As bombas de fluxo, além das aplicações clássicas em Engenharia, são instrumentos importantes em áreas como a Bioengenharia, seja para o bombeamento de sangue ou dosagem de reagentes e medicamentos, e na área de refrigeração de equipamentos eletrônicos. Muitos dos novos princípios aplicados no desenvolvimento desse tipo de bomba de fluxo baseiam-se no uso de atuadores piezelétricos. Esses atuadores apresentam certas vantagens em relação a outros tipos tradicionalmente utilizados, como maior potencial de miniaturização, menor geração de ruídos e número reduzido de partes móveis. Entre os vários tipos de bombas de fluxo piezelétricas destacam-se as baseadas nos movimentos ondulatórios e oscilatórios, como o nadar dos peixes. É bem conhecido que os peixes ao nadarem não provocam a morte de micro-organismos ao seu redor, o que torna esse princípio bem promissor para as aplicações em Biotecnologia, por exemplo. Assim, o presente trabalho de mestrado dedica-se ao estudo de novas configurações de atuadores piezelétricos bilaminares associados em paralelo e série para bombeamento de líquidos através do princípio oscilatório, a fim de se obter maiores vazões ou pressões. O escopo deste projeto abrange, computacionalmente, análises estruturais de atuadores piezelétricos bilaminares e simulações do escoamento de fluido e, experimentalmente, construções de protótipos para validação de resultados. Inicialmente é investigado o comportamento de um único atuador piezelétrico bilaminar em fluido viscoso (água), a fim de se dominar o princípio de funcionamento proposto neste trabalho. Esse estudo serviu de referência para as configurações de atuadores em série e paralelo propostas. Espera-se que a configuração dos atuadores em paralelo apresente um ganho na vazão de saída, enquanto que a configuração dos atuadores em série apresente um ganho na pressão de saída. Ao longo desta dissertação são apresentadas a metodologia empregada e as discussões dos resultados obtidos, de forma a analisar o princípio proposto e os fenômenos físicos em questão. / Flow pumps, in addition to traditional applications in Engineering, are important tools in areas such as Bioengineering, applied to blood pumping, dosage of medicine and chemical reagents, and in the field of thermal management solutions for electronic devices. Many of the new principles in flow pumps development are based on the use of piezoelectric actuators. These actuators present some advantages in relation to other applied types, for example, miniaturization potential, lower noise generation and fewer numbers of moving parts. Flow pumps based on undulatory and oscillatory movements, such as fish swimming, stand out among the various types of piezoelectric flow pumps. It is well known that fish swimming does not cause the death of microorganisms, what makes this principle applicable in Biotechnology, for example. Thus, the objective of this work is to study parallel-cascade configurations of bimorph piezoelectric actuators for liquid pumping based on the oscillatory principle, in order to obtain higher flow rates and pressure. The scope of this work includes structural and analyses of bimorph piezoelectric actuators and fluid flow simulations, and construction of prototypes for result validation. First, it is investigated the behavior of a single bimorph piezoelectric actuator oscillating in viscous fluid (water) to better understand the working principle used in this work. The study of a single piezoelectric actuator was used as a reference for the other proposed parallel-cascade configurations of actuators. It is expected that parallel actuators achieve higher flow rates, while the series actuators achieve higher pressures. The methods employed are presented and the obtained results are discussed, analyzing the principle and the related physical phenomena.

