NOVEL FORMULATION OF STATIC STABILITY FOR A WALKING QUADRUPED ROBOT

By defining the static stable area for foot placement, a new approach toanalysis of quadruped robot stability is presented. Unlike conventionally, the method avoids solvingcomplicated direct kinematics of quadruped robot and shows the information on the robot stabilityand the selection of swing leg. Especially, the proposed algorithm can be used as real-timeoperation for on-line gait generation and control for quadruped robots. The effectiveness of theproposed approach is shown through a practical crawling experiment of the quadruped robotTITAN-VIII.

Global static stability and its relation to gravity waves in the middle atmosphere

The global atmospheric static stability(N2)in the middle atmosphere and its relation to gravity waves(GWs)were investigated by using the temperature profiles measured by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry(SABER)instrument from 2002 to 2018.At low latitudes,a layer with enhanced N2 occurs at an altitude of^20 km and exhibits annual oscillations caused by tropopause inversion layers.Above an altitude of^70 km,enhanced N2 exhibits semiannual oscillations at low latitudes caused by the mesosphere inversion layers and annual oscillations at high latitudes resulting from the downward shift of the summer mesopause.The correlation coefficients between N2 and GW amplitudes can be larger than 0.8 at latitudes poleward of^40°N/S.This observation provides factual evidence that a large N2 supports large-amplitude GWs and indicates that N2 plays a dominant role in maintaining GWs at least at high latitudes of the middle atmosphere.This evidence also partially explains the previous results regarding the phase changes of annual oscillations of GWs at high latitudes.

Scheme for the Balance Between Stability and Maneuverability of Hypersonic Vehicle

Since the aerodynamic center moving backward sharply in hypersonic flight,the stability margin of the hypersonic vehicle increases largely while the maneuverability decreases.We proposed a novel method to solve this contradiction.We used relaxed static stability(RSS)to improve the maneuverability in hypersonic flight,and designed the stability augmentation system(SAS)to ensure the stability in subsonic flight.Therefore,the relationship between static stability and maneuverability was quantitatively analyzed in the first step,and the numerical value of RSS was obtained on the premise of good maneuverability.Secondly,the relationship between static stability and aerodynamic parameters was quantitatively analyzed.We properly adjusted aerodynamic parameters based on the quantitative relationship to achieve the specific static stability set in the first step,and therefore provided the engineering realization methods.The vehicle will be statically unstable in subsonic flight with the specific static stability.Lastly,SAS was needed to ensure the stability of the vehicle in subsonic flight.Simulation studies were conducted by comparing the linear SAS to the nonlinear SAS,and the results showed that the nonlinear dynamicinversion controller can synthesize with proportional-integrall-derivative(PID)controller robustly and stabilize the hypersonic vehicle.

Identification of the Worst-case Static Voltage Stability Margin Interval of AC/DC Power System Considering Uncertainty of Renewables

Calculation of static voltage stability margin(SVSM)of AC/DC power systems with lots of renewable energy sources(RESs)integration requires consideration of uncertain load growth and renewable energy generation output.This paper presents a bi-level optimal power flow(BLOPF)model to identify the worst-case SVSM of an AC/DC power system with line commutation converter-based HVDC and multi-terminal voltage sourced converter-based HVDC transmission lines.Constraints of uncertain load growth’s hypercone model and control mode switching of DC converter stations are considered in the BLOPF model.Moreover,uncertain RES output fluctuations are described as intervals,and two three-level optimal power flow(TLOPF)models are established to identify interval bounds of the system worst-case SVSM.The two TLOPF models are both transformed into max–min bi-level optimization models according to independent characteristics of different uncertain variables.Then,transforming the inner level model into its dual form,max–min BLOPF models are simplified to single-level optimization models for direct solution.Calculation results on the modified IEEE-39 bus AC/DC case and an actual large-scale AC/DC case in China indicate correctness and efficiency of the proposed identification method.

