A high frequency, low voltage stackable full bridge module for modular multilevel cascade converter (MMCC) research

A new small full bridge module for MMCC research is presented. Each full bridge converter cell is a single small (65 × 30 mm) multilayer PCB with two low voltage high current (22 V, 40 A) integrated half bridge ICs and the necessary isolated control signals and auxiliary power supply (2500 V isolation). All devices are surface mount, minimising cell height (4 mm) and parasitic inductance. Each converter cell can be physically stacked with PCB connectors propagating the control signals and inter-cell power connections. Many cells can be trivially stacked to create a large multilevel converter leg with isolated auxiliary power and control signals. Any of the MMCC family members is then easily formed. With a change in placement of stacking connector, a parallel connection of bridges is also possible. Operation of a nine level parallel full bridge is demonstrated at 12 V and 384 kHz switching frequency delivering a 30 W 2 kHz sinewave into a resistive load. A number of new applications for this novel module aside from MMCC development are listed.

A modular matrix converter for transformer-less PMSG wind generation systems

An offshore wind turbine usually has the grid step-up transformer integrated in the nacelle. This increases mechanical loading of the tower. In that context, a transformer-less, high voltage, highly-reliable and compact converter system for nacelle installation would be an attractive solution for large offshore wind turbines. This paper, therefore, presents a transformer-less grid integration topology for PMSG based large wind turbine generator systems using modular matrix converters. Each matrix converter module is fed from three generator coils of the PMSG which are phase shifted by 120°. Outputs of matrix converter modules are connected in series to increase the output voltage and thus eliminate the need of a coupling step-up transformer. Moreover, dc-link capacitors found in conventional back-to-back converter topologies are eliminated in the proposed system. Proper multilevel output voltage generation and power sharing between converter modules are achieved through an advanced switching strategy. Simulation results are presented to validate the proposed modular matrix converter system, modulation method and control techniques.

Secure modular password authentication for the web using channel bindings

Secure protocols for password-based user authentication are well-studied in the cryptographic literature but have failed to see wide-spread adoption on the Internet; most proposals to date require extensive modifications to the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, making deployment challenging. Recently, a few modular designs have been proposed in which a cryptographically secure password-based mutual authentication protocol is run inside a confidential (but not necessarily authenticated) channel such as TLS; the password protocol is bound to the established channel to prevent active attacks. Such protocols are useful in practice for a variety of reasons: security no longer relies on users' ability to validate server certificates and can potentially be implemented with no modifications to the secure channel protocol library. We provide a systematic study of such authentication protocols. Building on recent advances in modelling TLS, we give a formal definition of the intended security goal, which we call password-authenticated and confidential channel establishment (PACCE). We show generically that combining a secure channel protocol, such as TLS, with a password authentication protocol, where the two protocols are bound together using either the transcript of the secure channel's handshake or the server's certificate, results in a secure PACCE protocol. Our prototype based on TLS is available as a cross-platform client-side Firefox browser extension and a server-side web application which can easily be installed on deployed web browsers and servers.

A lightweight, modular robotic vehicle for the sustainable intensification of agriculture

This paper describes a lightweight, modular and energy efficient robotic vehicle platform designed for broadacre agriculture - the Small Robotic Farm Vehicle (SRFV). The current trend in farming is towards increasingly large machines that optimise the individual farmer’s productivity. Instead, the SRFV is designed to promote the sustainable intensification of agriculture by allowing farmers to concentrate on more important farm management tasks. The robot has been designed with a user-centred approach which focuses the outcomes of the project on the needs of the key project stakeholders. In this way user and environmental considerations for broadacre farming have informed the vehicle platform configuration, locomotion, power requirements and chassis construction. The resultant design is a lightweight, modular four-wheeled differential steer vehicle incorporating custom twin in-hub electric drives with emergency brakes. The vehicle is designed for a balance between low soil impact, stability, energy efficiency and traction. The paper includes modelling of the robot’s dynamics during an emergency brake in order to determine the potential for tipping. The vehicle is powered by a selection of energy sources including rechargeable lithium batteries and petrol-electric generators.

