Η διπλωματική εργασία συνίσταται στο σχεδιασμό, την κατασκευή και τον έλεγχο μιας πειραματικής διάταξης παράλληλου ρομποτικού μηχανισμού, η οποία περιλαμβάνει ηλεκτροπνευματικό εξοπλισμό, όπως τέσσερα πνευματικά έμβολα τύπου τεχνητών μυών, ισάριθμες ανάλογικές βαλβίδες πεπιεσμένου αέρα και έναν προγραμματιζόμενο λογικό ελεγκτή (PLC) που ελέγχει τη λειτουργία της διάταξης. Η πειραματική διάταξη που σχεδιάσαμε και κατασκευάσαμε είναι ένας παράλληλος ρομποτικός μηχανισμός πέντε βαθμών ελευθερίας, ο οποίος αποτελείται από τέσσερις δοκούς, δύο βασικά γρανάζια περιστροφής, δύο οδοντωτούς ιμάντες, μια βάση στήριξης και επιπρόσθετα βοηθητικά στηρίγματα. Οι δοκοί συνδέονται μεταξύ τους μέσω περιστροφικών αρθρώσεων και αποτελούν μια κλειστή κινηματική αλυσίδα, στα άκρα της οποίας τοποθετούνται οι κινητήριες αρθρώσεις (γρανάζια). Στόχος είναι με τον έλεγχο της περιστροφής των γραναζιών να εξασφαλίζεται μια επιθυμητή τροχιά του τελικού σημείου. Ο έλεγχος της περιστροφής των γραναζιών επιτυγχάνεται μέσω της ανταγωνιστικής λειτουργίας των μυών της διάταξης μας. Η τροφοδοτούμενη πίεση στους μύες, ελέγχεται μέσω του PLC. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, οι επιθυμητές τροχιές που επιχειρήθηκαν ήταν η παράλληλη, η κατακόρυφη και η κυκλική τροχιά. Οι έλεγχοι που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν ήταν ένας έλεγχος ανοιχτού βρόχου και ένας PID έλεγχος κλειστού βρόχου. Συμπερασματικά, τα ζητήματα που μας απασχόλησαν κατά τη διεξαγωγή της διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι ο προγραμματισμός του PLC, οι πνευματικοί μύες, η ανταγωνιστική τους λειτουργία, η μαθηματική περιγραφή του μοντέλου του παράλληλου μηχανισμού και ο έλεγχος για την επίτευξη των επιθυμητών τροχιών. / The thesis consists of designing, manufacturing and controlling a parallel robotic mechanism, including electro-pneumatics equipment, such as four pneumatic artificial muscles, four analogue pneumatic valves and a programmable logical controller (PLC), in order to control the structure's operation. This structure is a 5-degrees-of-freedom robotic mechanism, consisting of four beams, two basic rotating gears, two toothed belts and other complementary brackets. Beams are connected to each other by use of rotary joints and, therefore, constitute a closed kinematic chain. At the ends of the chain are placed the rotating gears. The thesis goal is to achieve the mechanism's end successful move through a certain track by controlling the gears' rotating angles. This is achieved by the competitive operation of pneumatic artificial muscles. Pneumatic muscles' pressure is controlled through the PLC. A parallel, a vertical and a circular track were executed. An open loop and a PID closed loop controller where designed. In conclusion, issues taken into consideration in this thesis were PLC programming, pneumatic artificial muscles and their competitive operation, parallel mechanism's mathematical model description and control implementation.

