Nonlinear Model Algorithmic Control of a pH Neutralization Process

Control of pH neutralization processes is challenging in the chemical process industry because of their inherent strong nonlinearity. In this paper, the model algorithmic control (MAC) strategy is extended to nonlinear processes using Hammerstein model that consists of a static nonlinear polynomial function followed in series by a linear impulse response dynamic element. A new nonlinear Hammerstein MAC algorithm (named NLH-MAC) is presented in detail. The simulation control results of a pH neutralization process show that NLH-MAC gives better control performance than linear MAC and the commonly used industrial nonlinear propotional plus integral plus derivative (PID) controller. Further simulation experiment demonstrates that NLH-MAC not only gives good control response, but also possesses good stability and robustness even with large modeling errors.

Modeling, Simulation and Control of Pulsed DE-GMA Welding Process for Joining of Aluminum to Steel

Joining of aluminum to steel has attracted significant attention from the welding research community,automotive and rail transportation industries.Many current welding methods have been developed and applied,however,they can not precisely control the heat input to work-piece,they are high costs,low efficiency and consist lots of complex welding devices,and the generated intermetallic compound layer in weld bead interface is thicker.A novel pulsed double electrode gas metal arc welding（Pulsed DE-GMAW）method is developed.To achieve a stable welding process for joining of aluminum to steel,a mathematical model of coupled arc is established,and a new control scheme that uses the average feedback arc voltage of main loop to adjust the wire feed speed to control coupled arc length is proposed and developed.Then,the impulse control simulation of coupled arc length,wire feed speed and wire extension is conducted to demonstrate the mathematical model and predict the stability of welding process by changing the distance of contact tip to work-piece（CTWD）.To prove the proposed PSO based PID control scheme’s feasibility,the rapid prototyping experimental system is setup and the bead-on-plate control experiments are conducted to join aluminum to steel.The impulse control simulation shows that the established model can accurately represent the variation of coupled arc length,wire feed speed and the average main arc voltage when the welding process is disturbed,and the developed controller has a faster response and adjustment,only runs about 0.1 s.The captured electric signals show the main arc voltage gradually closes to the supposed arc voltage by adjusting the wire feed speed in 0.8 s.The obtained typical current waveform demonstrates that the main current can be reduced by controlling the bypass current under maintaining a relative large total current.The control experiment proves the accuracy of proposed model and feasibility of new control scheme further.The beautiful and smooth weld beads are also obtained by this method.Pulsed DE-GMAW can thus be considered as an alternative method for low cost,high efficiency joining of aluminum to steel.

THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE PRESSURE AND VACUUM CONTINUOUS CONTROL SYSTEM BASED ON HYBRID PUMP

A novel pressure and vacuum continuous control system, which adopts a hybrid pump as pressure and vacuum source, is presented. The mathematical model of the system is developed. The theoretical simulation and analysis on the system are implemented in order to study the relationships among the characteristics, parameters and working points of the system. The experimental investigations on the system characteristics are presented with the adoption ofa fuzzy-PID controller. The simulation and experimental results indicate that the pressure and vacuum continuous control system based on hybrid pump has good dynamic and static performance, strong robustness and satisfactory adaptability to various system parameters. According to the results, system can successfully gain high accuracy and fast response signal. Also, the mathematical model of system is also testified by the experimental results.

Simulating a fuzzy level controller for flotation columns

Level control in flotation columns is an important factor that influences the recovery and the grade of concentrate from the column. A flotation column is a nonlinear, multi-variable problem with changeable parameters that traditional methods have difficulty controlling. We have applied fuzzy control methods to the flotation column and tested the performance of the design by Matlab/Simulink simulation. The simulations show that level control in the flotation column becomes smoother and more rapid with the fuzzy controller. Compared to PID control methods the overshoot in valve position, the adjustment time, and the robustness of the controller are all improved. This indicates that it is suitable to model fuzzy controllers in applications for the study of automatic control of flotation column.

Modeling and Simulation of Equipment Material Inventory Control Based on System Dynamics

The paper discusses how the inventory control of army equipment material runs sytematically under the two-level maintenance system,and establishes the inventory control model based on system dynamics.On the basis of modeling and simulation,the influence of different inventory upper limit on the whole system is studied,and the optimal inventory control mechanism under the model condition is foud.In addition,through the simulation of two replenishment strategies(s,S) and(T,s,S),the advantages and disadvantages and feasibility of each replenishment strategy are analyzed.

