A novel multi-channel porous structure facilitating mass transport towards highly efficient alkaline water electrolysis

An advantageous porous architecture of electrodes is pivotal in significantly enhancing alkaline water electrolysis(AWE)efficiency by optimizing the mass transport mechanisms.This effect becomes even more pronounced when aiming to achieve elevated current densities.Herein,we employed a rapid and scalable laser texturing process to craft novel multi-channel porous electrodes.Particularly,the obtained electrodes exhibit the lowest Tafel slope of 79 mV dec^(-1)(HER)and 49 mV dec^(-1)(OER).As anticipated,the alkaline electrolyzer(AEL)cell incorporating multi-channel porous electrodes(NP-LT30)exhibited a remarkable improvement in cell efficiency,with voltage drops(from 2.28 to 1.97 V)exceeding 300 mV under 1 A cm^(-1),compared to conventional perforated Ni plate electrodes.This enhancement mainly stemmed from the employed multi-channel porous structure,facilitating mass transport and bubble dynamics through an innovative convection mode,surpassing the traditional convection mode.Furthermore,the NP-LT30-based AEL cell demonstrated exceptional durability for 300 h under 1.0 A cm^(-2).This study underscores the capability of the novel multi-channel porous electrodes to expedite mass transport in practical AWE applications.

A Fractional-Order Ultra-Local Model-Based Adaptive Neural Network Sliding Mode Control of n-DOF Upper-Limb Exoskeleton With Input Deadzone

This paper proposes an adaptive neural network sliding mode control based on fractional-order ultra-local model for n-DOF upper-limb exoskeleton in presence of uncertainties,external disturbances and input deadzone.Considering the model complexity and input deadzone,a fractional-order ultra-local model is proposed to formulate the original dynamic system for simple controller design.Firstly,the control gain of ultra-local model is considered as a constant.The fractional-order sliding mode technique is designed to stabilize the closed-loop system,while fractional-order time-delay estimation is combined with neural network to estimate the lumped disturbance.Correspondingly,a fractional-order ultra-local model-based neural network sliding mode controller(FO-NNSMC) is proposed.Secondly,to avoid disadvantageous effect of improper gain selection on the control performance,the control gain of ultra-local model is considered as an unknown parameter.Then,the Nussbaum technique is introduced into the FO-NNSMC to deal with the stability problem with unknown gain.Correspondingly,a fractional-order ultra-local model-based adaptive neural network sliding mode controller(FO-ANNSMC) is proposed.Moreover,the stability analysis of the closed-loop system with the proposed method is presented by using the Lyapunov theory.Finally,with the co-simulations on virtual prototype of 7-DOF iReHave upper-limb exoskeleton and experiments on 2-DOF upper-limb exoskeleton,the obtained compared results illustrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.

Vibration Control of A Flexible Marine Riser System Subject to Input Dead Zone and Extraneous Disturbances

An observer-based adaptive backstepping boundary control is proposed for vibration control of flexible offshore riser systems with unknown nonlinear input dead zone and uncertain environmental disturbances.The control algorithm can update the control law online through real-time data to make the controller adapt to the environment and improve the control precision.Specifically,based on the adaptive backstepping framework,virtual control laws and Lyapunov functions are designed for each subsystem.Three direction interference observers are designed to track the timevarying boundary disturbance.On this basis,the inverse of the dead zone and linear state transformation are used to compensate for the original system and eliminate the adverse effects of the dead zone.In addition,the stability of the closed-loop system is proven by Lyapunov stability theory.All the system states are bounded,and the vibration offset of the riser converges to a small area of the initial position.Finally,four examples of flexible marine risers are simulated in MATLAB to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Influence of heat input on microhardness and microstructure across the welding interface between stainless steel and low alloy steel

The welding interface is crucial to the service safety of dissimilar metal weld(DMW)joints between stainless steel(SS)and low alloy(LA)steel.Different status of welding interfaces was prepared by cladding SS consumables to LA steel substrates with different heat inputs via tungsten inert gas arc welding(TIG),followed by a series of microstructural characterizations and hardness tests.Results showed that a hardening and transition layer(TL)would be generated along the welding interface,and the width and hardening degree of the TL would increase with the heat input.Meanwhile,heavy load hardness tests showed that highly severe inhomogeneous plastic deformation and the microcrack would be generated in the interfacial region and the welding interface respectively in the highest heat input sample(1.03 kJ/mm).These results indicate that the increase in heat input would deteriorate the bonding performance of DMW joints.Further microstructural observations showed that the higher hardening degree of the highest heat input sample was mainly attributed to the stronger grain boundary,solution,and dislocation strengthening effects.