Afin de rendre les machines synchrones à aimants permanents plus attractives pour l'aéronautique (actionneurs de commande de vol, systèmes de freinage, train d'atterrissage ...), il peut être intéressant de réduire le nombre de modules d'électronique de puissance utilisés en les mutualisant. De nombreuses études ont été réalisées pour des systèmes composés de plusieurs machines asynchrones et principalement en traction ferroviaire, mais peu concernent les machines synchrones. Après avoir étudié différentes structures envisageables, les travaux développés lors de cette thèse présentent une étude originale d'un système composé de deux machines synchrones à aimants permanents connectées en parallèle sur un onduleur unique mutualisé. Ces machines ont des caractéristiques identiques ou proches et doivent être pilotées à la même vitesse. La structure de commande retenue lors de cette thèse est de type maître-esclave: seule une des deux machines est autopilotée (la machine maître), l'autre (la machine esclave) fonctionnant en boucle ouverte. Afin d'assurer la stabilité d'un tel système, le synchronisme des deux moteurs doit toujours être respecté. Une stratégie de commande, qui choisit quel est le moteur maître, en prenant en compte la variation des paramètres internes et externes du système, est alors instaurée. Dans ces conditions, les évolutions théoriques des différentes variables sont déterminées. Pour valider ces résultats, un processus expérimental est mis en place. Les nombreux résultats obtenus en simulation et expérimentalement permettent alors de confirmer les résultats théoriques: que ce soient les paramètres mécaniques ou électriques qui varient, la stabilité du système est toujours garantie. Le cas supplémentaire où les deux machines déplacent une charge mécanique commune avec une liaison mécanique rigide entre les deux machines, est finalement développé. Une autre stratégie de commande, dont la structure et les résultats sont également présentés dans cette thèse, est alors nécessaire. / To make permanent magnet synchronous machines more attractive for aerospace (flight control actuators, braking systems, landing gear ...), it may be advantageous to reduce the number of power electronic modules used in the pooling. Many studies have been performed for systems composed of several machines and asynchronous traction primarily, but little concern synchronous machines. After considering various possible structures, this Ph.D. thesis presents an original study of a system consisting of two permanent magnet synchronous machines connected in parallel on a single shared inverter. These machines have characteristics identical or similar and must be driven at the same speed. The control structure chosen in this Ph.D. thesis is a master-slave : only one machine, called master machine is self-piloted, the other (the slave machine) operating in open loop. To ensure the stability of such a system, the timing of the two engines should always be respected. A control strategy, which selects which is the master motor, taking into account the variation of internal and external parameters of the system is then introduced. Under these conditions, the theoretical developments of the different variables are determined. To validate these results, an experimental process is established. The numerous results obtained in simulation and experiments are then used to confirm the theoretical results : whatever the mechanical or electrical parameters variation, system stability is always guaranteed. The additional case, when both machines move a mechanical load with a common rigid mechanical connection between two machines, is finally developed. Another required control strategy, the structure and the results are also presented in this Ph.D. thesis.

Die Arbeit ist der regelungstheoretischen Betrachtung von mechanischen Systemen mit mehr Freiheitsgraden als Stellgrößen gewidmet. Dabei werden Aspekte aus den Teilgebieten Modellbildung, Systemanalyse, Steuerungsentwurf und Reglerentwurf behandelt. Den Ausgangspunkt bilden die aus dem Lagrange-Formalismus resultierenden Bewegungsgleichungen, für welche neben verschiedene partiell linearisierten Zustandsdarstellungen auch eine spezielle Byrnes-Isidori-Normalform eingeführt wird. Im Unterschied zu einer früher vorgeschlagenen ähnliche Normalform existiert diese "Lagrange-Byrnes-Isidori-Normalform" immer. Weiterhin wird die bedeutende Eigenschaft der differentiellen Flachheit im Zusammenhang mit mechanischen Systemen untersucht. Die bestehende Lücke zwischen den bekannten notwendigen und hinreichenden Flachheitsbedingungen bildet die Motivation zur Anpassung der Regelflächenbedingung auf mechanische Systeme in Lagrange-Byrnes-Isidori-Normalform. Parallel dazu wird die Flachheitsanalyse auf Basis des sogenannten Variationssystems betrachtet. Dabei handelt es sich um ein System von 1-Formen, die durch Anwendung der äußeren Ableitung auf die impliziten Systemgleichungen entstehen. Äquivalent dazu können auch die in einer rechteckigen Polynommatrix bezüglich des Zeitableitungsoperators zusammengefassten Koeffizienten der Basisformen untersucht werden. Die Flachheit eines Systems ist nun gerade äquivalent zur Existenz einer unimodularen Vervollständigung dieser Matrix, welche zudem noch eine bestimmte Integrabilitätsbedingung erfüllen muss. Durch Anwendung des Satzes von Frobenius können aus diesen in der bisherigen Formulierung nur schwer überprüfbaren Bedingungen deutlich einfachere hergeleitet werden. Für den Eingrößenfall ergibt sich dadurch eine erheblich Verringerung des Rechenaufwandes im Vergleich zum Referenzansatz. Im Mehrgrößenfall ist die Situation komplizierter: Durch das Fallenlassen der Unimodularitätsforderung und die Ausnutzung der speziellen Struktur mechanischer Systeme erhält man eine neue notwendige Bedingung für Flachheit, welche sich in endlich vielen Schritten auswerten lässt. Allerdings konnte mit dieser die vermutete Nichtflachheit für die untersuchten mechanischen Beispielsysteme nicht nachgewiesen werden. Einen weiteren Untersuchungsgegenstand bildet das Konzept der Konfigurationsflachheit. Für diese Eigenschaft ist gefordert, dass ein flacher Ausgang existieren muss, der nur von den Konfigurationskoordinaten abhängt. Basierend auf theoretischen Überlungen und dem