On equilibrium states and dust charging in dusty plasmas

The dust-charge variation process is revisited, accounting for the background density variation associated with electron capture and release by the dust grains. It appears possible to maintain overall charge neutrality in the plasma without any external particle source or sink. It is shown that if the dust charge and density are sufficiently high, the effect of the background electron density variation on dust-charge relaxation is important. The equilibrium dust charge and its rate of variation are obtained for dusty plasmas subject to strong UV irradiation. The latter releases photoelectrons from the dust surface and can significantly affect the equilibrium dust charge, its variation rate, as well as the overall charge neutrality in the plasma.

A three-phase to single-phase matrix converter based bi-directional IPT system for charging electric vehicles

This paper presents a novel three-phase to single-phase matrix converter (TSMC) based bi-directional inductive power transfer (IPT) system for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications. In contrast to existing techniques, the proposed technique which employs a TSMC to drive an 8th order high frequency resonant network, requires only a single-stage power conversion process to facilitate bi-directional power transfer between electric vehicles (EVs) and a three-phase utility power supply. A mathematical model is presented to demonstrate that both magnitude and direction of power flow can be controlled by regulating either relative phase angles or magnitudes of voltages generated by converters. The viability of the proposed mathematical model is verified using simulated results of a 10 kW bi-directional IPT system and the results suggest that the proposed system is efficient, reliable and is suitable for high power applications which require contactless power transfer.

Robotic explosive charging in mining and construction applications

Describes the development and testing of a robotic system for charging blast holes in underground mining. The automation system supports four main tactical functions: detection of blast holes; teleoperated arm pose control; automatic arm pose control; and human-in-the-loop visual servoing. We present the system architecture, and analyse the major components, Hole detection is crucial for automating the process, and we discuss theoretical and practical aspects in detail. The sensors used are laser range finders and cameras installed in the end effector. For automatic insertion, we consider image processing techniques to support visual servoing the tool to the hole. We also discuss issues surrounding the control of heavy-duty mining manipulators, in particular, friction, stiction, and actuator saturation.

Effect of organic gate dielectric material properties on interfacial charging and discharging of pentacene MIM device

The effect of material properties of an environmentally friendly, optically transparent dielectric material, polyterpenol, on the carrier transients within the pentacene-based double-layer MTM device was investigated. Polyterpenol films were RF plasma polymerised under varied process conditions, with resultant films differing in surface chemistry and morphology. Independent of type of polyterpenol, time-resolved EFISHG study of IZO/polyterpenol/pentacene/Au structures showed similar transient behaviour with carriers injected into pentacene from Au electrode only, confirming polyterpenol to be a suitable blocking layer for visualisation of single-species carrier transportation during charging and discharging under different bias conditions. Polyterpenol fabricated under higher input power show better promise due to higher chemical and thermal stability, improved uniformity, and absence of defects.

A Best Practice Process for Fleet Safety Training

This paper outlines a process for fleet safety training based on research and management development programmes undertaken at the University of Huddersfield in the UK (www.hud.ac.uk/sas/trans/transnews.htm) and CARRS-Q in Australia (www.carrsq.qut.edu.au/staff/Murray.jsp) over the past 10 years.