Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2009. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M. S.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Kok-Meng Lee; Committee Member: Bruce Webster; Committee Member: Shreyes Melkote.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [111]-119).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-75).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-06-29Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:54:36Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 baldini_ed_me_botfmvz.pdf: 2132486 bytes, checksum: e9ccc1aef4d980ac1ceacde9c8251558 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O presente trabalho teve como objetivo constatar “in loco” a situação estrutural e higiênico sanitária de 44 estabelecimentos alimentícios (bares e lanchonetes, mini-mercados, padarias, restaurantes) da cidade de Botucatu, levantando, através dos dados obtidos, quais são os setores que oferecem maior risco à saúde pública. Foi aplicado um questionário chamado de diagnóstico tecnológico em cada um deles, o qual continha 144 questões divididas em cinco itens, sendo eles: Item 1 - Edificação e Instalações, Item 2 - Equipamentos, Móveis e Utensílios, Item 3 - Funcionários, Item 4 - Fluxo de Produção, Item 5 - Sistema da Garantia da Qualidade. Os dados obtidos permitiram que se cumprisse o objetivo de responder as seguintes questões: a) Qual setor (Bares e Lanchonetes, Mini-Mercados, Restaurantes e Padarias) obteve pior desempenho comparativamente aos outros em cada questão? b)Qual dos itens obteve o pior resultado geral? c) Qual o setor que apresentou maior número de não conformidades? d) Qual item é mais problemático em cada setor? Os dados analisados demonstraram que: houve diferença estatística (p<0,05) entre o desempenho de cada setor por questão, em 14 oportunidades, sendo o Setor Padarias o de pior resultado; quanto aos itens, o de pior desempenho geral foi o Item 5 – Sistema da Garantia da Qualidade, com 61% de não conformidade; o setor que apresentou maior número de não conformidades foi o Setor Padarias, com 48 em 144 possibilidades (33%); destacaram-se negativamente perante os itens: o Setor Padarias no Item 1, o Setor Restaurantes no Item 2, o setor Mini-Mercados no Item 3 e o Setor Bares e Lanchonetes nos Itens 4 e 5. / The present work had as objective to evidence “in loco” the structural situation and hygienic sanitary of 44 feed establishments (bar and snack bars, mini-markets, bakeries, restaurants) of the city of Botucatu, raising, through the obtained data, which are the sectors that offer to greater risk to public health. We administered a questionnaire called the diagnostic technology in each, which contained 144 questions divided into five items, which were: Item 1 - Building and Facilities, Item 2 - Equipment, Furniture and instrument, Item 3 - Staff, Item 4 - Flow Production, Item 5 - System of Quality Assurance. The data obtained have to satisfy the goal of answering the following questions: a) What sector (Bars and Snack Bars, Mini Markets, Restaurants and Bakeries) had worse performance compared to others in every question? b) Which of the items received the worst overall outcome? c) What is the sector that presented greater number of non-conformities? d) What item is most problematic in each sector? The data analyzed showed that there was statistical difference (p<0,05) between the performance of each sector by question, in 14 opportunities, and the Bakeries Sector in the worst results; while for items, the overall performance was worse in the Item 5 - System of Quality Assurance, with 61% of non-compliance; the sector that presented greater number of noncompliance was the Bakeries Sector, with 48 in 144 chances (33%); stood out negatively to the items: the Bakeries Sector in Item 1, the Restaurant Sector in Item 2, the Mini Markets Sector in Item 3 and Bars and Snack Bars Sector in the Items 4 and 5.

