Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-198).

Diss. Upps. phil. / Essays and studies on American language and literature, 9.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 2000. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-228).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία ασχολείται με τη μελέτη και τον έλεγχο ενός συστήματος γερανού με προηγμένες τεχνικές. Το σύστημα αποτελείται από έναν κινούμενο φορέα στον οποίο είναι συνδεδεμένο ένα εκκρεμές φορτίο με μεταβαλλόμενο μήκος. Σκοπός είναι η μεταφορά του φορτίου σε μια διαφορετική θέση και ύψος σε ελάχιστο χρόνο με μηδενική υπολειπόμενη ταλάντωση. Αρχικά παρουσιάζεται ο έλεγχος του συστήματος με τη μέθοδο ανατροφοδότησης κατάστασης. Στη συνέχεια αναλύεται η βασική θεωρία του input shaper και προτείνεται μια προσαρμοστική τεχνική για την εφαρμογή του σε σύστημα με μεταβαλλόμενο μήκος σχοινιού. Έπειτα, η τεχνική αυτή βελτιώνεται συνδυάζοντάς την με τον έλεγχο ανατροφοδότησης κατάστασης και τέλος εφαρμόζεται ένας μη γραμμικός ελεγκτής για το πλήρες μη γραμμικό σύστημα. Τα αποτελέσματα παρουσιάζονται με εκτενείς προσομοιώσεις καθώς και με εργαστηριακές μετρήσεις σε κατάλληλη πειραματική διάταξη. / This diploma thesis includes the analysis and control of a crane system using advanced control techniques. The system consists of a carrier mass connected with a playload with a hoisting mechanism. The aim of this work is to transport the payload to a different position and a different level within minimum time period while simutaneously minimizing the residual vibration. At first, a state feedback control is presented. Furthermore, the input shaping technique is analyzed and an adaptive version of the input shaper is proposed including hoisting cases. Moreover, this technique is significally improved when combined with a state feedback control law and finally a nonlinear controller is proposed for the total nonlinear system. The above techniques are justified with both simulation and experimental results from a suitable experimental setup.

Sarus cranes (Grus antigone) are the tallest members of the crane family, Gruidae. They are found in four geographically distinct regions: northwest India (Indian Sarus- Grus antigone antigone), southeast Asia (Burmese Sarus- Grus antigone sharpei) and northern Australia (Australian Sarus- Grus antigone gillae). Although the three subspecies are morphologically distinct, their genetic distinctness is unclear. In this study, I focused on control region sequences of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to assess the genetic and phylogeographic distinctness of Sarus subspecies. I used samples from four fragmented populations, seven from India, 16 from southeast Asia, five from Myanmar and eight from Australia. Phylogenetic trees were estimated using two Brolga crane sequences (G. rubicunda) as outgroups. All phylogenetic trees had low resolution, but AMOVA showed that all four Sarus populations are differentiated from each other. Nested clade phylogenetic analysis showed that most of the southeast Asian haplotypes are found at the center, suggesting that the Thai population includes the maximum number of ancestral haplotypes. Sarus cranes probably originated in southeast Asia and migrated both north towards India and south towards Australia during the last glacial maximum.

abstract: Human operators have difficulty driving cranes quickly, accurately, and safely because of the slow response of heavy crane structures, non-intuitive control interfaces, and payload oscillations. Recently, a novel hand-motion crane control system has been proposed to improve performance by coupling an intuitive control interface with an element that reduces the complex oscillatory behavior of the payload. Hand-motion control allows operators to drive a crane by simply moving a hand-held radio-frequency tag through the desired path. Real-time location sensors are used to track the movements of the tag and the tag position is used in a feedback control loop to drive the crane. An input shaper is added to eliminate dangerous payload oscillations. However, tag position measurements are corrupted by noise. It is important to understand the noise properties so that appropriate filters can be designed to mitigate the effects of noise and improve tracking accuracy. This work discusses implementing filtering techniques to address the issue of noise in the operating environment. Five different filters are used on experimentally-acquired tag trajectories to reduce noise. The filtered trajectories are then used to drive crane simulations. Filter performance is evaluated with respect to the energy usage of the crane trolley, the settling time of the crane payload oscillations, and the safety corridor of the crane trajectory. The effects of filter window lengths on these parameters are also investigated. An adaptive filtering technique, namely the Kalman filter, adapts to the noise characteristics of the workspace to minimize the tag tracking error and performs better than the other filtering techniques examined. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Bioengineering 2012