Design of coreless PCB transformers for power and signal isolation in a modular ADC system for power quality data acquisition

Available industrial energy meters offer high accuracy and reliability, but are typically expensive and low-bandwidth, making them poorly suited to multi-sensor data acquisition schemes and power quality analysis. An alternative measurement system is proposed in this paper that is highly modular, extensible and compact. To minimise cost, the device makes use of planar coreless PCB transformers to provide galvanic isolation for both power and data. Samples from multiple acquisition devices may be concentrated by a central processor before integration with existing host control systems. This paper focusses on the practical design and implementation of planar coreless PCB transformers to facilitate the module's isolated power, clock and data signal transfer. Calculations necessary to design coreless PCB transformers, and circuits designed for the transformer's practical application in the measurement module are presented. The designed transformer and each application circuit have been experimentally verified, with test data and conclusions made applicable to coreless PCB transformers in general.

Modular design of profluorescent polymer sensors

A simple modular strategy for the synthesis of profluorescent nitroxide containing polymers is described. The incorporation of an epoxide as a pendant functionality on a polymer backbone synthesized using ATRP and subsequent nucleophilic ring-opening with sodium azide gave hydroxyl and azide functionality within a 3-bond radius. Orthogonal coupling chemistry then allowed the independent attachment of fluorophore and nitroxide groups in close proximity, giving rise to a profluorescent polymer. Validation of the viability of these materials as fluorescent sensors is demonstrated through efficient fluorescence switch-on observed when the materials are exposed to a model reductant or carbon-centred radical source.

A LIN inspired optical bus for signal isolation in multilevel or modular power electronic converters

Proposed in this paper is a low-cost, half-duplex optical communication bus for control signal isolation in modular or multilevel power electronic converters. The concept is inspired by the Local Interconnect Network (LIN) serial network protocol as used in the automotive industry. The proposed communications bus utilises readily available optical transceivers and is suitable for use with low-cost microcontrollers for distributed control of multilevel converters. As a signal isolation concept, the proposed optical bus enables very high cell count modular multilevel cascaded converters (MMCCs) for high-bandwidth, high-voltage and high-power applications. Prototype hardware is developed and the optical bus concept is validated experimentally in a 33-level MMCC converter operating at 120 Vrms and 60 Hz.

Design of a lightweight, modular robotic vehicle for the sustainable intensification of broadacre agriculture

This thesis presents the design process and the prototyping of a lightweight, modular robotic vehicle for the sustainable intensification of broadacre agriculture. Achieved by the joint operation of multiple autonomous vehicles to improve energy consumption, reduce labour, and increase efficiency in the application of inputs for the management of crops. The Small Robotic Farm Vehicle (SRFV) is a lightweight and energy efficient robotic vehicle with a configurable, modular design. It is capable of undertaking a range of agricultural tasks, including fertilising and weed management through mechanical intervention and precision spraying, whilst being more than an order of magnitude lower in weight than existing broadacre agricultural equipment.

Simple Coding Scheme For Modular Arithmetic

A dual representation scheme for performing arithmetic modulo an arbitrary integer M is presented. The coding scheme maps each integer N in the range 0 <= N < M into one of two representations, each being identified by its most significant bit. The encoding of numbers is straightforward and the problem of checking for unused combinations is eliminated.

Icosahedral DNA Nanocapsules by Modular Assembly

The construction of well-defined 3D architectures is one of the greatest challenges of self-assembly. Nanofabrication through molecular self-assembly has resulted in the formation of DNA polyhedra with the connectivities of cubes,[1] tetrahedra,[2,3] octahedra,[4, 5] dodecahedra,[3] and buckminsterfullerene.[ 3] DNA polyhedra could also function as nanocapsules and thereby enable the targeted delivery of entities encapsulated from solution. Key to realizing this envisaged function is the construction of complex polyhedra that maximize encapsulation volumes while preserving small. pore size.

Dynamic Digital Simulation of HVDC Systems Using a Novel Modular Converter Model

This paper describes a method for the dynamic digital simulation of HVDC transmission systems. The method employs a novel modular converter representation during both normal and abnormal conditions.

