Actuators, Volume 10, Issue 12 (December 2021) – 29 articles

The miniaturization of robots with locomotion abilities is a challenge of significant technological impact in many applications where large-scale robots have physical or cost restrictions. Access to hostile environments, improving microfabrication processes, or advanced instrumentation are examples of their potential use. Here, we propose a miniature 20 mm long sub-gram robot with piezoelectric actuation whose direction of motion can be controlled. A differential drive approach was implemented in an H-shaped 3D-printed motor platform featuring two plate resonators linked at their center, with built-in legs. The locomotion was driven by the generation of standing waves on each plate by means of piezoelectric patches excited with burst signals. The control of the motion trajectory of the robot, either translation or rotation, was attained by adjusting the parameters of the actuation signals such as the applied voltage, the number of applied cycles, or the driving frequency. The robot demonstrated locomotion in bidirectional straight paths as long as 65 mm at 2 mm/s speed with a voltage amplitude of only 10 V, and forward and backward precise steps as low as 1 µm. The spinning of the robot could be controlled with turns as low as 0.013 deg. and angular speeds as high as 3 deg./s under the same conditions. The proposed device was able to describe complex trajectories of more than 160 mm, while carrying 70 times its own weight. Full article

Due to the harsh working environment of wheeled agricultural vehicles in the field, it is difficult to ensure that all wheels make contact with the ground at the same time, which is easy to unequally distribute the yaw moments of each independent wheel. The commonly used vehicle lateral control methods are mostly controlled by coordinating the individual torque between different wheels. Obviously, this control method is not suitable for agricultural four-wheeled vehicles. The goal of this study was to provide a wheel steering angle control method that uses electric push rods as actuators that can cope with this problem. The design of a four-wheel steering controller generally adopts the linear PID control method, but the research object of this paper is difficult to establish an accurate and linear mathematical model due to the complex working environment. Therefore, fuzzy adjustment is added on the basis of PID control, which can meet the requirements of model difficulty and control accuracy at the same time. In order to verify the feasibility and rationality of the designed wheel steering mechanism, the model dynamics simulation based on ADAMS software and the response analysis of the electric linear actuator thrust were completed. Based on the kinematics model of the controlled object, the rotation angle of the actuator motor is used as the control target, the lateral deviation e and deviation variation ec are taken as input variables and the parameters K_P, K_I and K_D are taken as output variables, thereby establishing a fuzzy PID controller. Then, this controller is constructed in the Matlab/ Simulink simulation environment to analyze the lateral deviation and response stability during the process of vehicle path tracking. From the verification results of the linear path walking test under the fuzzy PID control method, the maximum lateral deviation of vehicle chassis is 2.7 cm when the driving speed is set as 1 m/s, and the deviation adjustment stable time of the system is 0.15 s. It can be seen that the proposed steering control strategy has good response performance and effectively increases the steering stability. Full article

The electromagnetic guided wave transducer has been widely used in pipeline detection in recent years due to its non-contact energy conversion characteristics. Based on the Weidemann effect, an electromagnetic guided wave transducer that can realize the locating defect of the steel pipe was provided. Firstly, the principle of the transducer was analyzed based on the Weidemann effect. The basic structure of the transducer and the basic functions of each part were given. Secondly, the key structural parameters of the transducer were studied. Based on the size of the magnets and the coils, a protype electromagnetic guided wave transducer based on Wiedemann effect was developed. Finally, the experiments were carried out on the steel pipe with a defect using the developed transducer. The results show that the transducer can actuate and receive the T(0,1) and T(1,1) modes in the steel pipe. The axial positioning of the defect is located by moving the transducer axially. The circumferential positioning of the defect is located by rotating the transducer. Additionally, missed detection can be effectively avoided by rotating the transducer. Full article