Typical Gait Analysis of a Six-legged Robot in the Context of Metamorphic Mechanism Theory

The equivalent mechanism of the system is often considered as one specific mechanism in most existing studies of multi-legged robots, however the equivalent mechanism is varying while the robot moves on the ground. Four typical tripod period gaits of a radial symmetrical six-legged robot are analyzed. Similar to the metamorphic mechanism, the locomotion of multi-legged robot is considered as a series of varying hybrid serial-parallel mechanisms by assuming the constraints of the feet on the ground with hinges. One gait cycle is divided into several periods, and in different walking period there is a specific equivalent mechanism corresponding to it, and the walking process of multi-legged robot is composed by these series of equivalent mechanisms. Walking performance can be got by analyzing these series of equivalent mechanisms. Kinematics model of the equivalent mechanism is established, workspaces of equivalent mechanisms are illustrated by simulation and a concept of static stability workspace is proposed to evaluate the static stability of these four gaits. A new method to calculate the stride length of multi-legged robots is presented by analyzing the relationship between the workspace of two adjacent equivalent parallel mechanisms in one gait cycle. The stride lengths of four gaits are given by simulations. Comparison of stride length and static stability among these four typical tripod gaits are given. It has been proved that mixed gait and insect-wave gait II have better static stability than mammal kick-off gait and insect-wave gait I. Insect-wave gait II displays its advantage on stride length while the height of robot body lower than 87 mm, mammal kick-off gait has superiority on stride length while the height of robot body higher than 115 mm, and insect-wave gait I shows its shortcoming in stride length. The proposed method based on metamorphic theory and combining the footholds and body height of robot provides a new method to comprehensive analyze the performance of multi-legged robot.

Experimental Study of Effects of Tail Wings on Submunition Aerodynamic Characteristics

Aimed at the needs of deceleration of submunitions dispensed from the ballistic missile, wind tunnel tests were performed on the submunitions with different tail wing sizes at the Mach number range from 0.7 to 3.0 and the angle of attack range from 0° to 14°. Experimental data about the variance of aerodynamic coefficients with the Mach number and angle of attack were obtained systemically. The effects of the tail wing sizes on the drag coefficients and the center of pressure coefficients were discussed. Analyzed results show the arc tail wings designed are beneficial to both the deceleration effect and static stability. These results are significant to the tail wing design and its applications to the submunitions deceleration..

A preventive control strategy for static voltage stability based on an efficient power plant model of electric vehicles

With the increasing integration of wind farms and electric vehicles(EVs)in power systems,voltage stability is becoming more and more serious.Based on vehicle-to-grid(V2G),an efficient power plant model of EVs(E-EPP)was developed to estimate EV charging load with available corresponding response capacity under different charging strategies.A preventive control strategy based on E-EPP was proposed to maintain the static voltage stability margin(VSM)of power system above a predefined security level.Two control modes were used including the disconnection of EV charging load(‘V1G’mode)and the discharge of stored battery energy back to power grid(‘V2G’mode).A modified IEEE 14-bus system with high penetration of wind power and EVs was used to verify the effectiveness of preventive control strategy.Simulation results showed that the proposed strategy can not only improve the static voltage stability of power system with considerable wind generation,but also guarantee the travelling comfort for EV owners.

Theory and Method of Power System Integrated Security Region Irrelevant to Operation States:An Introduction

How to comprehensively consider the power flow constraints and various stability constraints in a series of power system optimization problems without affecting the calculation speed is always a problem.The computational burden of probabilistic security assessment is even more unimaginable.In order to solve such problems,a security region(SR)methodology is proposed,which is a brand-new methodology developed on the basis of the classical point-wise method.Tianjin University has been studying the SR methodology since the 1980s,and has achieved a series of original breakthroughs that are described in this paper.The integrated SR introduced in this paper is mainly defined in the power injection space,and includes SRs to ensure steady-state security,transient stability,static voltage stability,and smalldisturbance stability.These SRs are uniquely determined for a given network topology(as well as location and clearing process for transient faults)and given system component parameters,and are irrelevant to operation states.This paper presents 11 facts and related remarks to introduce the basic concepts,composition,dynamics nature,and topological and geometric characteristics of SRs.It also provides a practical mathematical description of SR boundaries and fast calculation methods to determine them in a concise and systematic way.Thus,this article provides support for the systematic understanding,future research,and applications of SRs.The most critical finding on the topological and geometric characteristics of SRs is that,within the scope of engineering concern,the practical boundaries of SRs in the power injection space can be approximated by one or a few hyperplanes.Based on this finding,the calculation time for power system probabilistic security assessment(i.e.,risk analysis)and power system optimization with security constraints can be decreased by orders of magnitude.

