Tightly regulated power converters behave as constant power loads which may introduce instability in power systems. Prior to this work, the design-oriented stability criteria of DC and three-phase AC systems has been extensively studied, while the stability of single-phase AC power systems has received less attention. In this research, the modeling and stability analysis of single-phase AC power systems is studied. In particular, this research focuses on a system architecture where loads are connected in series and powered by a current source. Based on the proposed current source and load power electronic based topologies, which are typically used in airfield lighting systems, three types of system characterization are developed: waveform-level model, average-value <i>qd</i> model, and <i>qd</i> impedance/admittance measurement. Each approach has its own advantages and drawbacks, but the result - a frequency-domain (s-domain) representation of the system, is identical. Applying the generalized Nyquist stability criterion, the small-signal stability criteria of the system is developed. It is shown that the predictions of the system stability using these three approaches are consistent.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-01-08Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:40:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 baptista_fg_dr_ilha.pdf: 1105245 bytes, checksum: d9df8c940603a26591e01168eaac4aaa (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / A técnica da impedância eletromecânica (E/M) tem sido amplamente pesquisada para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de SHM (Structural Health Monitoring – monitoramento de integridade estrutural) em diversas aplicações. Embora existam muitos trabalhos que indiquem a eficiência e a viabilidade dessa técnica, alguns problemas práticos em aplicações reais ainda precisam ser investigados. A medição da impedância elétrica, etapa básica da técnica, geralmente é realizada por instrumentos comerciais volumosos, pesados e de alto custo, características proibitivas para muitas aplicações. A seleção da faixa de frequência em que a impedância deve ser medida para assegurar boa sensibilidade ao dano é feita por métodos de tentativa e erro ou por metodologias que utilizam dados medidos em uma quantidade considerável de testes. Além disso, o dimensionamento dos transdutores é feito sem um embasamento teórico, independentemente das características da estrutura monitorada. Neste trabalho é proposto um sistema de medição de impedância elétrica rápido, versátil e de baixo custo que substitui com eficiência os instrumentos comerciais. A partir de um circuito eletromecânico equivalente, o efeito de carregamento do transdutor devido à estrutura monitorada foi analisado. A análise do efeito de carregamento permite dimensionar corretamente o transdutor de acordo com a estrutura monitorada e assegurar um bom desempenho do sistema. O circuito eletromecânico também foi utilizado para determinar, teoricamente, as faixas de frequência em que o transdutor tem boa sensibilidade e auxiliar na seleção da faixa de frequência adequada para a detecção de danos estruturais. Todas as metodologias propostas foram verificadas através de experimentos em estruturas de alumínio e houve uma boa concordância entre os resultados teóricos e experimentais / The electromechanical (E/M) impedance technique has been widely studied for the development of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems in various applications. Although there are many studies indicating the effectiveness and feasibility of this technique, some practical issues in real applications yet should be investigated. The electrical impedance measurement, basic stage of the technique, is usually performed by bulky, heavy and expensive instruments; these features are prohibitive for many applications. The selection of the frequency range in which the electrical impedance must be measured to ensure good sensitivity for damage detection is performed by trial and error methods or by methodologies that use measured data in a considerable amount of tests. Furthermore, the design of the transducer is done without theoretical basis, regardless the characteristics of the host structure. In this work, a fast, versatile and low-cost electrical impedance measurement system was developed; the proposed system successfully replaces the conventional instruments. From an equivalent electromechanical circuit, the transducer loading effect due to the host structure was analyzed. The analysis of the loading effect allows the correct design of the transducer according to the host structure for ensure a good performance of the system. The electromechanical circuit was also used to theoretically determine the frequency ranges in which the transducer has good sensitivity and assist in the selection of the suitable frequency range for structural damage detection. All proposed methodologies were validated by experimental tests on aluminum structures and there was a good match between the theoretical and practical results

