MECHANISM DESIGN AND MOTION ANALYSIS OF A SPHERICAL MOBILE ROBOT

A new spherical mobile robot BHQ-1 is designed. The spherical robot is driven by two internally mounted motors that induce the ball to move straight and turn around on a fiat surface. A dynamic model of the robot is developed with Lagrange method and factors affecting the driving torque of two motors are analyzed. The relationship between the turning radius of the robot and the length of two links is discussed in order to optimize its mechanism design. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the good controllability and motion performance of BHQ-1.

Mechanism Design and Motion Analysis of Heavy⁃Load Transfer Robot with Parallel Four⁃Bar Mechanism

Heavy-load transfer robots are widely used in automobile production and machinery manufacturing to improve production efficiency.In order to meet the needs of large billet transfer,a 4-DOF transfer robot is designed in this paper,which consists of parallel four-bar mechanisms.The Jacobian matrix referring to the mapping matrix from the joint velocity to the operating space velocity of the transfer robot can be solved by the differential-vector method.The mean value of the Jacobian matrix condition number in the workspace is used as the global performance index of the robot velocity and the optimization goal.The constraint condition is established based on the actual working condition.Then the linkage length optimization is carried out to decrease the length of the linkage and to increase the global performance index of velocity.The total length of robot rods is reduced by 6.12%.The global performance index of velocity is improved by 45.15%.Taking the optimized rod length as the mechanism parameter,the distribution of the motion space of the transfer robot is obtained.Finally,the results show that the proposed method for establishing the Jacobian matrix of the lower-mobility robot and for the optimization of the rods based on the velocity global performance index is accurate and effective.The workspace distribution of the robot meets the design requirements.

Mechanism Design and Simulation Study of Environmental Pollution Improvement

In recent years, the researches on the theory and application of public articles and mechanism design at home and abroad has attracted more and more attentions. The paper uses the idea of mechanism design and simulation to analyze and solve environmental pollution improvement. By establishing a simple environmental pollution improvement model, the paper transforms pollution control into binary decision established by a sewage treatment plant and different decisions by the fisherman on the establishment of sewage treatment plants. The paper observes the results of applying different mechanisms and proposes the suggestions of implementin~ various pollution control methods.

Mechanism Design for Ancillary Service Market Considering Social Welfare and Fairness

Increasing penetration of distributed energy resources in the distribution network(DN)is threatening safe operation of the DN,which necessitates setup of the ancillary service market in the DN.In the ancillary service market,distribution system operator(DSO)is responsible for safety of the DN by procuring available capacities of aggregators.Unlike existing studies,this paper proposes a novel market mechanism composed of two parts:choice rule and payment rule.The proposed choice rule simultaneously considers social welfare and fairness,encouraging risk-averse aggregators to participate in the ancillary service market.It is then formulated as a linear programming problem,and a distributed solution using the multi-cut Benders decomposition is presented.Moreover,successful implementation of the choice rule depends on each aggregator’s truthful adoption of private parameters.Therefore,a payment rule is also designed,which is proved to possess two properties:incentive compatibility and individual rationality.Simulation results demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed choice rule on improving fairness and verify properties of the payment rule.

LEVEL SET METHOD FOR TOPOLOGICAL OPTIMIZATION APPLYING TO STRUCTURE, MECHANISM AND MATERIAL DESIGNS

Based on a level set model, a topology optimization method has been suggestedrecently. It uses a level set to express the moving structural boundary, which can flexibly handlecomplex topological changes. By combining vector level set models with gradient projectiontechnology, the level set method for topological optimization is extended to a topologicaloptimization problem with multi-constraints, multi-materials and multi-load cases. Meanwhile, anappropriate nonlinear speed, mapping is established in the tangential space of the activeconstraints for a fast convergence. Then the method is applied to structure designs, mechanism andmaterial designs by a number of benchmark examples. Finally, in order to further improvecomputational efficiency and overcome the difficulty that the level set method cannot generate newmaterial interfaces during the optimization process, the topological derivative analysis isincorporated into the level set method for topological optimization, and a topological derivativeand level set algorithm for topological optimization is proposed.

