Particle smoothing is useful for offline state inference and parameter learning in nonlinear/non-Gaussian state-space models. However, many particle smoothers, such as the popular forward filter/backward simulator (FFBS), are plagued by a quadratic computational complexity in the number of particles. One approach to tackle this issue is to use rejection-sampling-based FFBS (RS-FFBS), which asymptotically reaches linear complexity. In practice, however, the constants can be quite large and the actual gain in computational time limited. In this contribution, we develop a hybrid method, governed by an adaptive stopping rule, in order to exploit the benefits, but avoid the drawbacks, of RS-FFBS. The resulting particle smoother is shown in a simulation study to be considerably more computationally efficient than both FFBS and RS-FFBS. / CNDM / CADICS

We consider the smoothing problem for a class of conditionally linear Gaussian state-space (CLGSS) models, referred to as mixed linear/nonlinear models. In contrast to the better studied hierarchical CLGSS models, these allow for an intricate cross dependence between the linear and the nonlinear parts of the state vector. We derive a Rao-Blackwellized particle smoother (RBPS) for this model class by exploiting its tractable substructure. The smoother is of the forward filtering/backward simulation type. A key feature of the proposed method is that, unlike existing RBPS for this model class, the linear part of the state vector is marginalized out in both the forward direction and in the backward direction. / CNDM / CADICS

Hydraulics has always been the first choice of actuation in off-road, construction and mining vehicles due to its power density, low cost, built in cooling and lubrication. However, the current state of our environment along with stricter regulations has brought light to newer technologies within hydraulics to improve the existing system. This urge to enhance efficiency and reduce energy consumption has led to a point where new technologies must be evaluated. One such technology is the programmable hydraulic pump called the digital displacement pump (DDP). This new pump may have the potential to revolutionize mobile hydraulics as it can be used to improve part load efficiencies, response and make it easier to control from a system perspective. The DDP is a radial piston pump that has been fit with solenoid on/off valves at the inlet of each cylinder to control the flow of the working fluid. The displacement setting of the pump depends on the displacement of each cylinder controlled digitally by the 'active' inlet valve. The pump can act as a single unit to supply one circuit or it can dedicate pistons for supplying several circuits in parallel using different pump outlet configurations. They can be setup to run in pressure controlled or flow controlled systems to achieve the above mentioned flow sharing capability. An energy study based on two fixed drive cycles (short and intermediate) are conducted on the existing system of a loader used for mining called the ST14 Battery. A breakdown of the energy consumption in the machine is created to look at the impact of the three main actuators (boom, bucket and steering), pump losses and throttling losses have. The losses due to simultaneous load handling and the energy that can be saved by swapping the pumps with a digital displacement pump are also found out and analysed. A model of the existing hydraulic system is made using Simulink and Hopsan using the data and results from the energy study. It will be used to simulate and evaluate future system architectures. This model is then used to simulate a system architecture where the existing pumps are swapped with digital displacement pumps. This architecture is more energy efficient due to the higher energy efficiency of the pump. The findings from the energy study and simulations are compared and results are obtained regarding power losses, energy consumption and overall usability of the models. The addition of the two DDP’s instead of the existing inline pumps has resulted in energy savings resulting in 4% more running time in the intermediate cycle and 5.6% in the short cycle while keeping the functionality of the machine.

In recent years many companies have investigated the use of hybrid technology due to the potential of increasing the driveline’s efficiency and thus reducing fuel consumption. Previous studies show that hydraulic hybrid technology can be favourable to use in construction machinery such as wheel loaders, which often operate in repetitive drive cycles and have high transient power demands. Parallel as well as Series hybrid configurations are both found suitable for wheel loader applications as the hybrid configurations can decrease the dependency on the torque converter. This project has investigated a novel hydraulic hybrid concept which utilizes the wheel loaders auxiliary pump as a supplement to enable both Series and Parallel hybrid operation. Impact of accumulator sizes has also been investigated, for which smaller accumulator sizes resembles a hydrostatic transmission. The hybrid concept has been evaluated by developing a wheel loader simulation model and a control system based on a rule-based energy management strategy. Simulation results indicate improved energy efficiency of up to 18.80 % for the Combined hybrid. Moreover, the accumulator sizes prove to have less impact on the energy efficiency. A hybrid system with decreased accumulator sizes shows improved energy efficiency of up to 16.40 %.

