The work deals with the technology of electrical discharge machining using a wire electrode. Described are machines, tools, wire electrode cutting parameters and advantages of this technology. The aim of the work is to quantify the cutting area with respect to dimensional accuracy, make an analysis of surface layer state and quality after wire cutting, and describe factors affecting this layer. In particular, emphasis is put on tool steel cutting.

Over the past two decades, Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) based accelerometers, benefiting from relatively simple structure, low-power consumption, high sensitivity, and easy integration, have been widely used in many industrial and consumer electronics applications. For the high precision accelerometers, a significant technical challenge is to design a low-noise readout circuit to guarantee the required high resolution of the entire integrated system. There are three main approaches for improvement of the noise and offset of the readout circuit, namely auto-zero (AZ) and correlated double sampling (CDS) for the switched- capacitor (SC) circuit and chopper stabilization (CHS) for the continuous-time circuit. This thesis investigates the merits and drawbacks of all three techniques for reading the capacitance of a low noise MEMS accelerometer developed in our group. After that, we compare the different effects of the three technologies on noise, offset, output range, linearity, dynamic range, and gain. Next, we present the design of the most suitable structure for our sensor to achieve low noise, low offset, and high precision within the working frequency. In this thesis, the design and post-layout simulation of the circuit is proposed, and the fabrication is currently in progress. The readout circuit has reached the noise floor of the sub-μg, which meets the strict requirements of low noise MEMS capacitance-to-voltage converter. A high-performance accelerometer system is regarded as the core of a low-noise, high-resolution geophone. We show that together with the MEMS accelerometer sensor, the readout circuit provides competitive overall system noise and guarantees the required resolution.

Electromagnetic transient and dynamic modeling and simulation studies are presented for a StatCom-SMES compensator in power systems. The transient study aims to better understand the transient process and interaction between a high power/high voltage SMES coil and its power electronics interface, dc-dc chopper. The chopper is used to attach the SMES coil to a StatCom. Following the transient study, the integration of a StatCom with SMES was explored to demonstrate the effectiveness of the combined compensator in damping power oscillations. The transient simulation package PSCAD/EMTDC has been used to perform the integrated modeling and simulation studies. A state of the art review of SMES technology was conducted. Its applications in power systems were discussed chronologically. The cost effective and feasible applications of this technology were identified. Incorporation of a SMES coil into an existing StatCom controller is one of the feasible applications, which can provide improved StatCom operation, and therefore much more flexible and controllable power system operation. The SMES coil with the following unique design characteristics of 50MW (96 MW peak), 100 MJ, 24 kV interface has been used in this study. As a consequence of the high power/ high voltage interface, special care needs to be taken with overvoltages that can stress the insulation of the coil. This requires an investigation of transient overvoltages through a detailed modeling of SMES and its power electronics interface. The electrical model for the SMES coil was developed based on geometrical dimensions of the coil. The interaction between the SMES coil and its power electronics interface (dc-dc chopper for the integration to StatCom) was modeled and simulated to identify transient overvoltages. Transient suppression schemes were developed to reduce these overvoltages. Among these are MOV implementation, surge capacitors, different configurations of the dc-dc chopper. The integration of the SMES coil to a StatCom controller was developed, and its dynamic behavior in damping oscillations following a three-phase fault was investigated through a number of simulation case studies. The results showed that the addition of energy storage to a StatCom controller can improve the StatCom-alone operation and can possibly reduce the MVA rating requirement for the StatCom operating alone. The effective location selection of a StatCom-SMES controller in a generic power system is also discussed. / Ph. D.

Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) has branched out from its application origins of load leveling, in the early 1970s, to include power quality for utility, industrial, commercial and military applications. It has also shown promise as a power supply for pulsed loads such as electric guns and electromagnetic aircraft launchers (EMAL) as well as for vital loads when power distribution systems are temporarily down. These new applications demand more efficient and compact high performance power electronics. A 250 kW Power Conditioning System (PCS), consisting of a voltage source converter (VSC) and bi-directional two-quadrant DC/DC converter (chopper), was developed at the Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) under an ONR funded program. The project was to develop advanced power electronic techniques for SMES Naval applications. This thesis focuses on system analysis and development of a demonstration test plan to illustrate the SMES systems' ability to be multitasked for implementation on naval ships. The demonstration focuses on three applications; power quality, pulsed power and vital loads. An integrated system controller, based on an Altera programmable logic device, was developed to coordinate charge/discharge transitions. The system controller integrated the chopper and VSC controller, configured applicable loads, and dictated sequencing of events during mode transitions. Initial tests with a SMES coil resulted in problems during mode transitions. These problems caused uncontrollable transients and caused protection to trigger and processors to shut down. Accurate models of both the Chopper and VSC were developed and an analysis of these mode transition transients was conducted. Solutions were proposed, simulated and implemented in hardware. Successful operation of the system was achieved and verified with both a low temperature superconductor here at CPES and a high temperature superconductor at The Naval Research Lab. / Master of Science

An accurate, high-speed, fully differential difference amplifier for current sensing utilizing the chopper approach was implemented in a 0.18 μm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Unlike state-of-the-art solutions, we use a higher chopping frequency in the MHz range due to the bandwidth requirements of the introduced circuits for the latter application, namely, low-side phase-current measurement in motor control circuits. Except the low-pass filter (LPF) effect of the output stage, no additional LPF was integrated in hardware at the output of the circuits. We show that on the other hand a digital LPF, which can be integrated in the field-programmable gate-array (FPGA) logic or microcontroller used for the motor control, offers a higher flexibility in terms of filter design. Weak input signals of only few mV can be reconstructed with a high accuracy. This is demonstrated for a 500 kHz rectangular signal and a chopping frequency of 20 MHz. Note that an input-signal frequency of several hundreds of kHz with harmonics in the MHz region is very challenging for chopper amplifiers. Still, a significant decrease of the input-referred noise is demonstrated, especially cancelling out the 1/f-noise achieving a remaining noise floor of approximately 8.5 nV/√Hz. Overall, the input-referred noise level can be pushed far below 50 μV (root mean square). Moreover, using a quite relaxed second-order Butterworth filter with a 3 dB corner frequency of 1 MHz, input-referred noise levels of 10 μV (root mean square) can be easily achieved at the costs of reduced bandwidth. The lowest achieved input offset is 50 μV. The gain is adjusted by resistive feedback and is approximately 40 dB. Hence, the amplifier is suitable for current sensing in motor control circuits, and a significant reduction of the shunt resistance typically used for this purpose will be possible.

