Designing a Novel Controller for Boiler Pressure

In this paper, a practical method to design a robust controller for pressure of boiler in Mashhad Power plant using Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT) is proposed. In reality fuel flow, air flow and pressure of boiler are three dependent parameters which must control in every power plant. The boiler pressure system has uncertain mathematical model. Uncertainties in mentioned model are caused by lack of knowledge about the dynamics of the system, pay load changes, air flow. Thus, application of robust control methods for high precise control of pressure is inevitable. In the first step plant is converted into a group of linear uncertain plants. Then, a controller is designed for tracking problem and disturbance rejection. Finally, nonlinear simulation has been carried out which indicates successful design of controllers and pre-filters. The research demonstrates that applying the proposed technique successfully overcomes obstacles for robust control of pressure of the Power plant.

Noise Immunity of Carbon Nanotube Based Switches

In this paper, two terminals, doubly clamped, nano-switch has been studied. Here the interest of this study is the situation in which the pull-in and pull-out voltages not be same as each other and the pull-in/pull-out trend follows a hysteresis loop. This property could be used to introduce a double threshold switch with greater stability or noise immunity. With only one input threshold, a noisy input voltage signal near that threshold could cause the output to switch rapidly back. The model comprises a clamped-clamped carbon nanotube (CNT) suspended over a graphite ground electrode plate from which a potential difference is imposed. The actuation is based on DC applied voltages and it is assumed that the neutral axis of bending is stretched when the beam is deflected, and also, due to closeness of the substrate and the CNT, the van der Waals interaction forces between CNT and ground plate is considered. The versatile Galerkin’s method is employed to reduce the nonlinear integral-partial-differential equation of motion to a nonlinear ordinary differential equation in time, and then, the reduced equation is solved by direct numerical integration. The pull-in/pull-out phenomena, hysteresis characteristic are studied. The obtained results are compared to Molecular Dynamic (MD) method. Eventually, a nano-switch immune to input noise is proposed which relies on the hysteresis characteristic of the system. The proposed CNT-based nano-switch can operate in nano-scale electronics similar to the well known Schmitt trigger circuit in classical electronics. When the input voltage is higher than a certain pull-in voltage threshold, the output of the switch is in “ON” state; when the input voltage is below the pull-out voltage threshold, the output is in “OFF” state; when the input voltage is between the two threshold values, the output retains in the previous state.

Analysis of Free Nonlinear Vibration Behavior for Curved Embedded Carbon Nanotubes on Elastic Foundation

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are expected to have significant impact on several emerging nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) applications. Vigorous understanding of the dynamic behavior of CNTs is essential for designing novel nanodevices. Recent literature show an increased utilization of models based on elastic continuum mechanics theories for studying the vibration behavior of CNTs. The importance of the continuum models stems from two points; (i) continuum simulations consume much less computational effort than the molecular dynamics simulations, and (ii) predicting nanostructures behavior through continuum simulation is much cheaper than studying their behavior through experimental verification. In numerous recent papers, CNTs were assumed to behave as perfectly straight beams or straight cylindrical shells. However, images taken by transmission electron microscopes for CNTs show that these tiny structures are not usually straight, but rather have certain degree of curvature or waviness along the nanotubes length. The curved morphology is due to process-induced waviness during manufacturing processes, in addition to mechanical properties such as low bending stiffness and large aspect ratio. In this study the free nonlinear oscillations of wavy embedded multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are investigated. The problem is formulated on the basis of the continuum mechanics theory and the waviness of the MWCNTs is modeled as a sinusoidal curve. The governing equation of motion is derived by using the Hamilton’s principle. The Galerkin approach was utilized to reduce the equation of motion to a second order nonlinear differential equation which involves a quadratic nonlinear term due to the curved geometry of the beam, and a cubic nonlinear term due to the stretching effect. The system response has been obtained using the incremental harmonic balanced method (IHBM). Using this method, the iterative relations describing the interaction between the amplitude and the frequency for the single-wall nanotube and double-wall nanotube are obtained. Also, the influence of the waviness, elastic medium and van der Waals forces on frequency-response curves is researched. Results present some useful information to analyze CNT’s nonlinear dynamic behavior.

Using Sliding Mode Control to Adjust Drum Level of a Boiler Unit With Time Varying Parameters

Stable control of water level of drum is of great importance for economic operation of power plant steam generator systems. In this paper, a linear model of the boiler unit with time varying parameters is used for simulation. Two transfer functions between drum water level (output variable) and feed-water and steam mass rates (input variables) are considered. Variation of model parameters may be arisen from disturbances affecting water level of drum, model uncertainties and parameter mismatch due to the variant operating conditions. To achieve a perfect tracking of the desired drum water level, two sliding mode controllers are designed separately. Results show that the designed controllers result in bounded values of control signals, satisfying the actuators constraints.

An Investigation on Micro Slip Flows in Micro Channels

In this paper, distributions of velocity and flow rate of micro channels are studied. Moreover, the parameters which influence them were also discussed, as well as their effects and relevant curves. In the Analytical study, the governing equation in specific micro flows is obtained. This equation is specifically investigated for slip flow in two micro parallel plates (micro channel).At the next step numerical representation shows the influence of the related parameters in micro channel flow such as Knudsen number, thermal -accommodation coefficient, mass flow rate ratio and pressure ratio (outlet to inlet), Tangential Momentum Accommodation Coefficient with relative curves, and flow rate distribution in slippery state to no slip state has been compared as the another part of this solution. Finally, the results of investigating parameters and dimensionless numbers in micro channels are reviewed.