APPLICATION OF CIRCUIT SIMULATION IN HARDWARE DESIGN FOR ELECTRONIC CONTROL HIGH PRESSURE COMMON-RAIL FUEL SYSTEM OF DIESEL ENGINE

By means of circuit simulation, hardware of electronic control unit （ECU） of high pressure common-rail electronic control fuel system for diesel engine is designed. According to the system requirements for hardware of ECU, signal-processing circuit of variable reluctance （VR） sensor, filter circuit for input signal, high voltage power circuit and driver and protection circuit of solenoid are simulated as emphases. Difficulties of wide scope of VR sensor output signal, efficiency of high voltage power and reliable and swift driver of solenoid are solved. The results of simulation show that the hardware meets the requirement of the fuel system. At the same time, circuit simulation can greatly increase quality of the design, alleviate design labor and shorten design time.

SIMULATION IN THERMAL DESIGN FOR ELECTRONIC CONTROL UNIT OF ELECTRONIC UNIT PUMP

The high working junction temperature of power component is the most common reason of its failure. So the thermal design is of vital importance in electronic control unit （ECU） design. By means of circuit simulation, the thermal design of ECU for electronic unit pump （EUP） fuel system is applied. The power dissipation model of each power component in the ECU is created and simulated. According to the analyses of simulation results, the factors which affect the power dissipation of components are analyzed. Then the ways for reducing the power dissipation of power components are carried out. The power dissipation of power components at different engine state is calculated and analyzed. The maximal power dissipation of each power component in all possible engine state is also carried out based on these simulations. A cooling system is designed based on these studies. The tests show that the maximum total power dissipation of ECU drops from 43.2 W to 33.84 W after these simulations and optimizations. These applications of simulations in thermal design of ECU can greatly increase the quality of the design, save the design cost and shorten design time

Force Control Compensation Method with Variable Load Stiffness and Damping of the Hydraulic Drive Unit Force Control System

Each joint of hydraulic drive quadruped robot is driven by the hydraulic drive unit（HDU）, and the contacting between the robot foot end and the ground is complex and variable, which increases the difficulty of force control inevitably. In the recent years, although many scholars researched some control methods such as disturbance rejection control, parameter self-adaptive control, impedance control and so on, to improve the force control performance of HDU, the robustness of the force control still needs improving. Therefore, how to simulate the complex and variable load characteristics of the environment structure and how to ensure HDU having excellent force control performance with the complex and variable load characteristics are key issues to be solved in this paper. The force control system mathematic model of HDU is established by the mechanism modeling method, and the theoretical models of a novel force control compensation method and a load characteristics simulation method under different environment structures are derived, considering the dynamic characteristics of the load stiffness and the load damping under different environment structures. Then, simulation effects of the variable load stiffness and load damping under the step and sinusoidal load force are analyzed experimentally on the HDU force control performance test platform, which provides the foundation for the force control compensation experiment research. In addition, the optimized PID control parameters are designed to make the HDU have better force control performance with suitable load stiffness and load damping, under which the force control compensation method is introduced, and the robustness of the force control system with several constant load characteristics and the variable load characteristics respectively are comparatively analyzed by experiment. The research results indicate that if the load characteristics are known, the force control compensation method presented in this paper has positive compensation effects on the load characteristics variation, i.e., this method decreases the effects of the load characteristics variation on the force control performance and enhances the force control system robustness with the constant PID parameters, thereby, the online PID parameters tuning control method which is complex needs not be adopted. All the above research provides theoretical and experimental foundation for the force control method of the quadruped robot joints with high robustness.

PI control based on fuzzy set-point weighting tracking for hydraulic crane boom system

A PI control strategy based on fuzzy set-point weighting following was proposed for the active damping control of a hydraulic crane boom system （HCBS）. Two valve-controlled PI controllers, which include a proportional feedforward controller based on fuzzy set-point weighting following and a limited semi-integrator（LSI）, are designed respectively. LSI is used to limit output signal and to prevent wind up at the low frequency of the spectrum. By using a range camera and an electronic feedback control, the tip damping on the HCBS can be adjusted artificially. A collaborative control simulation technique of HOPSAN and MATLAB/SIMULINK is applied to the controller design. Simulation results show that the proposed PI control system has less overshoot as well as faster response. The tip damping on the HCBS during operation is improved.

