Rotary planing, and moulding, machining operations have been employed within the woodworking industry for a number of years. Due to the rotational nature of the machining process, cuttermarks, in the form of waves, are created on the machined timber surface. It is the nature of these cuttermarks that determine the surface quality of the machined timber. It has been established that cutting tool inaccuracies and vibrations are a prime factor in the form of the cuttermarks on the timber surface. A principal aim of this thesis is to create a control architecture that is suitable for the adaptive operation of a wood planing machine in order to improve the surface quality of the machined timber. In order to improve the surface quality, a thorough understanding of the principals of wood planing is required. These principals are stated within this thesis and the ability to manipulate the rotary wood planing process, in order to achieve a higher surface quality, is shown. An existing test rig facility is utilised within this thesis, however upgrades to facilitate higher cutting and feed speeds, as well as possible future implementations such as extended cutting regimes, the test rig has been modified and enlarged. This test rig allows for the dynamic positioning of the centre of rotation of the cutterhead during a cutting operation through the use of piezo electric actuators, with a displacement range of ±15μm. A new controller for the system has been generated. Within this controller are a number of tuneable parameters. It was found that these parameters were dependant on a high number external factors, such as operating speeds and run‐out of the cutting knives. A novel approach to the generation of these parameters has been developed and implemented within the overall system. Both cutterhead inaccuracies and vibrations can be overcome, to some degree, by the vertical displacement of the cutterhead. However a crucial information element is not known, the particular displacement profile. Therefore a novel approach, consisting of a subtle change to the displacement profile and then a pattern matching approach, has been implemented onto the test rig. Within the pattern matching approach the surface profiles are simplified to a basic form. This basic form allows for a much simplified approach to the pattern matching whilst producing a result suitable for the subtle change approach. In order to compress the data levels a Principal Component Analysis was performed on the measured surface data. Patterns were found to be present in the resultant data matrix and so investigations into defect classification techniques have been carried out using both K‐Nearest Neighbour techniques and Neural Networks. The application of these novel approaches has yielded a higher system performance, for no additional cost to the mechanical components of the wood planing machine, both in terms of wood throughput and machined timber surface quality.

Por décadas, a qualidade de produtos é determinada por testes em ambientes de laboratório, como testes de acelerados de vibração, ciclagem térmica, choque mecânicos ou térmicos, entre outros. Porém, mais recentemente um novo tipo de técnica tem adquirido a confiança de pesquisadores e projetistas. As técnicas conhecidas como HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) e HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening), ou seja, testes acelerados e amplificados que submetem produtos a condições severas, têm mostrado sua importância e eficiência no âmbito da detecção de falha em produtos ainda na fase de produção. Este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver e implementar um algoritmo de controle baseado em métodos heurísticos para ser usado em ensaios acelerados usando um Shaker eletrodinâmico. Este controlador deve ser robusto o suficiente para se adequar a possíveis efeitos de ressonância do shaker que podem vir a alterar a dinâmica do sistema, inviabilizando controles tradicionais com parâmetros fixos. Os resultados obtidos através de vários ensaios mostraram que ambos os sistemas de controle são eficientes, pois o erro entre o sinal desejado (tensão mecânica ou aceleração) e os medidos experimentalmente, tendem rapidamente a zero não apresentando sobressinais consideráveis ou erro em regime permanente, tanto para frequência fixa quanto para varredura de frequência. A comparação entre o controlador tradicional PID e o controle heurístico baseado em Lógica Fuzzy, que foram aplicados no shaker eletrodinâmico, comprova que, para mudanças na amplitude do sistema, o controle Fuzzy apresentou menor sobressinal, o que é mais favorável do ponto de vista mecânico. Logo, a metodologia proposta pode ser aplicada para ensaios HALT/HASS com o intuito de obter grandes vibrações e, por conseguinte tensões, para identificar possíveis falhas de projeto e então, poder corrigi-las. / For decades, product quality is determined by environmental tests, such as accelerated vibration tests, thermal cycling, mechanical or thermal shock, and others. However, more recently a new type of test has gained the trust of researchers and designers. Known techniques such as HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) and HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening), or accelerated and amplified testing that submit products to severe conditions have shown their importance in the efficiency and fault detection in products still in production phase. This study aims to develop and implement a control algorithm based on heuristic methods in order to be used in a system of accelerated tests in an electrodynamic shaker. This controller must be robust enough to fit the resonance effects of the shaker that it can change the system dynamic, invalidating traditional controls with fixed parameters. The results obtained through tests showed both control systems are efficient, because the error between desired signal (mechanical stress and acceleration) and the experimentally measured tend rapidly to zero, there aren’t overshoots or steady state errors, both for constant frequency and for sweep frequency. Comparing the PID traditional control and the Logic Fuzzy control, applied in electrodynamic shaker, we proved that to change system amplitude, the fuzzy control presented lower overshoot, that is favorable from the standpoint of mechanical. Therefore, the methodology proposed can be applied to HALT/HASS tests in order to obtain large vibrations and, consequently stress, to identify possible flaws in the design and correct them.