Fehlen von Gegenbeispielen wird die Hypothese aufgestellt, dass für konservative mechanische Systeme Flachheit und Konfigurationsflachheit äquivalent sind. Für lineare mechanische Systeme kann diese Hypothese mit Hilfe der Kronecker-Normalform von Matrizenscharen verifiziert werden. Bezüglich des Entwurfs von Solltrajektorien werden neben der Darstellung bekannter Verfahren für lineare und für flache Systeme zwei weitere Ansätze genauer diskutiert. Der erste basiert auf der numerischen Lösung des aus dem Steuerungsentwurf resultierenden Randwertproblems. Dazu wird ein angepasstes Kollokationsverfahren konstruiert, welches die Elimination von Systemgrößen durch die explizite Berücksichtigung von Integratorketten ermöglicht, die bei partiell linearisierten Systemen stets auftreten. Unter bestimmten Bedingungen bewirkt dies eine erhebliche Reduktion der Rechenzeit. Der zweite Ansatz betrachtet die Überführung zwischen zwei Ruhelagen und beruht auf der Zeitumkehrsymmetrie, die alle konservativen mechanischen Systeme aufweisen. Er besteht aus mehreren Schritten: Zunächst wird für beide Ruhelagen eine Rückführung mit möglichst großem Attraktivitätsgebiet entworfen. Danach wird das System simulativ ausgehend von der Zielruhelage in der Startruhelage stabilisiert. Die so erhaltene Eingangstrajektorie kann dann bezüglich der Zeit invertiert werden, um das System aus der Startruhelage in die Nähe der Zielruhelage zu überführen, wo schließlich der entsprechende Regler aktiviert wird. In praktischen Realisierungen von unteraktuierten Regelungssystemen treten auf Grund von Effekten wie trockener Reibung und Getriebespiel oft Dauerschwingungen mit schwer vorhersagbaren und beeinflussbaren Parametern auf. Als Alternative zur klassischen Stabilisierung einer (theoretischen) Ruhelage wird deshalb eine Rückführung hergeleitet, welche für ein gegebenes lineares System einen stabilen Grenzzyklus mit vorgebbarer Frequenz und Amplitude asymptotisch stabilisiert.

La bioélectronique est un domaine interdisciplinaire qui étudie les interconnexions et les interactions entre entités biologiques (cellules, tissus, organes) et systèmes électroniques,par l’intermédiaire du transducteur adéquat. Pour des cellules ou des tissus excitables (neurones, muscles, ...), le transducteur prend la forme d’une simple électrode, car ces tissus produisent une activité électrique spontanée ou, dans le sens inverse, peuvent être excités par un signal électrique externe. Cette communication bidirectionnelle donne lieu à deux schémas expérimentaux : l’acquisition et la stimulation. L’acquisition consiste à enregistrer, traiter et analyser les bio-signaux alors que la stimulation consiste à appliquer le courant électrique adéquat aux tissus vivants, pour déclencher une réaction. Cette thèse se concentre sur ce dernier point : deux générations de système de stimulation ont été développées, chacune basée sur un circuit intégré spécifique et adaptée à différents contextes applicatifs.Tout d’abord, le cadre scientifique a été celui du projet CENAVEX, axé sur la stimulation électrique fonctionnelle pour réhabiliter la fonction respiratoire, suite à une lésion de la moelle épinière. Ensuite, les objectifs de conception ont été étendus pour couvrir de nouveaux besoins d’application : la surveillance de l’impédance électrique in situ et l’exploration des formes d’onde de stimulation originales. Le premier pourrait être une solution pour suivre la réaction tissulaire après l’implantation d’une électrode, contribuant ainsi à la biocompatibilité à long terme des implants ; le second propose d’aller au-delà dela conventionnelle impulsion biphasique carrée et d’explorer de nouvelles formes d’ondes qui pourraient être plus efficaces en termes de consommation d’énergie, pour un effet physiologique donné.Le travail présenté dans ce manuscrit contribue à la conception, à la fabrication et au test de dispositifs de stimulation innovants. Cela a conduit au développement de deux circuits intégrés et de deux dispositifs de stimulation permettant une stimulation multicanal.Les caractérisations électriques et les validations biologiques, de la faisabilité in vitro aux expériences in vivo, ont été menées et sont décrites dans ce manuscrit. / Bioelectronics is a cross-disciplinary field that studies interconnections and interactions between biological entities (cells, tissues, organs) and electronic systems, using the adequate transducer. For excitable cells or tissues (neurons, muscles, . . . ), the transducer takes the form of a simple electrode, as these tissues produce a spontaneous electrical activity or,in the opposite way, may be excited by an external electrical signal. This bi-directional communication gives rise to two experimental schemes: acquisition and stimulation. Acquisition consists in recording, processing and analyzing bio-signals whereas stimulation consists in applying the adequate electrical current to living tissues in order to trigger a reaction. This thesis focuses on the latter: two generations of stimulation systems have been developed, both being centered on an Application Specific Integrated Circuit, and adapted to different application contexts. First, the scientific framework was given by the CENAVEX project, focusing on Functional Electrical Stimulation to rehabilitate the respiratory function, following a Spinal Cord Injury. Then, the design objectives were extended to cover new application needs:in situ electrical impedance monitoring and exploration of original stimulation wave forms.The first one could be a solution to follow the tissue reaction after electrode implantation,hence contributing to long-term biocompatibility of implants; the second one proposes to go further the conventional constant biphasic pulse and explore new wave forms that couldbe most efficient in terms of energy consumption, for a given physiological effect.The work presented in this manuscript is a contribution to the design, fabrication and test of innovative stimulation devices. It leaded to the development of two integrated circuits and two stimulation devices permitting multichannel stimulation. Both electrical characterizations and biological validations, from in vitro feasibility to in vivo experiments, have been conducted and are described in this manuscript.