Using modified Soil Conservation Service curve number method to simulate the role of forest in flood control in the upper reach of the Tingjiang River in China

To improve flood control efficiency and increase urban resilience to flooding,the impacts of forest type change on flood control in the upper reach of the Tingjiang River(URTR) were evaluated by a modified model based on the Soil Conservation Service curve number(SCS-CN) method. Parameters of the model were selected and determined according to the comprehensive analysis of model evaluation indexes. The first simulation of forest reconstruction scenario,namely a coniferous forest covering 59.35km^2 is replaced by a broad-leaved forest showed no significant impact on the flood reduction in the URTR. The second simulation was added with 61.75km^2 bamboo forest replaced by broad-leaved forest,the reduction of flood peak discharge and flood volume could be improved significantly. Specifically,flood peak discharge of 10-year return period event was reduced to 7-year event,and the reduction rate of small flood was 21%-28%. Moreover,the flood volume was reduced by 9%-14% and 18%-35% for moderate floods and small floods,respectively. The resultssuggest that the bamboo forest reconstruction is an effective control solution for small to moderate flood in the URTR,the effect of forest conversion on flood volume is increasingly reduced as the rainfall amount increases to more extreme magnitude. Using a hydrological model with scenarios analysis is an effective simulation approach in investigating the relationship between forest type change and flood control. This method would provide reliable support for flood control and disaster mitigation in mountainous cities.

SIMULATION STUDY OF GENERALIZED MINIMUM VARIANCE CONTROL FOR AN EXTRACTION TURBINE

In an extraction turbine, pressure of the extracted steam and rotate speed of the rotor are two important controlled quantities. The traditional linear state feedback control method is not perfect enough to control the two quantities accurately because of existence of nonlinearity and coupling. A generalized minimum variance control method is studied for an extraction turbine. Firstly, a nonlinear mathematical model of the control system about the two quantities is transformed into a linear system with two white noises. Secondly, a generalized minimum variance control law is applied to the system. A comparative simulation is done. The simulation results indicate that precision and dynamic quality of the regulating system under the new control law are both better than those under the state feedback control law.

Simulation Study on the Controllable Dielectrophoresis Parameters of Graphene

The method of using dielectrophoresis （DEP） to assemble graphene between micro-electrodes has been proven to be simple and efficient. We present an optimization method for the kinetic formula of graphene DEP, and discuss the simulation of the graphene assembly process based on the finite element method. The simulated results illustrate that the accelerated motion of graphene is in agreement with the distribution of the electric field squared gradient. We also conduct research on the controllable parameters of the DEP assembly such as the alternating current （AC） frequency, the shape of micro-electrodes, and the ratio of the gap between electrodes to the characteristic/geometric length of graphene （λ）. The simulations based on the Clausius-Mossotti factor reveal that both graphene velocity and direction are influenced by the AC frequency. When graphene is close to the electrodes, the shape of micro-electrodes will exert great influence on the velocity of graphene. Also, λ has a great influence on the velocity of graphene. Generally, the velocity of graphene would be greater when λ is in the range of 0.4 0.6. The study is of a theoretical guiding significance in improving the precision and efficiency of the graphene DEP assembly.

A leveling mechanism for the platform based on booms-constraint control of aerial vehicle

In order to achieve an automatic leveling function for work platforms of aerial vehicles with mixed-booms( MAV) in full elevating domain,an auto-leveling mechanism for the platform is proposed based on a control method of booms-constraint,where mixed-boom structures and elevating characteristics are considered. Three models of constraint strategies include non-constraint model,elevating constraint model and lowering constraint model,which is designed to meet the leveling requirements in full working extent. Through the hydro-mechatronic unified modeling,a virtual prototype model is set up based on the auto-leveling mechanism,and leveling performances of the platform are studied during booms elevating to the maximum working height and extent. Simulation results show that the control method of booms-constraint can realize auto-leveling of the platform under two typical working conditions,meanwhile a leveling deviation appears at the constrained point,but the platform inclination is adjusted in the permissible range. The control method does not only restrict booms' freedom elevating to a certain extent,but also impacts the booms extending to the maximum working range. Experimental results verify that the auto-leveling mechanism based on booms-constraint control is valid and rational,which provides an effective technology approach for development of the platform leveling of MAV.