Por décadas, a qualidade de produtos é determinada por testes em ambientes de laboratório, como testes de acelerados de vibração, ciclagem térmica, choque mecânicos ou térmicos, entre outros. Porém, mais recentemente um novo tipo de técnica tem adquirido a confiança de pesquisadores e projetistas. As técnicas conhecidas como HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) e HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening), ou seja, testes acelerados e amplificados que submetem produtos a condições severas, têm mostrado sua importância e eficiência no âmbito da detecção de falha em produtos ainda na fase de produção. Este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver e implementar um algoritmo de controle baseado em métodos heurísticos para ser usado em ensaios acelerados usando um Shaker eletrodinâmico. Este controlador deve ser robusto o suficiente para se adequar a possíveis efeitos de ressonância do shaker que podem vir a alterar a dinâmica do sistema, inviabilizando controles tradicionais com parâmetros fixos. Os resultados obtidos através de vários ensaios mostraram que ambos os sistemas de controle são eficientes, pois o erro entre o sinal desejado (tensão mecânica ou aceleração) e os medidos experimentalmente, tendem rapidamente a zero não apresentando sobressinais consideráveis ou erro em regime permanente, tanto para frequência fixa quanto para varredura de frequência. A comparação entre o controlador tradicional PID e o controle heurístico baseado em Lógica Fuzzy, que foram aplicados no shaker eletrodinâmico, comprova que, para mudanças na amplitude do sistema, o controle Fuzzy apresentou menor sobressinal, o que é mais favorável do ponto de vista mecânico. Logo, a metodologia proposta pode ser aplicada para ensaios HALT/HASS com o intuito de obter grandes vibrações e, por conseguinte tensões, para identificar possíveis falhas de projeto e então, poder corrigi-las. / For decades, product quality is determined by environmental tests, such as accelerated vibration tests, thermal cycling, mechanical or thermal shock, and others. However, more recently a new type of test has gained the trust of researchers and designers. Known techniques such as HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) and HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening), or accelerated and amplified testing that submit products to severe conditions have shown their importance in the efficiency and fault detection in products still in production phase. This study aims to develop and implement a control algorithm based on heuristic methods in order to be used in a system of accelerated tests in an electrodynamic shaker. This controller must be robust enough to fit the resonance effects of the shaker that it can change the system dynamic, invalidating traditional controls with fixed parameters. The results obtained through tests showed both control systems are efficient, because the error between desired signal (mechanical stress and acceleration) and the experimentally measured tend rapidly to zero, there aren’t overshoots or steady state errors, both for constant frequency and for sweep frequency. Comparing the PID traditional control and the Logic Fuzzy control, applied in electrodynamic shaker, we proved that to change system amplitude, the fuzzy control presented lower overshoot, that is favorable from the standpoint of mechanical. Therefore, the methodology proposed can be applied to HALT/HASS tests in order to obtain large vibrations and, consequently stress, to identify possible flaws in the design and correct them.

Por décadas, a qualidade de produtos é determinada por testes em ambientes de laboratório, como testes de acelerados de vibração, ciclagem térmica, choque mecânicos ou térmicos, entre outros. Porém, mais recentemente um novo tipo de técnica tem adquirido a confiança de pesquisadores e projetistas. As técnicas conhecidas como HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) e HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening), ou seja, testes acelerados e amplificados que submetem produtos a condições severas, têm mostrado sua importância e eficiência no âmbito da detecção de falha em produtos ainda na fase de produção. Este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver e implementar um algoritmo de controle baseado em métodos heurísticos para ser usado em ensaios acelerados usando um Shaker eletrodinâmico. Este controlador deve ser robusto o suficiente para se adequar a possíveis efeitos de ressonância do shaker que podem vir a alterar a dinâmica do sistema, inviabilizando controles tradicionais com parâmetros fixos. Os resultados obtidos através de vários ensaios mostraram que ambos os sistemas de controle são eficientes, pois o erro entre o sinal desejado (tensão mecânica ou aceleração) e os medidos experimentalmente, tendem rapidamente a zero não apresentando sobressinais consideráveis ou erro em regime permanente, tanto para frequência fixa quanto para varredura de frequência. A comparação entre o controlador tradicional PID e o controle heurístico baseado em Lógica Fuzzy, que foram aplicados no shaker eletrodinâmico, comprova que, para mudanças na amplitude do sistema, o controle Fuzzy apresentou menor sobressinal, o que é mais favorável do ponto de vista mecânico. Logo, a metodologia proposta pode ser aplicada para ensaios HALT/HASS com o intuito de obter grandes vibrações e, por conseguinte tensões, para identificar possíveis falhas de projeto e então, poder corrigi-las. / For decades, product quality is determined by environmental tests, such as accelerated vibration tests, thermal cycling, mechanical or thermal shock, and others. However, more recently a new type of test has gained the trust of researchers and designers. Known techniques such as HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) and HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening), or accelerated and amplified testing that submit products to severe conditions have shown their importance in the efficiency and fault detection in products still in production phase. This study aims to develop and implement a control algorithm based on heuristic methods in order to be used in a system of accelerated tests in an electrodynamic shaker. This controller must be robust enough to fit the resonance effects of the shaker that it can change the system dynamic, invalidating traditional controls with fixed parameters. The results obtained through tests showed both control systems are efficient, because the error between desired signal (mechanical stress and acceleration) and the experimentally measured tend rapidly to zero, there aren’t overshoots or steady state errors, both for constant frequency and for sweep frequency. Comparing the PID traditional control and the Logic Fuzzy control, applied in electrodynamic shaker, we proved that to change system amplitude, the fuzzy control presented lower overshoot, that is favorable from the standpoint of mechanical. Therefore, the methodology proposed can be applied to HALT/HASS tests in order to obtain large vibrations and, consequently stress, to identify possible flaws in the design and correct them.

