Implementation of Load Control for Smart Metering in Smart Grids

The conventional energy meters are not suitable for long operating purposes as they spend much human and material resources. Smart meters, on the other hand, are devices that perform advanced functions including electrical energy consumption recording of residential/industrial users, billing, real-time monitoring, and load balancing. In this chapter, a smart home prototype is designed and implemented. Appliances are powered by the grid during daytime, and a photovoltaic panel stored power during the night or in case of an electricity outage. Second, consumed power from both sources is sensed and further processed for cumulative energy, cost calculations and bill establishment for different proposed scenarios using LABVIEW software. Data are communicated using a USB data acquisition card (DAQ-USB 6008). Finally, a simulation framework using LABVIEW software models four houses each equipped with various appliances. The simulator predicts different power consumption profiles to seek of peak-demand reduction through a load control process.

Smart Metering and Pricing Policy in Smart Grids

Pricing policy is one of the tools allowing the involvement of customers in the balance between the supply and the demand in smart grids. The present chapter aims at presenting the smart metering action including the bidirectional measurement of energy for smart houses equipped with renewable energies as well as the way a smart meter communicates data at the required timing to and from the control center. A typical bill establishment explaining how the net billing is produced along with a discussion about different pricing policies that the utility may adopt to reduce the peak load demand is also presented. The work is concluded by a typical simulation of a smart city modeled in LABVIEW software.

The Design of an Automatic Flight Control System and Dynamic Simulation for Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) using X-Plane and LabVIEW

This research focuses on developing an automatic flight control system for a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using a software-in-the-loop method in which the PID controller is implemented in National Instruments LabVIEW software and the flight dynamics of the fixed-wing UAV are simulated using the X-Plane flight simulator. The fixed-wing UAV model is created using the Plane Maker software and is based on existing geometry and propulsion data from the literature. Gain tuning for the PID controller is accomplished using the pole placement technique. In this approach, the controller gain can be calculated using the dynamic parameters in the transfer function model and the desired characteristic equation. The proposed controller designs' performance is validated using attitude, altitude, and velocity hold simulations. The results demonstrate that the technique can be an effective tool for researchers to validate their UAV control algorithms by utilising the realistic UAV or manned aircraft models available in the X-Plane flight simulator.

Test rig dedicated for hardware used in wind tunnels

The paper present the results of work on measurement system dedicated to hardware used during wind tunnel tests, especially to servomechanisms. These devices could be applied to set specific position of control surface. Proposed system would ensure continuous monitoring of servo-rotor position and servo-motor temperature and would avoid uncontrolled change of control surface position. The application designed to monitor the operating status of the servomechanism was prepared in the LabVIEW software and was implemented on the myRIO platform. Developed test rig allow to register time histories of servo-rotor position and temperature during for different values of applied load. In the paper, test methodology were also presented. Experimental studies show that before wind tunnel tests, selected servomechanism should be tested in terms of maintaining the parameters declared by the manufacturer, especially during continuous operation. Developed measurement system can be used during wind tunnel tests, as well as only for servo-mechanism parameter testing.

Fabrication and Evaluation of a Flexible MEMS-Based Microthermal Flow Sensor

Based on the results of computational fluid dynamics simulations, this study designed and fabricated a flexible thermal-type micro flow sensor comprising one microheater and two thermistors using a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) process on a flexible polyimide film. The thermistors were connected to a Wheatstone bridge circuit, and the resistance difference between the thermistors resulting from the generation of a flow was converted into an output voltage signal using LabVIEW software. A mini tube flow test was conducted to demonstrate the sensor’s detection of fluid velocity in gas and liquid flows. A good correlation was found between the experimental results and the simulation data. However, the results for the gas and liquid flows differed in that for gas, the output voltage increased with the fluid’s velocity and decreased against the liquid’s flow velocity. This study’s MEMS-based flexible microthermal flow sensor achieved a resolution of 1.1 cm/s in a liquid flow and 0.64 cm/s in a gas flow, respectively, within a fluid flow velocity range of 0–40 cm/s. The sensor is suitable for many applications; however, with some adaptations to its electrical packaging, it will be particularly suitable for detecting biosignals in healthcare applications, including measuring respiration and body fluids.