Thermal Hydraulic, Exergy and Exergy-Economic Analysis of Micro Heat Sinks at High Flow Rates

Recently, micro/nanofabrication technology has been used to develop a number of microfluidic systems. With its integration to microfluidic devices, microchannels and micro scale pin fin heat sinks find applications in many areas such as drug delivery and propulsion in biochemical reaction chambers and micro mixing. Many research efforts have been performed to reveal thermal and hydrodynamic performances of microchannel based micro fluidic devices. In the current study, it is aimed to extend the knowledge on this field by investigating heat and fluid flow in micro heat sinks at high flow rates. Moreover, thermodynamic and thermo-economic aspects were also considered. De-ionized water was used as the coolant in the system. Flow rates were measured over pressures of 20–80 psi. A serpentine heater was deposited at the back of the micro pin fin devices to enable the delivery of heat to these devices. Two micro-pin fin devices each having different geometrical properties (Circular based and Hydrofoil based) were used in this study. In addition, the performances (thermal-hydraulic, exergy, exergo-economic) were also experimentally obtained for a plain microchannel device. Thermal resistances, exergy efficiencies and thermo-economic parameters were obtained from the devices and their performances were assessed.

Investigation of Effective Parameters on Dynamic Response of Composite Bridge Under Moving Vehicle

In this paper, the effects of various parameters influencing on the dynamic response of composite bridge are investigated by FEM method. Herein composite bridge with one, two and four degree of freedom for vehicle has been studied. The corresponding Equations of motion are integrated numerically by applying the Newmark’s method. The models were verified by analytical and numerical solutions available for isotropic bridge. The speed of the vehicle, mass ratio, bridge damping on the dynamic deflection and acceleration and effect of composite bridge layup have been analyzed. Bridge damping can significantly decrease the acceleration of the structure, and it is true particularly for higher values of the speed parameters. Dynamic deflection is not influenced by damping changes; however, it also reduces with the increase of the damping ratio. Bridge damping has negligible effect on the vehicle acceleration. The bridge acceleration generally increases with the mass parameter. The vehicle acceleration increases much steeply and reaches much higher values for large mass parameters.

Investigation of Frictional Resistance in Nanometric Cutting by Molecular Dynamic Simulation

Recently, the development of machine tools and sub-micron positioning control systems has brought the minimum thickness of ultra-precision cutting to less than 1 nm. The conventional continuum based method (FEM) becomes impossible to use for numerical analysis. As an alternative method, molecular dynamics (MD) method is significantly implemented in the field of nano-machining to investigate cutting mechanism. In this paper, firstly, molecular dynamics simulations of the nanometric cutting of single-crystal copper were performed applying a pin tool. The model was solved with both Morse and Embedded Atom Method (EAM) potential functions to simulate the interatomic force between the work piece and a rigid tool. The nature of material removal, chip formation, and frictional forces were simulated. In order to investigate the coefficient resistance (the ratio of the cutting force to the thrust force), some MD simulations also carried for various cutting velocity and cutting depths. The results show that the Morse potential and EAM method have some difference to model tool forces and frictional resistance. Also, surface properties and atomic displacement in each of these potential functions have some discrepancy. In addition, cutting and trust forces increase with the cutting velocity and the depth of cut, however the effect of cutting speed is not very significant. Finally the value of frictional resistance is not changed with similar tool for various cutting speeds.

Derivation of Position-Probability Density for the Transient Nano-Tunnel Problem in SET

This theoretical investigation intends to study the nano-tunnel problem of the single electron transistor (SET), which is one of the most important components in the nano-electronics industry. With a combined effort of quantum mechanics and similarity parameter, the partial differential equation of transient position-probability density is attained and can be applied to predict the electron’s position inside the nano tunnel. Also, an appropriate set of the initial and the boundary conditions is set up in accordance to the actual electron behavior for solving this PDE of probability density function. Thereafter, a simple, closed-form solution for the probability density is obtained and expressed in terms of the error function for a new similarity variable η. Note that this analytic similarity solution is easy to perform the calculation and suitable for any further mathematical operation, such as the optimization applications. In addition, it is shown that these predications are reasonable and in good agreement to the physical meanings, which are evaluated from both microscopic and macroscopic viewpoints. In conclusions, this is an innovative approach by using the Schro¨dinger equation directly to solve the nano-tunnel problem. Moreover, with the aids of this analytic position-probability-density solution, it is illustrated that the free single electron in the SET’s tunnel can only appear at some specified regions, which are defined by a dimensionless parameter η within a range of 0 ≤ η ≤ 2. This result can be served as a valuable design reference for setting the practical manufacture requirement.

Fast AFM Scanning With Parameter Space Based Robust Repetitive Control Designed Using the COMES Toolbox

Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is a very strong and beneficial instrument for acquiring images at nanometer scale. Hence, obtaining better image quality and scan speed is a research area of great interest. Improving the dynamic responses of the scanning probe and the vertical motion of the scanner mechanisms are the two major areas of concentration in this sense. Improving the vertical dynamics is achieved either by designing more complex scanner mechanisms with higher bandwidth or designing more sophisticated controllers rather than the PI, PID or PIID types of controllers that are mostly used in practice. In this paper, the authors focus on designing a repetitive control scheme for fast and accurate scanning. It is possible to implement repetitive control to achieve this goal when it is considered that the successive lines of the scan are quite similar due to the very small steps taken to advance on the sample. Repetitive control can reject higher frequency disturbances due to the surface topography in AFM much better than a conventional controller can, as it can drive the error caused by any periodic input signal to zero. Besides increasing the scan speed, it is also important that the phase lag can be compensated perfectly using repetitive control, with the knowledge of the surface topography from the previous period by introducing appropriate phase advance.