Design and validation of robotic bionic eye with multiple flexible ropes parallel mechanism inspired by oculomotor law

Producing a stable and agile bionic eye for visual image acquisition in robotics is a challenging task. In this paper, we design a bionic eye with mirror-symmetric distribution and cross-connection of flexible ropes. This mechanism is based on oculomotor law and the physiological structure of the extraocular muscles (EOMs). Specifically, the basic structural parameters are determined by Listing’s law, and the unique connection of the flexible ropes can realize the functions of the recti and oblique muscles. Furthermore, to mimic the trochlea structure, a pulley mechanism is constructed to permit the free movement of the flexible ropes. Through simulation and physical experiments, it is demonstrated that the bionic eye mechanism can move with agility under the structural parameters. The experimental results indicate that the proposed bionic eye mechanism has a superior motion accuracy of 2.798 mm, which is 6.7% of the maximum motion distance, and the repeatable accuracy of the mechanism can up to 0.210 mm.     

An enhanced anti-disturbance attitude control law for flexible spacecrafts subject to multiple disturbances

As well-known disturbance rejection methods, active disturbance rejection control and disturbance observer-based control can effectively improve the control performances of complex systems in the presence of disturbances. However, the accurate rejection of multiple disturbances for control systems of practical engineering, for example, the attitude control system of flexible spacecraft, is still a bottleneck problem. In order to further improve the anti-disturbance capability and reduce the conservativeness, this paper proposes a novel enhanced anti-disturbance control law for the attitude control system of flexible spacecraft by combining active disturbance rejection control and disturbance observer-based control in a unified framework. More specifically, the disturbance from flexible vibration is described by an uncertain exogenous system based on the partially known information including elastic damping ratios and modal frequencies. The disturbance observer-based control is utilized to estimate and thereby reject this disturbance. On the other hand, the other disturbances such as external environmental disturbance and complex model nonlinearity are merged into a equivalent disturbance with bounded derivative, which is compensated by using the active disturbance rejection control law. Stability and robustness analysis are carried out for the disturbance observer and extended state observer. Finally, simulation results of low-earth-orbit flexible satellite are presented to verify the effectiveness of proposed methods.     

Silicon for thin-film transistors

We are standing at the beginning of the industrialization of flexible thin-film transistor (TFT) backplanes. The two important research directions for the TFTs are (i) processability on flexible substrates and (ii) sufficient field-effect mobilities of electrons and holes to support complementary metal insulator semiconductor operation. The most important group of TFT capable semiconductors are the several modifications of silicon films: amorphous, nanocrystalline and microcrystalline. We summarize their TFT properties and their compatibility with foil substrate materials.     

压差式漏率测试仪的实验研究

将薄膜电容真空计的测量室接于被测密闭容器，静态真空室接于一个比较容器，即组成一台压差式漏率测试仪。首先使两容器压力平衡，真空计读数为零。当被测容器存在漏孔时，真空计薄膜两侧形成压差，真空计指示读数，继而计算出该容器的漏率。应用商品真空计在抽真空测试时，检测的最小可测漏率达10－4～10-5Pa·L／s；而在充压测试时，因受气体温度变化的影响，灵敏度会降低几个量级。该仪器有可能具备寻找漏孔位置和确定漏孔漏率的功能。     

柔性物流技术在生产中的应用

东风汽车公司立足于自己特殊的地理环境及发展历程，经过30年的实践和探索，形成适合自身的物流组织，如：采用合理的计划实施多品种混流和同步化生产、对跨厂际零部件采用物流组织配送制等，运用MRP与JIT相结合的先进的自动化采集技术，建立管理信息系统，使企业的生产经营工作取得了同步的发展。     

Rule-based supervisory control of a two-link flexible manipulator

In this paper, we propose a two level hierarchical control strategy to achieve accurate end-point position of a planar two-link flexible manipulator. The upper level consists of a feedforward rule-based supervisory controller that incorporates fuzzy logic, whereas the lower level consists of conventional controllers that combine shaft position-endpoint acceleration feedback for disturbance rejection properties and shaping of the (joint) actuator inputs to minimize the energy transferred to the flexible modes during commanded movements. The effectiveness of this hierarchical control strategy is verified by experimental results for various movements of the links, in various configurations. In particular, we illustrate how the hierarchical intelligent control strategy performs better than conventional control techniques for endpoint position control in the presence of flexure effects.     

膜片式流量调节阀

介绍了用于油田开采工艺的膜片式流量调节阀的结构及其特点,分析了调节阀出口压力、进口压力对其流量的影响。受力分析和现场使用表明:该阀流量恒定精度(即恒流偏差)取决于膜片有效面积S与阀心下端有效面积S′之比,此值为12,其恒流比偏差为0·03,说明该阀的流量恒定精度高;该阀不易被杂质卡死,稀油中直径1mm的砂粒能顺利通过,而不影响阀的功能;膜片式流量调节阀是没有高加工精度要求的部件,普通车床即可生产,因此造价较低。     

软式操纵系统中张力调节器的设计研究

软式操纵系统是通过钢索张力来传递操纵力的,钢索张力的变化直接影响飞机的操纵性能。张力调节器就是使钢索在各种状态下保持张力恒定的一种调节装置。对张力调节器的原理、结构形式进行了综合论述,并结合设计实例来说明钢索张力调节器的设计过程及设计中各参数的选取原则。     

A new method to cope with decision makers' uncertainty in the equipment selection process

One of the main problems faced while configuring or reconfiguring manufacturing systems is to rank alternative designs taking into account all the different aspects involved (both tangible and intangible). For this purpose the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a well-known decision making support method that addresses this problem. A major drawback of AHP is that uncertainty in the judgments of the decision makers and the resulting impact on the ranking is not considered. In real situations, however, judgments based on perceived future scenarios are almost always uncertain. To solve this problem in this paper we present the first complete probabilistic extension to the AHP method. The new method provides the decision maker not only with information on the ranking of the alternatives but also the probability that the ranking remains stable even in presence of uncertainty in the judgements. We verified the validity of the new method in a real application developed for the Ferrari racing team.     

Flexible and light weight copper indium diselenide solar cells on polyimide substrates

Thin film flexible CuInSe₂ (CIS) solar cells have been fabricated for the first time on light-weight polymeric substrates. Evaporated Cu---In alloy precursors were selenized in H₂Se atmosphere at around 400°C to grow the CIS absorber layers. Low temperature techniques which are compatible with the polymeric substrates were used to deposit the window layers of CdS and ZnO. The demonstrated active area conversion efficiency of 9.3% makes this light-weight device very attractive for many terrestrial and space power generation applications where high specific power and mechanical flexibility are needed.