In this study, a fault-tolerant control (FTC) tactic using a sliding mode controller–observer method for uncertain and faulty robotic manipulators is proposed. First, a finite-time disturbance observer (DO) is proposed based on the sliding mode observer to approximate the lumped uncertainties and faults (LUaF). The observer offers high precision, quick convergence, low chattering, and finite-time convergence estimating information. Then, the estimated signal is employed to construct an adaptive non-singular fast terminal sliding mode control law, in which an adaptive law is employed to approximate the switching gain. This estimation helps the controller automatically adapt to the LUaF. Consequently, the combination of the proposed controller–observer approach delivers better qualities such as increased position tracking accuracy, reducing chattering effect, providing finite-time convergence, and robustness against the effect of the LUaF. The Lyapunov theory is employed to illustrate the robotic system’s stability and finite-time convergence. Finally, simulations using a 2-DOF serial robotic manipulator verify the efficacy of the proposed method. Full article

For the demands of a high precision motion control of an uncertain electro-mechanical launching platform, a novel integrated error constraint asymptotic control in the presence of parametric uncertainties and uncertain disturbance is proposed, of which the barrier function method and a continuous asymptotic control design are integrated for the first time. The former technique can effectively avoid excessive tracking errors at the transient phase, which is caused by the disturbance and the large uncertain system parameters’ deviation between the initial estimated value and the actual value, by selecting a proper barrier threshold, while the latter technique can handle the uncertain disturbance to achieve asymptotic tracking. A rigorous stability analysis is given to illustrate the theoretical performance. In addition, as a supplementary measure, repetitive control is employed to estimate and compensate the possible periodic-like disturbance under certain conditions. Two experimental cases on a prototype of a launching platform demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller. Full article

Multiparameter optimization of complex electromechanical systems in a physical space is a challenging task. CPS (Cyberphysical system) technology can speed up the solution of the problem based on data interaction and collaborative optimization of physical space and cyberspace. This paper proposed a general multiparameter optimization framework by combining physical process simulation and clustering genetic algorithm for the CPS application. The utility of this approach is demonstrated in the instance of automobile engine energy-saving in this paper. A 1.8-L turbocharged GDI (gasoline direct injection) engine model was established and calibrated according to the test data and physical entity. A joint simulation program combining CGA (Clustering Genetic Algorithm) with the GDI engine simulation model was set up for the engine multiparameter optimization and performance prediction in cyberspace; then, the influential mechanism of multiple factors on engine energy-saving optimization was analyzed at 2000 RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) working condition. A multiparameter optimization with clustering genetic algorithm was introduced for multiparameter optimization among physical and digital data. The trade-off between fuel efficiency, dynamic performance, and knock risk was discussed. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method and that it can contribute to develop a novel automotive engine control strategy in the future. Full article

The thrust position of the magnetic levitation rotor can be changed, bringing convenience to the practical application of cold compressors. This paper derives the mathematical model of asymmetric thrust magnetic bearings for a cold compressor and analyzes the changes in the system characteristics with the equilibrium position. By constructing PID controllers associated with the structural parameters of the magnetic bearing, the adaptive adjustment of the control parameters under different balanced position commands is realized. The simulation and experimental results prove that the gain-scheduled control method proposed in this paper can achieve a robust stability of the rotor in the range of 50 to 350 μm, and not at the cost of the response speed, adjustment time, and overshoot. The research results have reference significance for the structure design of asymmetric thrust magnetic bearings and play an important role in the commissioning and performance improvement of cold compressors. Full article

Researchers all over the world are aiming to make robots with accurate and stable human-like grasp capabilities, which will expand the application field of robots, and development of a reasonable grasping strategy is the premise of this function. In this paper, the improved deeplabV3+ semantic segmentation algorithm is used to predict a triangle grasp strategy. The improved model was trained on the relabeled Cornell grasp datasets and tested on self-collected datasets. Compared with the existing rectangular grasp strategy, the proposed algorithm and triangle grasp strategy have achieved outstanding performance in stability, accuracy, and speed. Finally, based on the ROS platform, this paper deploys the trained model and verifies the real effect of the trained grasping strategy prediction model, and achieves excellent grasping effect. Full article

