果表明改进后强声源区域明显减少,总声压级平均降低约24dB,泄压噪声得到有效控制。改进样件装车试验亦验证控制措施的有效性。该研究为涡轮增压系统泄压噪声分析与控制这一行业难题的解决提供有益参考。