Bionic Design and Analysis of a Novel Quadruped Robot with a Multistage Buffer System

Large quadruped mammals,such as ruminants,have outstanding motion ability,including running and bounding.These advanced motion abilities are related to the buffer effect of their complicated musculoskeletal systems.However,the buffer effect of most bio-robots is not satisfactory owing to the simple design of their buffer systems.In this paper,a physiological analysis of the ruminant musculoskeletal system is presented to explain the intrinsic buffer mechanism of motion.Based on the physical buffer parts of the ruminant limbs,the corresponding bionic mappings were determined.These mappings were used to guide the mechanism design of the robot multistage buffer system.The multistage buffer system includes two main buffer mechanisms:the first stage and the second stage.The buffer mechanism analysis of the first stage and multiple stages is discussed in theory to compare the effects between the normal single buffer system and the novel multistage buffer system.Then,the detailed mechanical structure of the limbs was designed based on the limb mechanism design.To further verify the superior efficacy of the multistage buffer system,the corresponding walking simulation experiments were conducted after the virtual prototype of a quadruped robot with a novel limb was built completely.Both theoretical analysis and simulation experiments prove that the bionic robot design with the novel multistage buffer system achieves better motion performance than the traditional robot buffer design and can be regarded as the design template of the robot limb.

Wedge-shaped HfO_(2) buffer layer-induced field-free spin-orbit torque switching of HfO_(2)/Pt/Co structure

Field-free spin-orbit torque(SOT)switching of perpendicular magnetization is essential for future spintronic devices.This study demonstrates the field-free switching of perpendicular magnetization in an HfO_(2)/Pt/Co/TaO_(x) structure,which is facilitated by a wedge-shaped HfO_(2)buffer layer.The field-free switching ratio varies with HfO_(2)thickness,reaching optimal performance at 25 nm.This phenomenon is attributed to the lateral anisotropy gradient of the Co layer,which is induced by the wedge-shaped HfO_(2)buffer layer.The thickness gradient of HfO_(2)along the wedge creates a corresponding lateral anisotropy gradient in the Co layer,correlating with the switching ratio.These findings indicate that field-free SOT switching can be achieved through designing buffer layer,offering a novel approach to innovating spin-orbit device.

Effects of synthetic site water on bentonite-concrete system for a potential nuclear waste repository

In high-level nuclear waste(HLW)repositories,concrete and compacted bentonite are designed to be employed as buffer materials,which may raise a problem of interactions between concrete and bentonite.These interactions would lead to mineralogy transformation and buffer performance decay of bentonite under the near field environment conditions in a repository.A small-scale experimental setup was established to simulate the concrete-bentonite-site water interaction system from a potential nuclear waste repository in China.Three types of mortars were prepared to correspond to the concrete at different degradation states.The results permit the determination of the following:(1)The macroproperties of Gaomiaozi(GMZ)bentonite(e.g.swelling pressure,permeability,the final dry density,and water content of reacted samples);(2)The composition evolution of fluids from the synthetic site water-concrete-bentonite interaction systems;(3)The sample characterization including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR)and X-ray powder diffraction(XRD).Under the infiltration of the synthesis Beishan site water(BSW),the swelling pressure of bentonite decreases slowly with time after reaching its second swelling peak.The flux decreases with time during the infiltrations,and it tends to be stable after more than 120 d.Due to the cation exchange reactions in the BSW-concrete-bentonite systems,the divalent cations(Ca and Mg)were consumed,and the monovalent cations(Na and K)were released.The dissolution of minerals in the bentonite such as albite causes Si increasing in the pore water.It was concluded that the hydro-mechanical property degradation of bentonite takes place when it comes into contact with concrete mortar,even under low-pH groundwater conditions.The soil dispersion,the uneven water content,and the uneven dry density in bentonite samples may partly contribute to the swelling decay of bentonite.Therefore,the direct contact with concrete has an obvious effect on the performance of bentonite.

Impact response and energy absorption of metallic buffer with entangled wire mesh damper

An innovative metallic buffer consisting of series-connected hat-shaped entangled wire mesh damper(EWMD)and parallel springs are proposed in this work to enhance the reliability of engineering equipment.The impact response and the energy dissipation mechanism of hat-shaped EWMD under different quasi-static compression deformations(2-7 mm)and impact heights(100-200 mm)are investigated using experimental and numerical methods.The results demonstrate distinct stages in the quasi-static mechanical characteristics of hat-shaped EWMD,including stiffness softening,negative stiffness,and stiffness hardening.The loss factor gradually increases with increasing compression deformation before entering the stiffness hardening stage.Under impact loads,the hat-shaped EWMD exhibits optimal impact energy absorption when it enters the negative stiffness stage(150 mm),resulting in the best impact isolation effect of metallic buffer.However,the impact energy absorption significantly decreases when hat-shaped EWMD enters the stiffness hardening stage.Interestingly,quasi-static compression analysis after experiencing different impact loads reveals the disappearance of the negative stiffness phenomenon.Moreover,with increasing impact loads,the stiffness hardening point progressively shifts to an earlier stage.

Non-destructive buffer enabling near-infrared-transparent inverted inorganic perovskite solar cells toward 1400 h light-soaking stable perovskite/Cu(In,Ga)Se_(2) tandem solar cells

Near-infrared(NIR)transparent inverted all-inorganic perovskite solar cells(PSCs)are excellent top cell candidates in tandem applications.An essential challenge is the replacement of metal contacts with transparent conductive oxide(TCO)electrodes,which requires the introduction of a buffer layer to prevent sputtering damage.In this study,we show that the conventional buffers(i.e.,small organic molecules and atomic layer deposited metal oxides)used for organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites are not applicable to all-inorganic perovskites,due to non-uniform coverage of the vulnerable layers underneath,deterioration upon ion bombardment and moisture induced perovskite phase transition,A thin film of metal oxide nanoparticles by the spin-coating method serves as a non-destructive buffer layer for inorganic PSCs.All-inorganic inverted near-infrared-transparent PSCs deliver a PCE of 17.46%and an average transmittance of 73.7%between 780 and 1200 nm.In combination with an 18.56%Cu(In,Ga)Se_(2) bottom cell,we further demonstrate the first all-inorganic perovskite/CIGS 4-T tandem solar cell with a PCE of 24.75%,which exhibits excellent illumination stability by maintaining 86.7%of its initial efficiency after 1400 h.The non-destructive buffer lays the foundation for efficient and stable NIR-transparent inverted inorganic perovskite solar cells and perovskite-based tandems.

Fast UAV path planning in urban environments based on three-step experience buffer sampling DDPG

The path planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)is a critical issue in emergency communication and rescue operations,especially in adversarial urban environments.Due to the continuity of the flying space,complex building obstacles,and the aircraft's high dynamics,traditional algorithms cannot find the optimal collision-free flying path between the UAV station and the destination.Accordingly,in this paper,we study the fast UAV path planning problem in a 3D urban environment from a source point to a target point and propose a Three-Step Experience Buffer Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient(TSEB-DDPG)algorithm.We first build the 3D model of a complex urban environment with buildings and project the 3D building surface into many 2D geometric shapes.After transformation,we propose the Hierarchical Learning Particle Swarm Optimization(HL-PSO)to obtain the empirical path.Then,to ensure the accuracy of the obtained paths,the empirical path,the collision information and fast transition information are stored in the three experience buffers of the TSEB-DDPG algorithm as dynamic guidance information.The sampling ratio of each buffer is dynamically adapted to the training stages.Moreover,we designed a reward mechanism to improve the convergence speed of the DDPG algorithm for UAV path planning.The proposed TSEB-DDPG algorithm has also been compared to three widely used competitors experimentally,and the results show that the TSEB-DDPG algorithm can archive the fastest convergence speed and the highest accuracy.We also conduct experiments in real scenarios and compare the real path planning obtained by the HL-PSO algorithm,DDPG algorithm,and TSEB-DDPG algorithm.The results show that the TSEBDDPG algorithm can archive almost the best in terms of accuracy,the average time of actual path planning,and the success rate.

Irrigation and Thermal Buffering Using Mathematical Modeling

Two methods of irrigation,drip,and sprinkler were studied to determine the response of the Javits green roof to irrigation.The control study was dry unirrigated plots.Drip irrigation consisted of irrigation tubes running through the green roof that would water the soil throughout and sprinkler irrigation used a sprinkler system to irrigate the green roof from above.In all cases,the irrigated roofs had increased the soil moisture,reduced temperatures of both the upper and lower surfaces,reduced growing medium temperatures and reduced air temperatures above the green roof relative to the unirrigated roof.The buffered temperature fluctuations were also studied via air conditioner energy consumption.There was a 28%reduction in air conditioner energy consumption and a 33%reduction in overall energy consumption between dry and irrigated plots.Values of thermal resistance or S were determined for accuracy and for this study,there was little change which is ideal.A series of infra-red and thermal probe measurements were used to determine temperatures in the air and sedum.It was determined that the sprinkler irrigation did a better job than the drip irrigation in keeping cooler temperatures within the green roof.A Mann-Whitney U test was performed to verify the variation in moisture temperatures buffering energy consumption.By getting a p-value<0.05,it indicates that the model is accurate for prediction and medium temperatures were statistically different.

All-Optical WDM Buffer System Realized by NOLM and Feedback Loop Structure

We propose an all-optical WDM buffer for optical packet switching system, which consists of NOLM and feedback loop. The proposed structure provides more than 40 turn buffering and nice output of buffered data when selected by control signal.

Geo-engineered buffer capacity of two-layered absorbing system under the impact of rock avalanches based on Discrete Element Method

Many rock avalanches were triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008 in southwest China. Protection galleries covered with a single soil layer are usually used to protect against rockfall. Since one-layer protection galleries do not have sufficient buffer capacity, a two-layered absorbing system has been designed. This study aims to find whether an expanded poly-styrol （EPS） cushion, which is used in the soil-covered protection galleries for shock absorption, could be positioned under dynamic loadings. The dynamic impacts of the two-layered absorbing system under the conditions of rock avalanches are numerically simulated through a 2D discrete dement method. By selecting reasonable parameters, a series of numerical experiments were conducted to find the best combination for the two- layered absorbing system. The values of the EPS layer area as a percentage of the total area were set as 0% （Sl）, 22~ （S2）, and 70% （$3）. 22~ of the area of the EPS layer was found to be a reasonable value, and experiments were conducted to find the best position of the EPS layer in the two-layered absorbing system. The numerical results yield useful conclusions regarding the interaction between the impacting avalanches and the two-layered absorbing system. The soil layer can absorb the shock energy effectively and S2 （0.4-m thick EPS cushion covered with soil layer） is the most efficient combination, which can reduce the impact force, compared with the other combinations.

Modeling and Control of the Pulley Buffer System of Arresting Cable for Shipboard Aircraft Based on Magneto-Rheological Fluid

Taking the MK7-3 of USA hydraulic buffer arresting device as the research subject,the dynamical model for the shipboard aircraft arresting system is established,and the magneto-rheological(MR) damper is applied to pulley shock absorbers for shipboard aircraft block system.Due to the effect of the MR damper has not been known completely and so far MR damper model has not been defined,we use a set of characteristic test of the MR damper,through the process of parameters identification,to establish the dynamical model for the MR damper based on the Bingham plastic model.Then,the fuzzy control rules are designed,the buffer control for the pulley buffer of shipboard aircrafts is completed in touchdown moment based on MR technology. Compared with blocking device of hydraulic pulley buffer in the same condition,the simulations results show that the proposed MR pulley buffer can effectively recognize the impact energy for shipboard block system and reduce the pull peak of arresting cable.It improves significantly safety during landing of the air vehicles and lowers the risk of accidents.

High Performance for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Quaternary System-Based Solar Cells with Alternative Buffer Layers

In this study, the authors investigated the performance of different buffer layers through the electrical parameters such as Jsc, Voc, QE and η of the quaternary system Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells. The performance of Cu(In,Ga)Se2solar cells has been modeled and numerically simulated by using the SCAPS- 1D device simulation tool. The cells with a ZnSe, Zn(O,S) and (Zn,Mg)O buffer layers were compared with the reference CdS buffer layer. The investigation of ZnSe, Zn(O, S) and (Zn,Mg)O-based cells to substitute the traditional CdS in the future shows that the ZnSe-buffer layer is a potential material to replace CdS, which revealed the best efficiency of 20.76%, the other electrical parameters are: JSC = 34.6 mA/cm2, VOC = 0.76 V and FF = 79.6%. The losses as a function of the temperature are estimated at 0.1%/K, among all kinds of buffer layers studied. We have also shown that the use of a high band-gap buffer layer is necessary to obtain a better short-circuit current density JSC. From our results, we note that the chalcogenide solar cells with Zn-based alternative buffer layer have almost the same stability thatthe traditional CdS buffer layer solar cells have.

Temperature influences of the recoil characteristics for aluminum honeycomb buffer in the tether-net launcher

Fluctuations in outer space's temperature would affect the spacecraft's regular operation.This paper aims to study the temperature influences of the aluminum honeycomb buffer in the tether-net launcher.Firstly,a buffer structure was designed to attenuate the pyroshock generated by the pyrotechnic device.Secondly,the mechanical properties of aluminum honeycomb at different temperatures were obtained through quasi-static compression experiments.Then,the internal ballistic responses of the launcher were gained by the closed bomb tests and the equivalent classical interior ballistic model.Finally,the recoil performance of the launcher with aluminum honeycomb buffer at different temperatures was studied.It is revealed that the aluminum honeycomb crushing force gradually decreases with the temperature increases.The peak pressure,burning rate coefficient and velocity increase while the peak time decreases with the temperature increase for the interior ballistics.For the launcher recoil responses,the average launch recoil decreases if the aluminum honeycomb doesn't enter the dense stage.The impact acceleration,projectile velocity and displacement increase as the temperature increase.The paper spotlights the temperature's influence on the recoil characteristics of the aluminum honeycomb buffer,which provides a new idea for buffering technology of pyrotechnic devices in a complex space environment.

SYSTEM AGGREGATION METHOD FOR FAILURE PRONE PRODUCTION LINES WITH UNRELIABLE LIMITED BUFFERS

Different from traditional aggregation method, the unreliable buffers are originally considered and a more general aggregation method is offered, in which not only the unreliable buffers are considered, but also the probabilities of system states are obtained by a discrete model rather than the continuous flow model of unreliable manufacturing systems. The solution technique is offered to get the system sate probabilities. The method advances the traditional system aggregation techniques. Numerical results specify the extended aggregation method and also show that the unreliable limited buffers have a strong impact on the efficiency of the production lines.

Oxygen Potentials and Oxygen-potential Diagrams for Buffer Gas System at Normal Pressure

The principles of chemical equilibrium were used to derive a new set of formulae representing the oxygen potentials for five buffer gas mixtures at normal pressure.Various sorts of classical formulae for them are on- ly a particular representation under ignoring the effects of oxygen,thereby being unavailable for accurate cal- culation of oxygen potentials.In this paper,the oxygen potentials set by CO_2-H_2 gas mixtures and the mis- takes and errors of the classical expressions for them were discussed emphatically.The deviation in partial pressures of oxygen in some of previous experiments under the oxygen potentials controlled by CO_2-H_2 gas mixtures was explained quantitatively.The oxygen-potential diagrams predicting the equilibrated gas com- positions from the initial conditions have been also given.

A Method Based on Multi-Body Dynamic Analysis for A Floating Two-Stage Buffer Collision-Prevention System Under Ship Collision Loads

The collision of ships poses a great threat to the piers in navigable waters.The kinetic energy of the moving ship can be consumed not only with the structural deformation,but also with tensile force from the proposed Floating Two-stage Buffer Collision-Prevention System(FTBCPS).The actual anti-collision effect of the current designed FTBCPS can be evaluated by the dynamic simulation.The construction method of 3D model is introduced,and the system initial state is defined.The transformation matrix and the basic kinematics vector are given,and the system basic dynamics equation is then created.The mechanical analysis on each component is carried out,and the detailed process of numerical simulation is also given.The simulation results indicate that collision direction and collision position have a great influence on the system kinematic response.Bridge pier faces the greatest threat when a ship hits the floater on the front beam in a nearly vertical direction,or on the side beam in a larger course angle.The study shows that the current designed FTBCPS can make full use of the fracture tensile property of polyester ropes and keep the tensile force acted on pier within its bearable range at the same time.The collision direction has a significant effect on the dynamic response of the colliding bodies,but no failure appeared in the simulations,which indicates that the current designed FTBCPS can protect bridge piers of all cases for the 5000-t ship with a velocity smaller than 5 m/s in navigable waters.

A new Structure of Optical Buffer and 2×622MB/S ATM Photonic Switching System

A new structure of optical buffer for resolving ATM cell contention is presented in this paper. It is composed of fiber delay lines, optical waveguide switching array and nonlinear semiconductor optical amplifier. Also, an experimental system for switching ATM cells formed by data at different transmission rates (up to 622MB/s) from different users is reported. The throughput of this system is 1.2Gb/s.

Possible Effect of Pressure Solution on the Movement of a Canister in the Buffer of Geological Disposal System

One of the major concepts of the geological disposal of high level radioactive waste is to enclose a metallic container with bentonite buffer which is considered to be impermeable and chemically stable. Since the average density of the container is around 6 to 7 and very heavy compared to bentonite, the scenario of container sinking has been evaluated because excess sinking makes short the pathway of nuclide migration in the bentonite and is detrimental to the safety of the disposal system. Previous considerations on container sinking have been made from the viewpoint of mechanical deformation of the bentonite. In this paper, a chemical deformation process is presented as another mechanism of container sinking, which has not been previously considered for the container sinking in the field of radioactive waste disposal. The chemical deformation mentioned in this paper is the deformation through the process of pressure solution of minerals constituting the buffer, transportation by diffusion and precipitation. That such chemical deformation is a ubiquitous phenomenon occurring in various scales in the crust of the earth will be shown through the review of previous works. Then, some future research topics will be suggested which would be required in order to evaluate the container sinking in the safety case for radioactive waste disposal.

Influence of the lattice parameter of the AlN buffer layer on the stress state of GaN film grown on(111)Si

GaN films grown on(111)Si substrate with different lattice parameters of the AlN buffer layer by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition are studied.The stress states obtained by different test methods are compared and it is found that the lattice parameter of the AlN buffer layer may have a significant effect on the stress state in the initial stage of subsequent GaN film growth.A larger compressive stress is beneficial to improved surface morphology and crystal quality of GaN film.The results of further orthogonal experiments show that an important factor affecting the lattice parameter is the growth rate of the AlN buffer layer.This work may be helpful for realizing simple GaN-on-Si structures and thus reducing the costs of growth processes.

ON OPTIMAL LOCAL BUFFER ALLOCATION IN FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

An optimal design problem of local buffer allocation in the FMS is discussed in order to maximize a reward earned from processed jobs at all workstations. Structural properties of the optimal design problem are analyzed for the model with two job routing policies. Based on these properties, approaches to optimal solutions are given.

Micro-mechanism study of the effect of Cd-free buffer layers ZnxO(x = Mg/Sn) on the performance of flexible Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)4 solar cell

The traditional CdS buffer layers in flexible CZTSSe solar cells lead to light absorption losses and environmental pollution problems. Therefore, the study of Cd-free buffer layer is very important for the realization of environmentally friendly and efficient CZTSSe solar cells. The Zn1-xMgxO(ZnMgO) and Zn1-xSnxO(ZnSnO) alternate buffer layers are studied in this study using the simulation package solar cell capacitance simulator(SCAPS-1D) numerical simulation model, and the theoretical analysis is further verified by the results of the experiments. We simulate the performance of CZTSSe/ZnXO(X = Mg/Sn) heterojunction devices with different Mg/(Zn+Mg) and Sn/(Zn+Sn) ratios and analyze the intrinsic mechanism of the effect of conduction band offsets(CBO) on the device performance. The simulation results show that the CZTSSe/ZnXO(X = Mg/Sn) devices achieve optimal performance with a small “spike” band or “flat” band at Mg and Sn doping concentrations of 0.1 and 0.2, respectively. To investigate the potential of Zn_(0.9)Mg_(0.1O) and Zn_(0.8)Sn_(0.2)O as alternative buffer layers, carrier concentrations and thicknesses are analyzed. The simulation demonstrates that the Zn0.9Mg0.1O device with low carrier concentration has a high resistivity, serious carrier recombination, and a greater impact on performance from thickness variation. Numerical simulations and experimental results show the potential of the ZnSnO buffer layer as an alternative to toxic CdS, and the ZnMgO layer has the limitation as a substitute buffer layer. This paper provides the theoretical basis and experimental proof for further searching for a suitable flexible CZTSSe Cd-free buffer layer.