[pt] O controle de empuxo vetorial (TVC) é usado para o controle de atitude de foguetes aeroespaciais. No caso de propulsão usando combustível líquido, tradicionalmente o bocal é conectado ao corpo do foguete através de uma junta cardânica. Dois atuadores hidráulicos são colocados ao redor do bocal para controlar sua orientação. Nesta tese, o TVC é tratado como uma plataforma robótica de base fixa. Ao invés de usar servo-válvulas comerciais para controlar os atuadores, uma nova válvula de controle é proposta. Primeiro uma plataforma cardânica é considerada com transdutores de posição angular medindo o deslocamento da cruzeta da junta. Em seguida, uma nova configuração da plataforma é proposta substituindo o cardan por uma junta homocinética. Neste caso, a realimentação da posição da plataforma é feito usando um estimador de atitude em tempo real. Este estimador é um filtro complementar baseado em matrizes de orientação que coleta dados de uma central inercial (IMU). A modelagem do sistema começa com a cinemática. Na sequência, a modelagem dinâmica utiliza a formulação de Newton-Euler para obter a equação de movimento. A modelagem do sistema hidráulico é apresentada com o modelo da nova válvula de controle e do atuador. Inicialmente, um controlador puramente proporcional é proposto. Durante a validação experimental é mostrado que devido as características do sistema de atuação, mesmo este simples controlador é preciso e confiável. Em seguida é demonstrado um método para avaliar outras estratégias de controle. A comparação entre a plataforma cardânica e homocinética mostra que, nas condições analisadas, ambas têm um comportamento dinâmico similar. Nas duas configurações da plataforma o sistema se mostrou preciso e confiável. / [en] Thrust Vector Control (TVC) is used for the attitude control of spacecrafts. In the case of liquid-propellant fuel, the nozzle is traditionally connected to the rocket frame through a gimbal. Two hydraulic actuators are placed around the nozzle to control its orientation. In this Thesis, TVC is treated as a fixed base robotic platform. Instead of using commercial servo-valves to control the actuators, a novel control valve is proposed. First a gimbaled platform is considered with two angular position transducers to measure the angular displacement of the joint crosshead. Then, a homokinetic platform configuration is proposed replacing the gimbal by a constant velocity joint. In this case, the platform position feedback is done using a real-time attitude estimator. The estimator is a complementary filter based on orientation matrices that collects data from an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The modeling of the system begins with kinematics. Then, the dynamic modeling uses the Newton-Euler formulation to obtain the equation of motion. The modeling of the electro-hydraulic system is presented with the model of the novel control valve and the linear actuator. Initially, a full proportional controller is proposed. During the experimental validation it is shown that due to the characteristics of the actuation system, even this simple controller is accurate and reliable. Thereafter, method is demonstrated to evaluate novel control strategies. The comparison between the gimbaled and homokinetic platform shows that, under the analyzed conditions, they have a similar dynamic behavior. In both platform configurations the system is accurate and reliable.

Orientador: Cláudio Kitano / Resumo: A manufatura de micro e nano dispositivos vem se tornado um mercado de grande representação na indústria moderna, onde destacam-se a indústria médica, eletrônica e mecatrônica, que necessitam de dispositivos capazes de movimentar ou manipular elementos de dimensões microscópicas, tais como micro-pipetas em cirurgias, posicionamento de máscaras de chips, de amostras em microscópios de força atômica, entre outros. Neste contexto, os atuadores piezoelétricos flextensionais são dispositivos consagrados quanto ao uso na micro e nano manipulação. A solução analítica destes atuadores normalmente é muito complexa ou até mesmo impossível e, diante disso, há a necessidade de efetuar a caracterização experimental do atuador após sua confecção. A interferometria óptica é uma técnica muito precisa de medição de pequenos deslocamentos. O interferômetro volumétrico é normalmente montado sobre uma mesa óptica (breadboard) por meio de estruturas comerciais para montagem de experimentos ópticos. Diante disso, o atuador é fixado ao breadboard por estruturas como postes, deslocadores cinemáticos de translação, rotação e tilt, etc. Dessa forma, neste trabalho, levantou-se a resposta em frequência de um protótipo de atuador piezoelétrico flextensional multi atuado que foi projetado e confeccionado no Departamento de Engenharia Mecatrônica e de Sistemas Mecânicos da Escola Politécica da USP - EPUSP. Utilizou-se um interferômetro de Michelson em óptica volumétrica, e, posteriormente, um interferômet... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The manufacture of micro and nano devices has become a market of great prominence in the modern industry, where the medical, electronic and mechatronic industries stand out that need devices capable of repositioning or manipulating elements of microscopic dimensions, such as micro-pipettes in surgeries, positioning of chip masks, adjusting of samples in atomic force microscopes, among others. In this context, flextentional piezoelectric actuators are appropriated devices for use in micro and nano manipulation. The analytical solution of these actuators is usually very complex or even impossible, and there is a need to characterize the actuator after its manufacturing. Optical interferometry is a very precise technique for measuring small displacements and consequently, primissing for the caracterization of these piezoelectric atuators. The bulk interferometer is usually mounted on an optical table (breadboard) by means of commercial precision kinematic optical mounts, such as posts, tilt platformors, translations and rotation stages, and others. In this work, the frequency response of a multi-actuated flextensional piezoelectric actuator prototype, designed and manufactured at the Department of Mechatronics and Mechanical Systems of the Polytechnic School of USP - EPUSP, was investigated. Both, a Michelson interferometer and a double Michelson interferometer were applied for the simultaneousmeasurement of the displacement of the actuator in the X and Y directions. The frequen... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