Computer-aided study of the impedance dispersion of biological tissues

The article considers the development of a software and hardware system to study the impedance dispersion of biological fluids and tissues using an alternating signal generated and received by SensorDaq and LabView software. The design and development of the impedance measurement software and hardware system are described in detail. The impedance and capacitance values of the biological object were obtained when scanning at various frequencies and temperatures corresponding to different object conditions. The results of the system testing are shown, and the conclusions on the interaction nature of biological tissue and an external current are drawn.

Experimental V alidating DC Motor Model s and I dentify Transfer Function

DC Motor is an essential element for many applications in the field of automation, robotics, and many others. They are important for many engineers to understand its behaviours and characteristics. However, controlling any system is still a challenge because of their abnormal behavior. In this paper, we are applying techniques to understand the behavior of servo system. Several groups of researchers conducted experiments based on a standard first-order model of a DC Motor using first principles modeling to derive the parameters. However, not much highlighting is identified on how well these models match up the actual data. In this paper, a deeper understanding has been taken place to gain some familiarity in testing and measurements by exploring a special arrangement in a laboratory called Quanser QUBE-Servo. In addition to this, signals monitoring on the live-mode has the advantage of gaining conceptual knowledge in the experimental test, analysis, and verification of the system. On the other hand, solving differential equations numerically using powerful software such as LabVIEW which endorses the comprehension of the system operation. In general, this report discusses a simple technique to study the DC motor transient response, read the angular position of the encoder by interface data acquisition device used with LabVIEW software.

Numerical and Experimental Analysis of the Noise Generated in a Ducted Cavity Working in Various Conditions

Flow over a cavity or a gap may induce pressure fluctuations that are emitted as sound waves and perceived by a human as noise. This phenomenon may occur in different kinds of industrial machines or in everyday life devices, e.g., cars. For this reason, it is important to predict the flow conditions that intensify or attenuate the noise. This research paper presents the numerical and experimental analysis of the pressure fluctuations in a deep, ducted cavity. The experimental test stand made it possible to investigate the flow over a cavity with air velocity in the range of 30–80 m/s. The pressure fluctuations were measured using miniature microphones located in the duct and the cavity wall and processed with LabView software. The phenomena were also analysed using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. The several modelling approaches were tested and validated against the experimental data. The highest sound pressure levels were obtained for 40 and 70 m/s. The sound frequency increased with the flow velocity.

Development of an optical pH measurement system based on colorimetric effect

<p>This paper proposed an optical pH measurement system developed to measure the changes of pH levels based on colorimetric reactions with phenol red reagent. The optical sensing was achieved through the implementation of a pair of light emitting diode (LED) and photodiode. The detection mechanism was based on different absorbance of light intensity at pH values of 2.36, 8.32, 9.08 and 12.83. The data processing method was carried out using LabVIEW software and interfaced with NI USB DAQ 6008. The measured voltage showed a good correlation in relation to the pH level with R2 equals to 0.9624. This relationship was used as a calibration curve in the final system testing. The final measurement of pH showed a good agreement between the actual and measured values with an error of less than 5%, thus indicating the reliability of the proposed system.</p>

Assessment of SMA Electrical Resistance Change during Cyclic Stretching with Small Elongation

In this article, changes in NiTi alloy (Flexinol) electrical resistance during cyclic stretching with small elongation were investigated. A dedicated test stand consisting of motorized vertical test stand, force gauge, and electric resistance measuring device with an accuracy of 0.006 Ω was developed. A dedicated control algorithm was developed using LabVIEW software. Changes in electrical resistance were investigated for the 0.1 mm Flexinol wire with length of 120 mm. Testing was performed in the elongation range between 0.25% and 1.5% in martensite phase. Tested samples were subjected to 30 stretching cycles with a movement speed of 10 mm/min. Obtained results show that the cyclic stretching of Flexinol wire reduces its electrical resistance with each stretching cycle. Moreover, it was noted that changes in Flexinol electrical resistance during cycling stretching depend on the assumed elongation and number of the already performed stretching cycles. The observed electrical resistance change decreases with each stretching cycle. Thus, the observed changes are greater during the first stretching cycles. For elongations exceeding 1%, the Flexinol electrical resistance in the first stretching cycle increases. In each subsequent cycle, electrical resistance decreases, as in the case of the smallest value of assumed elongation. In almost all tested cases (except in the case with 1.5% of assumed elongation), Flexinol electrical resistance after 30 stretching cycles was smaller than before the test.