Existing piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting circuits require auxiliary power for the switch control module and are difficult to adapt to broadband piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters. This paper proposes a self-powered and low-power enhanced double synchronized switch harvesting (EDSSH) circuit. The proposed circuit consists of a low-power follow-up switch control circuit, reverse feedback blocking-up circuit, synchronous electric charge extraction circuit and buck-boost circuit. The EDSSH circuit can automatically adapt to the sinusoidal voltage signal with the frequency of 1 to 312.5 Hz that is output by the piezoelectric vibration energy harvester. The switch control circuit of the EDSSH circuit works intermittently for a very short time near the power extreme point and consumes a low amount of electric energy. The reverse feedback blocking-up circuit of the EDSSH circuit can keep the transmission efficiency at the optimal value. By using a charging capacitor of 1 mF, the charging efficiency of the proposed EDSSH circuit is 1.51 times that of the DSSH circuit. Full article

The paper presents a joint experimental and numerical characterization of double-orifice synthetic jet actuators for flow control. Hot-wire measurements of the flow field generated by the device into a quiescent air environment were collected. The actuation frequency was systematically varied to obtain the frequency response of the actuator; its coupled resonance frequencies were detected and the velocity amplitude was measured. Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of the flow field generated by the device were subsequently carried out at the actuation frequency maximizing the jet output. The results of a fine-meshed parametric analysis are outlined to discuss the effect of the distance between the orifices: time-averaged flow fields show that an intense jet interaction occurs for small values of the orifice spacing-to-diameter ratio; phase-averaged velocity and turbulent kinetic energy distributions allow to describe the vortex motion and merging. A novel classification of the main regions of dual synthetic jets is proposed, based on the time- and phase-averaged flow behaviour both in the near field, where two distinct jets converge, and in the far field, where an unique jet is detected. The use of three-dimensional DNS also allows to investigate the vortex merging for low values of the jet spacing. The work is intended to provide guidelines for the design of synthetic jet arrays for separation control and impinging configurations. Full article

In the case of the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EV), it is well known that their use and charging could affect the network distribution system, with possible repercussions including line overload and transformer saturation. In consequence, during periods of peak energy demand, the number of EVs that can be simultaneously charged, or their individual power consumption, should be controlled, particularly if the production of energy relies solely on renewable sources. This requires the adoption of adaptive and/or intelligent charging strategies. This paper focuses on public charging stations and proposes methods of attribution of charging priority based on the level of charge required and premiums. The proposed solution is based on model predictive control (MPC), which maintains total current/power within limits (which can change with time) and imparts real-time priority charge scheduling of multiple charging bays. The priority is defined in the diagonal entry of the quadratic form matrix of the cost function. In all simulations, the order of EV charging operation matched the attributed priorities for the cases of ten cars within the available power. If two or more EVs possess similar or equal diagonal entry values, then the car with the smallest battery capacitance starts to charge its battery first. The method is also shown to readily allow participation in Demand Side Response (DSR) schemes by reducing the current temporarily during the charging operation. Full article

This paper presents a novel trajectory-tracking technique for servo systems treating only the position measurement as the output subject to practical concerns: system parameter and load uncertainties. There are two main contributions: (a) the use of observers without system parameter information for estimating the position reference derivative and speed and acceleration errors and (b) an order reduction exponential speed error stabilizer via active damping injection to enable the application of a feedback-gain-learning position-tracking action. A hardware configuration using a QUBE-servo2 and myRIO-1900 experimentally validates the closed-loop improvement under various scenarios. Full article

In this paper, an adaptive sliding mode fault-tolerant control scheme based on prescribed performance control and neural networks is developed for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) quadrotor carrying a load to deal with actuator faults. First, a nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode (NFTSM) control strategy is presented. In virtue of the proposed strategy, fast convergence and high robustness can be guaranteed without stimulating chattering. Secondly, to obtain correct fault magnitudes and compensate the failures actively, a radial basis function neural network-based fault estimation scheme is proposed. By combining the proposed fault estimation strategy and the NFTSM controller, an active fault-tolerant control algorithm is established. Then, the uncertainties caused by load variation are explicitly considered and compensated by the presented adaptive laws. Moreover, by synthesizing the proposed sliding mode control and prescribed performance control (PPC), an output error transformation is defined to deal with state constraints and provide better tracking performance. From the Lyapunov stability analysis, the overall system is proven to be uniformly asymptotically stable. Finally, numerical simulation based on a quadrotor helicopter is carried out to validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm. Full article