Dynamic Event-Triggered Consensus Control for Input Constrained Multi-Agent Systems With a Designable Minimum Inter-Event Time

This paper investigates the consensus control of multi-agent systems(MASs) with constrained input using the dynamic event-triggered mechanism(ETM).Consider the MASs with small-scale networks where a centralized dynamic ETM with global information of the MASs is first designed.Then,a distributed dynamic ETM which only uses local information is developed for the MASs with large-scale networks.It is shown that the semi-global consensus of the MASs can be achieved by the designed bounded control protocol where the Zeno phenomenon is eliminated by a designable minimum inter-event time.In addition,it is easier to find a trade-off between the convergence rate and the minimum inter-event time by an adjustable parameter.Furthermore,the results are extended to regional consensus of the MASs with the bounded control protocol.Numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Adaptive Sensor-Fault Tolerant Control of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles With Input Saturation

This paper investigates the tracking control problem for unmanned underwater vehicles(UUVs)systems with sensor faults,input saturation,and external disturbance caused by waves and ocean currents.An active sensor fault-tolerant control scheme is proposed.First,the developed method only requires the inertia matrix of the UUV,without other dynamic information,and can handle both additive and multiplicative sensor faults.Subsequently,an adaptive fault-tolerant controller is designed to achieve asymptotic tracking control of the UUV by employing robust integral of the sign of error feedback method.It is shown that the effect of sensor faults is online estimated and compensated by an adaptive estimator.With the proposed controller,the tracking error and estimation error can asymptotically converge to zero.Finally,simulation results are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Exact controllability of rational expectations model with multiplicative noise and input delay

This paper considers the rational expectations model with multiplicative noise and input delay,where the system dynamics rely on the conditional expectations of future states.The main contribution is to obtain a sufficient condition for the exact controllability of the rational expectations model.In particular,we derive a sufficient Gramian matrix condition and a rank condition for the delay-free case.The key is the solvability of the backward stochastic difference equations with input delay which is derived from the forward and backward stochastic system.

Estimating the Input Power of a Power Plant Using the Efficiency of the Inverter

The study focuses on estimating the input power of a power plant from available data, using the theoretical inverter efficiency as the key parameter. The paper addresses the problem of missing data in power generation systems and proposes an approach based on the efficiency formula widely documented in the literature. In the absence of input data, this method makes it possible to estimate the plant’s input power using data extracted from the site, in particular that provided by the Ministry of the Environment. The importance of this study lies in the need to accurately determine the input power in order to assess the overall performance of the energy system.

Design of Cold-Junction Compensation and Disconnection Detection Circuits of Various Thermocouples and Implementation of Multi-Channel Interfaces Using Them-A Secondary Publication

Cold-junction compensation(CJC)and disconnection detection circuit design of various thermocouples(TC)and multi-channel TC interface circuits were designed.The CJC and disconnection detection circuit consists of a CJC semiconductor device,an instrumentation amplifier(IA),two resistors,and a diode for disconnection detection.Based on the basic circuit,a multi-channel interface circuit was also implemented.The CJC was implemented using compensation semiconductor and IA,and disconnection detection was detected by using two resistors and a diode so that IA input voltage became-0.42 V.As a result of the experiment using R-type TC,the error of the designed circuit was reduced from 0.14 mV to 3μV after CJC in the temperature range of 0°C to 1400°C.In addition,it was confirmed that the output voltage of IA was saturated from 88 mV to-14.2 V when TC was disconnected from normal.The output voltage of the designed circuit was 0 V to 10 V in the temperature range of 0°C to 1400°C.The results of the 4-channel interface experiment using R-type TC were almost identical to the CJC and disconnection detection results for each channel.The implemented multi-channel interface has a feature that can be applied equally to E,J,K,T,R,and S-type TCs by changing the terminals of CJC semiconductor devices and adjusting the IA gain.

