Robust fixed order lateral H-2 controller for micro air vehicle

This paper presents a robust fixed order H-2 controller design using Strengthened discrete optimal projection equations, which approximate the first order necessary optimality condition. The novelty of this work is the application of the robust H-2 controller to a micro aerial vehicle named Sarika2 developed in house. The controller is designed in discrete domain for the lateral dynamics of Sarika2 in the presence of low frequency atmospheric turbulence (gust) and high frequency sensor noise. The design specification includes simultaneous stabilization, disturbance rejection and noise attenuation over the entire flight envelope of the vehicle. The resulting controller performance is comprehensively analyzed by means of simulation.

Influence of viscoelastic nature on the intermittent peel-front dynamics of adhesive tape

We investigate the influence of viscoelastic nature of the adhesive on the intermittent peel front dynamics by extending a recently introduced model for peeling of an adhesive tape. As time and rate-dependent deformation of the adhesives are measured in stationary conditions, a crucial step in incorporating the viscoelastic effects applicable to unstable intermittent peel dynamics is the introduction of a dynamization scheme that eliminates the explicit time dependence in terms of dynamical variables. We find contrasting influences of viscoelastic contribution in different regions of tape mass, roller inertia, and pull velocity. As the model acoustic energy dissipated depends on the nature of the peel front and its dynamical evolution, the combined effect of the roller inertia and pull velocity makes the acoustic energy noisier for small tape mass and low-pull velocity while it is burstlike for low-tape mass, intermediate values of the roller inertia and high-pull velocity. The changes are quantified by calculating the largest Lyapunov exponent and analyzing the statistical distributions of the amplitudes and durations of the model acoustic energy signals. Both single and two stage power-law distributions are observed. Scaling relations between the exponents are derived which show that the exponents corresponding to large values of event sizes and durations are completely determined by those for small values. Th scaling relations are found to be satisfied in all cases studied. Interestingly, we find only five types of model acoustic emission signals among multitude of possibilities of the peel front configurations.

Acoustic emission technique for leak detection in an end shield of a pressurised heavy water reactor

This paper discusses a successful application of the Acoustic Emission Technique (AET) for the detection and location of leak paths present on an inaccessible side of an end shield of a Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR). The methodology was based on the fact that air- and water-leak AE signals have different characteristic features. Baseline data was generated from a sound end shield of a PHWR for characterising the background noise. A mock-up end shield system with saw-cut leak paths was used to verify the validity of the methodology. It was found that air-leak signals under pressurisation (as low as 3 psi) could be detected by frequency domain analysis. Signals due to air leaks from various locations of defective end shield were acquired and analysed. It was possible to detect and locate leak paths. The presence of detected leak paths was further confirmed by an alternative test.

On methods of calculating successive positions of a shock front

In this paper we have discussed limits of the validity of Whitham's characteristic rule for finding successive positions of a shock in one space dimension. We start with an example for which the exact solution is known and show that the characteristic rule gives correct result only if the state behind the shock is uniform. Then we take the gas dynamic equations in two cases: one of a shock propagating through a stratified layer and other down a nonuniform tube and derive exact equations for the evolution of the shock amplitude along a shock path. These exact results are then compared with the results obtained by the characteristic rule. The characteristic rule not only incorrectly accounts for the deviation of the state behind the shock from a uniform state but also gives a coefficient in the equation which differ significantly from the exact coefficients for a wide range of values of the shock strength.

Integration-free algorithms for fixed end-point regulator problems

A new formulation is suggested for the fixed end-point regulator problem, which, in conjunction with the recently developed integration-free algorithms, provides an efficient means of obtaining numerical solutions to such problems.

Anti-apoptotic Protein BCL2 Down-regulates DNA End Joining in Cancer Cells

Cancer cells are often associated with secondary chromosomal rearrangements, such as deletions, inversions, and translocations, which could be the consequence of unrepaired/misrepaired DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). Nonhomologous DNA end joining is one of the most common pathways to repair DSBs in higher eukaryotes. By using oligomeric DNA substrates mimicking various endogenous DSBs in a cell-free system, we studied end joining (EJ) in different cancer cell lines. We found that the efficiency of EJ varies among cancer cells; however, there was no remarkable difference in the mechanism and expression of EJ proteins. Interestingly, cancer cells with lower levels of EJ possessed elevated expression of BCL2 and vice versa. Removal of BCL2 by immunoprecipitation or protein fractionation led to elevated EJ. More importantly, we show that overexpression of BCL2 or the addition of purified BCL2 led to the down-regulation of EJ. Further, we found that BCL2 interacts with KU proteins both in vitro and in vivo. Hence, our results suggest that EJ in cancer cells could be negatively regulated by the anti-apoptotic protein, BCL2, and this may contribute toward increased chromosomal abnormalities in cancer.