Le travail présenté dans ce mémoire s’est déroulé dans le cadre d’une collaboration entre le groupe Convertisseur Statique du laboratoire LAPLACE et le département " Installations Fixes de Traction Electrique " de la Direction de l’Ingénierie de la SNCF. Aujourd'hui, la majorité du trafic sur le réseau ferré monophasé 25 kV / 50 Hz est assurée par des locomotives équipées de redresseurs contrôlés à thyristors. Du fait de l'augmentation du trafic, l'utilisation de ces locomotives nécessite la mise en place de moyen de compensation de puissance réactive afin de maintenir la tension caténaire à un niveau acceptable et de réduire la facture en énergie réactive. La correction du facteur de déplacement est réalisée en partie par des batteries de compensation fixes dont lapuissance est limitée par la tension maximale admissible à vide sur la caténaire. Afin d’adapter le niveau de compensation à la consommation, la partie fixe est complétée par un dispositif réglable basé sur une réactance contrôlée par des thyristors. Bien qu’il soit simple dans son principe, ce dispositif nécessite un filtrage des harmoniques en basse fréquence avec des circuits LC volumineux. L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une nouvelle topologie de compensateur de puissance réactive à haut rendement et utilisant un contrôle à modulation de largeur d’impulsion dans le but de minimiser le volume des éléments de filtrage. La première partie de ce mémoire est consacrée à une étude comparative de différentes topologies du point de vue des pertes dans les semi-conducteurs et du dimensionnement des éléments de filtrage associés. Les résultats de cette étude montrent que les topologies à base de gradateurs MLI, constituent les solutions les plus intéressantes pour réaliser le compensateur. La deuxième partie du travail concerne l’étude de l’insertion d’un compensateur à base de gradateurs MLI sur le réseau ferré avec la prise en compte des interactions harmoniques. Le cas d’étude concerne une sous-station où doit être implantée une compensation variable de 3 MVAR. Un relevé des courants délivrés par la sous-station a été effectué dans le but d’analyser leur contenu harmonique. Une modélisation de la sous-station et du compensateur est ensuite proposée et des simulations temporelles de l’ensemble sont réalisées en prenant en compte les formes d’ondes réelles des courants absorbés par les trains. Finalement, cette étude par simulation permet d’affiner le dimensionnement du compensateur à gradateurs MLI et des éléments de filtrage associés. Elle met en évidence l’avantage d’une solution, avec des gradateurs MLI en montage élévateur de tension, qui fonctionne sans transformateur et réutilise les batteries de compensation fixes déjà installées en sous-station à la fois comme diviseur de tension et éléments de filtrage. Afin de valider le principe de cette nouvelle topologie de compensateur statique de puissance réactive, un démonstrateur de 1,2 MVAR est mis en oeuvre et testé sur une plateforme d'essai de la SNCF. / The work presented in this thesis is the result of collaboration between the Static Converters research group of LAPLACE Laboratory and the department "Installations Fixes de Traction Electrique" of the Engineering Division of the French Railways company, SNCF. Nowadays, most of the traffic in 25 kV – 50 Hz lines is achieved by old locomotives equipped with thyristor rectifiers. As traffic and load increase, reactive power compensation devices are required to keep the overhead line voltage at acceptable level and to reduce the spending for reactive power. The basic power factor correction is completed by fixed compensation banks. But the difficulty of such configuration is the no-load operation of overhead lines. The voltage can increase out of the 29 kV standard limit and to avoid this problem, variable reactive power compensator is often added to the fixed compensation banks. Nowadays, SNCF is equipped with thyristor based static VAR compensators (SVC). The main drawback of this topology is the requirement of a large LC shunt filter tuned for the third harmonic. The goal of this thesis is to find a new high-efficiency topology of STATic COMpensator (STATCOM) using PWM control to minimize the filtering components. The first part of this thesis focuses on a comparative study of different topologies in terms of semiconductor losses and filter elements size. The results of this study show that the topologies based on PWM AC Chopper are the most interesting solutions to achieve the compensator. The second part of the work concerns the influence of the connection of a STATCOM to a substation and focuses on the harmonic interactions with locomotives. The study case concerns a high traffic substation where a 3 MVAR STATCOM should be installed. Substation output current measurement was carried out in order to analyze its harmonic content. Models of the substation and the STATCOM are then proposed and simulations using real current waveforms are performed. Finally, this simulation study helps to refine the features of the AC Chopper topology and its filter elements. It highlights the advantage of a solution, with boost AC Choppers which operate without transformer and reuse the fixed compensation banks already installed in the substation as voltage divider and filter. To validate the principle of this new topology of STATCOM, a 1.2 MVAR prototype is built in LAPLACE laboratory and tested on a SNCF test platform.

The key requirements of a reliable neural signal recording system include low power to support long-term monitoring, low noise, minimum tissue damage, and wireless transmission. The neural spikes are also detected and sorted on-chip/off-chip to implement closed-loop neuromodulation in a high channel count setup. All these features together constitute an empirical neural recording system for neuroscience research. In this prospectus, we propose to develop a neural signal acquisition system with wireless transmission and feature extraction. We start by designing a prototype entirely built with commercial-off-the-shelf components, which includes recording and wireless transmission of synthetic neural data and feature extraction. We then conduct the CMOS implementation of the low-power multi-channel neural signal recording read-out circuit, which enables the in-vivo recording with a small form factor. Another direction of this thesis is to design a self-powered motion tracking read-out circuit for wearable sensors. As the wearable industry continues to advance, the need for self-powered medical devices is growing significantly. In this line of research, we propose a self-powered motion sensor based on reverse electrowetting-on-dielectric (REWOD) with low-power integrated electronics for remotely monitoring health conditions. We design the low-power read-out circuit for a wide range of input charges, which is generated from the REWOD sensor.