Generalized-Extended-State-Observer and Equivalent-Input-Disturbance Methods for Active Disturbance Rejection: Deep Observation and Comparison

Active disturbance-rejection methods are effective in estimating and rejecting disturbances in both transient and steady-state responses.This paper presents a deep observation on and a comparison between two of those methods:the generalized extended-state observer(GESO)and the equivalent input disturbance(EID)from assumptions,system configurations,stability conditions,system design,disturbance-rejection performance,and extensibility.A time-domain index is introduced to assess the disturbance-rejection performance.A detailed observation of disturbance-suppression mechanisms reveals the superiority of the EID approach over the GESO method.A comparison between these two methods shows that assumptions on disturbances are more practical and the adjustment of disturbance-rejection performance is easier for the EID approach than for the GESO method.

Multi-channel terahertz focused beam generator based on shared-aperture metasurface

Most of existing metasurfaces usually have limited channel behavior,which seriouslyhinders their development and application.In this paper,we propose a multi-channel terahertz focused beam generator based on shared-aperture metasurface,and the generator consists of a top square metal strip,a middle layer of silica and a metal bottom plate.By changing the position and size of the shared-aperture array,the designed metasurface can generate any number of multi-channel focusing beams at different predicted positions.In addition,the energy intensity of focusing beams can be controlled.The full-wave simulation results show that the metasurface achieves four-channel vortex focused beam generation with different topological charges,and five-,six-,eight-channel focused beam generation with different energy intensities at a frequency of 1 THz,which are in good agreement with the theoretically calculated predictions.This work can provide a new idea for designing the terahertz multichannel devices.

Fast pre-stack multi-channel inversion constrained by seismic reflection features

Classical multi-channel technology can significantly reduce the pre-stack seismic inversion uncertainty, especially for complex geology such as high dipping structures. However, due to the consideration of complex structure or reflection features, the existing multi-channel inversion methods have to adopt the highly time-consuming strategy of arranging seismic data trace-by-trace, limiting its wide application in pre-stack inversion. A fast pre-stack multi-channel inversion constrained by seismic reflection features has been proposed to address this issue. The key to our method is to re-characterize the reflection features to directly constrain the pre-stack inversion through a Hadamard product operator without rearranging the seismic data. The seismic reflection features can reflect the distribution of the stratum reflection interface, and we obtained them from the post-stack profile by searching the shortest local Euclidean distance between adjacent seismic traces. Instead of directly constructing a large-size reflection features constraint operator advocated by the conventional methods, through decomposing the reflection features along the vertical and horizontal direction at a particular sampling point, we have constructed a computationally well-behaved constraint operator represented by the vertical and horizontal partial derivatives. Based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) optimization, we have derived a fast algorithm for solving the objective function, including Hadamard product operators. Compared with the conventional reflection features constrained inversion, the proposed method is more efficient and accurate, proved on the Overthrust model and a field data set.

Stabilization of fractional bilinear systems with multiple inputs

In this paper,we study in a constructive way the stabilization problem of fractional bilinear systems with multiple inputs.Using the quadratic Lyapunov functions and some additional hypotheses on the unit sphere,we construct stabilizing feedback laws for the considered fractional bilinear system.A numerical example is given to illustrate the efficiency of the obtained result.

Input Structure Design for Structural Controllability of Complex Networks

This paper addresses the problem of the input design of large-scale complex networks.Two types of network components,redundant inaccessible strongly connected component(RISCC)and intermittent inaccessible strongly connected component(IISCC)are defined,and a subnetwork called a driver network is developed.Based on these,an efficient method is proposed to find the minimum number of controlled nodes to achieve structural complete controllability of a network,in the case that each input can act on multiple state nodes.The range of the number of input nodes to achieve minimal control,and the configuration method(the connection between the input nodes and the controlled nodes)are presented.All possible input solutions can be obtained by this method.Moreover,we give an example and some experiments on real-world networks to illustrate the effectiveness of the method.

