Compensation of pressure enthalpy effects on temperature fields for throttling of high-pressure real gas

For the pressure enthalpy of high pressure pneumatics, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation based on ideal gas assumption fails to obtain the real temperature information. Therefore, we propose a method to compensate the pressure enthalpy of throttling for CFD simulation based on ideal gas assumption. Firstly, the pressure enthalpy is calculated for the pressure range of 0.101 to 30 MPa and the temperature range of 190 to 298 K based on Soave-Redlich-Kwong (S-R-K) equation. Then, a polynomial fitting equation is applied to practical application in the above mentioned range. The basic idea of the compensation method is to convert the pressure enthalpy difference between inlet air and nodes into the compensation temperature. In the above temperature and pressure range, the compensated temperature is close to the real one, and the relative temperature drop error is below 10%. This error is mainly caused by the velocity difference of the orifice between the real and ideal gas models. Finally, this compensation method performs an icing analysis for practical high pressure slide pilot valve.     

Method for workspace calculation of 6R serial manipulator based on surface enveloping and overlaying

Aiming at the workspace calculation problem of multi-joint serial manipulators, a surface enveloping and overlaying (SEO) method is presented to identify and visualize the manipulator workspace. The SEO method is composed of two stages: the first stage is to choose reference points of the manipulator and calculate their boundary surfaces using the nth enveloping method; the second stage is to overlay these boundary surfaces to identify the final workspace. The SEO method is basically a combination of the analytic method and the numerical method. By delineating the graphic representation of the workspace step by step, the SEO method is easy to analyze the existence and the shape of voids and holes. The basic theory of the SEO method and formulas for workspace calculation are presented based on a 6R serial manipulator. By showing the workspace calculation results, the SEO method is proved working correctly.     

Real-time follow-up head tracking in dynamic complex environments

In the modes of both object motion and camera motion, an enhanced Camshift algorithm, which is based on suppressing similar color features of background and on joint color probability density distribution image, is proposed to real-time track head in dynamic complex environment. The system consists of face detection module, head tracking module and camera control module. When tracking fails, a self-recovery mechanism is introduced. At first the Adaboost face detector based on Haar-like features is implemented to find frontal faces, the false positive is filtered according to the skin color criterion, and the true face is used to initialize the tracking module. In hue saturation value (HSV) colorspace, the hue-saturation (H-S) histogram of face skin and the saturation-value (S-V) histogram of hair are built to produce the joint color probability density distribution image, and this is intended to realize the head tracking with arbitrary pose. During tracking, region of interest (ROI) is introduced, and the color probability density distribution of a specified background area outside the ROI is learned, similar color features in the head are suppressed according to the learning result. The background suppression step is intended to resolve the problem that the tracker maybe fails when the head is distracted by backgrounds having similar colors with the head. A closed loop control model based on speed regulation is applied to drive an active camera to center the head. Once tracking drift or failure is detected, the system stops tracking and returns to the face detection module. Our experimental results show that the presented system is well suitable for tracking head with arbitrary pose in dynamic complex environments, also the active camera can track moving head smoothly and stably. The system is computationally efficient and can run in real-time completely.     

Sliding mode control in position control for asymmetrical hydraulic cylinder with chambers connected

In this paper, single, two-position, two-way proportional valve is used to carry out the positon control of asymmetrical hydraulic cylinder with two chambers connected. The system structure and the working princle are introduced. The dynamic model of the asymmetrical hydraulic cylinder system is established with power bond graphs method, and becomes a fundament for analyzing the system. Sliding mode controller is designed, and the stability of the control system is analyzed. The simulation results indicate that the sliding mode controller designed can actualize the position control of asymmetrical hydraulic cylinder system, and controller is superior to traditional PID controller when the load changes in some range.     

Position control for asymmetrical hydraulic cylinder system using a single on/off valve

A single on/off valve is used to carry out the position control of the asymmetrical hydraulic cylinder. The influence of the nominal flow rate on the positional accuracy of piston is investigated and the proximate formula for calculating the nominal flow rate of on/off valve is introduced. The system structure proposed in this paper could avoid cavitation and hyper pressure in two chambers to some extent. The simulation results indicated that the control method in this paper could satisfy the expected control requirements.     

Enthalpy and exergy transfers of high pressure switching expansion reduction

The energy balance, air internal energy, enthalpy and exergy transfers of high pressure switching expansion reduction (SER) are comparatively analyzed in this paper to give a better understanding about the exergy analysis and its difference between energy conversion analyses for the pneumatics. In SER, the exergy transfer efficiency is much lower than the enthalpy efficiency. The enthalpy efficiency is primarily related to the initial pressure of supply tanks, and the exergy efficiency is primarily related to the pressure reduction ratios. Heat transfers increase the internal energy, enthalpy and exergy of air; the influence on exergy is relatively small. The total enthalpy in SER decreases as the air temperature decreases in the expansion process of the air. And exergy loss is primarily related to the irreversible process of isenthalpic throttling but not energy conversion. Based on the analyses, to improve the exergy efficiency of the pneumatics, the pressure reduction without power output should be avoided.     

Intelligent video surveillance for checking attendance of traffic controllers in level crossing

This paper proposes a detecting and tracking scheme for automatic checking attendance of traffic controllers in level crossing by recognizing their warning waistcoats. Considering of the actual requirement of rapidity and validity, this paper employs techniques of motion detection, color segmentation and feature matching to deal with the challenging problems of illumination varying, light reflection and disturbance. Therefore, the task of distinguishing the target from candidates can be fulfilled accurately. Once a target being detected, the established color models are modified through learning color of the detected target, and then Cam-shift algorithm is employed to track this target smoothly. The experiments in real scenes demonstrate that this method has a great capability to detect and track traffic controllers in complex level crossing environment accurately, and the comparisons further demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.