The building automation industry lacks an affordable, simple, solution for autonomous PID controller tuning when overhead variables fluctuate. In this project, requested by Jitea AB, a solution was developed, utilising step response process modelling, numerical integration of first order differential equations, and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). The solution was applied to two control schemes; simulated outlet flow from a virtual water tank, and the physical air pressure in the ventilation system of a preschool in Sweden. An open-loop step response provided the transfer function in each case, which, after some manipulation, could be employed to predict the performance of any given set of PID parameters, based on a weighted cost function. This prediction model was used in ACO to find optimal settings. The program was constructed in both Structured Control Language and Structured Text and documented in an approachable way. The results showed that the program was, in both cases, able to eliminate overshoot and retain the settling time (with a slightly raised rise time) achieved with settings tuned per the current methods of Jitea AB. Noise and oscillations present in the physical system did not appear to have any major negative influence on the tuning process. The program performed above Jitea AB’s expectation, and will be tested in more scenarios, as it showed promise. Autonomous implementation could be of societal benefit through increased efficiency and sustainability in a range of processes. In future studies, focus should be on improving the prediction model, and further optimising the ACO variables. / Byggnadsautomationsbranschen saknar en kostnadseffektiv lösning för att autonomt trimma in PID-regulatorer när överordnade variabler fluktuerar. I detta (av Jitea AB beställda) arbete, utvecklades en lösning baserad på stegsvarsmodellering, numerisk integration av första gradens ordinära differentialekvationer och myrkolonisoptimering (ACO). Lösningen applicerades i två regleringsfall; en simulerad utloppsventil från en virtuell vattentank, och det fysiska lufttrycket i ventilationssystemet på en förskola i Sverige. Ett stegsvar med öppen slinga gav en överföringsfunktion i respektive fall, som efter viss manipulering kunde nyttjas för att förutspå prestandan för en uppsättning PID-parametrar baserat på en samlad, viktad kostnadsfunktion. Predikteringsmodellen implementerades i ACO för att finna optimala parametrar. Programmet konstruerades i Structured Control Language och Structured Text, och dokumenterades på ett pedagogiskt sätt. Resultaten visade att programmet (i båda fallen) klarade att eliminera översläng med bibehållen stabiliseringstid (och något förskjuten stigningstid) jämfört med Jitea AB:s existerande trimningsmetod. Signalbrus och oscillationer i det fysiska systemet verkade inte ha någon avsevärd negativ inverkan på trimningsprocessen. Programmet presterade över Jitea AB:s förväntan, och kommer (med tanke på de lovande resultaten) fortsatt att testas i fler scenarion. Implementation av en autonom version skulle kunna innebära flera samhälleliga förmåner i form av ökad verkningsgrad och hållbarhet i en rad processer. I framtida studier bör fokus läggas på att ytterligare förbättra prediktionsmodellen, samt att vidare utforska de optimala myrkolonisvariablerna.

Submitted by Johnny Rodrigues (johnnyrodrigues@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-07-30T13:44:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RAFAEL BEZERRA CORREIA LIMA - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGEE 2012..pdf: 4664268 bytes, checksum: f5a0acf8cf73f941fd6fc59ff1dcfbb2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-30T13:44:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RAFAEL BEZERRA CORREIA LIMA - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGEE 2012..pdf: 4664268 bytes, checksum: f5a0acf8cf73f941fd6fc59ff1dcfbb2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-10 / É proposta nessa dissertação a utilização de conceitos de subespaços na identificação de modelos multivariáveis de ordem reduzida com atrasos. A metodologia desenvolvida se baseia na estimativa da resposta ao degrau do sistema a partir de projeções dos seus sinais de entradas e saídas. O problema é dividido em duas etapas, primeiramente a estimação de modelos em malha aberta seguido do estudo de sistemas em malha fechada. Finalmente os conceitos estudados são postos em prática através de simulações numéricas e experimentações práticas em plantas reais. / It is proposed in this dissertation the use of concepts of subspaces in the identification of multivariable models of reduced order with time delays. The developed methodology is based on the estimation of the step response of the system from projections of its input signals and outputs. The problem is divided into two stages, first: estimating models in open loop, then followed by the study of closed loop systems. Finally, the concepts studied are implemented through numerical simulations and practical experiments in real plants.

