Class of 2016 Abstract and Report / Objectives: To describe the effect of time spent in pneumatic tube system on the concentrations of bags of regular insulin. Methods: Twelve intravenous bags of regular insulin in normal saline with a concentration of one unit per milliliter were prepared, with six bags acting as the control group and six bags as the experimental group. Bags in the experimental group were transported to stations labeled X, Y, and Z which were at varying distances from the pharmacy. Bags in the control group were walked the same tube stations. Three samples from each bag were analyzed using the ValiMed™ medication validation system before and after transport and the standard deviations (SDs) from the mean were recorded. Results: At baseline there were no statistically significant differences in the standard deviations (SDs) between the control and experimental group (p = 0.1008). SDs after transport compared to baseline SDs produced statistically significant differences (p < 0.005) except for the control group transported to tube station Z (p = 0.0867). Conclusions: The SDs after either transport produced a statistically significant difference when compared to baseline except for one group of insulin bags. This indicates that concentration may not be affected by method of delivery, since statistically significant difference occurred regardless of transport method. It appears to be safe to transport insulin IV infusion bags by pneumatic tube system.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2001. / Typescript. Bibliographical references: leaf 218-232.

This diploma thesis is focused on the issue of pneumatic components testing and air leakage measurement. The current state of the given issue is summarized based on the analysis of leak testing methods in accordance with valid legislation. The aim of this thesis is to design methods for pneumatic components testing according to specification. As part of method verification, a pneumatic circuit with a pressure control system has been assembled, on which functionality tests of provided components and leak tests by the pressure-drop method have been performed. The results of these tests have been subsequently evaluated as consistent with the specification.

As collaborative robotics become more prevalent, it is desirable to improve the inherent robot safety, on a mechanical level, while maintaining good position tracking. One method is to replace the electric motor+gearing currently used with an alternate actuator which introduces less inertia, friction, and stiffness. A promising approach is the use of hybrid pneumatic-electric actuators (HPEAs). A first generation (GEN1), proof-of-concept, HPEA with low payload capacity and poor mechanical reliability was improved upon to produce the next generation of HPEA. The 2nd generation (GEN2) actuator developed in this work was designed to increase payload capacity and improve mechanical reliability while maintaining low inertia, low friction and low stiffness. The torque capacity was improved by 511% while increasing inertia by only 292%. The majority of the system was modeled via relevant physical laws. The solenoid valves’ inverse model was provided by a black box artificial neural network (ANN), and the electric motor’s was empirical. The models were used to develop a position controller with an inner loop pressure controller based upon the ANN. An alternate (non-model-based) pressure controller was also developed to compare to the ANN based controllers. The system could operate as a purely pneumatic actuator, or as a HPEA. Experimentally it was found that the position control based upon the two pressure controllers led to similar performance, but the ANN based were superior more often. The hybrid mode reduced the purely pneumatic mode position error for vertical cycloidal position tracking by approximately 55%. The GEN2 achieved lower position tracking errors as compared to prior works of other HPEAs as well as purely pneumatic actuator control publications. Compared to the GEN1, the GEN2 achieved better position tracking errors in both pneumatic and hybrid operation. The GEN2 will serve as a superior testbed for future HPEA control and collaborative robotics research. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / Robots which work directly with people are becoming increasingly numerous in industry as their costs decrease. As robots and humans work more and more closely there is a desire for the robot to be more inherently safe, by merit of the underlying mechanical design. Previous research resulted in a prototype hybrid pneumatic-electric actuator (HPEA) designed to improve inherent safety by merit of its low inertia, low friction, and low stiffness. This prototype proved successful, but was of low payload capacity and unreliable mechanical design. The goal of the research was to design, build, model, control, and validate a second generation HPEA, with a larger payload capacity and of more reliable mechanical design while maintaining low friction, inertia and stiffness. Furthermore the improved actuator should maintain or improve upon the good position trajectory tracking of the prior actuator. These goals were successfully achieved with the improved prototype developed in this work.