Optimal reactive power dispatch of wind power plant cluster considering static voltage stability for low-carbon power system

The implementation of developing the wind power is an important way to achieve the low-carbon power system.However,the voltage stability issues caused by the random fluctuations of active power output and the irrational regulations of reactive power compensation equipment have become the prominent problems of the regions where large-scale wind power integrated.In view of these problems,this paper proposed an optimal reactive power dispatch(ORPD)strategy of wind power plants cluster(WPPC)considering static voltage stability for lowcarbon power system.The control model of the ORPD strategy was built according to the wind power prediction,the present operation information and the historical operation information.By utilizing the automatic voltage control capability of wind power plants and central substations,the ORPD strategy can achieve differentiated management between the discrete devices and the dynamic devices of the WPPC.Simulation results of an actual WPPC in North China show that the ORPD strategy can improve the voltage control performance of the pilot nodes and coordinate the operation between discrete devices and the dynamic devices,thus maintaining the static voltage stability as well.

Circulation Background and Genesis Mechanism of a Cold Vortex over the Tibetan Plateau during Late April 2018

A cold vortex occurred over the northeastern Tibetan Plateau(TP)on 27 April 2018 and subsequently brought excessive rainfall to the spring farming area in southern China when moving eastward.This study investigates the genesis mechanism of the cold TP vortex(TPV)by diagnosing reanalysis data and conducting numerical experiments.Results demonstrate that the cold TPV was generated in a highly baroclinic environment with significant contributions of positive potential vorticity(PV)forcing from the tropopause and diurnal thermodynamic impact from the surface.As a positive PV anomaly in the lower stratosphere moved towards the TP,the PV forcing at the tropopause pushed the tropospheric isentropic surfaces upward,forming isentropic-isplacement ascent and reducing static stability over the TP.The descent of the tropopause over the TP also produced a tropopause folding over the northeastern TP associated with a narrow high-PV column intruding downwards over the TPV genesis site,resulting in ascending air in the free atmosphere.This,in conjunction with the descending air in the valley area during the night,produced air stretching just at the TPV genesis site.Because the surface cooling at night increased the surface static stability,the aforementioned vertical air-stretching thus converted the produced static stability to vertical vorticity.Consequently,the cold TPV was generated over the valley at night.

Stability characteristics and airworthiness requirements of blended wing body aircraft with podded engines

Blended-Wing-Body(BWB)aircraft have a relatively short fuselage and no horizontal tail,and they usually adopt podded engines and a V tail instead of a vertical tail.Generally,BWB aircraft have decreased longitudinal and directional static stability and damping.In this paper,the three-axis static and dynamic stability characteristics of an example BWB aircraft with podded engines are studied.According to the differences in flight characteristics of BWB aircraft and conventional aircraft,the different airworthiness requirements for BWB aircraft are analyzed:first,based on current airworthiness regulations and transport aircraft flying quality specification,the relaxation requirement of longitudinal static stability for BWB aircraft is studied;second,the influences of podded engines on longitudinal trim,attitude and trajectory responses and maximum directional control power requirement of BWB aircraft are analyzed;third,the changes in the proportional relationships between the takeoff characteristic speeds of the example BWB aircraft are analyzed.In view of these variations in directional control power requirement and relationships between takeoff characteristic speeds,new recommendations for airworthiness evaluation are proposed for BWB aircraft.The conclusions of this paper are helpful references for configuration design,flight control law design and airworthiness evaluation of BWB aircraft.