De nos jours, les systèmes embarqués sont de plus en plus nombreux ce qui impacte fortement les systèmes de conversion de l’énergie. Les contraintes associées se traduisent par une réduction des masses et des pertes afin d’améliorer l’efficacité énergétique de la chaine de conversion. C’est le cas dans le domaine de l’aéronautique où le concept ″d’avion plus électrique″ devient aujourd’hui une réalité. C’est ainsi que la machine synchrone à aimants permanents devient un actionneur d’excellence de par sa puissance massique importante, son faible coût de maintenance et ses qualités dynamiques. Lorsque ces machines sont associées pour remplir des fonctions coopératives (surfaces de vol par exemple) on peut encore réduire la masse embarquée en mutualisant l’électronique de puissance. C’est précisément dans ce cadre que se situe notre travail, en proposant des structures d’alimentation réduites, à base d’électronique de puissance, permettant d’alimenter deux ou plusieurs machines électriques en parallèle et en proposant des lois de commande visant à améliorer le rendement énergétique. Nous nous sommes intéressés plus particulièrement à la Commande Prédictive de deux Machines Synchrones alimentées en parallèle par un Onduleur de Tension Triphasé. Ces machines ont des caractéristiques identiques et doivent suivre un même profil de vitesse avec un couple de charge différent et en tout cas indépendant. L’approche commande prédictive nous conduit à considérer l’onduleur de tension comme un dispositif ayant un nombre fini d’états de commande. Nous devons sélectionner à chaque instant la meilleure solution de commande permettant de minimiser une fonction coût. Cette fonction coût, relative à une ou deux machines, est composée d’une partie représentant la qualité du couple produit (courant IRqR) et d’une autre partie représentant la qualité de la conversion via les pertes produites (courant IRdR). Cette approche opère naturellement à fréquence de découpage variable. Ainsi le document fait état de différentes solutions étudiées montrant les limites d’une telle approche tant sur le plan dynamique que sur le plan des pertes. Pour améliorer cette solution de base nous développons une approche basée sur l’utilisation de vecteurs virtuels. Ces vecteurs virtuels augmentent les possibilités de commande et conduisent à un fonctionnement à fréquence constante au travers d’une modulation de type SVM. La recherche d’un vecteur virtuel optimum est proposée et appliquée sur un dispositif composé de deux machines de faible puissance. Les différentes propositions sont validées par la voie de la simulation numérique et consolidées par des résultats expérimentaux. / Nowadays, embedded systems are more and more numerous that impacted strongly energy conversion systems. Associated constraints translates into a reduction of the masses and the losses to improve energy efficiency in the conversion chain. This is the case in the field of aeronautics or the concept of ″More Electric Aircraft″ now becomes a reality. Therefore, the permanent magnet synchronous machine becomes an actuator of excellence because of its important mass power, its low maintenance cost and its dynamic qualities. When these machines are associated to carry out cooperative functions (for example flight surfaces) can still reduce the mass embedded in pooling power electronics. It is precisely in this context that localizes our work by offering structures power electronics-based, reduced to power for two or more electric machines in parallel and providing control laws aimed at improving energy efficiency. We we are interested specifically in the Predictive Control of two Synchronous Machines connected in parallel with a 3-Phase Converter. These machines have identical characteristics and must follow a same velocity profile with a torque of different load and in any case independent. The predictive control approach leads us to consider the voltage inverter as a device having a finite number of input states and we need to select every moment the best control solution to minimize a cost function. This cost function on one or two machines, is composed of a portion which represents the quality of the produced torque (Iq current) and another party representative quality of the conversion via produced losses (Id current). This approach works naturally for variable switching frequency. Thus the document state of different solutions studied showing the limits of such an approach both dynamic in terms of losses. To improve this basic solution we develop an approach based on the use of virtual vector which increase the possibilities of control and led to operation at constant frequency through a SVM solution. The search for an optimum virtual vector is proposed and applied to a device consisting of two low-power machines. The various proposals are validated through numerical simulation and consolidated by experimental results.