Ce manuscrit de doctorat propose une méthode expérimentale pour la caractérisation du cycle limite acoustique atteint par les auto-oscillations générées dans un moteur thermoacoustique.Pour cela, un capteur d'impédance fort niveau est développé dans le but de mesurer l'impédance d'entrée d'un noyau thermoacoustique en fonction de la puissance de chauffage fournie, de la fréquence et de l'amplitude du forçage acoustique.L'utilisation de ces mesures permet de prédire avec succès la génération spontanée d'auto-oscillations ainsi que leur saturation jusqu'à un régime établi, pour différentes charges attachées au noyau.Les mesures ainsi obtenues sont comparées à un modèle établi sur la base de la théorie linéaire de la thermoacoustique, couplé un modèle thermique simplifié, menant à une meilleure compréhension des processus physiques responsables de la saturation des oscillations acoustiques.La procédure expérimentale décrite dans ce manuscrit permet aussi de proposer une méthode d'optimisation du couplage entre la charge et le noyau de manière à maximiser l'efficacité potentielle de la conversion d'énergie thermoacoustique.Finalement, une méthode expérimentale est décrite et permet l'étude de la stabilité des cycles limites, ou plus généralement de l'évolution lente de l'amplitude des auto-oscillations acoustiques, dans le cas où le moteur thermoacoustique est configuré de manière à donner lieu à un régime de déclenchements et arrêts périodiques. / This manuscript deals with the experimental characterization of the acoustic limit cycle reached by self-sustained oscillations generated in thermoacoustic engines.A specially designed, high amplitude, acoustic impedance sensor was developed to perform measurements of the input impedance of a thermoacoustic core, as a function of the heating power supplied to the device, of the frequency, and of the amplitude of acoustic forcing.Those measurements can then be used to predict the spontaneous generation of acoustic oscillations and their saturation up to a certain steady-state.Those predictions were successful for various acoustic loads connected to the thermoacoustic core.Moreover, the measurements of acoustic impedance as a function of the amplitude of acoustic oscillations are compared to a model based on the linear thermoacoustic theory, and this comparaison provides insights into the processes controlling the saturation of acoustic oscillations.The experimental procedure described in this manuscript also leads to a pratical way of optimizing the coupling between the thermoacoustic core and the load, in the way that the potential efficiency of thermoacoustic energy conversion is maximized.Finally, an experimental method is described and allows to study the stability of limit cycles, i.e. the temporal evolution of the self-oscillation amplitude, in the case of a system that is able to give rise to a spontaneous periodic \textit{trigg and stop} behavior.

No description available.

Recently, conductive polymer/carbon nanomaterials have drawn attention for use in corrosion inhibition, sensors, energy storage devices, and coatings for electromagnetic shielding applications due to their good mechanical properties and electronic conductivity. Therefore, efforts have been made to find fast and facile methods for the synthesis and development of these hybrids that allow control over key parameters, such as the thickness of the conductive polymer coating. In this study, such hybrids were prepared using polyaniline (PANI) as the conductive polymer and vapor-grown carbon nanofibers (VGCNFs) as the carbon nanomaterial or filler by a semi-dilute in situ polymerization method to be evaluated for their effectiveness as corrosion inhibitory additives to alkyd paints. Spectroscopic, colorimetric, and electric properties of PANI-coated VGCNFs were investigated. The thickness of the PANI coating, along with other parameters, impacts the behavior and mechanisms by which the nanomaterial performs its role in a given application, particularly in the corrosion inhibition processes. Thus, different synthesis conditions, including pretreatment of the nanofibers, the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant, PreT-VGCNF/ANI ratios (w/w), and polymerization times were tested and their effects on the PANI thickness were microscopically and statistically evaluated. It was found that only different PreT-VGCNF/ANI ratios allowed definite control of the PANI thickness. No clear effect on the thickness was observed after three hours of polymerization. The presence of SDS and pretreatment of VGCNFs displayed a synergistic effect on the appearance and thickness of the PANI film. PANI-coated VGCNF additives, with PANI in the leucoemeraldine base (LEB) and emeraldine base (EB) forms, were synthesized using a PreT-VGCNF/ANI ratio of 0.4 in the presence of SDS. Cold-rolled steel coupons were coated with 20-30 ìm thick alkyd paint coatings, and their electrochemical behavior was investigated by open circuit potential (OCP) and electrochemical impedance (EIS) measurements. The results indicate that, overall, EB/VGCNF additive performed better as a corrosion inhibitor, followed by PreT-VGCNF and LEB/VGCNF additives.

No description available.

No description available.

A piezoelectric impedance-based structural health monitoring technique was developed at the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures. It has been successfully implemented on several complex structures to detect incipient-type damage such as small cracks or loose connections. However, there are still some problems to be solved before full scale development and commercialization can take place. These include: i) the damage assessment is influenced by ambient temperature change; ii) the sensing area is small; and iii) the ability to identify the damage location is poor. The objective of this research is to solve these problems in order to apply the impedance-based structural health monitoring technique to real structures. First, an empirical compensation technique to minimize the temperature effect on the damage assessment has been developed. The compensation technique utilizes the fact that the temperature change causes vertical and horizontal shifts of the signature pattern in the impedance versus frequency plot, while damage causes somewhat irregular changes. Second, a new impedance-based technique that uses multiple piezoelectric sensor-actuators has been developed which extends the sensing area. The new technique relies on the measurement of electrical transfer admittance, which gives us mutual information between multiple piezoelectric sensor-actuators. We found that this technique increases the sensing region by at least an order of magnitude. Third, a time domain technique to identify the damage location has been proposed. This technique also uses multiple piezoelectric sensors and actuators. The basic idea utilizes the pulse-echo method often used in ultrasonic testing, together with wavelet decomposition to extract traveling pulses from a noisy signal. The results for a one-dimensional structure show that we can determine the damage location to within a spatial resolution determined by the temporal resolution of the data acquisition. The validity of all these techniques has been verified by proof-of-concept experiments. These techniques help bring conventional impedance-based structural health monitoring closer to full scale development and commercialization. / Master of Science