Aerodynamics of non-slender delta and reverse delta wings:Wing thickness,anhedral angle and cropping ratio

The effects of thickness-to-chord(t=c)ratio,anhedral angle(d),and cropping ratio from trailing-edge(Cr%)on the aerodynamics of non-slender reverse delta wings in comparison to non-slender delta wings with sweep angle of 45°were characterized in a low-speed wind tunnel using force and pressure measurements.The measurements were conducted for total of 8 different delta and reverse delta wings.Two different t/c ratios of 5.9%and 1.1%,and two different anhedral angles ofd=15°and 30°for non-cropped and cropped at Cr=30%conditions were tested.The results indicate that the reverse delta wings generate higher lift-to-drag ratio and have better longitudinal static stability characteristics compared to the delta wings.The wing thickness has favorable effect on longitudinal static stability for the reverse delta wing whereas longitudinal static stability is not influenced by wing thickness for the delta wing.For reverse delta wings,the anhe-draled wing without cropping has adverse effect on aerodynamic performance and decreases the lift-to-drag ratio.Cropping in anhedraled wing causes significant improvement in lift-to-drag ratio,shift in aerodynamic and pressure centers towards the trailing-edge,and enhancement in longitudi-nal static stability.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THERMAL STRUCTURE IN A TRIBUTARY BAY OF THREE GORGES RESERVOIR

To better understand the factors influencing the thermal structure of tributaries in the Three Gorges Reservoir （TGR）, a well validated three-dimensional hydrodynamic and water temperature model was proposed to simulate the water temperature distribution in the Xiangxi Bay, a representative tributary of TGR. The numerical results show that water temperature stratification seasonally occurred in the Xiangxi Bay, with stable vertical temperature profiles. It is found from the numerical experiments that three key factors are responsible for the formation of water temperature structure： （1） very often, the locations of thermocline are mainly determined by wind speeds, and the higher the wind speed is, the deeper the thermocline is located beneath the water surface, which could be expressed by a fitted exponential function, （2） the thermal structure is affected by static stability of water column, and the thermocline becomes closer to the water surface and its thickness increases with the increase of temperature, （3） due to the effect of the thermal density inflow, the water temperature of the hypolimnion tends to be uniform, however, even under the condition of larger inflow discharge, the influence of the inflow on the epilitnnion and the thermocline is not significant.

Analysis of Motion in Longitudinal Plane of Negative Buoyancy Vehicle Flying Fish Ⅱ

This article describes an experimental prototype flying fish II and builds a dynamic model that is a novel type of autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV)under the condition of negative buoyancy vehicle(NBV) without large buoyancy mechanism.Compared with the AUV Remus 100,the flying fish II can cruise with double speeds within the same range and dimensions.The static stability and motion modes of flying fish II in the longitudinal plane are analyzed through the linear system theory.The flying fish II has static stability in the longitudinal plane and the motion mode is related to metacentric height.

Research of Underwater Self-Reconfigurable System

This article describes a novel underwater robot, which is called underwater self-reconfigurable system(USS). USS is studied and developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It is formed by a quantity of the same modules and works in group. Based on that, USS can change its form while working in the complicated underwater structures according to diffierent tasks. New multi-jaw underwater docking system, piston style regulator and clamshell-like sampling module are designed for USS, these developments address the problems of underwater docking, floating condition adjusting and sampling. Besides, the gaits like wriggle, creeping, swimming and fourlegged moving have been successfully implemented in tank and lake test, which verifies the validity of the concept.

Optimal Location Allocation Strategy of Gas-fired Unit in Transmission Network

The gas-fired generation has recently become an important power source for power systems.The increasing integration of gas-fired units(GFUs)brings a problem of location allocation strategy for power system planners.This paper proposes a bi-level maximum-minimum optimal placement model of GFUs to improve the static voltage stability in the transmission network.In the first stage,the locations of installed GFUs are optimized to improve the static voltage stability margin.The optimal installed capacity of GFUs is determined to minimize the operation costs and power losses in the second stage.The proposed mixed-integer nonlinear programming(MINLP)model is solved by second-order cone programming relaxations.Numerical results in the IEEE 118-bus test system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and the static voltage stability can be improved.