A Hybrid Multilevel Inverter Topology for an Open-End Winding Induction-Motor Drive Using Two-Level Inverters in Series With a Capacitor-Fed H-Bridge Cell

In this paper, a new five-level inverter topology for open-end winding induction-motor (IM) drive is proposed. The open-end winding IM is fed from one end with a two-level inverter in series with a capacitor-fed H-bridge cell, while the other end is connected to a conventional two-level inverter. The combined inverter system produces voltage space-vector locations identical to that of a conventional five-level inverter. A total of 2744 space-vector combinations are distributed over 61 space-vector locations in the proposed scheme. With such a high number of switching state redundancies, it is possible to balance the H-bridge capacitor voltages under all operating conditions including overmodulation region. In addition to that, the proposed topology eliminates 18 clamping diodes having different voltage ratings compared with the neutral point clamped inverter. On the other hand, it requires only one capacitor bank per phase, whereas the flying-capacitor scheme for a five-level topology requires more than one capacitor bank per phase. The proposed inverter topology can be operated as a three-level inverter for full modulation range, in case of any switch failure in the capacitor-fed H-bridge cell. This will increase the reliability of the system. The proposed scheme is experimentally verified on a four-pole 5-hp IM drive.

Effect of wall thickness on the end corrections of the extended inlet and outlet of a double-tuned expansion chamber

Simple expansion chambers, the simplest of the muffler configurations, have very limited practical application due to the presence of periodic troughs in the transmission loss spectrum which drastically lower the overall transmission loss of the muffler. Tuned extended inlet and outlet can be designed to nullify three-fourths of these troughs, making use of the plane wave theory. These cancellations would not occur unless one altered the geometric lengths for the extended tube in order to incorporate the effect of evanescent higher-order modes (multidimensional effect) through end corrections or lumped inertance approximation at the area discontinuities or junctions. End corrections of the extended inlet and outlet have been studied by several researchers. However the effect of wall thickness of the inlet/outlet duct on end correction has not been studied explicitly. This has significant effect on the tuning of an extended inlet/outlet expansion chamber. It is investigated here experimentally as well as numerically (through use of 3-D FEM software) for stationary medium. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vehicle Routing Problem with Load Compatibility Constraints

The major contribution of this paper is to introduce load compatibility constraints in the mathematical model for the capacitated vehicle routing problem with pickup and deliveries. The employee transportation problem in the Indian call centers and transportation of hazardous materials provided the motivation for this variation. In this paper we develop a integer programming model for the vehicle routing problem with load compatibility constraints. Specifically two types of load compatability constraints are introduced, namely mutual exclusion and conditional exclusion. The model is demonstrated with an application from the employee transportation problem in the Indian call centers.

Optimal explicit guidance of multistage launch vehicle along three-dimensional trajectory

Details of an efficient optimal closed-loop guidance algorithm for a three-dimensional launch are presented with simulation results. Two types of orbital injections, with either true anomaly or argument of perigee being free at injection, are considered. The resulting steering-angle profile under the assumption of uniform gravity lies in a canted plane which transforms a three-dimensional problem into an equivalent two-dimensional one. Effects of thrust are estimated using a series in a recursive way. Encke's method is used to predict the trajectory during powered flight and then to compute the changes due to actual gravity using two gravity-related vectors. Guidance parameters are evaluated using the linear differential correction method. Optimality of the algorithm is tested against a standard ground-based trajectory optimization package. The performance of the algorithm is tested for accuracy, robustness, and efficiency for a sun-synchronous mission involving guidance for a multistage vehicle that requires large pitch and yaw maneuver. To demonstrate applicability of the algorithm to a range of missions, injection into a geostationary transfer orbit is also considered. The performance of the present algorithm is found to be much better than others.