A fundamental investigation of tilt control systems for narrow commuter vehicles

One way of addressing traffic congestion is by efficiently utilizing the existing highway infrastructure. Narrow tilting vehicles that need a reduced width lane can be part of the solution if they can be designed to be safe, stable, and easy to operate. In this paper, a control system that stabilizes the tilt mode of such a vehicle without affecting the handling of the vehicle is proposed. This control system is a combination of two different types of control schemes known as steering tilt control (STC) and direct tilt control (DTC) systems. First, different existing variations of both STC and DTC systems are considered and their shortcomings analysed. Modified control schemes are then suggested to overcome the deficiencies. Then a new method of integrating these two control schemes that guarantees smooth switchover between the controllers as a function of vehicle velocity is proposed. The performance of the proposed STC, DTC, and integrated systems is evaluated by carrying out simulations for different operating conditions and some experimental work. The design of a second-generation narrow tilting vehicle on which the developed control system has been implemented is presented.     

Transient design waves for green-water loading on bulk carriers

The wave surface profiles associated with extreme relative motion between a slender stationary vessel and the adjacent wave surface are investigated for long-crested head seas. The methodology is based upon an established statistical relationship for a Gaussian random process which indi-cates that in the vicinity of an extreme event the most probable shape of the time history approaches that of the autocorrelation function. Attention is given to the relative motion at a longitudinal position which is representative of the No. 1 hatch cover location on a bulk carrier. Second-order corrections to the wave surface profiles are used to provide estimates of nonlinear relative motions. It is shown that extreme relative motion at the hatch cover location is associated with the vessel encountering a steep-fronted wave with pronounced asymmetry in the horizontal and vertical directions. In order to evaluate the exceedence probabilities, it is hypothesized that the peaks of the nonlinear relative motions are closely correlated with the peaks of an underlying linear process. The overall methodology is applied to an investigation of relative motion exceedence probabilities for vessel lengths of 250 m and 300 m over a range of survival seastates. Received: July, 1999 / Accepted: November, 1999     

Roll-on/roll-off semi-trailer models: a comparison of results

A comparison is made of the various mathematical models that have been constructed, over the past 15 years, of a semi-trailer that can be carried on roll-on/roll-off ships, and some results from five of the models developed by the author are given. The purpose of this comparison is to show that even in the absence of reliable experimental evidence, there is such good agreement between the models that the results from each of them can be relied upon. Problems resulting from large lashing loads and deck loads are highlighted, and it is suggested that the present codes which govern the way semi-trailers are secured on board ship need further scrutiny. Received: January 28, 2000 / Accepted: December 6, 2000     

Windows CE操作系统在机车显示器上的应用研究

介绍Windows CE操作系统的特点,阐述了将嵌入式操作系统Windows CE应用在机车显示器上的整个开发过程,并对其应川结果进行了总结。     

用Morlet小波变换研究舰船横摇垂荡耦合特性

本文探索了用小波变换方法对舰船横摇垂荡非线性耦合动力学特性的研究.对于考虑与垂荡二次耦合的舰船横摇方程,用Morlet小波变换分析其摇摆响应动力学特性,研究分析了船舶在几种典型波浪中的状况:稳定区域中的横摇回复和稳态横摇;非稳定区域的横摇发散;以及混沌现象.研究表明,通过小波变换所特有的时频窗,对横摇响应小波变换系数的模和相等信息进行分析,可以获得船舶横摇-垂荡耦合非线性动力学幅值和频率的各种典型特征.     

机械电子技术在未来铁道车辆中的应用与发展(续完)

倾摆方式的引入显现出冰山的一角,一旦主动控制系统被铁道车辆所采用,那么引进其他主动控制系统从技术方面讲将变得越来越简单。在转向架和车体之间的倾摆系统是一种特殊的二系主动悬挂系统。因此本文接下去将探讨如何将二系主动悬挂系统进行推广,基本目的在于改善由于轨道不平顺带来的干扰,也     

H_∞ Autopilot Design for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

The design approach of H∞ autopilot for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is proposed. Comprised by the three sub-controllers,i.e. speed,heading and depth controllers,the designed autopilot has advantage over existing H∞ control of AUVs. The overshoot in speed,heading and depth control systems under step commands is restricted by refining the weighting function for robust stability. The dynamic performance of heading and depth control systems is improved by feeding back yaw rate and pitch angle,respecti...     

20世纪美国应对机动性的交通构想及高速公路发展历程

为了阐述20世纪除汽车机动性外,交通发展经历的最重要的进程——城市高速公路的出现,考察了过去100年来美国城市交通规划的历史。通过回顾各种研究资料,认为资助州际公路发展所采用的方法使联邦和州公路工程师成为主管,这影响了公路的选线及设计。联邦公路工程师只关注机动车通过效率的最大化,而在很大程度上忽略了城市的其他利害关系。没有先进的规划理念指导、过度建设、稀疏、放射环状的道路网对于加强机动性取得了极大的效益,但通常要为此付出巨大的社会和环境成本。最后指出,在实践中要重新审视具有百年历史的协调交通与土地利用规划的观点,而且,公共财政权宜之计式的政治决策方式将对工程、出行和城市形态产生深远的影响。·     

Modeling,parameter estimation and nonlinear control of automotive electronic throttle using a Rapid-Control Prototyping technique

An electronic throttle consists of a DC motor, spur gears, a return spring, a position sensor, power electronics and an electronic control unit. Fast and precise position control of this electromechanical system is relatively difficult due to very high friction and the strong nonlinearity of the spring. Simple application of linear control, such as PID, fails. In this paper, two new controller structures suitable for different reference signal types are described. The key component of the position controller is the friction compensator based on either/both feedforward or feedback principles. The quality of the resulting behavior was measured using several criteria including the measure of control activity around the equilibrium position. The control activity directly influences the vibration, the noise and the wear of the servo system. The proposed controllers demonstrated superior behavior compared with other published structures.     

Artificial neural network approach to study the effect of injection pressure and timing on diesel engine performance fueled with biodiesel

This study intends to predict the influence of injection pressure and injection timing on performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a diesel engine fuelled with waste cooking palm oil based biodiesel using the artificial neural network (ANN) model. To acquire data for training and testing in the proposed ANN, experiments were carried out in a single cylinder, four stroke direct injection diesel engine at a constant speed of 1500 rpm and at full load (100%) condition. From the experimental results, it was observed that waste cooking palm oil methyl ester provided better engine performance and improved emission and combustion characteristics at injection pressure of 280 bar and timing of 25.5° bTDC. An ANN model was developed using the data acquired from the experiments. Training of ANN was performed based on back propagation learning algorithm. Multilayer perceptron (MLP) network was used for non-linear mapping of the input and output parameters. Among the various networks tested the network with two hidden layers and 11 neurons gave better correlation coefficient for the prediction of engine performance, emission and combustion characteristics. The ANN model was validated with the test data which was not used for training and was found to be very well correlated.