Opportunistic Routing with Multi-Channel Cooperative Neighbour Discovery

Due to the scattered nature of the network,data transmission in a dis-tributed Mobile Ad-hoc Network(MANET)consumes more energy resources(ER)than in a centralized network,resulting in a shorter network lifespan(NL).As a result,we build an Enhanced Opportunistic Routing(EORP)protocol architecture in order to address the issues raised before.This proposed routing protocol goal is to manage the routing cost by employing power,load,and delay to manage the routing energy consumption based on theflooding of control pack-ets from the target node.According to the goal of the proposed protocol techni-que,it is possible to manage the routing cost by applying power,load,and delay.The proposed technique also manage the routing energy consumption based on theflooding of control packets from the destination node in order to reduce the routing cost.Control packet exchange between the target and all the nodes,on the other hand,is capable of having an influence on the overall efficiency of the system.The EORP protocol and the Multi-channel Cooperative Neighbour Discovery(MCCND)protocol have been designed to detect the cooperative adja-cent nodes for each node in the routing route as part of the routing path discovery process,which occurs during control packet transmission.While control packet transmission is taking place during the routing path discovery process,the EORP protocol and the Multi-channel Cooperative Neighbour Discovery(MCCND)protocol have been designed to detect the cooperative adjacent nodes for each node in the routing.Also included is a simulation of these protocols in order to evaluate their performance across a wide range of packet speeds using Constant Bit Rate(CBR).When the packet rate of the CBR is 20 packets per second,the results reveal that the EORP-MCCND is 0.6 s quicker than the state-of-the-art protocols,according to thefindings.Assuming that the CBR packet rate is 20 packets per second,the EORP-MCCND achieves 0.6 s of End 2 End Delay,0.05 s of Routing Overhead Delay,120 s of Network Lifetime,and 20 J of Energy Consumption efficiency,which is much better than that of the state-of-the-art protocols.

SRResNet Performance Enhancement Using Patch Inputs and Partial Convolution-Based Padding

Due to highly underdetermined nature of Single Image Super-Resolution(SISR)problem,deep learning neural networks are required to be more deeper to solve the problem effectively.One of deep neural networks successful in the Super-Resolution(SR)problem is ResNet which can render the capability of deeper networks with the help of skip connections.However,zero padding(ZP)scheme in the network restricts benefits of skip connections in SRResNet and its performance as the ratio of the number of pure input data to that of zero padded data increases.In this paper.we consider the ResNet with Partial Convolution based Padding(PCP)instead of ZP to solve SR problem.Since training of deep neural networks using patch images is advantageous in many aspects such as the number of training image data and network complexities,patch image based SR performance is compared with single full image based one.The experimental results show that patch based SRResNet SR results are better than single full image based ones and the performance of deep SRResNet with PCP is better than the one with ZP.

Observer-Based Path Tracking Controller Design for Autonomous Ground Vehicles With Input Saturation

This paper investigates the problem of path tracking control for autonomous ground vehicles(AGVs),where the input saturation,system nonlinearities and uncertainties are considered.Firstly,the nonlinear path tracking system is formulated as a linear parameter varying(LPV)model where the variation of vehicle velocity is taken into account.Secondly,considering the noise effects on the measurement of lateral offset and heading angle,an observer-based control strategy is proposed,and by analyzing the frequency domain characteristics of the derivative of desired heading angle,a finite frequency H_∞index is proposed to attenuate the effects of the derivative of desired heading angle on path tracking error.Thirdly,sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee robust H_∞performance of the path tracking system,and the calculation of observer and controller gains is converted into solving a convex optimization problem.Finally,simulation examples verify the advantages of the control method proposed in this paper.

