Identification and U-control of a state-space system with time-delay

This article presents a state-space model with time-delay to map the relationship between known input-output data for discrete systems. For the given input-output data, a model identification algorithm combining parameter estimation and state estimation is proposed in line with the causality constraints. Consequently, this article proposes a least squares parameter estimation algorithm, and analyzes its convergence for the studied systems to prove that the parameter estimation errors converge to zero under the persistent excitation conditions. In control system design, the U-model based control is introduced to provide a unilateral platform to improve the design efficiency and generality. A simulation portfolio from modeling to control is provided with computational experiments to validate the derived results.     

Dual effect synergistically triggered Ce:(Y,Tb)3(Al,Mn)5O12 transparent ceramics enabling a high color-rendering index and excellent thermal stability for white LEDs

Ce:Y₃Al₅O₁₂ transparent ceramics (TCs) with appropriate emission light proportion and high thermal stability are significant to construct white light emitting diode devices with excellent chromaticity parameters. In this work, strategies of controlling crystal-field splitting around Ce³⁺ ion and doping orange-red emitting ion, were adopted to fabricate Ce:(Y,Tb)₃(Al,Mn)₅O₁₂ TCs via vacuum sintering technique. Notably, 85.4 % of the room-temperature luminescence intensity of the TC was retained at 150 °C, and the color rendering index was as high as 79.8. Furthermore, a 12 nm red shift and a 16.2 % increase of full width at half maximum were achieved owing to the synergistic effects of Tb³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions. By combining TCs with a 460 nm blue chip, a warm white light with a low correlated color temperature of 4155 K was acquired. Meanwhile, the action mechanism of Tb³⁺ ion and the energy transfer between Ce³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions were verified in prepared TCs.     

Farmers' preferences for adopting on-farm concentration of raw milk: Results from a discrete choice experiment in Germany

Milk concentrates are used in the manufacturing of dairy products such as yogurt and cheese or are processed into milk powder. Processes for the nonthermal separation of water and valuable milk ingredients are becoming increasingly widespread at farm level. The technical barriers to using farm-manufactured milk concentrate in dairies are minimal, hence the suspicion that the practice of on-farm raw milk concentration is still fairly uncommon for economic reasons. This study, therefore, set out to investigate farmers' potential willingness to adopt a raw milk concentration plant. The empirical analysis was based on discrete choice experiments with 75 German dairy farmers to identify preferences and the possible adoption of on-farm raw milk concentration. The results showed that, in particular, farmers who deemed the current milk price to be insufficient viewed on-farm concentration using membrane technology as an option for diversifying their milk sales. We found no indication that adoption would be impeded by a lack of trustworthy information on milk processing technologies or capital.     

Maximum likelihood-based adaptive differential evolution identification algorithm for multivariable systems in the state-space form

Parameter estimation plays an important role in the field of system control. This article is concerned with the parameter estimation methods for multivariable systems in the state-space form. For the sake of solving the identification complexity caused by a large number of parameters in multivariable systems, we decompose the original multivariable system into some subsystems containing fewer parameters and study identification algorithms to estimate the parameters of each subsystem. By taking the maximum likelihood criterion function as the fitness function of the differential evolution algorithm, we present a maximum likelihood-based differential evolution (ML-DE) algorithm for parameter estimation. To improve the parameter estimation accuracy, we introduce the adaptive mutation factor and the adaptive crossover factor into the ML-DE algorithm and propose a maximum likelihood-based adaptive differential evolution algorithm. The simulation study indicates the efficiency of the proposed algorithms.     

Relationships between the accumulative damage and dielectric properties of woven BN-coated Hi-Nicalon™ SiC fibre-reinforced SiC matrix composites

The accumulative damage behaviour of BN-coated Hi-Nicalon™ SiC fibre-reinforced SiC matrix composite was examined under tensile cyclic loading at room and elevated temperatures. The accumulative damage occurring during the cyclic loading was quantitatively characterised using the damage parameter obtained by the hysteresis loop curves. The damage parameter increased with increasing applied stress beyond the matrix cracking stress, and it subsequently retained a nearly constant value until just before fracture. Moreover, the dielectric constant, dielectric loss and loss tangent of the composite were measured before and after the fracture in the frequency range 1–1000 MHz. The dielectric properties had similar frequency dependency before and after the fracture. However, the dielectric constant, dielectric loss and loss tangent were lower in the post-fractured specimens than in the pristine ones. The reduction of the dielectric properties was associated with the accumulative damage stored in the specimens. In addition, the relationships between the dielectric properties and the damage parameter were described in detail.     