Automated operations are widely used in harsh environments, in which position information is essential. Although sensors can be equipped to obtain high-accuracy position information, they are quite expensive and unsuitable for harsh environment applications. Therefore, a position soft-sensing model based on a back propagation (BP) neural network is proposed for direct-driven hydraulics (DDH) to protect against harsh environmental conditions. The proposed model obtains a position by integrating velocity computed from the BP neural network, which trains the nonlinear relationship between multi-input (speed of the electric motor and pressures in two chambers of the cylinder) and single-output (the cylinder’s velocity). First, the model of a standalone crane with DDH was established and verified by experiment. Second, the data from batch simulation with the verified model was used for training and testing the BP neural network in the soft-sensing model. Finally, position estimation with a typical cycle was performed using the created position soft-sensing model. Compared with the experimental data, the maximum soft-sensing position error was about 7 mm, and the error rate was within ±2.5%. Furthermore, position estimations were carried out with the proposed soft-sensing model under differing working conditions and the errors were within 4 mm, but the periodically cumulative error was observed. Hence, a reference point is proposed to minimize the accumulative error, for example, a point at the middle of the cylinder. Therefore, the work can be applied to acquire position information to facilitate automated operation of machines equipped with DDH. Full article

Transitioning from a valve- to pump-controlled system has been observed in working hydraulics to reduce energy consumption and accelerate the response to decarbonization requirements in Non-road Mobile Machinery (NRMM). The utilization of an electric motor as a prime mover significantly enhances the chances of completing this task. While the concept of combining hydraulics with an electric motor is not new, the functionality of electro-hydraulics can be improved due to multidisciplinary domains, the impact of the electric drive and its control is usually underestimated. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the influence of hydraulics on electric drive operational characteristics in pump-controlled actuators. It utilizes an electro-hydraulic model and simulation study under various conditions, a stability analysis, and a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) of the frequency converter (FC) evaluation on a selected variable speed pump-controlled actuator to demonstrate the influence of hydraulics on an electric drive. Experimental validation of the model demonstrated an acceptable accuracy of 5%. Moreover, the stability analysis indicated a rise time of about 0.051 s, an overshoot of 0.53%, a transient process time of 0.13 s, and a steady-state value difference of 0.16%; all of which guarantees stable operation of the electric drive with a hydraulic load. In addition, an optimal PWM of an FC frequency of 5 kHz was selected to guarantee accurate speed control with minimum overshoot. Full article

In order to improve the quality of the laser and shorten the optical path of the fast steering mirror (FSM) laser compensation system, this paper proposes a four-degrees-of-freedom (4-DOF) voice coil motor (VCM) with the function of reducing laser geometrical fluctuations. The feature of this paper is the combination of a DC brushed spindle motor and the proposed 4-DOF VCM. A diffuser is installed on the shaft of the DC brushed motor for suppressing the laser speckle. The proposed 4-DOF VCM is combined with a laboratory-designed mirror set, controlling the laser direction to compensate for laser fluctuations. The proposed actuator was designed and verified by using the commercial CAD software SolidWorks and finite element analysis (FEA) software ANSYS. A mathematical model was built to simulate the dynamic response of the proposed 4-DOF VCM in MATLAB Simulink. Full article

A cascade proportional integral control method with back-electro motive force compensation has been widely used for permanent magnet synchronous motors. In the permanent magnet synchronous motor control, it is important to accurately know the back-electro motive force constant for torque generation as well as back-electro motive force compensation. In this study, a real-time back-electro motive force constant estimation algorithm is developed to improve the velocity tracking control performance. The proposed method consists of a proportional integral controller and a back-electro motive force constant estimator. The proportional integral controller is designed to reduce the velocity tracking error. The back-electro motive force constant estimator is designed to estimate the back-electro motive force constant. It was verified that the estimated back-electro motive force constant converges to the actual back-electro motive force constant. The estimated back-electro motive force constant is applied to the cascade proportional integral controller. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, the performance of the proposed method is validated experimentally. Full article