Since 1970s, ever growing attention has been devoted by worldwide researchers and practitioners to the investigation of job release control. However, the need for control of flow of job/wafer into the wafer fabrication system is identified in the late 1988s. Subsequently, many release policies are developed and presented in the literature for improving its performance with respect to cycle time and throughput. Even though it is pointed out in the literature that there is a need for the development and analysis of policy that control the flow of job/wafer through the manufacturing process, still there is no exhaustive study in view of the previously developed release policies in the literature. Moreover, many new opportunities have evolved in the field of release policy in wafer fabrication industry due to the advancement in technology and computer science. It implies that near real-time decision making for efficient release policy is possible based on the global factory state. However, it appears from the literature that still to date the release policies, which are employed in real wafer fabrication system, are usually based on the static information. Release control/policy is emerging as an important research topic in the wafer fabrication industry given the extremely large capital investment and sales revenue of this industry. Release policy also hold practical significance for manufacturing managers, since neglecting it can lead to wide variations in shop workloads, can cause excessive backlogs, accomplishment of orders will be either too early or too late and there can be frequent need for expediting. All the challenges associated with the performance of the wafer fabrication system discussed here and the puzzle around the release policies and its impact on the wafer fabrication process, this research attempts to investigate existing release policies and proposing a few efficient release policies based on the knowledge gained from the existing release policies strength and weakness. Based on the insights gained from the existing release policies, three new closed loop release policies constant workload (CONSTWL), constant batch machine workload (CONSTBWL) and layer wise control (LWC) are developed by considering the parameters: workload in general, workload in batch machine, and re-entrant characteristics of the wafer fabrication system respectively. The conceptual significance in favour of these proposed closed loop release policies in improving performance of the wafer fabrication system is also outlined in this study. In the literature, few researchers clearly indicate that dispatching rule(s) influence the performance of wafer fabrication system either independently or in integration with release policies. Therefore, to empirically validate this fact, release policy is integrated with dispatching rule particularly applying on bottleneck (discrete processing machine) work station in this study. With these, the aims of proposed release policies are to efficiently improve the system performances in terms of average cycle time, standard deviation of cycle time and throughput. Accordingly, a simulation model is proposed and developed using Arena software for evaluating the performance of release policies in integration with dispatching rule applied on bottleneck work station in wafer fabrication environment. Further, to set the values of parameters in the simulation model, the cause and effect analysis is explored in this study by considering eight critical parameters or factors of the simulated wafer fabrication environment. It includes arrival rate, arrival distribution, processing time, maintenance schedule, operator’s schedule, batch size, dispatching rule and release policy. Simulation based cause and effect analysis not only helps in setting up the values of parameters in the proposed simulation model, but it also helps in strengthening the face validity of the developed simulation model. The verification and validation of the developed simulation model, which is a vital and fundamental aspect of simulation is discussed in detail in this study. Based on the analysis and the results observed from the cause and effect analysis, some modifications are incorporated and subsequently, the parameters values are set in the proposed simulation model for evaluating the performance of release policies integrating with dispatching rules. A series of simulation experiments are conducted using the proposed simulation model with systems conditions such as product mix, complexity of the process, level of machine unreliability, and system congestion level to study the relative effects of each of 18 release policies (one open loop release policy, 14 existing closed loop release policies, and 3 proposed release policies) in integration with dispatching rules (FIFO, LIFO and SRPT), considered in this study, at various throughput levels in the wafer fabrication environment. Particularly, the relative effect of integrating release policies and the dispatching rules are observed and analysed in terms of (a) the effect of dispatching rule on release policy, and (b) the effects of release policies on dispatching rules. It is observed from the overall inferences that dispatching rule: SRPT outperformed both FIFO and LIFO dispatching rule for all the considered release policies, except for the release policy: ‘TOTAL_CT’. Additionally, it is observed that for each of the eighteen release policies integrated with considered, the dispatching rule: SRPT produces less WIP inventory at the bottleneck work station for all throughput levels. The maximum deviation in delay (cycle time) is produced by dispatching rule: LIFO in all the release policies considered except for the release policy: ‘TOTAL_CT’ in which dispatching rule: SRPT produces maximum deviation in delay. Moreover, it is observed that the difference in mean delay with all three dispatching rules (FIFO, LIFO and SRPT) increases with the increase in throughput levels. Furthermore, it is observed that the throughput rate under all release policies (except ‘TOTAL_CT’) is more for dispatching rule: SRPT in comparison with both dispatching rules: FIFO and LIFO for nearly the same threshold values. The experimental results showed that proposed release policy: LWC reliably improves the system performance followed by the proposed release policy: CONSTWL and CONSTBWL with respect to both mean delay and standard deviation for corresponding throughput levels in wafer fabrication system. The characteristics of the proposed release policy: LWC are summarized and the same is presented as follows because this is proven to be best release policy among all the release policies considered in the proposed simulation model. The proposed release policy: LWC is a new measure of the work quantity on the shop floor system, which takes into account the location of jobs/wafers along the production line by employing re-entrant property of wafer fabrication system. As a result, it offers quick response to the stochastic events