Improvement of Position Repeatability of a Linear Stage with Yaw Minimization

Recently, due to the miniaturization of electronic products, printed circuit boards (PCBs) have also become smaller. This trend has led to the need for high-precision electrical test equipment to check PCBs for disconnections and short circuits. The purpose of this study is to improve the position repeatability of the platform unit up to ±2.5 μm in linear stage type test equipment. For this purpose, the causes of the position errors of the platform unit are analyzed. The platform unit holding the PCB is driven by a single-axis linear ball screw drive system offset from its geometric center due to design constraints. The yaw rotation of the platform is found to have a dominant effect on position repeatability. To address this problem, adding balancing weights to the platform unit and adjusting the stiffness of the LM Guides are proposed. These methods reduce the yaw rotation by moving the centers of mass and stiffness closer to the linear ball screw actuator. In the verification tests, the position repeatability was decreased to less than ±1.0 μm.

Tin Whisker Growth Suppression Using NiO Sublayers Fabricated by Dip Coating

Whiskers are small crystalline growths, which can grow from certain metals or alloys. Reaching up to several millimeters long, whiskers have the potential to cause device failures due to short circuits and contamination by debris. Tin (Sn) is one such metal that is particularly prone to whisker development. Until the 2006 RoHS Initiative, lead (Pb) was added to tin in small amounts (up to 2%) to greatly reduce the growth of whiskers. Since then, however, industry has switched to lead-free tin solders and coatings, and the issue of whisker growth on tin has attracted new interest. A reactive-sputtering-deposited nickel oxide sublayer was shown recently to strongly suppress the growth of whiskers from an overlaying tin layer. This paper reports on using nickel oxide films, obtained by a sol–gel dip coating method, as whisker suppressing sublayers. The proposed method is simple, low-cost, and can easily be scaled up for manufacturing purposes. The properties of the sol–gel deposited nickel oxide film were examined using SEM, EDS, and Raman spectroscopy. Samples containing the nickel oxide sublayer were observed through SEM periodically over several months to examine the surfaces for whisker development, and the results show that such layers can be very effective in suppressing whisker growth.

Short circuit fire risk assessment in investigating and examining fires caused by emergency modes in overhead transmission lines

Emergency modes (short circuits) in electric power system and equipment are the main technical cause of fires. However, it is not always possible to prove the involvement of a particular operating mode in a fire. The fire hazard can be due to three components: a fuel load, an oxidizer and an ignition source. Since overhead transmission lines are used in an open space, they are oxidized. The presence of a fuel load is confirmed by a fire. The source of ignition should be identified. The aim of the study is to develop an algorithm for assessing the fire hazard for short circuits in overhead transmission lines with 1000 V. The study was conducted using scientific analysis, physical experiment and simulation. The ignition source is due to the appearance of an energy source with parameters sufficient to ignite a fuel load. The probability of ignition in overhead line wires depends on the probability of occurrence of the short circuit itself ( Qi (v1) ) , the probability of failure of protection devices ( Qi (v2) ), and the probability that the electric current value in the event of a fault is in the range of fire hazard values (Qi(z)). The values of the first two components are determined on the basis of statistical data, taking into account the theory of reliability. The third component is based on the experiment results. The experimental studies made it possible to establish the ranges of fire hazard values for uninsulated aluminum wires of various cross-sections, thereby providing the possibility of calculating ( Qi (z). Using the data obtained and information about the nature of changes in short-circuit currents and performance characteristics of protection devices, depending on the line length, an algorithm for assessing the fire hazard for a short circuit was developed. The results make it possible to assess the fire hazard for short circuits in various sections of the electrical network, made by overhead transmission lines, and to establish the involvement of sparks generated by short circuits in a fire

Review of Literature on Self-Excited Induction Generators and Controllers

Wind energy is one of the most important and promising sources of renewable energy all over the world. Throughout the globe, in the last, three- or four-decades generation of electricity from wind energy has created a wide interest. At the same time, there has been a rapid development of wind energy-related technology. The control and estimation of wind energy conversion systems constitute a vast subject and are more complex than those of dc drives. Induction generators are widely preferable in wind farms because of their brushless construction, robustness, low maintenance requirements, and self-protection against short circuits. Low cost, robustness, and ease of maintenance are attractive features of induction generators. With wind turbine and micro/mini-hydro generators as an alternative energy source, the induction generators are being considered as an alternative choice to well-developed synchronous generators because of their simplicity, ruggedness, little maintenance, price, brushless (in squirrel cage construction), absence of separate dc source, self-protection against severe overloads and short circuits. In isolated systems, squirrel cage induction generators with capacitor excitation, known as self-excited induction generators (SEIGs), are very popular. This paper presents a review of literature related to the present status of research work on self-excited induction generators (SEIG), their terminal voltage control strategies, and over the past years discussing the classification of induction generators, steady-state and transient analysis, voltage control aspects, and parallel operation of SEIG.

