Real world exposures to physiologically and/or psychologically stressful environments are often multifactorial. For example, high-altitude typically combines exposure to hypobaric hypoxia, solar radiation and cold ambient temperatures, while sea level thermal stress is often combined with supplementary or transient stressors such as rain, solar radiation and wind. In such complex environments, the effect of one stressor on performance may be subject to change, simply due to the presence of another independent stressor. Such differential influences can occur in three basic forms; additive, antagonistic and synergistic, each term defining a fundamental concept of inter-parameter interactions. As well as the natural occurrence of stressors in combination, understanding interactions is fundamental to experimentally modelling how multiple physiological strains integrate in their influence on or regulation of - exercise intensity. In this thesis the current literature on neuromuscular fatigue and the influence of thermal and hypoxic stress is reviewed (Chapter 1). This is followed by an outline of the methodological developments used in the subsequent experiments (Chapter 2). In the first experimental study (Chapter 3) a novel approach was adopted to investigate the combined effect of muscle cooling and hypoxia on neuromuscular fatigue in humans. The results showed that the neuromuscular system s maximal force generating capacity declined by 8.1 and 13.9% during independent cold and hypoxic stress compared to control. Force generation decreased by 21.4% during combined hypoxic-cold compared to control, closely matching the additive value of hypoxia and cold individually (22%). This was also reflected in the measurement of mechanical fatigue (electromechanical ratio), demonstrating an additive response during combined hypoxic-cold. From this study, it was concluded that when moderate hypoxia and cold environmental temperatures are combined during low intensity exercise, the level of fatigue increases additively with no interaction between these stressors. Before conducting a more complex investigation on combined stressors, a better understanding of the role of muscle temperature on central fatigue - i.e. voluntary muscle activation via the afferent signalling pathways was sought. The focus of Chapter 4 was to quantify the relationship between muscle temperature and voluntary muscle activation (central fatigue) across a wide range of temperatures. The primary finding was that different muscle temperatures can induce significant changes in voluntary activation (0.5% reduction per-degree-centigrade increase in muscle temperature) when neural drive is sustained for a prolonged effort (e.g. 120-s); however this effect is not exhibited during efforts that are brief in duration (e.g. 3-s). To further explore this finding, Chapter 5 investigated the effect of metaboreceptive feedback at two different muscle temperatures, using post-exercise muscle ischemia, on voluntary activation of a remote muscle group. The results showed that at the same perceived mental effort, peripheral limb discomfort was significantly higher with increasing muscle temperature (2% increase per-degree-centigrade increase). However any influence of increased muscle temperature on leg muscle metaboreceptive feedback did not appear to inhibit voluntary muscle activation - i.e. central control - of a remote muscle group, as represented by an equal force output and voluntary activation in the thermoneutral, contralateral leg. In Chapter 6, the psycho-sensory effects of changes in muscle temperature on central fatigue during dynamic exercise were investigated. During sustained dynamic exercise, fatigue development appeared to occur at a faster rate in hot muscle (4% increase per-degree-centigrade increase) leading to a nullification of the beneficial effects of increased muscle temperature on peak power output after a period of ~60-s maximal exercise. In support of previous studies using isometric exercise (Chapter 4 and 6), participants reported significantly higher muscular pain and discomfort in hot muscle compared to cooler muscle during dynamic exercise (2 and 1% increase per-degree-centigrade increase respectively), however this did not result in a lower power output. From Chapters 4, 5 and 6 it was concluded that in addition to faster rates of metabolite accumulation due to cardiovascular strain, it is possible that a direct sensitisation of the metaboreceptive group III and IV muscle afferents occurs in warmer muscle. This likely contributes to the reduction in voluntary muscle activation during exercise in the heat, while it may attenuate central fatigue in the cold. It was also interpreted that muscle afferents may have a similar signalling role to cutaneous sensory afferents; the latter of which are recognised for their role in providing thermal feedback to the cognitive-behavioural centres of the brain and aiding exercise regulation under thermal stress. The impact of body core and active muscle temperature on voluntary muscle activation represented a similar ratio (5 to 1 respectively) to the temperature manipulated (single leg) to non-temperature manipulated mass (rest of body) in Chapters 4, 5 and 6. This indicates that voluntary muscle activation may also be regulated based on a central meta-representation of total body heat content i.e. the summed firing rates of all activated thermoreceptors in the brain, skin, muscle, viscera and spine. Building on the initial findings of Chapter 3, Chapter 7 investigated the causative factors behind the expression of different interaction types during exposure to multi-stressor environments. This was achieved by studying the interaction between thermal stress and hypoxia on the rate of peripheral and central fatigue development during a high intensity bout of knee extension exercise to exhaustion. The results showed that during combined exposure to moderate hypoxia and mild cold, the reductions in time to exhaustion were additive of the relative effects of hypoxia and cold independently. This differs from the findings in Chapter 3, in which fatigue was additive of the absolute effects of cold and hypoxia. In contrast, combining moderate hypoxia with severe heat stress resulted in a significant antagonistic interaction on both the absolute and relative reductions in time to exhaustion i.e. the combined effect being significantly less than the sum of the individual effects. Based on the results in Chapter 7, a quantitative paradigm for understanding of systematic integration of multifactorial stressors was proposed. This is, that the interaction type between stressors is influenced by the impact magnitude of the individual stressors effect on exercise capacity, whereby the greater the stressors impact, the greater the probability that one stressor will be cancelled out by the other. This is the first study to experimentally model the overarching principles characterising the presence of simultaneous physiological strains, suggesting multifactorial integration be subject to the worst strain takes precedence when the individual strains are severe.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第22070号 / 工博第4651号 / 新制||工||1725(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科電気工学専攻 / (主査)教授 引原 隆士, 教授 土居 伸二, 特定教授 中村 武恒 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