With tighter emission regulations for road vehicles pushing the technology forward, fuel savings are indirectly affecting the designs and technical solutions of loader cranes. By decentralizing the hydraulic power through driving each actuator separately, the goal of a more efficient crane drive is strived for. This thesis analyzes if the simple concept of a pump-controlled cylinder directly driven by an induction motor is achievable for a loader crane. Further, the crucial role of the induction motor is studied both mathematically and physically. A special research is also performed on energy efficiency and the capability of electric energy regeneration. By forming the transfer function of the system and performing measurements on a physical setup, the conclusion is drawn that the proposed pump-controlled cylinder concept is fully functional for its purpose which implies that the technology is promising. The report identifies a number of complications with this configuration, such as the induction motor demonstrating reduced performance at high loads and low speeds. Suggestions of improvements are presented with regards to these issues. The thesis also demonstrates high efficiency during a lifting motion and that the possibility of efficient electric energy regeneration is achievable if an optimum lowering speed is considered.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Technologiae: Discipline Electrical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2008 / As one of the biggest developing country in the world, South Africa is developing very fast resent years. The country’s industrialization process is rapidly evolved. The manufacturing industry as one of the most important sections of the industrialization is playing a very heavy role in South Africa’s economic growth. Big percentage of population is involved in the manufacturing industry. It is necessary to keep and enhance the competitiveness of the South Africa’s manufacturing industry in the world wide. But the manufacturing companies are facing with unpredictable market demands and global competitions. To overcome these challenges, the manufacturing companies need to produce new products which can cater to the market demand as soon as possible. Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) is one of the possible solutions for the manufacturing companies to produce the suitable product for the market in a short period of time with low cost and flexibility. That is because the RMS can be reconfigured easily according to the required specifications for manufacturing the appropriate product for the market and with above mentioned characteristics. Now, RMS is considered as one of the promising concepts for mass production. As one of the very latest research fields, many companies, universities and institutions have been involved to design and develop RMSs. South Africa as one of the most important manufacturing country in the world, her own universities and researchers has the obligation to study this field and follow the newest development steps. In this project, a lab-scaled reconfigurable plant and a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology based reconfigurable controller are used to realize and verify the concepts of the RMS in order to find the methodology of developing RMSs. The lab-scaled reconfigurable plant can be reconfigured into the inverted pendulum and the overhead crane. Although it is not used for manufacturing purpose, it can be used to verify the RMS concepts and the control strategies applied to it. Furthermore, control of the inverted pendulum and the overhead crane are both typical problems in the control field. It is meaningful to develop the controllers for them. As the reconfigurable plant is configured, the reconfigurable controller is reconfigured synchronously in order to produce the proper control signal for the reconfigured plant. In this project, both linear and nonlinear control strategies are deployed. Good results are received. The outcomes of the project are mainly for the education and fundamental research purposes, but the developed control strategies have significant sense towards the military missile guidance and the overhead crane operation in industry.