En imagerie par résonance magnétique cardiaque et thoracique, les mouvements cardiaques et respiratoires sont enregistrés avec des capteurs tels que les capteurs ECG et les ceintures respiratoires pour synchroniser les acquisitions et pour pratiquer des corrections rétrospectives des images. Le positionnement de ces capteurs augmente le temps de préparation des patients. Il présuppose également la tolérance des patients à être placés dans un espace restreint et déjà contraint par l'antenne radio-fréquence (RF) nécessaire à l'imagerie. Enfin, ces capteurs peuvent diminuer la qualité du signal et donc celle des images. Dans ces travaux, l'antenne RF déjà présente pour la réalisation de l'examen d'imagerie a été elle-même étudiée en tant que capteur de mouvements. Les variations des propriétés électromagnétiques des tissus dues aux mouvements se répercutent de manière directe sur l'impédance de l'antenne. Les variations d'impédance induites par les mouvements ont été étudiées dans des dispositifs utilisant soit des antennes RF volumiques ou des antennes RF surfaciques sur des objets-test animés et sur des sujets sains. Les mouvements respiratoires, cardiaques et les taux sanguins ont été enregistrés avec cette méthode. Puis, les résultats expérimentaux ont été comparés à des simulations électromagnétiques et aux données de la littérature. Une correction de mouvements rétrospective avec l'algorithme GRICS a été appliquée à ces données démontrant la faisabilité de l'utilisation des antennes d'imagerie comme capteurs de mouvements / Especially in cardiac and thoracic magnetic resonance imaging, respiratory motion and heart movement need to be registered using sensors like electrocardiogram or respiratory belts, in order to trigger the image acquisition or perform retrospective corrections. The placement of the sensors extends the patient preparation time, is critical for signal quality and, hence, image quality, and expects patients to tolerate additional sensors besides the imaging coil and space restrictions. In this work, the imaging coil itself was investigated for sensor-less motion registration. Motion-related variations of the electromagnetic properties of tissue have a direct effect on the coil impedance. Lung motion, myocardial-related motion, and vascular blood flow were registered with this method. The experimental findings were compared to electromagnetic simulations and the data gathered by state-of-the-art sensors, and retrospective motion correction with the GRICS algorithm was executed

Orientador: Jozué Vieira Filho / Banca: Vicente Lopes Junior / Banca: Carlos Antonio. Barros Alves / Banca: Carlos de Marqui Junior / Banca: Washington Luiz de Melo / Resumo: A técnica da impedância eletromecânica (E/M) tem sido amplamente pesquisada para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de SHM (Structural Health Monitoring - monitoramento de integridade estrutural) em diversas aplicações. Embora existam muitos trabalhos que indiquem a eficiência e a viabilidade dessa técnica, alguns problemas práticos em aplicações reais ainda precisam ser investigados. A medição da impedância elétrica, etapa básica da técnica, geralmente é realizada por instrumentos comerciais volumosos, pesados e de alto custo, características proibitivas para muitas aplicações. A seleção da faixa de frequência em que a impedância deve ser medida para assegurar boa sensibilidade ao dano é feita por métodos de tentativa e erro ou por metodologias que utilizam dados medidos em uma quantidade considerável de testes. Além disso, o dimensionamento dos transdutores é feito sem um embasamento teórico, independentemente das características da estrutura monitorada. Neste trabalho é proposto um sistema de medição de impedância elétrica rápido, versátil e de baixo custo que substitui com eficiência os instrumentos comerciais. A partir de um circuito eletromecânico equivalente, o efeito de carregamento do transdutor devido à estrutura monitorada foi analisado. A análise do efeito de carregamento permite dimensionar corretamente o transdutor de acordo com a estrutura monitorada e assegurar um bom desempenho do sistema. O circuito eletromecânico também foi utilizado para determinar, teoricamente, as faixas de frequência em que o transdutor tem boa sensibilidade e auxiliar na seleção da faixa de frequência adequada para a detecção de danos estruturais. Todas as metodologias propostas foram verificadas através de experimentos em estruturas de alumínio e houve uma boa concordância entre os resultados teóricos e experimentais / Abstract: The electromechanical (E/M) impedance technique has been widely studied for the development of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems in various applications. Although there are many studies indicating the effectiveness and feasibility of this technique, some practical issues in real applications yet should be investigated. The electrical impedance measurement, basic stage of the technique, is usually performed by bulky, heavy and expensive instruments; these features are prohibitive for many applications. The selection of the frequency range in which the electrical impedance must be measured to ensure good sensitivity for damage detection is performed by trial and error methods or by methodologies that use measured data in a considerable amount of tests. Furthermore, the design of the transducer is done without theoretical basis, regardless the characteristics of the host structure. In this work, a fast, versatile and low-cost electrical impedance measurement system was developed; the proposed system successfully replaces the conventional instruments. From an equivalent electromechanical circuit, the transducer loading effect due to the host structure was analyzed. The analysis of the loading effect allows the correct design of the transducer according to the host structure for ensure a good performance of the system. The electromechanical circuit was also used to theoretically determine the frequency ranges in which the transducer has good sensitivity and assist in the selection of the suitable frequency range for structural damage detection. All proposed methodologies were validated by experimental tests on aluminum structures and there was a good match between the theoretical and practical results / Doutor