This thesis presents the practical and novel work in the area of optimal placement of actuators and sensors for sound-structure interaction systems. The work has been done by the author during his PhD candidature. The research is concentrated in systems with non-ideal boundary conditions as in the case in practical engineering applications. An experimental acoustic cavity with five walls of timber and a thin aluminium sheet fixed tightly on the cavity mouth is chosen in this thesis as a good representation of general sound-structure interaction systems. The sheet is intentionally so fixed that it does not satisfy ideal boundary conditions. The existing methods for obtaining optimal sensor-actuator location using analytic models with ideal boundary conditions are of limited use for such problem with non-ideal boundary conditions. The method presented in this thesis for optimal placement of actuators and sensors is motivated by energy based approach and model uncertainty inclusion. The optimal placement of actuator and sensor for the experimental acoustic cavity is used to construct a robust feedback controller based on minimax LQG control design method. The controller is aimed to reduce acoustic potential energy in the cavity. This energy is due to the structure-borne sound inside the sound-structure interaction system. Practical aspects of the method for optimal placement of actuator and sensors are highlighted by experimental vibration and acoustic noise attenuation for arbitrary disturbance using feedback controllers with optimal placement of actuator and sensor. The disturbance is experimentally set to enter the system via a spatial location different from the controller input as would be in any practical applications of standard feedback disturbance rejections. Experimental demonstration of the novel methods presented in this thesis attenuate structural vibration up to 13 dB and acoustic noise up to 5 dB for broadband frequency range of interest. This attenuation is achieved without the explicit knowledge of the model of the disturbance.

<p>The interest for miniaturisation in chemical and biological analysis has increased in recent years. In this work, the design, fabrication and characterisation of tools for microanalysis have been studied. The focus is set on polymer microchips for applications in chemical analysis. The work consists of three parts: design and fabrication of paraffin microactuators, design and fabrication of polymer microchips as interfaces in electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and characterisation of conducting films for fused silica capillaries as interfaces in ESI-MS.</p><p>The principle of the paraffin actuators is based on the volume increase resulting from paraffin melting. Paraffin expansion is utilised to cause membrane deflection. The first plastic microactuator using paraffin as the actuator material was successfully demonstrated.</p><p>The microchips as interfaces in ESI-MS have been designed with the objective that the interface should be as much a part of the microchip as possible, and as to as large extent as possible, be fabricated in the same step as the microchannels. Sheathless electrospray from microchips was demonstrated for the first time. In addition a simplified fabrication process for ESI-MS interfaces in poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) was developed.</p><p>The degradation of conductive coatings for sheathless ESI-MS on fused silica capillaries was studied. It was shown that electrochemical experiments could successfully be used to simulate the electrospray conditions and predict the failure of different gold coatings.</p><p>It was concluded that a common issue in the fabrication of thermoplastic microchips is the crucial sealing of microchannels and cavities. From this point of view, PDMS is a more advantageous material in microfluidics.</p>

Novel event-triggered sensing and actuation strategies are presented for networked control systems with limited communication resources. Two architectures are considered: one with the controller co-located with the sensor and one with the control co-located with the actuator. A stochastic control problem with an optimal stopping rule is shown to capture two interesting instances of these architectures. The solution of the problem leads to a parametrization of the control alphabet as piecewise constant commands. The execution of the control commands is triggered by stopping rules for the sensor. In simple situations, it is possible to analytically derive the optimal controller. Examples illustrate how the new event-based control and sensing strategies outperform conventional time-triggered schemes. / <p>© 2008 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. Qc 20120220</p>