Parallel manipulators have many advantages over traditional serial manipulators. These advantages include high accuracy, high stiffness and high load-to-weight ratio, which make parallel manipulators ideal for machining operations where a high accuracy is required to meet the requirements that modern standards demand. A number of previous workers have determined the stiffness of parallel platforms using the duality between instantaneous kinematics and statics in parallel mechanisms. For the aforementioned analysis, compliance is introduced in the actuators, resulting in a platform stiffness matrix. This methods furthermore predicts when the platform approaches a singular or ill-conditioned configuration. However, this idealized estimate of the stiffness is not accurate enough to determine how an actual platform assembly will react to an externally applied force. For a planar parallel platform, the out of plane stiffness is not included in the resulting stiffness matrix since the kinematics equations are derived only in the plane in which the platform operates. Recently, the finite element method (FEM) has been used by some workers to determine the stiffness of spatial manipulators. These models are mainly used to verify stiffness predicted using kinematic equations, and are restricted to relatively simple truss-like models. In this study, state-of-the-art finite elements are used to determine the out of plane stiffness for parallel manipulators. Beam elements that make use of Timoshenko beam theory and flat shell elements with drilling degrees of freedom are used to model the platform assembly. The main objective of this study is to quantify the stiffness, particularly the out of plane stiffness, of a planar parallel platform to be used for machining operations. The aim is to suggest a design that is able to carry out machining operations to an accuracy of 10 µm for a given tool force. Reducing the weight of a parallel manipulator used in machining applications has many advantages, e.g. increased maneuverability, resulting in faster material removal rates. Therefore the resulting proposed design is optimized with respect to weight, subject to displace¬ment and stress constraints to ensure feasible stiffness and structural integrity. This optimization is carried out with both gradient-based methods and a genetic algorithm (GA). The gradient-based methods include LFOPC and Dynamic-Q. A binary GA, imple¬mented as both a micro GA and full GA, is used to provide for the future inclusion of discrete design variables. Stiffness maps, as proposed by Gosselin, are drawn for the optimal design. These stiffness maps can aid in determining the best toolpath inside a feasible workspace. It is envisaged that this work, together with current work at the University of Pretoria, will result in a feasible design for a planar parallel platform to be used in industry. An application of such a planar parallel platform lies in retro-fitting existing, relatively inexpensive 3-axis milling equipment. This increases their capability at a lower cost than the of the alternative of purchasing a traditional 5-axis milling center. / Dissertation (MEng (Mechanical Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted

No description available.

Some relevant aspects of dynamics and control of heavy-duty hydraulic machines in a teleoperated mode were investigated. These machines, such as excavators and forest harvesters, are mostly used in primary industries. They have a manipulator-like structure with a nonlinear and coupled actuating system. The aim of the project is to investigate different approaches towards converting such machines, with minimum changes, into task-oriented human-supervisory control systems. This provides the opportunity to use both human supervision and robotic power in hazardous environments and for tasks for which human decision is necessary. A methodology was developed for fast and accurate simulations. Analytical, steady-state and numerical techniques were combined using Large-Scale Systems analysis. The inclusion of nonlinearities in the form of discontinuities (e.g., gear backlash and stick-slip friction) in the model was investigated. Numerical simplifications of the structural dynamics and alternative solutions for the hydraulic part were also studied. The model describing the performance of the machine has been written in ACSL (Advanced Continuous Simulation Language) on a VAX computer system. A modified version of the program is at present running close to real-time on a single processor in conjunction with high speed graphics in a manner similar to a flight simulator used for human interface studies and training. The model also evaluates the performance of the machine in a teleoperated mode and under different control strategies. As a result a velocity control algorithm has been developed which is applied in conjunction with the closed-loop components for teleoperation of heavy-duty hydraulic machines; it is basically a feedforward compensation which uses the measured hydraulic line pressures along with fluid-flow equations as criteria to control the joint velocities as well as to uncouple the interconnected actuating system. The control algorithm has been written in C language and is running on an IRONICS computer system, interfaced between the human operator and the machine. The simulation results are supported by the experimental evidence. The experiments were performed on a Caterpillar 215B excavator. Improved operator safety, extension of human capability, job quality and productivity increase are the advantages of a successful implementation of robotic technology to these industrial machines. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mechanical Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Over the last several years a branch of Artificial Intelligence called Qualitative Reasoning has received much attention. A qualitative reasoner use qualitative values such as increasing, boiling and turbulent to analyze the behavior of physical systems. Existing qualitative frameworks have focused on physical systems whose qualitative values can be identified given the value of a single parameter. This precludes the application of qualitative models to physical systems whose properties require the values of several parameters. An example of such a system is the kinematics of a robotic manipulator. With this motivation, this thesis answers the following: What is a Qualitative model? Although current approaches appear diverse, they share a common mathematical foundation. This foundation is used to reformulate the qualitative model as a set of equivalence relations. The other question answered is: What extensions are needed to handle multivariate properties such as those encountered in the manipulator paradigm? The equivalence classes associated with qualitative models are geometrically shown to be connected hyperspaces. We show that existing frameworks are limited in the types of hyperspaces they can represent. The major ideas in this thesis are illustrated using manipulator kinematics. / Science, Faculty of / Computer Science, Department of / Graduate

The diploma thesis deals with control of robotic manipulators and their range of applicability. The main objective is to create kinetic model of manipulator in the SolidWorks environment and to set up the identification and control program in the LabVIEW software. It evaluates the applicability of SoftMotion Module tool, which was developed especially for the model control in Motion analysis. The proposed method of control is used on the kinetic model, which employs control commands for the movement of manipulator MiniSwing