Effects of heat input on layer heterogeneity of selective laser melting Ti-6Al-4V components

Due to the layer-by-layer manufacturing characteristics,metallurgical process of selective laser melting(SLM)is inherently dif-ferent in the building direction because of varying conditions,thereby resulting inter-layer heterogeneity.To mitigate such anisotropy,it is of great significance to understand the effects of processing parameters on the property evolution and thus metallurgy of fabrication process.This research proposes one-factor-at-a-time experiment to investigate the influences of laser power and scanning speed on the surface qual-ity,microstructures and mechanical properties of selective laser melted Ti-6Al-4V parts.Surface quality is assessed by roughness around the printings while mechanical properties are evaluated through microhardness and tensile strengths.Phases in microstructure are quantified by XRD to correlate with mechanical properties.Fracture morphology is analyzed to understand the effect of defects and microstructure on mechanical performance.The optimized parameter corresponding to best surface quality and mechanical properties has been found respect-ively in laser power of 190 W and scanning speed of 800 mm/s.After optimization,surface roughness has decreased by 44.47%for upper surface.Yielding strength,tensile strength and elongation rate have improved by 13.17%,43.34%and 64.51%,respectively,with similar hardness and Young’s modulus.In addition,heterogeneity of mechanical properties has great improvement by a range of 31.63%-92.68%.

Defected Ground Structure Multiple Input-Output Antenna For Wireless Applications

In this paper,the investigation of a novel compact 2×2,2×1,and 1×1 Ultra-Wide Band(UWB)based Multiple-Input Multiple-Output(MIMO)antenna with Defected Ground Structure(DGS)is employed.The proposed Electromagnetic Radiation Structures(ERS)is composed of multiple radiating elements.These MIMO antennas are designed and analyzed with and without DGS.The feeding is introduced by a microstrip-fed line to significantly moderate the radiating structure’s overall size,which is 60×40×1 mm.The high directivity and divergence characteristics are attained by introducing the microstripfed lines perpendicular to each other.And the projected MIMO antenna structures are compared with others by using parameters like Return Loss(RL),Voltage Standing Wave Ratio(VSWR),Radiation Pattern(RP),radiation efficiency,and directivity.The same MIMO set-up is redesigned with DGS,and the resultant parameters are compared.Finally,the Multiple Input and Multiple Output Radiating Structures with and without DGS are compared for result considerations like RL,VSWR,RP,radiation efficiency,and directivity.This projected antenna displays an omnidirectional RP with moderate gain,which is highly recommended for human healthcare applications.By introducing the defected ground structure in bottom layer the lower cut-off frequencies of 2.3,4.5 and 6.0 GHz are achieved with few biological effects on radio propagation in human body communications.The proposed design covers numerous well-known wireless standards,along with dual-function DGS slots,and it can be easily integrated into Wireless Body Area Networks(WBAN)in medical applications.This WBAN links the autonomous nodes that may be situated either in the clothes,on-body or beneath the skin of a person.This system typically advances the complete human body and the inter-connected nodes through a wireless communication channel.

China's low-carbon competitiveness and its effect decomposition from the perspective of wellbeing performance of ecological input

From the perspective of wellbeing performance of ecological input,this paper constructs a low-carbon competitiveness evaluation model with wellbeing performance of carbon emissions as the measurement standard,and uses the LMDI factor decomposition method to decompose the total effect of low-carbon competitiveness changes into technology effect and service effect.And then it conducts positive analysis and comparison of the low-carbon competitiveness and its effect contribution of G20 countries from1990 to 2018.The results are as follows:Firstly,in 2018,the UK,France,Argentina,Brazil,and Germany had higher low-carbon competitiveness.From 1990 to 2018,the low-carbon competitiveness of the UK,Turkey,Germany,Italy,and Brazil increase rapidly.Secondly,from 1990 to 2018,the total effect of low-carbon competitiveness of G20 member states was all positive,that is to say,the overall wellbeing performance of carbon emissions increased,technology effect and service effect are positive in 17 countries and negative in 2 countries respectively.Thirdly,China's low-carbon competitiveness is low,lacking static and dynamic advantages,although the technology effect is the highest,but the service effect is the lowest,resulting in a low total effect,which indicates that the wellbeing performance of economic growth is the main bottleneck of China's low-carbon development.Finally,the policy recommendations for China's future low-carbon transition and sustainable development are put forward.