Study the Electrical Properties of Surface Mount Device Integrated Silver Coated Vectran Yarn

Smart textiles have attracted huge attention due to their potential applications for ease of life. Recently, smart textiles have been produced by means of incorporation of electronic components onto/into conductive metallic yarns. The development, characterizations, and electro-mechanical testing of surface mounted electronic device (SMD) integrated E-yarns is still limited. There is a vulnerability to short circuits as non-filament conductive yarns have protruding fibers. It is important to determine the best construction method and study the factors that influence the textile properties of the base yarn. This paper investigated the effects of different external factors, namely, strain, solder pad size, temperature, abrasion, and washing on the electrical resistance of SMD integrated silver-coated Vectran (SCV) yarn. For this, a Vectran E-yarn was fabricated by integrating the SMD resistor into a SCV yarn by applying a vapor phase reflow soldering method. The results showed that the conductive gauge length, strain, overlap solder pad size, temperature, abrasion, and washing had a significant effect on the electrical resistance property of the SCV E-yarn. In addition, based on the experiment, the E-yarn made from SCV conductive thread and 68 Ω SMD resistor had the maximum electrical resistance and power of 72.16 Ω and 0.29 W per 0.31 m length. Therefore, the structure of this E-yarn is also expected to bring great benefits to manufacturing wearable conductive tracks and sensors.

Identification of Inter-Turn Short-Circuits in Induction Motor Stator Winding Using Simulated Annealing

This paper presents a method of inter-turn short-circuit identification in induction motors during load current variations based on a hybrid analytic approach that combines the genetic algorithm and simulated annealing. With this approach, the essence of the method relies on determining the reference matrices and calculating the distance between the reference matric values and the test matrix. As a whole, it is a novel approach to the process of identifying faults in induction motors. Moreover, applying a discrete optimization algorithm to search for alternative solutions makes it possible to obtain the true minimal values of the matrices in the identification process. The effectiveness of the applied method in the monitoring and identification processes of the inter-turn short-circuit in the early stage of its creation was confirmed in tests carried out for several significant state variables describing physical magnitudes of the selected induction motor model. The need for identification of a particular fault is related to a gradual increase in its magnitude in the process of the induction motor’s exploitation. The occurrence of short-circuits complicates the dynamic properties of the measured diagnostic signals of the system to a great extent.

Counseling on the Importance of Electrical Installation Safety in Tegalpanjang Village

Electricity has a very vital role in everyday life, therefore the electricity network must be properly maintained and protected, otherwise, not only disrupt the need for electricity but it can also endanger human safety. One type of electrical hazard that often arises is fire that caused by the electrical equipment used was not under the PUIL Standard (General Requirements for Electrical Installation in Indonesia) and COE (Certificate of Operation Eligibility). Beside carelessly installation that not comply with regulations that often cause electrical short circuit.. The purpose of this community service is to provide knowledge about the safe and correct household electrical installations to residence of Tegalpanjang especially school student so they can also provide information to other community members about dangers and utilization of electricity as well as correct electrical installation. The result of this service activity is the participants has knowledge upgrading and understanding about the dangers and use of electrical installations to avoid fires caused by electrical short circuits.

Application of Genetic Algorithm for Inter-Turn Short Circuit Detection in Stator Winding of Induction Motor

This paper presents a new method of inter-turn short-circuit detection in cage induction motors. The method is based on experimental data recorded during load changes. Measured signals were analyzed using a genetic algorithm. This algorithm was next used in the diagnostics procedure. The correctness of fault detection was verified during experimental tests for various configurations of inter-turn short-circuits. The tests were run for several relevant diagnostic signals that contain symptoms of faults in an examined cage induction motor. The proposed algorithm of inter-turn short-circuit detection for various levels of winding damage and for various loads of the examined motor allows one to state the usefulness of this diagnostic method in normal industry conditions of motor exploitation.