Electric and hybrid vehicles are particularly suited for use in urban areas since city transportation is mainly characterized by relatively short driving distances, low continuous power requirements, long idling times and high availability of regenerative braking energy. These characteristics, when carefully incorporated into the design process, create valuable opportunities for developing clean, efficient and cost effective urban vehicle propulsion systems. In the first part of the thesis, we present data collected in the city of Bangalore, India from a very commonly seen mode of transportation for hire in India and other emerging economies, namely a three-wheeled vehicle known as the “auto-rickshaw”. From a statistical analysis, it is shown that the typical range is 72.5 km with a mean speed of 12.5 km/h. More than 60% of the time the auto-rickshaw is stationary or has a speed of less than 5 km/h. From a model of the auto-rickshaw, it is shown from simulations that 4 kW DC motor and about 10 kWh of electrical energy is enough to meet 80% of typical requirement. Based on this finding, in this thesis, a novel parallel hybrid architecture is proposed where two 2 kW DC hub motors are directly mounted on the wheels and an internal combustion (IC) engine output is connected to the stator of the DC hub motors to provide additional power when required. To match load and speed, a continuously variable transmission (CVT) is placed in-between the IC engine and the DC hub motor. The proposed hybrid configuration adds speed to the wheel output unlike the normal power split configuration which adds torque. One of the main objective of this work is to study and compare the performance of the above novel speed-addition and compare with the typical torque-addition configuration. A MATLAB/Simulink model for both the configurations, with DC hub motor and a small IC engine, has been created and the fuel consumption has been calculated. It is shown that the proposed speed-addition concept gives better fuel efficiency for the standard modified Indian Driving Cycle. The models have also been compared for actual driving data and an optimal control strategy has been developed using dynamic programming. It is again shown that the proposed speed-addition concept results in better fuel economy. In the last part of the thesis, a low cost experimental test-bed consisting of an auto-rickshaw IC engine, a CVT and a 2 kW DC hub motor has been developed to validate the speed-addition concept and compare with the torque-addition configuration. The torque-speed curves of the IC engine, the DC motor and both of them together, in the speed and torque-addition configuration, have been obtained. It is shown that the speed-addition concept does indeed work and the obtained results are significantly different from the torque-addition configuration.

<p>An emerging technology in the field of transient thermal management is thermal energy storage, or TES, which enables temporary, on-demand heat rejection via storage as latent heat in a phase-change material.  Latent TES devices have enabled advances in many thermal management applications, including peak load shifting for reducing energy demand and cost of HVAC systems and providing supplemental heat rejection in transient thermal management systems.  However, the design of a transient thermal management system with integrated storage comprises many challenges which are yet to be solved.  For example, design approaches and performance metrics for determining the optimal dimensions of the TES device have only recently been studied.  Another area of active research is estimation of the internal temperature state of the device, which can be difficult to directly measure given the transient nature of the thermal storage process.  Furthermore, in contrast to the three main functions of a thermal-fluid system--heat addition, thermal transport, and heat rejection--thermal storage introduces the need for active, real-time control and automated decision making for managing the operation of the thermal storage device. </p> <p>In this thesis, I present the design process for integrating thermal energy storage into a single-phase thermal management system for rejecting transient heat loads, including design of the TES device, state estimation and control algorithm design, and validation in both simulation and experimental environments. Leveraging a reduced-order finite volume simulation model of a plate-fin TES device, I develop a design approach which involves a transient simulation-based design optimization to determine the required geometric dimensions of the device to meet transient performance objectives while maximizing power density.  The optimized TES device is integrated into a single-phase thermal-fluid testbed for experimental testing.  Using the finite volume model and feedback from thermocouples embedded in the device, I design and experimentally validate a state estimator based on the state-dependent Riccati equation approach for determining the internal temperature distribution to a high degree of accuracy.  Real-time knowledge of the internal temperature state is critical for making control decisions; to manage the operation of the TES device in the context of a transient thermal management system, I design and test, both in simulation and experimentally, a logic-based control strategy that uses fluid temperature measurements and estimates of the TES state to make real-time control decisions to meet critical thermal management objectives. Together, these advances demonstrate the potential of thermal energy storage technology as a component of thermal management systems and the feasibility of logic-based control strategies for real-time control of thermal management objectives.</p>