This thesis presents mathematical modeling and control techniques that can be used to predict and specify performance of biologically inspired actuation systems called cellular actuators. Cellular actuators are modular units designed to be connected in bundles in manner similar to human muscle fibers. They are characterized by inherent compliance and large numbers of on-off discrete control inputs. In this thesis, mathematical tools are developed that connect the performance to the physical manifestation of the device. A camera positioner inspired by the human eye is designed to demonstrate how these tools can be used to create an actuator with a useful force-displacement characteristic. Finally, control architectures are presented that use discrete switching inputs to produce smooth motion of these systems despite an innate tendency toward oscillation. These are demonstrated in simulation and experiment.

The interest for miniaturisation in chemical and biological analysis has increased in recent years. In this work, the design, fabrication and characterisation of tools for microanalysis have been studied. The focus is set on polymer microchips for applications in chemical analysis. The work consists of three parts: design and fabrication of paraffin microactuators, design and fabrication of polymer microchips as interfaces in electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and characterisation of conducting films for fused silica capillaries as interfaces in ESI-MS. The principle of the paraffin actuators is based on the volume increase resulting from paraffin melting. Paraffin expansion is utilised to cause membrane deflection. The first plastic microactuator using paraffin as the actuator material was successfully demonstrated. The microchips as interfaces in ESI-MS have been designed with the objective that the interface should be as much a part of the microchip as possible, and as to as large extent as possible, be fabricated in the same step as the microchannels. Sheathless electrospray from microchips was demonstrated for the first time. In addition a simplified fabrication process for ESI-MS interfaces in poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) was developed. The degradation of conductive coatings for sheathless ESI-MS on fused silica capillaries was studied. It was shown that electrochemical experiments could successfully be used to simulate the electrospray conditions and predict the failure of different gold coatings. It was concluded that a common issue in the fabrication of thermoplastic microchips is the crucial sealing of microchannels and cavities. From this point of view, PDMS is a more advantageous material in microfluidics.

At a platform singularity, a parallel manipulator loses constraint. Adding redundant actuation in an existing leg or new leg can eliminate these types of singularities. However, redundant manipulators have been designed with little attention to frame invariant techniques. In this dissertation, physically meaningful measures for closeness to singularities in non-redundant manipulators are developed. Two such frameworks are constructed. The first framework is a constrained optimization problem that unifies seemingly unrelated existing measures and facilitates development of new measures. The second is a clearance propagation technique based on workspace generation. These closeness measures are expanded to include redundancy and thus can be used as objective functions for designing redundant actuation. The constrained optimization framework is applied to a planar three degree of freedom redundant parallel manipulator to show feasibility of the technique.

High performance twin-tail aircraft, like the F-15 and F/A-18, encounter a condition known as tail buffet. At high angles of attack, vortices are generated at the wing fuselage interface (shoulder) or other leading edge extensions. These vortices are directed toward the twin vertical tails. When the flow interacts with the vertical tail it creates pressure variations that can oscillate the vertical tail assembly. This results in fatigue cracks in the vertical tail assembly that can decrease the fatigue life and increase maintenance costs. For many years, research has been conducted to understand this phenomenon of buffet and to reduce its adverse effects on the fatigue life of aerospace structures. Many proposed solutions to this tail buffet problem have had limited success. These include strengthening the tail, modifying the vortex flow, using an active rudder control, and leading edge extensions. Some of the proposed active controls include piezoelectric actuators. Recently, an offset piezoceramic stack actuator was used on an F-15 wind tunnel model to control buffet induced vibrations at high angles of attack. The controller was based on acceleration feedback control methods. In this thesis a procedure for designing the offset piezoceramic stack actuators is developed. This design procedure includes determining the quantity and type of piezoceramic stacks used in these actuators. The changes of stresses, in the vertical tail caused by these actuators during an active control, are investigated. In many cases, linear controllers are very effective in reducing vibrations. However, during flight, the natural frequencies of the vertical tail structural system changes as the airspeed increases. This in turn, reduces the effectiveness of a linear controller. Other causes such as the unmodeled dynamics and nonlinear effects due to debonds also reduce the effectiveness of linear controllers. In this thesis, an adaptive neural network is used to augment the linear controller to correct these effects.