Aerodynamic optimization and mechanism design of flexible variable camber trailing-edge flap

Trailing-edge flap is traditionally used to improve the takeoff and landing aerodynamic performance of aircraft.In order to improve flight efficiency during takeoff,cruise and landing states,the flexible variable camber trailing-edge flap is introduced,capable of changing its shape smoothly from 50% flap chord to the rear of the flap.Using a numerical simulation method for the case of the GA（W）-2 airfoil,the multi-objective optimization of the overlap,gap,deflection angle,and bending angle of the flap under takeoff and landing configurations is studied.The optimization results show that under takeoff configuration,the variable camber trailing-edge flap can increase lift coefficient by about 8% and lift-to-drag ratio by about 7% compared with the traditional flap at a takeoff angle of 8°.Under landing configuration,the flap can improve the lift coefficient at a stall angle of attack about 1.3%.Under cruise state,the flap helps to improve the lift-todrag ratio over a wide range of lift coefficients,and the maximum increment is about 30%.Finally,a corrugated structure–eccentric beam combination bending mechanism is introduced in this paper to bend the flap by rotating the eccentric beam.

Mechanism design of reverse auction on concession period and generalized quality for PPP projects

Reverse auctions of PPP projects usually require the bid to specify several characteristics of quality and the concession period to be fulfilled. This paper sets up a summary function of generalized quality, which contributes to reducing the dimensions of information.Thus, the multidimensional reverse auction model of a PPP project can be replaced by a two-dimensional direct mechanism based on the concession period and the generalized quality. Based on the theory of the revelation principle, the feasibility conditions, equilibrium solution and generalized quality requirements of such a mechanism,considering the influence of a variable investment structure are described. Moreover, two feasible multidimensional reverse auctions for implementing such a direct mechanism: Adjusting the scoring function and establishing a special reverse auction rule are built. The analysis shows that in these types of reverse auctions, optimal allocation can be achieved, the social benefit under the incomplete information will be maximized, and the private sector with the highest integrated management level wins the bid. In such a direct mechanism, the investment and financial pressure of the public sector can be reduced.

The action mechanisms and structures designs of F-containing functional materials for high performance oxygen electrocatalysis

Non-renewable fossil fuels have led to serious problems such as global warming,environmental pollution,etc.Oxygen electrocatalysis including oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and oxygen evolution reaction(OER)plays a central role in clean energy conversion,enabling a number of sustainable processes for future air battery technologies.Fluorine,as the most electronegative element(4.0)not only can induce more efficient regulation for the electronic structure,but also can bring more abundant defects and other novel effects in materials selection and preparation for favorable catalysis with respect to the other nonmetal elements.However,an individual and comprehensive overview of fluorine-containing functional materials for oxygen electrocatalysis field is still blank.Therefore,it is very meaningful to review the recent progresses of fluorine-containing oxygen electrocatalysts.In this review,we first systematically summarize the controllable preparation methods and their possible development directions based on fluorine-containing materials from four preparation methods.Due to the strong electron-withdrawing properties of fluorine,its control of the electronic structure can effectively enhance the oxygen electrocatalytic activity of the materials.In addition,the catalytic enhancement effect of fluorine on carbonbased materials also includes the prevent oxidation and the layer peeling,and realizes the precise atomic control.And the catalytic improvement mechanism of fluorine containing metal-based compounds also includes the hydration of metal site,the crystal transformation,and the oxygen vacancy induction.Then,based on their various dimensions(0D–3D),we also have summarized the advantages of different morphologies on oxygen electrocatalytic performances.Finally,the prospects and possible future researching direction of F-containing oxygen electrocatalysts are presented(e.g.,novel pathways,advanced methods for measurement and simulation,field assistance and multi-functions).The review is considered valuable and helpful in exploring the novel designs and mechanism analyses of advanced fluorine-containing electrocatalysts.

Analysis and Design of the Globoidal Indexing Cam Mechanism

We first design and analyze the contour surface of the globoidal indexing cam with the aid of computer, and then do optimum design according to the requirements of dynamics. Finally, we discuss the problem of the pressure angle of the globoidal indexing cam mechanism in detail and put forward a new concept of equivalent pressure angle.

Research on the Application of Intelligent Optimization Algorithm in Mechanical Design

Intelligent optimization algorithm belongs to a kind of emerging technology,show good characteristics,such as high performance,applicability,its algorithm includes many contents,including genetic,particle swarm and artificial neural network algorithm,compared with the traditional optimization way,these algorithms can be applied to a variety of situations,meet the demand of solution,in the mechanical design industry has wide application prospects.This paper analyzes the application of the algorithm in mechanical design and the comparison of the results to verify the significance of the intelligent optimization algorithm in mechanical design.