With the advent of modern communication and control strategies, existing industrial enterprises are now being transformed as per Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 standards to maximize production rates and monetary gains. To cope with the pace of the modern technological revolution, the Government of Saudi Arabia has launched “Vision 2030”. This research article presents the full automation process of an existing production line at the College of Engineering, King Saud University, as per “Vision 2030” guidelines. Initially, a production line was designed to produce flavored yogurt bottles from a user-defined flavor and plain yogurt mixture. The research project was completed in two phases. During phase I, smart sensing, control, and automation equipment were used to minimize human intervention, the so-called semi-automated mode of operation. A bottle-feeding mechanism and robotic arms were later integrated to eliminate human intervention during the second phase. Moreover, during phase II, Node-RED, Telegram Bots, and a Raspberry Pi 4 controller were used to achieve IoT-based monitoring and control as per Industry 4.0 requirements. A comparative performance analysis was conducted between semi-automated and fully automated modes of operation to demonstrate the benefits of the fully automated operational mode. The performance of the fully automated system was found to be superior in comparison with the semi-automated system. Full article

In this paper, a method to control one degree of freedom lightweight flexible manipulators is investigated. These robots have a single low-frequency and high amplitude vibration mode. They hold actuators with high friction, and sensors which are often strain gauges with offset and high-frequency noise. These problems reduce the motion’s performance and the precision of the robot tip positioning. Moreover, since the carried payload changes in the different tasks, that vibration frequency also changes producing underdamped or even unstable time responses of the closed-loop control system. The actuator friction effect is removed by using a robust two degrees of freedom PID control system which feeds back the actuator position. This is called the inner loop. After, an outer loop is closed that removes the link vibrations and is designed based on the combination of the singular perturbation theory and the input-state linearization technique. A new controller is proposed for this outer loop that: (1) removes the strain gauge offset effects, (2) reduces the risk of saturating the actuator due to the high-frequency noise of strain gauges and (3) achieves high robustness to a change in the payload mass. This last feature prompted us to use a fractional-order PD controller. A procedure for tuning this controller is also proposed. Simulated and experimental results are presented that show that its performance overcomes those of PD controllers, which are the controllers usually employed in the input-state linearization of second-order systems. Full article

For soft grippers to be applied in atypical industrial environments, they must conform to an object’s exterior shape and momentarily change their stiffness. However, many of the existing grippers have limitations with respect to these functions: they grasp an object with only a single curvature and a fixed stiffness. Consequently, those constraints limit the stability of grasping and the applications. This paper introduces a new multicurvature, variable-stiffness soft gripper. Inspired by the human phalanx and combining the phalanx structure and particle jamming, this work guarantees the required grasping functions. Unlike the existing soft pneumatic grippers with one curvature and one stiffness, this work tries to divide the pressurized actuating region into three parts to generate multiple curvatures for a gripper finger, enabling the gripper to increase its degrees of freedom. Furthermore, to prevent stiffness loss at an unpressurized segment, this work combines divided actuation and the variable-stiffness capability, which guarantee successful grasping actions. In summary, this gripper generates multiple grasping curvatures with the proper stiffness, enhancing its dexterity. This work introduces the new soft gripper’s design, analytical modeling, and fabrication method and verifies the analytic model by comparing it with FEM simulations and experimental results. Full article

The maglev inertial actuators with high power and mass maybe effective for lateral vibration control of a propulsion shafting. But the mass power ratio of the actuators currently in use is too small to meet the requirements. In the paper, a maglev inertial actuator was innovatively designed with high mass power ratio. The structure of the magnetic circuit assembly and the suspending assembly were designed and optimized. To verify the property of the proposed maglev inertial actuator, a prototype with mass less than 8 kg was developed and tests were carried out. The minimum effective output force can reach 200 N within the frequency band of 20–300 Hz. A lateral vibration of a propulsion shafting system was constructed and the active control effect was tested. The experimental results show that the proposed maglev inertial actuator has a good effect on lateral vibration control of shafting. Full article