This work deals with design of urban electric car. Its analytic part describes the evolution of design of the vehicle and then compares technical options and visual appearance of current production. The main goal of the work is to create an exterior design of compact four-seated electric car intended mainly for urban and suburban passenger transport. This part of the work describes own design solution connecting the aesthetics, functionality, ergonomics and modern technology together.

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In a world with a growing population there is a trend toward higher and higher energy usage. Because of the cost involved in producing extra energy, there is a need for more efficient usage of the energy that is already available. The issue of efficiency rings home especially clear with electric motors. Although induction motors are used in many different applications, the motors used in electric vehicles must be able to generate a large starting torque as well as operate over a wide speed range. This work analyzes the restrictions placed on the motor and inverter drive system. It also looks at the best method for controlling the drive in order to achieve the highest efficiency out of the drive. While other works have shown methods of achieve high efficiency out of the motor, it is the assertion of this work that the efficiency of the total drive is more important. It is to that end that this work analyzes the performance of an induction motor under low torque and speed where a traction drive utilizes the most energy. / Master of Science

As traditional control schemes, open-loop Hysteresis and closed-loop pulse-width-modulation (PWM) have been used for the switched reluctance motor (SRM) current controller. The Hysteresis controller induces large unpleasant audible noises because it needs to vary the switching frequency to maintain constant Hysteresis current band. In contract, the PWM controller is very quiet but difficult to design proper gains and control bandwidth due to the nonlinear nature of the SRM. In this thesis, the ac small signal modeling technique is proposed for linearization of the SRM model such that a conventional PI controller can be designed accordingly for the PWM current controller. With the linearized SRM model, the duty-cycle to output transfer function can be derived, and the controller can be designed with sufficient stability margins. The proposed PWM controller has been simulated to compare the performance against the conventional Hysteresis controller based system. It was found that through the frequency spectrum analysis, the noise spectra in audible range disappeared with the fixed switching frequency PWM controller, but was pronounced with the conventional Hysteresis controller. A hardware prototype is then implemented with digital signal processor to verify the quiet nature of the PWM controller when running at 20 kHz switching frequency. The experimental results also indicate a stable current loop operation. / Master of Science