Fundamental Evaluation of Power Supply and Rectifiers for Wireless Power Transfer Using Magnetic Resonant Coupling

This paper provides a fundamental analysis of a power supply and rectifiers for wireless power transfer using magnetic resonant coupling (MRC). MRC enables efficient wireless power transfer over middle‐range transfer distances. MRC for wireless power transfer should operate at a high frequency in the industry science medical band, such as 13.56 MHz, because the size of the transfer device decreases at higher transfer frequencies. Therefore, the output frequency of the power supply on the transmitting side should be 13.56 MHz. In addition, the rectifier on the receiving side is operated at a high frequency. This paper focuses on the reflected power in the power supply and rectifiers. Thus, the parametric design method is clarified for the power supply, including a low‐pass filter to match the output, the impedance of the power supply with the characteristic impedance of the transmission line. In addition, the effects on the rectifiers of silicon carbide and gallium nitride diodes are confirmed by performing an experiment and a loss analysis.     

Control theory for stochastic distributed parameter systems,an engineering perspective

The main purpose of this paper is to survey some recent progresses on control theory for stochastic distributed parameter systems, i.e., systems governed by stochastic differential equations in infinite dimensions, typically by stochastic partial differential equations. We will explain the new phenomenon and difficulties in the study of controllability and optimal control problems for one dimensional stochastic parabolic equations and stochastic hyperbolic equations. In particular, we shall see that both the formulation of corresponding stochastic control problems and the tools to solve them may differ considerably from their deterministic/finite-dimensional counterparts. More importantly, one has to develop new tools, say, the stochastic transposition method introduced in our previous works, to solve some problems in this field.     

A stiffness parameter and truncation error criterion for adaptive path following in structural mechanics

We explore a truncation error criterion to steer adaptive step length refinement and coarsening in incremental-iterative path following procedures, applied to problems in large-deformation structural mechanics. Elaborating on ideas proposed by Bergan and collaborators in the 1970s, we first describe an easily computable scalar stiffness parameter whose sign and rate of change provide reliable information on the local behavior and complexity of the equilibrium path. We then derive a simple scaling law that adaptively adjusts the length of the next step based on the rate of change of the stiffness parameter at previous points on the path. We show that this scaling is equivalent to keeping a local truncation error constant in each step. We demonstrate with numerical examples that our adaptive method follows a path with a significantly reduced number of points compared to an analysis with uniform step length of the same fidelity level. A comparison with Abaqus illustrates that the truncation error criterion effectively concentrates points around the smallest-scale features of the path, which is generally not possible with automatic incrementation solely based on local convergence properties.     

Precise Extraction of Charge Carrier Mobility for Organic Transistors

Unreliable mobility values, and particularly greatly overestimated values and severely distorted temperature dependences, have recently hampered the development of the organic transistor field. Given that organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) have been routinely used to evaluate mobility, precise parameter extraction using the electrical properties of OFETs is thus of primary importance. This review examines the origins of the various mobilities that must be determined for OFET applications, the relevant extraction methods, and the data selection limitations, which help in avoiding conceptual errors during mobility extraction. For increased precision, the review also discusses device fabrication considerations, calibration of both the specific gate‐dielectric capacitance and the threshold voltage, the contact effects, and the bias and temperature dependences, which must actually be handled with great care but have mostly been overlooked to date. This review serves as a systematic overview of the OFET mobility extraction process to ensure high precision and will also aid in improving future research.     

Photopolymerization synthesis of polyacrylic acid dispersant with methoxysilicon end groups and its application in a nano‐SiO2 aqueous system

In order to improve the dispersity and stability of the nano‐SiO₂ aqueous system with high solid content, a kind of polyacrylic acid dispersant with methoxysilicon end groups (KH590‐PAA) was synthesized by photopolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) initiated with (3‐mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (KH590). After adding KH590‐PAA into the nano‐SiO₂ aqueous dispersion system (20 wt% solid content), the viscosity and the curing time of the system were measured with a rotational viscometer and the inverted bottle method. Moreover, the dispersion mechanism of KH590‐PAA for the nano‐SiO₂ aqueous system was researched by measuring the adsorption capacity, the particle size and the zeta potential of the nanoparticles with a conductivity meter, dynamic light scattering, SEM and TEM, respectively. The results showed that the methoxysilicon groups in KH590‐PAA could react with hydroxyl groups on the surface of nano‐SiO₂ in the process of stirring, which enhanced the adsorption capacity of the dispersant and then increased the surface charge of the particles. Therefore, electrostatic repulsion and steric hindrance effects between the SiO₂ nanoparticles could be further enhanced by adding the KH590‐PAA dispersant, and then the nano‐SiO₂ aqueous system exhibited better dispersity and stability. Besides, the dispersion properties of SiO₂ nanoparticles in water were closely related to the addition amount and the molecular weight of the KH590‐PAA dispersant. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry