Negative Stiffness Mechanism on An Asymmetric Wave Energy Converter by Using A Weakly Nonlinear Potential Model

Salter's duck,an asymmetrical wave energy converter(WEC)device,showed high efficiency in extracting energy from 2D regular waves in the past;yet,challenges remain for fluctuating wave conditions.These can potentially be addressed by adopting a negative stiffness mechanism(NSM)in WEC devices to enhance system efficiency,even in highly nonlinear and steep 3D waves.A weakly nonlinear model was developed which incorporated a nonlinear restoring moment and NSM into the linear formulations and was applied to an asymmetric WEC using a time domain potential flow model.The model was initially validated by comparing it with published experimental and numerical computational fluid dynamics results.The current results were in good agreement with the published results.It was found that the energy extraction increased in the range of 6%to 17%during the evaluation of the effectiveness of the NSM in regular waves.Under irregular wave conditions,specifically at the design wave conditions for the selected test site,the energy extraction increased by 2.4%,with annual energy production increments of approximately 0.8MWh.The findings highlight the potential of NSM in enhancing the performance of asymmetric WEC devices,indicating more efficient energy extraction under various wave conditions.

Analysis and Inverse Substructuring Computation on Dynamic Quality of Mechanical Assembly

Mechanical assembly has its own dynamic quality directly affecting the dynamic quality of whole product and should be considered in quality inspection and estimation of mechanical assembly. Based on functional relations between dynamic characteristics involved in mechanical assembly, the effects of assembling process on dynamic characteristics of substructural components of an assembly system are investigated by substructuring analysis. Assembly-coupling dynamic stiffness is clarified as the dominant factor of the effects and can be used as a quantitative measure of assembly dynamic quality. Two computational schemes using frequency response functions（FRFs） to determine the stiffness are provided and discussed by inverse substructuring analysis, including their applicable conditions and implementation procedure in application. Eigenvalue analysis on matrix-ratios of FRFs before and after assembling is employed and well validates the analytical outcomes and the schemes via both a lumped-parameter model and its analogic experimental counterpart. Applying the two schemes to inspect the dynamic quality provides the message of dynamic performance of the assembly system, and therefore improves conventional quality inspection and estimation of mechanical assembly in completeness.

Analysis on resonant shake table with novel variable stiffness mechanism

To improve the efficiency and amplify the exciting force of a shake table,a novel variable stiffness mechanism(VSM)constructed by four leaf spring-lever combinations(LSLCs)was designed.Three VSMs were installed in parallel on the traditional hydraulic shake table to constitute a resonant shake table(RST).The static model of the VSM and the dynamic model of the RST were constructed by considering the large deflection of leaf springs and the geometrical nonlinearity of L-shaped levers.The variable stiffness property of LSLCs was analyzed and verified through static experiments.The simulation and vibration experiments on the dynamic properties of the RST prototype were conducted.The results show that compared with traditional shake tables,the RST consumes lower exciting force in a specified frequency bandwidth when outputting the same displacement of vibration.Under a harmonic vibrational excitation,the RST is effective for vibration enhancement using broadband frequency resonance and can save energy to some extent.The broadband resonance technology exhibits considerable potential in practical engineering applications.

High-static-low-dynamic stiffness isolator based on an electromagnetic negative stiffness spring with long linear stroke

Negative stiffness mechanisms can improve low-frequency vibration isolation performance and have been widely used in the vibration isolation of precision equipment. However, the negative stiffness mechanism usually introduces a nonlinear stiffness,resulting in a nonlinear response and worsening the vibration isolation performance, especially under large amplitude vibration.In this paper, an electromagnetic spring with linear negative stiffness(ESLNS) is proposed, in which the antagonistic ampere forces of the energized coils are used to generate negative stiffness within a long linear stroke. The magnetic field distribution is improved through the design of the magnetic circuit, thereby increasing the stiffness generation efficiency. The stiffness can be adjusted bidirectionally by current within the range of positive and negative stiffness. An electromagnetic stiffness model was established based on the equivalent magnetic circuit method. Experimental measurements verified the accuracy of the model and proved the linearity of the electromagnetic spring. A vibration isolator with high static and low dynamic stiffness(HSLDS) based on the ESLNS is designed and tested. The experimental results prove that the introduction of the ESLNS can effectively expand the isolation frequency band without changing the equilibrium position. Moreover, the vibration isolator with ESLNS does not produce nonlinear response. The proposed electromagnetic spring with linear negative stiffness extends the application range of HSLDS isolators to a large amplitude vibration environment.

Fatigue behaviour of welded joints assembled by longitudinal corrugated plates

Fatigue is usually the cause for the cracks identified at bridge elements in service. With an increase in the introduction of corrugated steel web girders in recent highway bridge construction, the understanding of the fatigue behaviour of welded details in such structures becomes an important issue for the design. The typical welded details were represented as welded joints assembled by longitudinal corrugated plates. All the experiments were performed under fatigue loading using a servo-control testing machine. The test results from the failure mode observation with the aid of infrared thermo-graph technology show that the failure manner of these welded joints is comparable to that of the corrugated steel web beams reported previously. It is indicated from the stiffness degradation analysis that the welded joints with larger corrugation angle have higher stiffness and greater stiffness degradation in the notable stiffness degradation range. It is shown from the test S-N relations based on the free regression and forced regression analyses that there is a good linear dependence between lg(N) and lg(ΔS). It is also demonstrated that the proposed fracture mechanics analytical model is able to give a prediction slightly lower but on the safe side for the mean stresses at 2 million cycles of the test welded joints.