The soft robotics field is developing rapidly and is poised to have a wide impact in a variety of applications. Soft robots have intrinsic compliance, offering a number of benefits as compared to traditional rigid robots. Compliance can provide compatibility with biological systems such as the human body and can provide some benefits for human safety and control. Further research into soft robots can be advanced by further development of pneumatic actuators. Pneumatic actuators are a good fit for exoskeleton robots because of their light weight, small size, and flexible materials. This is because a wearable robot should be human friendly, therefore, it should be light weight, slim, powerful, and simple. In this paper, a novel pneumatic artificial muscle using soft materials including integrated electronics for wearable exoskeletons is proposed. We describe the design, fabrication, and evaluation of the actuator, as well as the manufacturing process used to create it. Compared to traditional pneumatic muscle actuators such as the McKibben actuator and new soft actuators that were recently proposed, the novel actuator overcomes shortcomings of prior work. This is due to the actuator's very high contraction ratio that can be controlled by the manufacturing process. In this paper, we describe the design, fabrication, and evaluation of a novel pneumatic actuator that can accommodate integrated electronics for displacement and pressure measurements used for data analysis and control. The desired performance characteristics for the actuator were 100 ~ 400N at between 35kPa and 105kPa, and upon testing we found almost 120 ~ 300N which confirms that these actuators may be suitable in soft exoskeleton applications with power requirements comparable to rigid exoskeletons. Furthermore, a novel soft pneumatic elbow exoskeleton based on the pneumatic actuator concept and manufacturing process is presented. Each structure is designed and manufactured with all fabric. The distally-worn structure is only 300g, which is light weight for an arm exoskeleton, and the design is simple, leading to a low materials cost. / Master of Science / The soft robotics field is developing rapidly and is poised to have a wide impact in a variety of applications. The soft robotics is the specific field of robotics, which deals with flexible materials and different geometry in contrast to general robots made by rigid materials. Therefore, soft robots have intrinsic compliance, offering a number of benefits as compared to traditional rigid robots. Compliance can provide compatibility with biological systems such as the human body and can provide some benefits for human safety and control. Further research into soft robots can be advanced by the further development of pneumatic actuators. Pneumatic actuators are a good fit for exoskeleton robots because of their light weight, small size, and flexible materials. This is because a wearable robot should be human-friendly, therefore, it should be light weight, slim, powerful, and simple. In this paper, a novel pneumatic artificial muscle using soft materials for wearable exoskeletons is proposed. We describe the design, fabrication, and evaluation of the actuator, as well as the manufacturing process used to create it and its electronic system for data analysis and control. Furthermore, a novel soft pneumatic elbow exoskeleton based on the pneumatic actuator concept and manufacturing process is presented. Each structure is designed and manufactured with all fabric. The distally-worn structure is only 300g, which is light weight for an arm exoskeleton, and the design is simple, leading to a low materials cost.

No description available.

The aim of the research described in this thesis is to assess the technical feasibility of pneumatic tyres for passenger cars which have no directional reinforcement in their carcasses. Conventional tyres are constructed from composites of twisted textile or steel cords in a rubber matrix, a process which is both labour intensive and costly. If it were possible to injection mould or cast tyre carcasses in a single operation, and if the performance of the resulting tyres matched that of modern radial ply tyres, then the implications for the tyre industry would be of major proportions. After reviewing the history of pneumatic tyres and summarising their principal attributes, the design of unreinforced or fabricless tyres is investigated and methods developed for defining their meridional profiles. Materials suitable for their carcasses and treads are then considered, prior to describing the manufacture of two series of tyres designed to have section height to width ratios, or aspect ratios, of 0.9 and 0.7 respectively. To facilitate experimental work, two sizes of tyres were employed: half scale models for which testing procQdures had been developed previously; and a size suitable for small saloon cars. The results obtained on a range of tyre properties are presented and analysed to give a number of empirical relationships between the properties and the design variables: carcass material Young's modulus, carcass wall thickness and the inflation pressure. For the important property of radial stiffness which affects other tyre characteristics, an improved method of analysis is developed to allow the structural and pneumatic components to be quantified. Using the relationships established experimentally, consideration is given to optimising the design of a fabricless tyre. It is concluded that to approach the performance of a conventional tyre, a design with a low aspect ratio is preferred but, to restrict growth with inflation'pressure, limited directional reinforcement must be included as a circumferential-belt beneath the tread. Nevertheless, the discussion concludes that there are fundamental reasons why even the optimised tyre would be unacceptable for use on modern passenger cars, although less demanding applications may be identified.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Determining the operating parameters and design considerations for dense phase (non-suspension) conveying of fine powders in pneumatic systems typically use empirical, steady-state modelling techniques, as the mechanisms of the flow behaviour are still not fully understood. However, this necessary simplification in the modelling of the dense phase flow still presents significant challenges in ensuring that the predicted outcomes adequately reflect the physical nature of the flow, and therefore provide good design guidance. This thesis represents an examination and development of techniques required for designing dense phase systems of fine powders in three specific areas; prediction of a materials potential to dense phase convey, solids friction correlations and their subsequent effect on pressure drop prediction, and modelling the solids flow from a local perspective. The dense phase capability analysis was conducted by reviewing the current predictive techniques utilising known dense phase material data. It was apparent in the thesis that there were distinct strong predictive regions in all the diagrams; however some diagrams showed areas with weak predictive regions. This work also illustrated the difficulties in comparing different de-aeration rate techniques and significantly, a new mode of flow predictive chart was developed which eliminated the need to determine de-aeration rates while still maintaining distinctly strong dense phase predictive capability. Solids friction based pressure models invariably use a power law which require determination of co-efficient/s and exponent/s. Detailed in this thesis is the research which shows why solutions do not always occur in these power law based friction models and defines a method of determining stable and meaningful values for the exponents. Furthermore, a generic air/particle parameter based solids friction model was developed which is a clear advancement in defining the frictional resistance of dense phase pneumatic conveying of powder. This thesis also proposes a new continuum model which calculates the force balance between the conveying air flow, the resistance of the particles and geometrical effects, like bends. The solution to this model provides qualitative information on fine powder dense phase flow velocity from a solids flow perspective and represents a major step in advancing dense phase modelling from a particle flow basis.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Determining the operating parameters and design considerations for dense phase (non-suspension) conveying of fine powders in pneumatic systems typically use empirical, steady-state modelling techniques, as the mechanisms of the flow behaviour are still not fully understood. However, this necessary simplification in the modelling of the dense phase flow still presents significant challenges in ensuring that the predicted outcomes adequately reflect the physical nature of the flow, and therefore provide good design guidance. This thesis represents an examination and development of techniques required for designing dense phase systems of fine powders in three specific areas; prediction of a materials potential to dense phase convey, solids friction correlations and their subsequent effect on pressure drop prediction, and modelling the solids flow from a local perspective. The dense phase capability analysis was conducted by reviewing the current predictive techniques utilising known dense phase material data. It was apparent in the thesis that there were distinct strong predictive regions in all the diagrams; however some diagrams showed areas with weak predictive regions. This work also illustrated the difficulties in comparing different de-aeration rate techniques and significantly, a new mode of flow predictive chart was developed which eliminated the need to determine de-aeration rates while still maintaining distinctly strong dense phase predictive capability. Solids friction based pressure models invariably use a power law which require determination of co-efficient/s and exponent/s. Detailed in this thesis is the research which shows why solutions do not always occur in these power law based friction models and defines a method of determining stable and meaningful values for the exponents. Furthermore, a generic air/particle parameter based solids friction model was developed which is a clear advancement in defining the frictional resistance of dense phase pneumatic conveying of powder. This thesis also proposes a new continuum model which calculates the force balance between the conveying air flow, the resistance of the particles and geometrical effects, like bends. The solution to this model provides qualitative information on fine powder dense phase flow velocity from a solids flow perspective and represents a major step in advancing dense phase modelling from a particle flow basis.