Design of a Servo Mechanical Press with Redundant Actuation

A servo press is a new type of mechanical press that is driven by programmable motors and offers superior performance such as low noise, excellent efficiency and high precision for metal forming operations. Similar to multi-link mechanical presses, a servo mechanical press tends to grow in size as the tonnage increases that calls for larger, heavy duty servo motors, which could be expensive and may not even be available. In this paper, a new concept of servo mechanical press with redundant actuation is proposed firstly using two servo motors driving one input shaft, i.e. one-point-two-motor mode that makes it possible to produce a larger press with available servomotors. Then the punching mechanism design is detailed. The performance indices are set up including mechanical advantage reciprocal and link force ratios. A bounded feasible solution space is constructed for dimensional synthesis based on non-dimensional link lengths and assembly conditions. The performance atlases are depicted over the bounded feasible solution space that lead to a visual solution of the punching mechanism with global optimization. Finally, case studies are given to illustrate the design method with visual global optimization, and a prototype with 200 t punching force is being developed in our laboratory to demonstrate efficacy of the new concept for servo mechanical press. The presented research provides a feasible solution to the development of heavy-duty servo mechanical presses and finds potential applications in the development of other types of heavy equipments with electric drive.

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.

Research and Design of Drop Keel System for Multi-purpose Oceanographic Vessel

When an oceanographic vessel is sailing, the currents near the surface of ship hull are rapid, making it hard to meet the environmental requirements of scientific observation equipment. To guarantee the installation space and environmental requirements of the observation equipment, the drop keel system was proposed for the first time for ocean-graphic ships at China, to avoid the traditional ＂rudder-shaft＂ type fin keel＇s disadvantage. The research study will examine the operational mechanism and functions of the drop keel system, the operating conditions of the fin keel to determine the driver method and its arrangement, and the locking method of the fin keel underwater. The research wilI also provide some general designs for analyzing the best plan for the drop keel system.

Improved algorithmic mechanism based on game theory in computational grids

Computational grids （CGs） aim to offer pervasive access to a diverse collection of geographically distributed resources owned by different serf-interested agents or organizations. These agents may manipulate the resource allocation algorithm in their own benefit, and their selfish behavior may lead to severe performance degradation and poor efficiency. In this paper, game theory is introduced to solve the problem of barging for resource collection in heterogeneous distributed systems. By using the Cournot model that is an important model in static and complete information games, the algorithm is optimized in order to maximize the benefit. It can be seen that the approach is more suitable to the real situation and has practical use. Validity of the solutions is shown.

Design of the contingent royalty rate as related to the type of investment

This study investigates the design of the royalty rate in a first-price auction across three types of investments:incremental and lumpy with or without an exogenously given intensity.A bidder’s investment cost comprises private information.This,together with the stochastic evolution of the price of the output generated from the auctioned project,precludes the seller from setting the exact dates of investment with the winner.However,the seller can set the royalty rate to equate the winner’s royalty payment with the winner’s information rent so that the winner acts as if to maximize the seller’s revenue.We derive two main conclusions.First,compared with the case in which investment is lumpy with an exogenously given intensity,the seller can set a lower royalty rate on incremental investment because she can collect additional royalty payments from the winner,who has the option to later expand capacity.Second,the impact of output price uncertainty on the optimal royalty rate for the three types of investments exhibits two different patterns.When investment is either incremental or lumpy with an exogenously given intensity,greater output price uncertainty reduces the royalty rate.When investment is lumpy with variable intensity,greater output uncertainty raises the royalty rate.Our results imply that auctioneers may charge differential royalty rates for different types of investments.

Genetic optimization of reliability design of machine element

Canonical genetic algorithms have the defects of prematurity and stagnation when applied in optimization problems. The causes resulting in such phenomena were analyzed and a class of improved genetic algorithm with niche implemented by crossover of similar individuals and ( μ+λ ) selection was proposed. According to the reliability design theory of machine components, the genetic optimization model of jack clutch was obtained. An optimization instance and some results calculated by improved genetic algorithm were presented. The results of emulations and application show that the improved genetic algorithm with the niche technique can achieve the reliable global convergence and stable convergent velocity almost without any additional calculation expense. [