Drum instability of thinning spinning ultra thin-walled tubes with large diameter-to-thickness ratio

In order to explore drum instability problems of thinning spinning ultra thin-walled tubes with large diameter-to-hickness ratio, experiments of thinning spinning ultra thin-walled tubes with different clearances between the mandrel and the tube were carried out. The phenomena of drum instability were analyzed. Drum instability mechanism was studied. The important influence of the mandrel-locked ring on stable thinning spinning was found. Besides, two important parameters, namely drum ratio and drum stiffness, were proposed to characterize the drum instability of spinning ultra thin-walled tubes with large diameter-to-thickness ratio. What's more, numerical simulations were applied to explore the influences of different clearance ratios and diameter-to-thickness ratios on the drum instability. As a result, it is found that the mandrel-locked ring is the key to the stability and precision of spinning; drum ratio can reflect the degree of the deformation of the tubes; drum stiffness is a comprehensive index to measure the influences of the tube's own parameters on the spinning instability; both the clearance ratio and diameter-thickness ratio have significant influences on the drum ratio and drum stiffness.

Supragel-mediated efficient generation of pancreatic progenitor clusters and functional glucose-responsive islet-like clusters

Although several synthetic hydrogels with defined stiffness have been developed to facilitate the proliferation and maintenance of human pluripotent stem cells(hPSCs),the influence of biochemical cues in lineage-specific differentiation and functional cluster formation has been rarely reported.Here,we present the application of Supragel,a supramolecular hydrogel formed by synthesized biotinylated peptides,for islet-like cluster differentiation.We observed that Supragel,with a peptide concentration of 5 mg/mL promoted spontaneous hPSCs formation into uniform clusters,which is mainly attributable to a supporting stiffness of∼1.5 kPa as provided by the Supragel matrix.Supragel was also found to interact with the hPSCs and facilitate endodermal and subsequent insulin-secreting cell differentiation,partially through its components:the sequences of RGD and YIGSR that interacts with cell membrane molecules of integrin receptor.Compared to Matrigel and suspension culturing conditions,more efficient differentiation of the hPSCs was also observed at the stages 3 and 4,as well as the final stage toward generation of insulin-secreting cells.This could be explained by 1)suitable average size of the hPSCs clusters cultured on Supragel;2)appropriate level of cell adhesive sites provided by Supragel during differentiation.It is worth noting that the Supragel culture system was more tolerance in terms of the initial seeding densities and less demanding,since a standard static cell culture condition was sufficient for the entire differentiation process.Our observations demonstrate a positive role of Supragel for hPSCs differentiation into islet-like cells,with additional potential in facilitating germ layer differentiation.

Design of a combined magnetic negative stiffness mechanism with high linearity in a wide working region

Combining magnetic negative stiffness mechanism(NSM) in parallel with positive stiffness has been considered to be an effective approach to realize the quasi-zero stiffness(QZS) characteristic,thus resolving the contradiction between high load capacity and(ultra-) low-frequency vibration isolation capability.However,the remarkable stiffness nonlinearity of common magnetic NSMs restricts the displacement region with reliable negative stiffness,resulting in considerable nonlinear behavior,poor vibration attenuation performance,and probable instability under large amplitude vibrations.A novel combined negative stiffness mechanism(CNSM) with attractive magnetic NSM(ANSM) and repulsive magnetic NSM(RNSM) in parallel is proposed in this paper.The stiffness nonlinearities of the ANSM and RNSM in the CNSM are counteracted through the parallel configuration such that the displacement region with reliable linear stiffness of the CNSM is widened by several times.An analytical model of the CNSM is established by the magnetic charge model and verified by simulation on ANSYS Maxwell.Parametric studies are then conducted to investigate the effects of design parameters on the stiffness characteristic,providing guidelines for the optimal design of the CNSM.Meanwhile,the stiffness and nonlinearity of the CNSM are compared with that of a single ANSM and RNSM.Static and dynamic experiments are finally conducted on the proposed test prototypes.Experimental results demonstrated the validity of the established model and the effectiveness of the CNSM in generating high linear stiffness within a wide displacement region and lowering the resonance frequency.Thus,the proposed CNSM can be applied in(ultra-) low-frequency vibration isolation under large amplitude excitations.

Design and experimental study of a passive power-source-free stiffness-self-adjustable mechanism

Passive variable stiffness joints have unique advantages over active variable stiffness joints and are currently eliciting increased attention.Existing passive variable stiffness joints rely mainly on sensors and special control algorithms,resulting in a bandwidth-limited response speed of the joint.We propose a new passive power-source-free stiffness-self-adjustable mechanism that can be used as the elbow joint of a robot arm.The new mechanism does not require special stiffness regulating motors or sensors and can realize large-range self-adaptive adjustment of stiffness in a purely mechanical manner.The variable stiffness mechanism can automatically adjust joint stiffness in accordance with the magnitude of the payload,and this adjustment is a successful imitation of the stiffness adjustment characteristics of the human elbow.The response speed is high because sensors and control algorithms are not needed.The variable stiffness principle is explained,and the design of the variable stiffness mechanism is analyzed.A prototype is fabricated,and the associated hardware is set up to validate the analytical stiffness model and design experimentally.