of the manufacturing system and can compensated the system disturbances in time. The proposed release policy: LWC offers more efficient control of flow of job/wafer in the wafer fabrication system with reduced delay (cycle time) and the standard deviation of delay (cycle time) for a given throughput level in comparison with almost all the release policies considered in this study in integration with all three dispatching rules considered and applied on bottleneck work station. For instance, from the analysis of simulation model, the proposed release policy: LWC reduces the average delay up to 98%, 95%, 90%, 89%, 49%, 35%, 21%, 17%, 13%, 12%, 10%, 9%, 9%, 9%, 6% and 4%, and reduces the standard deviation of delay up to 96%, 98%, 94%, 93%, 34%, 22%, 4%, 13%, 11%, 6%, 9%, 14%, 4%, 4%, 10% and 7% for a given throughput level, respectively in relation to other release polices: FRCP, EWIP, TOTAL_CT, PWR, EWC, DRCP, CONLOAD, WIPLCtrl, Droll, DEC, CONWIP, SA, RCONWIP, WR, CONSTBWL and CONSTWL respectively in integration with dispatching rule: SRPT. These improvements can also be understood from another aspect, that is, LWC can increase the system throughput rate for a given cycle time. The improvement is statistically significant according to the two sample t-test for all throughput values with a 95% confidence level. As the improvement of the proposed release policy: LWC is relatively less on the proposed release policies: CONSTWL and CONSTBWL with respect to mean delay, it can be inferred that the performance of CONSTWL and CONSTBWL is relatively better than other existing closed loop release policies for the scenarios considered in the simulation model. However, the best release policy: LWC provides satisfactory performance in comparison with other release policies for almost all scenarios considered in the simulation model. It is important to note that these proposed release policies can be easily applied in real wafer manufacturing systems because it possesses a simple logic and only the reference level need to be prescribed. The performance of four existing closed release policies that are FRCP, EWIP, TOTAL_CT and PWR are relatively worst in comparison with open loop release policy CONST. This is contradicting to the conclusions given in the literature by many authors that closed loop release policies are always better than open loop release policy with respect to cycle time and throughput measures. In fact, a reasonable closed loop release policy can provide better results than open loop release policy, if its objective and the release parameter are designed carefully, so that the release parameter can respond effectively to the dynamics of the manufacturing system. The reason for worst performance of these four existing closed loop release policies in comparison with open loop release policy and other existing policies is described in detail in this study. In order to see the impact of dispatching rules on a particular work station, batch machine work station, which usually has highest processing time in fabrication process, is considered in this study. The entire simulation experiments are replicated in the same manner except the basis that dispatching rules are applied on batch machine work station instead of bottleneck work station. Based on the analysis of the simulation results, the important observations are as follow: It is observed from the overall inferences that the influence of dispatching rules when applied to batch processing machine (diffusion) work station was not much on individual release policies, since the performance of all three dispatching rules provides nearly same performance at higher throughput level in the proposed simulation model. However, the performances of dispatching rule: SRPT in integration with all release policies considered in this study are summarized here because it produces less mean delay at most of the throughput values. In addition, from the analysis of simulation model, the proposed release policy: LWC reduces the average delay up to 97%, 93%, 87%, 85%, 22%, 17%, 15%, 15%, 13%, 11%, 10%, 10%, 9%, 6%, 6% and 2%, and reduces the standard deviation of delay up to 96%, 97%, 92%, 93%, 21%, 5%, 10%, 2%, 16%, 7%, 14%, 4%, 20%, 10%, 10% and 11% for a given throughput level, respectively in relation to FRCP, EWIP, PWR, TOTAL_CT, EWC, DEC, Droll, CONLOAD, SA, RCONWIP, WIPLCtrl, WR, DRCP, CONWIP, CONSTWL and CONSTBWL in integration with dispatching rule: SRPT, when applied on batch processing machine work station. The improvement is statistically significant according to the two sample t-test for most of the throughput values with a 95% confidence level. It is observed from overall inferences that the performance of all the release policies, considered in this study, in integration with dispatching rule: SRPT is better with respect to both mean delay and standard deviation of delay, when the dispatching rule is applied on the bottleneck (discrete machine, lithography) work station in the proposed simulation model. The performance of most of the release policies, considered in this study, in integration with dispatching rule: LIFO is better with respect to standard deviation of delay, when the dispatching rule is applied on the batch (batch machine, diffusion) work station. These results indicate that there is an influence of dispatching rule on the performance of wafer fabrication system if applied on batch machine work station or on bottleneck work station in integration with release policies. In addition, the effects of dispatching rules are highly dependent upon both the type of release policy used and the work station on which it is applied. Overall, the performance of the proposed release policies is proven to be very effective to system variability’s in scenarios considered in the simulation model. The significant impact of the choice of release policies on wafer manufacturing system performance is justified by the simulation experiments. It can be safely concluded that the efficient closed loop release policies that utilizes system information carefully based on the global factory state data can significantly improve the performance of wafer fabrication system. This thesis provides an extensive literature review covering several aspects of wafer fabrication process. Thereafter, a three new efficient closed loop release policies are developed and their workability are conceptually demonstrated with a framework and a flow diagram. The strength and the weakness of the existing release policies are conceptually highlighted and later it is proven to be true through comprehensive simulation study. A simulation model is developed by considering all the real-life fabrication environment for evaluating the performance of release policies in integration with dispatching rules. Cause and effect analysis is explored in proposed simulation model to set the parameters value. A series of simulation experiments are also constructed to empirically justify the conceptual significance of the proposed release policies.