[pt] As condições hidrológicas desfavoráveis vivenciadas entre 2014 e 2019 levaram ao esgotamento dos principais sistemas de reservatórios no Brasil, causando um aumento na geração de energia proveniente de usinas térmicas. Todavia, uma parte relevante da geração térmica verificada foi comandada por entidades governamentais de forma heterodoxa (fora do mérito econômico calculado pelos modelos de otimização), baseada principalmente na percepção de risco tácita. Apesar do senso comum de que o armazenamento dos reservatórios está intrinsecamente ligado à segurança do sistema, as métricas utilizadas até o momento não conseguiram computar as reais necessidades do sistema em termos de energia armazenada mínima nas usinas hidrelétricas. Ao final de 2019, o ONS propôs um novo método para avaliar a necessidade de despacho térmico adicional, chamado Curva Referencial de Armazenamento (CREF). No entanto, este método considera hipóteses muito específicas de afluências e geração térmica, e com base em seu processo iterativo de tentativa e erro, pode resultar em resultados sub-ótimos para o cálculo dos armazenamentos mínimos necessários. Este trabalho propõe um novo método para avaliar a segurança do fornecimento de energia em sistemas predominantemente hidroelétricos. Este método é uma evolução do método CREF, e é baseado no desenvolvimento de um modelo de otimização que calcula os níveis mínimos de segurança para operação de usinas hidrelétricas em cada mês, a partir de uma simulação recursiva de séries históricas de afluências de 1931 a 2018. Além disso, com base nos resultados da simulação, foram sugeridas curvas de referência para o monitoramento contínuo da operação dos reservatórios, com o objetivo de subsidiar decisões de órgãos do Governo Brasileiro sobre o despacho heterodoxo de geração térmica. Espera-se que o monitoramento das curvas de referência propostas represente um critério mais robusto para decisões sobre geração térmica fora-do-mérito no Sistema Elétrico Brasileiro. / [en] Unfavorable hydrological conditions experienced from 2014 to 2019 led to the depletion of main reservoir systems in Brazil, causing an increase of thermal energy dispatch. However, an important share of the observed thermal generation was out of economic merit, commanded by government entities which risk perception relies mainly on experts tacit knowledge. Despite the common sense that storage in reservoirs is intrinsically linked to system security, the metrics employed so far failed to compute the system s real needs in terms of required stored energy in hydroelectric plants. By the end of 2019, ONS proposed a new method to assess the need for additional thermal dispatch the Referential Storage Curve (CREF - Curva Referencial de Armazenamento). However, it fails as a reference for the security of energy supply since it considers very specific assumptions of rivers inflows and thermal generation. Besides, based on its iterative trial and error process, it can result in sub-optimal results of minimum storage levels. This work proposes a new method to evaluate the security of power supply in systems with predominance of hydroelectricity. This method is intended to be an evolution to the CREF method, and it is based on the development of an optimization model that computes the minimum secure levels for hydroelectric plants operation in each month, from a recursive simulation of historical inflow series from 1931 to 2018. In addition, based on the simulation results, reference curves were suggested for the continuous monitoring of the reservoirs operation, with the purpose of subsidizing Brazilian government entities decisions on unorthodox thermal generation dispatch. The monitoring of the proposed reference curves is expected to represent a more robust criterion for decisions on out-of-merit thermal generation in Brazilian power system.

The efficiency of hydraulic drive systems in mobile machines is influenced by several factors, like the operators’ guidance, weather conditions, material respectively loading properties and primarily the working cycle. This leads to varying operation points, which have to be performed by the drive system. Regarding efficiency analysis, the usage of standardized working cycles gained through measurements or synthetically generated is state of the art. Thereby, only a small extract of the real usage profile is taken into account. This contribution deals with process pattern recognition (PPR) and frequency based efficiency evaluation to gain more precise information and conclusion for the drive design of mobile machines. By the example of an 18 t mobile excavator, the recognition system using Hidden – Markov - Models (HMM) and the efficiency evaluation process by means of backwards simulation of measured operation points will be described.