In this paper, an AGV path planning method fusing multiple heuristics rapidly exploring random tree (MH-RRT) with an improved two-step Timed Elastic Band (TEB) is proposed. The modified RRT integrating multiple heuristics can search a safer, optimal and faster converge global path within a short time, and the improved TEB can optimize both path smoothness and path length. The method is composed of a global path planning procedure and a local path planning procedure, and the Receding Horizon Planning (RHP) strategy is adopted to fuse these two modules. Firstly, the MH-RRT is utilized to generate a state tree structure as prior knowledge, as well as the global path. Then, a receding horizon window is established to select the local goal point. On this basis, an improved two-step TEB is designed to optimize the local path if the current global path is feasible. Various simulations both on static and dynamic environments are conducted to clarify the performance of the proposed MH-RRT and the improved two-step TEB. Furthermore, real applicative experiments verified the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Full article

Active braking control systems are vital for the safety of high-speed trains by leading the train operation at its maximum adhesion state. The train adhesion is a nonlinear function of the slip ratio and varies with the uncertain wheel-rail contact conditions. A nonlinear active braking control with rapid and accurate tracking performance is highly required for train braking systems. This paper proposes a novel prescribed performance active braking control with reference adaptation to obtain the maximum adhesion force. The developed feedback linearization controller employs a prescribed performance function that specifies the convergence rate, steady-state error, and maximum overshoot to ensure the transient and steady-state control performance. Furthermore, in the designed control approach, a continuous-time unscented Kalman filter is introduced to estimate the uncertainty of wheel-rail adhesion. The estimation is utilized to represent uncertainty and compensate for the prescribed performance control law. Finally, based on the estimated wheel-rail adhesion, an on-line optimal slip ratio generation algorithm is proposed for the adaptation of the reference wheel slip. The stability of the system is provided, and experiment results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Full article

In the last decade, an enormous amount of attention has been paid to piezoelectric harvesters due to their flexibility in design and the increasing need for small-scale energy generation. As a result, various energy review papers have been presented by many researchers to cover different aspects of piezoelectric-based energy harvesting, including piezo-materials, modeling approaches, and design points for various applications. Most of these papers have tried to shed light on recent progress in related interdisciplinary fields, and to pave the road for future prospects in the development of these technologies. However, there are some missing parts, overlaps, and even some contradictions in these review papers. In the present review of these review articles, recommendations for future research directions suggested by the review papers have been systematically summed up under one umbrella. In the final section, topics for missing review papers, concluding remarks on outlooks and possible research topics, as well as potentially misleading strategies, have been presented. The review papers have been evaluated based on their merits and subcategories and the authors’ choice papers have been presented for each section based on clear classification criteria. Full article

This document presents a study on the optimization of the 3D geometry of a horizontal axis radial levitation bearing with zero-field cooled (ZFC) high-temperature superconductor (HTS) bulks in the stator, and radially magnetized permanent magnet (PM) rings in the rotor. The optimization of component dimensions and spacing to minimize the volume or cost concerning only the maximization of the levitation force was previously studied. The guidance force and guiding stability depend on the spacing between PM rings in the rotor and between the rings of HTS bulks in the stator. This new optimization study aims to find the optimum spacing that maximize the guidance force with given HTS bulk and PM ring dimensions while maintaining the minimum required levitation force. Decisions are taken using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) over 3D finite element analysis (FEA). A simplified electromagnetic model of equivalent relative permeability is used on 3D FEA to reduce numerical processing and optimization time. Experimental prototypes were built to measure magnetic forces and validate appropriate values of equivalent magnetic permeability. An analysis of stable and unstable geometry domains depending on the spacing between rings of HTS bulks and PM rings is also done for two HTS bulk sizes. Full article

