Adaptive Multi-Objective Optimization of Bionic Shoulder Joint Based on Particle Swarm Optimization

To get the movement mode and driving mechanism similar to human shoulder joint, a six degrees of freedom (DOF) serial-parallel bionic shoulder joint mechanism driven by pneumatic muscle actuators (PMAs) was designed. However, the structural parameters of the shoulder joint will affect various performances of the mechanism. To obtain the optimal structure parameters, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) was used. Besides, the mathematical expressions of indexes of rotation ranges, maximum bearing torque, discrete dexterity and muscle shrinkage of the bionic shoulder joint were established respectively to represent its many-sided characteristics. And the multi-objective optimization problem was transformed into a single-objective optimization problem by using the weighted-sum method. The normalization method and adaptive-weight method were used to determine each optimization index’s weight coefficient; then the particle swarm optimization was used to optimize the integrated objective function of the bionic shoulder joint and the optimal solution was obtained. Compared with the average optimization generations and the optimal target values of many experiments, using adaptive-weight method to adjust weights of integrated objective function is better than using normalization method, which validates superiority of the adaptive-weight method.     

Structural Optimization of Hatch Cover Based on Bi-directional Evolutionary Structure Optimization and Surrogate Model Method

Weight reduction has attracted much attention among ship designers and ship owners. In the present work, based on an improved bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method and surrogate model method, we propose a hybrid optimization method for the structural design optimization of beam-plate structures, which covers three optimization levels: dimension optimization, topology optimization and section optimization. The objective of the proposed optimization method is to minimize the weight of design object under a group of constraints. The kernel optimization procedure (KOP) uses BESO to obtain the optimal topology from a ground structure. To deal with beam-plate structures, the traditional BESO method is improved by using cubic box as the unit cell instead of solid unit to construct periodic lattice structure. In the first optimization level, a series of ground structures are generated based on different dimensional parameter combinations, the KOP is performed to all the ground structures, the response surface model of optimal objective values and dimension parameters is created, and then the optimal dimension parameters can be obtained. In the second optimization level, the optimal topology is obtained by using the KOP according to the optimal dimension parameters. In the third optimization level, response surface method (RSM) is used to determine the section parameters. The proposed method is applied to a hatch cover structure design. The locations and shapes of all the structural members are determined from an oversized ground structure. The results show that the proposed method leads to a greater weight saving, compared with the original design and genetic algorithm (GA) based optimization results.     

Simulation Study on Multi-Rate Time-Frequency Analysis of Non-Stationary Signals

A new time-frequency analysis method is proposed in this study using a multi-rate signal decomposition technique for the analysis of non-stationary signals. The method uses a multi-rate filter bank for an improved non-stationary signal decomposition treatment, and uses the Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) analysis for signal reconstruction. The method presented in this study can effectively resolves the time and frequency resolution issue for non-stationary signal analysis and the cross-term issue typically encountered in time-frequency analysis. The feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method are evaluated and verified in a numerical simulation.     

Reliability Modeling and Maintenance Policy Optimization for Deteriorating System Under Random Shock

Performance degradation and random shock are commonly regarded as two dependent competing risks for system failures. One method based on effective service age is proposed to jointly model the cumulative effect of random shock and system degradation, and the reliability model of degradation system under Nonhomogeneous Poisson processes (NHPP) shocks is derived. Under the assumption that preventive maintenance (PM) is imperfective and the corrective maintenance (CM) is minimal repair, one maintenance policy which combines PM and CM is presented. Moreover, the two decision variables, PM interval and the number of PMs before replacement, are determined by a multi-objective maintenance optimization method which simultaneously maximizes the system availability and minimizes the system long-run expect cost rate. Finally, the performance of the proposed maintenance optimization policy is demonstrated via a numerical example.     