De nos jours, les plateformes portuaires cherchent à massifier leurs capacités de projection de conteneurs vers et à partir de leurs réseaux hinterland en misant sur les modes ferroviaires et fluviaux. Cela pour évacuer plus rapidement un volume quasi croissant de conteneurs livré par voie maritime et d’éviter les situations indésirables, tels que les situations d'asphyxie. De plus, les plateformes portuaires ont pris conscience que leur attractivité aux yeux des prestataires logistiques dépend non seulement de leur fiabilité et de leurs qualités nautiques mais également de leur capacité à offrir une desserte massifiée de leur hinterland. Contrairement à ce qui a pu être observé en Europe, la part du transport massifié a quasiment stagné au Havre dans les dernières années. A cet effet, le port du Havre a mis en place un terminal multimodal de conteneurs lié par rail et par voie navigable à un hinterland riche et dense en population (Bassin parisien, Marchés européens), et par des navettes ferroviaires aux autres terminaux maritimes du port Havre. L’intérêt économique et stratégique de ce nouveau terminal est de renforcer la position du Grand Port Maritime du Havre au niveau national, européen et mondial, et d’un point de vue écologique, diminuer l’utilisation excessive du routier en misant sur les modes moins polluants. Dans cette thèse, les efforts se focalisent sur la modélisation et la simulation du déroulement des opérations de manutention et d’allocation de ressources dans un terminal à conteneurs et particulièrement l’ordonnancement des portiques de manutention. Étant donné qu’un terminal à conteneurs est un système complexe, nous avons d’abord défini une démarche de modélisation qui facilite le processus de construction du modèle de simulation. Cette démarche est un processus itératif permettant de raffiner le modèle au fur et à mesure des étapes de développement réalisées. Les différentes étapes de développement sont liées par une série de diagrammes qui permet d’exprimer de façon claire les éléments et les relations formant le modèle de simulation. Ensuite, nous avons intégré dans notre modèle deux stratégies de non-croisement de portiques au niveau de la cour ferroviaire du terminal multimodal. Le but de ces stratégies est la minimisation des temps et des mouvements improductifs pour améliorer la performance et la productivité des portiques de manutention. La première stratégie est basée sur des règles de mouvement et sur la collaboration et coopération entre agents portiques. Tandis que la deuxième stratégie est basée sur une heuristique. Ces deux solutions ont été testées en utilisant l’outil de simulation AnyLogic et les résultats obtenus montrent la qualité de nos solutions. Concernant le problème d’ordonnancement des portiques de la cour fluviale, nous l’avons étudié en utilisant un couplage Optimisation-Simulation. Dans ce problème les temps de chargement et de déchargement de conteneurs et les temps de déplacement des portiques entre les baies sont considérés comme incertains. Le couplage est composé d’une méta-heuristique colonie de fourmis et d’un modèle de simulation à base d’agents. Chaque solution (une séquence de tâches) trouvée par l’algorithme d'optimisation est simulée et évaluée pour déterminer les nouvelles durées des tâches qui seront ensuite injectées comme données d’entrée de l’algorithme avant l’itération suivante. / Nowadays, seaports seek to achieve a better massification share of their hinterland transport by promoting rail and river connections in order to more rapidly evacuate increasing container traffic shipped by sea and to avoid landside congestion. Furthermore, the attractiveness of a seaport to shipping enterprises depends not only on its reliability and nautical qualities but also on its massified hinterland connection capacity. Contrary to what has been observed in Europe, the massification share of Le Havre seaport has stagnated in recent years. To overcome this situation, Le Havre Port Authority is putting into service a multimodal hub terminal. This terminal is linked only with massified modes to a rich and dense geographical regions (Ile de France, Lyon), and with rail shuttles to the maritime terminals of Le Havre seaport. The aim of this new terminal is to restrict the intensive use of roads and to provide a river connection to its maritime terminals (MTs) that do not include a river connection from the beginning. In this study, we focus on the modeling and the simulation of container terminal operations (planning, scheduling, handling …) and particularly crane scheduling in operating areas. Designing multi-agents based simulation models for the operation management of a complex and dynamic system is often a laborious and tedious task, which requires the definition of a modeling approach in order to simplify the design process. In this way, we defined a top-down approach with several steps of specification, conception, implementation and verification-validation. This approach is an iterative process that allows the model to become more complex and more detailed. In this thesis, we pay more attention to crane scheduling problem in operating areas. For the rail-rail transshipment yard of the multimodal terminal, we designed two anti-collision strategies that aim to minimize unproductive times and moves to improve crane productivity and to speed up freight train processing. These strategies are tested using multi-method simulation software (Anylogic) and the simulation results reveal that our solutions are very satisfactory and outperform other existing solutions. With regard the fluvial yard, the stochastic version of crane scheduling problem is studied. The problem is solved with a mixed Optimization-Simulation approach, where the loading and unloading times of containers and travel times of cranes between bays are considered uncertain. The used approach is composed of an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) metaheuristic coupled to an agent-based simulation model. Each solution (a tasks sequence) found by the optimization algorithm is simulated and evaluated to determine the new tasks’ periods which will then be injected as input to the ACO algorithm before the next iteration. The coupling is executed until the difference between the last iterations is too low.