In this paper, a novel micro-positioning device based on a 3D digital actuator is presented. The proposed system allows realizing planar motions of micro-objects, which could be implemented in several applications where micro-positioning tasks are needed such as micro-component manufacturing/assembly, biomedicine, scanning microscopy, etc. The device has three degrees of freedom, and it is able to achieve planar motions of a mobile plate in the xy-plane at two different levels along the z-axis. It consists of a hexagonal mobile part composed of a permanent magnet that can reach twelve discrete positions distributed between two z-axis levels (six at each level). Two different approaches are presented to perform positioning tasks of the plate using the digital actuator: the stick-slip and the lift-mode approaches. A comparison between these two approaches is provided on the basis of the plate displacement with respect to different current values and conveyed mass. It was observed that for a current of 2 A, the actuator is able to displace a mass of 1.15 g over a distance of 0.08 mm. The optimal positioning range of the planar device was found to be ±5.40 mm and ±7.05 mm along the x- and y-axis, respectively. Full article

In the power system, the transmission tower is located in a variety of terrains. Sometimes there will be displacement, inclination, settlement and other phenomena, which eventually lead to the collapse of the tower. In this paper, a method for monitoring the settlement of a transmission tower based on active vibration response is proposed, which is based on the principle of modal identification. Firstly, a device was designed, which includes three parts: a monitoring host, wireless sensor and excitation device. It can tap the transmission tower independently and regularly, and collect the vibration response of the transmission tower. Then, vibration analysis experiments were used to validate the horizontal vibration responses of transmission towers which can be obtained by striking the transmission towers from either the X direction or Y direction. It can be seen from the frequency response function that the natural frequencies obtained from these two directions are identical. Finally, the transmission tower settlement experiment was carried out. The experimental results show that the third to fifth natural frequencies decreased most obviously, even up to 2.83 Hz. Further, it was found that under different conditions, as long as the tower legs adjacent to the excitation position settle, the natural frequency will decrease more significantly, which is very helpful for engineering application. Full article

This paper presents a simple control method on the basis of the trajectory planning for vertical Acrobot to accomplish the control goal of moving the system from the downward initial position (DIP) and steadying the system at the upward target position (UTP). First, for the active link, we frame a trajectory that contains some adjustable parameters. Along the framed trajectory, we can make the active link stabilize at its end angle from its start angle. Furthermore, we change the trajectory parameters to make the passive link also arrive at the zone near the end angle. Next, we devise a PD-based tracking controller to track this planned trajectory. In this way, the vertical Acrobot is swung up to a small zone near the UTP. Then, from the approximate linear model at the UTP, we devise a stabilization controller to stabilize the vertical Acrobot at the UTP. Finally, we implement the simulation to show the validity of the proposed method. Full article

Airline electromechanical actuators (EMAs), on the task of controlling flight surfaces, hold a great promise with the development of more- and all-electric aircraft. Notwithstanding, the deficiencies in both robustness and adaptability of control algorithms prevent EMAs from extensive use. However, the state-of-the-art control schemes fail to precisely compensate the system nonlinear uncertainties of servo control. In this paper, from the innovation point of view, we tend to put forward the foundation of devising an active disturbance rejection robust adaptive control (ADRRAC) strategy, whose main purpose is to deal with the position servo control of EMA. Specifically, an adaptive control law is designed and deployed for resolving not only the nonlinear disturbance, but also the parameter uncertainties. In addition, an extended disturbance estimator is employed to estimate the external disturbance and thus eliminate its impact. The proposed controlling algorithm is deemed best able to address the external disturbance based on the nonlinear uncertainty compensation. With the input parameters and control commands, the ADRRAC strategy maintains servo system stability while approaching the controlling target. Following the algorithm description, a proof of the controlling stability of ADRRAC strategy is presented in detail as well. Experiments on a variety of tracking tasks are conducted on a prototype of an EMA to investigate the working performance of the proposed control strategy. The experimental outcomes are reported, which verify the effectiveness of the ADRRAC strategy, compared to widely applied control strategies. According to the data analysis results, our controller is capable of obtaining an even faster system response, a higher tracking accuracy and a more stable system state. Full article