Design and control of a p-xylene oxidation process

The p-xylene(PX) oxidation process is of great industrial importance because of the strong demand of the global polyester fiber.A steady-state model of the PX oxidation has been studied by many researchers.In our previous work,a novel industrial p-xylene oxidation reactor model using the free radical mechanism based kinetics has been developed.However,the disturbances such as production rate change,feed composition variability and reactor temperature changes widely exist in the industry process.In this paper,dynamic simulation of the PX oxidation reactor was designed by Aspen Dynamics and used to develop an effective plantwide control structure,which was capable of effectively handling the disturbances in the load and the temperature of the reactor.Step responses of the control structure to the disturbances were shown and served as the foundation of the smooth operation and advanced control strategy of this process in our future work.

STUDY ON USING SERIAL PIPE TO IMPROVE THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF ELECTRO－HYDRAULIC SPEED CONTROL SYSTEM

The mathematical models of electro-hydraulic speed control system using series of pipesis presented. The principle of pipe effection on dynamics of the system is developed. Computersimulation and physical experiment are also carried out. The experimental results show that a rightchoosing of serial pipe for electro-hydraulic system enables the dynamic response of the system tobe improved effectively.

A Practical Comparison between Signature Approach and Other Existing Approaches in Error Detection over TCP

Error coding is suited when the transmission channel is noisy. This is the case of wireless communication. So to provide a reliable digital data transmission, we should use error detection and correction algorithms. In this paper, we constructed a simulation study for four detection algorithms. The first three methods—hamming, LRC, and parity are common techniques in networking while the fourth is a proposed one called Signature. The results show that, the hamming code is the best one in term of detection but the worst one in term of execution time. Parity, LRC and signature have the same ability in detecting error, while the signature has a preference than all others methods in term of execution time.

Performance Degradation and Reliability Analysis for Redundant Actuation System

Redundant actuator is the key component of Fly-By-Wire （FBW） system in which exists the inherent force fighting among different redundant channels at colligation point, This paper establishes the mathematical model of quad redundant actuator （QRA）, investigates the force equalization algorithm and carries out the performance degradation simulation and reliability analysis under the first failure and the second failure. The results indicate that the optimal equalization algorithm can solve the force fighting effectively, and the QRA can operate at degradation performance continuously under the first failure and the second failure. With the dynamic fault tree analysis, this paper calculates the reliability based on the performance of QRA and proves that the redundant actuator has very high reliability and safety.

An experimental study of the dual-loop control of electro-hydraulic load simulator (EHLS)

This paper investigates motion coupling disturbance（the so called surplus torque）in the hardware-in-the-loop（HIL）experiments.The＇＇velocity synchronization scheme＇＇was proposed by Jiao for an electro-hydraulic load simulator（EHLS）in 2004.In some situations,however,the scheme is limited in the implementation for certain reasons,as is the case when the actuator＇s valve signal is not available or it is seriously polluted by noise.To solve these problems,a＇＇dual-loop scheme＇＇is developed for EHLS.The dual-loop scheme is a combination of a torque loop and a position synchronization loop.The role of the position synchronization loop is to decouple the motion disturbance caused by the actuator system.To verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed scheme,extensive simulations are performed using AMESim.Then,the performance of the developed method is validated by experiments.

Robust Control for Static Loading of Electro-hydraulic Load Simulator with Friction Compensation

Load simulator is a key test equipment for aircraft actuation systems in hardware-in-the-loop-simulation. Static loading is an essential function of the load simulator and widely used in the static/dynamic stiffness test of aircraft actuation systems. The tracking performance of the static loading is studied in this paper. Firstly, the nonlinear mathematical models of the hydraulic load simulator are derived, and the feedback linearization method is employed to construct a feed-forward controller to improve the force tracking performance. Considering the effect of the friction, a LuGre model based friction compensation is synthesized, in which the unmeasurable state is estimated by a dual state observer via a controlled learning mechanism to guarantee that the estimation is bounded. The modeling errors are attenuated by a well-designed robust controller with a control accuracy measured by a design parameter. Employing the dual state observer is to capture the different effects of the unmeasured state and hence can improve the friction compensation accuracy. The tracking performance is summarized by a derived theorem. Experimental results are also obtained to verify the high performance nature of the proposed control strategy.