The inverter dead-time is integral to the safety of a voltage source inverter (VSI). Dead-time is introduced between the complementary gating signals of the top and bottom switches in each VSI leg to prevent shoot-through fault. This thesis reports and investigates dead-time induced sub-harmonic oscillations in open-loop induction motor drives of different power levels, under light-load conditions. The thesis develops mathematical models that help understand and predict the oscillatory behaviour of such motor drives due to dead-time act. Models are also developed to study the impact of under-compensation and over-compensation of dead-time act on stability. The various models are validated through extensive simulations and experimental results. The thesis also proposes and validates active damping schemes for mitigation of such sub-harmonic oscillations. The thesis reports high-amplitude sub-harmonic oscillations in the stator current, torque and speed of a 100-kW open-loop induction motor drive in the laboratory, operating under no-load. Experimental studies, carried out on 22-kW, 11-kW, 7.5-kW and 3.7-kW open-loop induction motor drives, establish the prevalence of dead-time induced sub-harmonic oscillations in open-loop motor drives of different power levels. An experimental procedure is established for systematic study of this phenomenon in industrial drives. This procedure yields the operating region, if any, where the motor drive is oscillatory. As a first step towards understanding the oscillatory behaviour of the motor drive, a mathematical model of the VSI is derived in a synchronously revolving reference frame (SRF), incorporating the of dead-time on the inverter output voltage. This leads to a modified dynamic model of the inverter-fed induction motor in the SRF, inclusive of the dead-time act. While the rotor dynamic equations are already non-linear, dead-time is found to introduce nonlinearities in the stator dynamic equations as well. The nonlinearities in the modified dynamic model make even the steady solution non-trivial. Under steady conditions, the dead-time can be modelled as the drop across an equivalent resistance (Req0) in the stator circuit. A precise method to evaluate the equivalent resistance Req0 and a simple method to arrive at the steady solution are proposed and validated. For the purpose of stability analysis, a small-signal model of the drive is then derived by linearizing the non-linear dynamic equations of the motor drive, about a steady-state operating point. The proposed small-signal model shows that dead-time contributes to different values of equivalent resistances along the q-axis and d-axis and also to equivalent cross-coupling reactance’s that appear in series with the stator windings. Stability analysis performed using the proposed model brings out the region of oscillatory behaviour (or region of small-signal instability) of the 100-kW motor drive on the voltage versus frequency (V- f) plane, considering no-load. The oscillatory region predicted by the small-signal analysis is in good agreement with simulations and practical observations for the 100-kW motor drive. The small-signal analysis is also able to predict the region of oscillatory behaviour of an 11-kW motor drive, which is con consumed by simulations and experiments. The analysis also predicts the frequencies of sub-harmonic oscillations at different operating points quite well for both the drives. Having the validity of the small-signal analysis at different power levels, this analytical procedure is used to predict the regions of oscillatory behaviour of 2-pole, 4-pole, 6-pole and 8-pole induction motors rated 55 kW and 110 kW. The impact of dead-time on inverter output voltage has been studied widely in literature. This thesis studies the influence of dead-time on the inverter input current as well. Based on this study, the dynamic model of the inverter fed induction motor is extended to include the dc-link dynamics as well. Simulation results based on this extended model tally well with the experimentally measured dc-link voltage and stator current waveforms in the 100-kW drive. Dead-time compensation may be employed to mitigate the dead-time and oscillatory behaviour of the drive. However, accurate dead-time compensation is challenging to achieve due to various factors such as delays in gate drivers, device switching characteristics, etc. Effects of under-compensation and over-compensation of dead time are investigated in this thesis. Under-compensation is shown to result in the same kind of oscillatory behaviour as observed with dead-time, but the fundamental frequency range over which such oscillations occur is reduced. On the other hand, over-compensation of dead-time effect is shown to result in a different kind of oscillatory behaviour. These two types of oscillatory behaviour due to under- and over-compensation, respectively, are distinguished and demonstrated by analyses, simulations and experiments on the 100-kW drive. To mitigate the oscillatory behaviour of the drive, an active damping scheme is proposed. This scheme emulates the effect of an external inductor in series with the stator winding. A small-signal model is proposed for an induction motor drive with the proposed active damping scheme. Simulations and experiments on the 100-kW drive demonstrate effective mitigation of light-load instability with this active damping scheme. In the above inductance emulation scheme, the emulated inductance is seen by the sub-harmonic components, fundamental component as well as low-order harmonic components of the motor current. Since the emulated inductance is also seen by the fundamental component, there is a fundamental voltage drop across the emulated inductance, leading to reduced co-operation of the induction motor. Hence, an improved active damping scheme is proposed wherein the emulated inductance is seen only by the sub-harmonic and low-order harmonic components. This is achieved through appropriate altering in the synchronously revolving domain. The proposed improved active damping scheme is shown to mitigate the sub-harmonic oscillation effectively without any reduction in flux.

The diploma thesis describes the design of a test stand for experimental determination of vibroacoustic parameters of a part of the powertrain system. Thesis contains a research part, describing the problems of the drive system, vibroacoustics, measuring devices and also the division and the description of test stands. At the same time, the reasons for choosing a closed loop test stand are explained. Thesis also includes the results of analytical calculations and numerical results of FEM methods performed using ANSYS software, as well as drawing documentation of individual parts.