Orientador: Marcos Silveira / Banca: Fabricio Cesar Lobato de Almeida / Banca: Fransber Santade / Resumo: O presente trabalho aborda o estudo experimental das características não lineares de atrito interno em atuadores pneumáticos. Os atuadores pneumáticos contêm uma tecnologia limpa comparados com os atuadores hidráulicos, ótima relação entre potência e massa suportada, e baixo custo em relação a atuadores elétricos. Também possuem internamente características não lineares que influenciam no controle de um servoposicionador, incluindo principalmente a vedação do êmbolo com o perfil do atuador e a vedação da haste. Portanto, para obter a precisão de posicionamento é necessária uma caracterização do atrito interno. Os métodos utilizados para o desenvolvimento da pesquisa são: investigação do problema de atrito com o modelo LuGre; desenvolvimento do equipamento experimental com um controlador de baixo custo Raspberry Pi; e realização dos experimentos com a identificação automática de atrito em atuadores pneumáticos. Obtendo assim, a visualização gráfica da força de atrito em função da velocidade em regime permanente. A força de atrito em relação aos parâmetros do modelo é calculada em tempo real, possibilitando, dessa forma, a visualização do comportamento da força ao longo do deslocamento do êmbolo do atuador. Os resultados têm a finalidade de verificar as características de atrito do atuador pneumático através dos parâmetros identificados. Desse modo, é possível classificar o atuador pneumático mais adequado para aplicação em sistemas de posicionamento e monitorar o seu desgaste / Abstract: This work presents an experimental procedure for determination of the nonlinear characteristics of internal friction of pneumatic actuators. Pneumatic actuators are a clean technology compared to hydraulic actuators, have good relationship between power and supported mass, and low cost compared to electric actuators. They also have nonlinear characteristics which influence the control of the servo positioner, including mainly the piston seal with the intern surface of the pneumatic actuators and rod seal, therefore to get the positioning accuracy it is necessary a good characterization of internal friction. The methods used for the development of the research are: investigation of the friction problem with the LuGre model; development of experimental equipment with a low cost controller Raspberry Pi; and achievement of the experiments with the automatic identification of friction in pneumatic actuators. Thus, it is obtained the graphical visualization of the friction force as a function of the velocity in steady state. The friction force in relation to model parameters is calculated in real time, enabling the visualization of behaviour of pneumatic force along of displacement piston of the actuator. The results have as purpose verify the friction characteristics of the pneumatic actuator using the identified parameters, thus, it is possible to classify the best pneumatic actuator for application in positioning systems and to monitor the your wear / Mestre