Modular design of synthetic protein mimics. Crystal structures, assembly, and hydration of two 15- and 16-residue apolar, leucyl-rich helical peptides

Two IS- and 16-residue peptides containing a-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) have been synthesized, as part of a strategy to construct stereochemically rigid peptide helices, in a modular approach to design of protein mimics. The peptides Boc-(Val-Ala-Leu-Aib),-OMe ( I ) and Boc-Val-Ala-Leu-Aib-Val-Ala-Leu-(Val-Ala-Leu-Aib()11z)- OhaMvee been crystallized.Both crystals are stable only in the presence of mother liquor or water. The crystal data are as follows. I: C78H140N16019~2H20,P2,, a = 16.391 (3) A, b = 16.860 (3) A, c = 18.428 (3) A, p = 103.02 (I)O, Z = 2, R = 9.6% for 3445 data with lFol >30(F), resolution 0.93 A. 11: C7,Hl,,N,S018.7.5H,0, C2221, a = 18.348 ( 5 ) A, b = 47.382 (1 1) A, c = 24.157 ( 5 ) A, Z =8, R = l0,6%, for 3147 data with lFol > 3a(F), resolution 1.00 A. The 15-residue peptide (11) is entirely a helical, while the 16-residue peptide ( I ) has a short segment of 310 helix at the N terminus. The packing of the helices in the crystals is rather incfficicnt with no particular attractions between Leu-Leu side chains, or any other pair. Both crystals have fairly large voids, which are filled with water molecules in a disordered fashion. Water molecule sites near the polar head-to-tail regions are well detcrmined, those closer to the hydrophobic side chains less so and a number of possible water sites in the remaining "empty" space are not determined. No interdigitation of Leu side chains is observed in the crystal as is hypothesized in the "leucine zipper" class of DNA binding proteins.

Modular design of synthetic protein mimics. Crystal structure of two seven-residue helical peptide segments linked by .epsilon.-aminocaproic acid

Two seven-residue helical segments, Val-Ala-Leu-Aib-Val-Ala-Leu, were linked synthetically with an epsilon-aminocaproic acid (Acp) linker with the intention of making a stable antiparallel helix-helix motif. The crystal structure of the linked peptide Boc-Val-Ala-Leu-Aib-Val-Ala-Leu-Acp-Val-Ala-Leu-Aib-Val-Ala-Leu-OMe (1) shows the two helices displaced laterally from each other by the linker, but the linker has not folded the molecule into a close-packed antiparallel conformation. Two strong intermolecular NH...O = C hydrogen bonds are formed between the top of the lower helix of one molecule and the bottom of the upper helix in a laterally adjacent molecule to give the appearance of an extended single helix. The composite peptide with Boc and OMe end groups, C76H137N15O18.H2O, crystallize in space group P2(1) with a = 8.802 (1) angstrom, b = 20.409 (4) angstrom, c = 26.315 (3) angstrom, and beta = 90.72 (1)degrees; overall agreement R = 7.86% for 5030 observed reflections (\F(o)\ > 3-sigma(F)); resolution = 0.93 angstrom. Limited evidence for a more compact conformation in solution consistent with an antiparallel helix arrangement is obtained by comparison of the HPLC retention times and CD spectra of peptide 1 with well-characterized continuous helices of similar length and sequence.

Transformation formula for exponential sums involving fourier coefficients of modular forms

In 1984 Jutila [5] obtained a transformation formula for certain exponential sums involving the Fourier coefficients of a holomorphic cusp form for the full modular group SL(2, Z). With the help of the transformation formula he obtained good estimates for the distance between consecutive zeros on the critical line of the Dirichlet series associated with the cusp form and for the order of the Dirichlet series on the critical line, [7]. In this paper we follow Jutila to obtain a transformation formula for exponential sums involving the Fourier coefficients of either holomorphic cusp forms or certain Maass forms for congruence subgroups of SL(2, Z) and prove similar estimates for the corresponding Dirichlet series.