The grid code, FIKS, from the Norwegian transmission system operator (TSO), Statnett, states that synchronous generators > 25MVA, must have a static excitation system. However, an improved brushless excitation system is in operation on some commercial power plants (36MVA, 93.75rpm & 52MVA, 166.67rpm) with grid-assisting performance beyond the conventional static system. The convenional diode bridge is replaced with a remote-controlled thyristor bridge on the shaft. If wireless communication is not allowed, a control signal through brushes should be employed instead. The thesis explores the expected new era for large brushless hydrogenerators. The proposed brushless system have benefits of reduced regular maintenance due to elimination of brushes and reduced unscheduled maintenance due to redundancy; causing a redused cost-of-energy. A six-phase exciter design with a hybrid-mode thyristor bridge interface leads to improved fault-tolerance, better controllability, minimized torque pulsations and reduced armature currents of the exciter. Excitation boosting (EB) capability is included in the brushless system without additional components or circuitry, contrary to the static excitation system. The brushless excitation system is made insensitive to voltage dips in the interconnected grid, causing improved fault ride-through (FRT) capability and power system stabilizer (PSS) actions.

The curiosity of researchers to find novel characteristics and properties of matter constantly pushes for the development of instrumentation based on X-radiation. I present in this thesis techniques for electron spectroscopy based on developments of X-ray sources both in time structure and energy. One part describes a laser driven High-Harmonic Generation source and the application of an off-plane grating monochromator with additional beamlines and spectrometers. In initial experiments, the source is capable of producing harmonics between the 13th and 23rd of the fundamental laser 800 nm wavelength. The intensity in the 19th harmonic, after monochromatization, was measured to be above 1.2·1010 photons/second with a repetition rate of 5 kHz.  The development of a chopper system synchronized to the bunch clock of an electron storage ring is also presented. The system can be used to adjust the repetition rate of a synchrotron radiation beam to values between 10 and 120 kHz, or for the modulation of continuous sources. The application of the system to both time of flight spectroscopy and laser pump X-ray probe spectroscopy is shown. It was possible to measure triple ionization of Kr and in applied studies the valence band of a laser excited dye-sensitized solar cell interface. The combination of the latter technique with transient absorption measurements is proposed. The organic molecule maleic anhydride (MA) and its binding configuration to the three anatase TiO2 crystals (101), (100), (001) has been investigated by means of Xray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine structure Spectroscopy (NEXAFS). The results provide information on the binding configuration to the 101 crystal. High Kinetic Energy Photoelectron Spectroscopy was used to investigate multilayers of complexes of iron, ruthenium and osmium. The benefit of hard X-rays for ex-situ prepared samples is demonstrated together with the application of resonant valence band measurements to these molecules.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T14:53:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Evandro de Carvalho Gomes.pdf: 6042842 bytes, checksum: 26caa437e6eddbd118b3278d1421a757 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-09-11 / In this work, we propose to analyze the controller design of a classical dc-dc converter in a different manner. Instead of the traditional mathematics transfer function analysis, we will describe the block diagram of the plant to be controlled using Space-State Averaging, decoupling the states effects one acts each other and designing the controllers individually. With this technique, we can obtain first order transfer function allowing easier synthesis and design of the involved controllers. Outcomes are compared to controllers based on K-factor approach which are entirely applicable in academy and industry environment. / Neste trabalho propomos analisar o projeto de controladores para conversores cc-cc clássicos de uma forma diferente da tradicional análise matemática da função de transferência, descrevendo o diagrama de blocos da planta a ser controlada, desacoplando os efeitos que um estado exerce sobre o outro e projetando os controladores individualmente. Com essa técnica, obtêm-se funções de transferências de primeira ordem o que permite um projeto e síntese mais fácil dos controladores envolvidos. Os resultados são comparados com os controladores baseados na abordagem do fator K, por se tratar de uma abordagem amplamente aplicada no meio acadêmico e industrial.