This thesis deals with the integral motor of tomorrow, and particularly with a variable speed, sensorless permanent magnet synchronous motor with an integrated converter. The rated power is 15 kW at 1500 r/min. The outer dimensions are approximately the same as for the equivalent standard induction motor. Control strategies for pumps and fans, i.e. suitable loads for variable speed motors, are briefly described. The huge energy savings that can be made by reducing the speed instead of throttling/choking the flow are pointed out. Compared to installing an induction motor with a separate converter, a PM integral motor will probably pay-off in less than a year. A totally analytical expression for calculating the airgap flux density of permanent magnet motors with buried magnets is derived. The analytical expression includes axial leakage, and iron saturation of the most narrow part of the magnetic circuit of the machine. A computer program for optimization of PM motors with buried magnets has been developed. It was used to design the manufactured prototype PM integral motor, and the parameters are investigated with analytical and/or FEM calculations. The optimization program is also used to suggest nearoptimum pole numbers for desired powers (4-37 kW) and speeds (750- 3000 r/min) of inverter-fed PM motors. Results show that compact buried PM motors should have relatively large airgaps and high NdFeB-magnet masses to improve the efficiency. Ferrite magnets are unsuitable. Measurements on the manufactured PM motor, the novel concept of stator integrated filter coils, and the complete PM integral motor are presented. Special attention was given to temperature and overall efficiency measurements. The rotor cage losses were investigated by time-stepping FEM. Four short circuit fault conditions were also examined in order to evaluate the risks of demagnetization of the buried magnets.

This thesis presents different state estimation techniques for speed sensorlees field oriented control of induction motors. The theoretical basis of each algorithm is explained in detail and its performance is tested with simulations and experiments individually. First, a stochastical nonlinear state estimator, Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is presented. The motor model designed for EKF application involves rotor speed, dq-axis rotor fluxes and dq-axis stator currents. Thus, using this observer the rotor speed and rotor fluxes are estimated simultaneously. Different from the widely accepted use of EKF, in which it is optimized for either steady-state or transient operations, here using adjustable noise level process algorithm the optimization of EKF has been done for both states / the steady-state and the transient-state of operations. Additionally, the measurement noise immunity of EKF is also investigated. Second, Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF), which is an updated version of EKF, is proposed as a state estimator for speed sensorless field oriented control of induction motors. UKF state update computations, different from EKF, are derivative free and they do not involve costly calculation of Jacobian matrices. Moreover, variance of each state is not assumed Gaussian, therefore a more realistic approach is provided by UKF. In this work, the superiority of UKF is shown in the state estimation of induction motor. Third, Model Reference Adaptive System is studied as a state estimator. Two different methods, back emf scheme and reactive power scheme, are applied to MRAS algorithm to estimate rotor speed. Finally, a flux estimator and an open-loop speed estimator combination is employed to observe stator-rotor fluxes, rotor-flux angle and rotor speed. In flux estimator, voltage model is assisted by current model via a closed-loop to compensate voltage model&rsquo / s disadvantages.

Abstract: This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation into the application of inverter-based variable speed drives to positive displacement rotary compressors. Designs and implements a DSP-microprocessor based of an inverter drive for high-efficiency compressor used in air conditioner. We control the compressor with sine PWM and V/F scheme. Permanent magnet synchronous motor has potential for energy saving in general applications on compressor drives. Permanent magnet synchronous motor drives are used for applications like compressors¡Awhere high dynamic performance is not a demand¡Asimple V/F control strategies may be sufficient to obtain the required control performance. For energy saving to find the best control strategy for an inverter drive for high efficiency compressor used in air conditioner.