Multi-Band Hybrid Mobile Phone Antenna Based on Electromagnetic Coupling

This research presents a multi-band hybrid mobile phone antenna based on electromagnetic coupling,which can be applied to mobile handheld devices, occupying a small board space of 39.7 mm × 15.6 mm on the system circuit board. By adding resonant and coupled branch instead of multi-feed on the traditional bent antenna,this design provides four wide operating bands of 0.772—0.998 GHz, 1.540—1.600 GHz, 1.680—2.270 GHz and2.300—2.690 GHz with the hybrid feature of planar inverted-F antenna(PIFA), L-shape, U-shape and S-shape structures, which cover nine-band, i.e., GSM850, GSM900, GPS1575, DCS1800, PCS1900, IMT200, LTE2300,LTE2600 and Blue Tooth/Wi-Fi. Ansoft software HFSS is used in this research to make the antenna performance better and the operating principle of the proposed antenna is described in detail. Result of simulation reveals that the maximum gains of these four wide bands are 2.20,-0.99, 4.01 and 4.05 dBi, respectively. Moreover, this research also tests the return loss(S11) of the fabricated antenna with the vector network analyzer and the result is in accordance with the simulation result on the whole. There are four wide resonant frequencies which cover nine-band of wireless wide area network(WWAN), wireless local area network(WLAN) and long term evolution(LTE), when the available bandwidth is better than 6 d Bi return loss.     

Catalytic Combustion of Lean Methane Assisted by Electric Field over Pd/Co<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript> Catalysts at Low Temperature

A series of Pd/Co₃O₄ catalysts were prepared by Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesis (SHS) method in this study, and electric field was applied for catalytic combustion of lean methane over Pd/Co₃O₄ catalysts at low temperature. When electric field was applied, the catalytic combustion performance of Pd/Co₃O₄ catalysts was greatly improved, and the application of electric field could reduce the load of active element Pd to some extent while maintaining the same efficiency. Based on experimental tests and the analysis results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), H₂-temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR) and in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (in-situ DRIFTS), the mechanism of catalytic oxidation of CH₄ over Pd/Co₃O₄ catalysts in electric field was proposed. The catalytic combustion of CH₄ occurs only when the temperature is higher than 250 °C normally, but when electric field was applied, the whole process of CH₄ oxidation was promoted significantly and the reaction temperature was reduced. Electric field could promote the reduction of the support Co₃O₄ to release the lattice oxygen, resulting in the increase of PdO_x and the surface chemisorbed oxygen, which could provide more active sites for the low-temperature oxidation of CH₄. Furthermore, electric field could accelerate the dehydroxylation of CoOOH to further enhance the activity of the catalysts.     

Effects of Heat Intensity and Inflow Wind on the Reactive Pollution Dispersion in Urban Street Canyon

This paper investigates the impacts of heating intensity and inflow wind speed on the characteristics of reactive pollutant dispersion in street canyons using the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model that includes the transportation of NO, NO₂, and O₃ coupled with NO-NO₂-O₃ photochemistry. The results indicated that the heat intensity and inflow wind speed have a significant influence on the flow field, temperature field and the characteristics of reactive pollutant dispersion in and above the street canyon. With the street canyon bottom heating intensity increasing, NO, NO₂ and O₃ concentrations in street canyon are decreased. The O₃ concentration reductions are even more than the NO and NO₂ concentrations. Improving the inflow wind speed can significantly reduce the NO and NO₂ concentrations within street canyons. But the O₃ concentrations have a slight rise with wind speed increasing. The results would be useful for understanding the interrelation among reactive vehicle emissions, and provide references for urban planners.     

Study on dynamic characteristics of vehicle gearbox under multi-boundary conditions

With the development of vehicle gearbox to high-power-density and high-speed, how to predict and optimize the dynamic characteristics of vehicle gearbox becomes increasingly prominent. Aiming at the vehicle gearbox, this paper comprehensively and deeply studies the dynamic characteristics under the multi-boundary conditions. The generation mechanism of the multi-source excitations triggering the gearbox vibration is analyzed firstly. The vibration transfer path of the gearbox is explored. Secondly, the engine excitation, the gear meshing excitation and the bearing support load are numerically calculated. According to the finite element method, a fluid-solid coupling finite element model of the gearbox body is established to predict the gearbox dynamic responses based on the Galerkin method and the Hamiltonian variational principle. Finally, the effects of the excitation condition, oil height and reinforcement forms on the vibration responses of the gearbox body are thoroughly studied by simulation. The analysis indicates that it not only helps to modify and improve the method of forecasting the gearbox dynamic response, and also provides the theoretical and technical guidance for the gearbox design and optimization.