The Impact of Cost Information Sharing on Procurement Contract Design

In this paper,we provides contract design mechanisms and analysis for manufacturers to manage decentralized supply chain.Suppose the manufacturer’s final product consists of components,each produced by a different supplier,and the manufacturer first purchases components from suppliers,then assembles them into final product and meet demands aftermarket realization.While supply chain’s internal cooperation always benefits both,suppliers are often reluctant to proactively share their own production cost structure,otherwise manufacturers may depress purchase prices,which may reduce supplier’s profit.Manufacturers on the other hand,prefers to be informed of true cost information in order to gain greater revenues.We takes manufacturer’s perspective and design the optimal contract menu for suppliers,both to enable suppliers to disclose private cost information and to maximize the benefits.We start by modeling the original problem and find that the original problem is a complex multidimensional optimization problem.We then examine the nature of the original problem solving and devise the solution algorithm to arrive at the optimal contract menu.This algorithm reduces the complexity of the original question from o(2 n)to o(n).We further investigate the influence mechanism of model parameters on the results and find that when market demand increases or the selling price of the final product increases,value of private information increases significantly.However,if market demand uncertainty increases,the value of information may increase or decrease for both sides.

Design and Experiment of ф-type-knots Knotters on Chinese Small Square Balers

Since the knotters on the Chinese rectangular balers are imported from outside of the country, Chinese knotters with independent intellectual property rights is far away from being closed. In order to harvest a large quantity of straw in a short period on the small-scale lands of China, basic requirements on the knotters are summarized. Mathematical model of the knotter is also determined uniquely. Furthermore, the ^-type-knots knotter equipped on the Chinese square baler to form the ~ type knots is designed. Knotting rate experiments of the qb-type-knots knotter on the test bench and in the wheat/maize straws covered fields are carried out to check the knotting performances of the knotter. The parameters of the formed knots are also tested. The experiments results show that the knotting rate of the qb-type-knots knotter reaches 100.0% on the test bench without straws, while reaches 99.6% in the wheat straws covered field and 100.0% in the maize straws covered field. The average maximum force in the knotting process is 194.7 N in the lab experiment. The length out of the knots formed in lab is 15.9%-20.6% lower than the knots formed in the field experiment. The breaking force of the knots formed in the field is 115.9%-167.2% higher than the knots formed in lab due to the higher preload and interactions with the compacted bales. Highly relevant relationships exist between the breaking force of the formed knots and the maximum force in the forming process of the knots in the lab experiment. The designed knotter breaks out the embarrassing situation of the domestic knotters which don＇t have independent intellectual property rights, and promotes the development of Chinese knotter technology, and the mathematical model is helpful for designing new type of knotters.

A Hyper-redundant Elephant’s Trunk Robot with an Open Structure:Design,Kinematics,Control and Prototype

As for the complex operational tasks in the unstructured environment with narrow workspace and numerous obstacles,the traditional robots cannot accomplish these mentioned complex operational tasks and meet the dexterity demands.The hyper-redundant bionic robots can complete complex tasks in the unstructured environments by simulating the motion characteristics of the elephant’s trunk and octopus tentacles.Compared with traditional robots,the hyper-redundant bionic robots can accomplish complex tasks because of their flexible structure.A hyper-redundant elephant’s trunk robot(HRETR)with an open structure is developed in this paper.The content includes mechanical structure design,kinematic analysis,virtual prototype simulation,control system design,and prototype building.This design is inspired by the flexible motion of an elephant’s trunk,which is expansible and is composed of six unit modules,namely,3UPS-PS parallel in series.First,the mechanical design of the HRETR is completed according to the motion characteristics of an elephant’s trunk and based on the principle of mechanical bionic design.After that,the backbone mode method is used to establish the kinematic model of the robot.The simulation software SolidWorks and ADAMS are combined to analyze the kinematic characteristics when the trajectory of the end moving platform of the robot is assigned.With the help of ANSYS,the static stiffness of each component and the whole robot is analyzed.On this basis,the materials of the weak parts of the mechanical structure and the hardware are selected reasonably.Next,the extensible structures of software and hardware control system are constructed according to the modular and hierarchical design criteria.Finally,the prototype is built and its performance is tested.The proposed research provides a method for the design and development for the hyper-redundant bionic robot.

Hybridizing artificial bee colony with biogeography-based optimization for constrained mechanical design problems

A novel hybrid algorithm named ABC-BBO, which integrates artificial bee colony(ABC) algorithm with biogeography-based optimization(BBO) algorithm, is proposed to solve constrained mechanical design problems. ABC-BBO combined the exploration of ABC algorithm with the exploitation of BBO algorithm effectively, and hence it can generate the promising candidate individuals. The proposed hybrid algorithm speeds up the convergence and improves the algorithm's performance. Several benchmark test functions and mechanical design problems are applied to verifying the effects of these improvements and it is demonstrated that the performance of this proposed ABC-BBO is superior to or at least highly competitive with other population-based optimization approaches.