The overall aim of this research project was to explore and describe the significance of assistive devices in daily life. The project involves two qualitative and two quantitative studies. Three of these studies were from the perspective of persons with stroke and one from the perspective of spouses of persons with stroke. A hermeneutic phenomenological lifeworld approach was used in the qualitative studies and data was obtained through conversational interviews with the two study groups, 22 persons with stroke and 12 spouses of persons with stroke, after the devices had been used for about a year. The results indicated that the lived experiences of assistive devices in respect of the different lifeworld existentials (lived body, lived space, lived time, lived human relation) are closely interconnected in both study groups. The lived body existential included aspects of habits, feelings and the incorporation, figuratively speaking, of the devices into their own bodies. Lived space concerned the gradual development of a new view of the environment and the devices’ role as a prerequisite for being able to live at home. The devices brought about a changed relation to lived time with respect to the temporal perspectives of past, present and future. To be able to take control of one’s own time was an important experience that the devices facilitated. Assistive devices were an integral part of the lived human relation between the couples in the study groups, as well as between the disabled persons/spouses and other people, including the health-care professionals. The devices contributed either to the maintenance or the change of social roles, but they sometimes also gave rise to the experience of being stigmatised. The results in the case of both study groups showed that the use of different devices is complex and often contradictory, especially when it comes to persons with stroke. Overall the persons’ experiences of the advantages of the devices overshadowed their experiences of the disadvantages. The quantitative studies included a pre- and post-assessment design. Thirty-two persons with disabilities after stroke were included. The impact of an outdoor powered wheelchair on activity and participation (IPPA, WHODAS II) and quality of life (PIADS, EQ-5D) was measured. Statistical analysis with mainly non-parametric tests was used to determine significant within-group and between-group changes after intervention. The conceptual framework ICF was used in one of the quantitative studies when classifying the participants’ stated problems. The results showed that the outdoor powered wheelchair is an essential device for persons with disabilities after stroke with regard to overcoming activity limitation and participation restrictions in everyday life. Furthermore it mostly has a positive impact on such users’ quality of life. However, it is also important to highlight the negative experiences of a few with regard to the use of powered wheelchairs. In sum, these results will enable prescribers to better understand the individual experiences of using assistive devices and the individuals’ and the families’ need for support in connection with the prescription of assistive devices, the particular example being powered wheelchairs.

One of the most devastating effects of tetraplegia is the inability to grasp and manipulate everyday objects necessary to living an independent life. Currently surgery is widely accepted as the solution to improve hand functionality. However, surgery becomes difficult when the user has paralysed wrists as is the case with C5 tetraplegia. The aim of this research was to develop a solution which provided controlled wrist flexion and extension which, when combined with surgery, achieves a 'key pinch' grip. This particular grip is critically important for people with C5 tetraplegia as it is used for countless grasping activities, necessary on a day-to-day basis. A systematic design process was used to evolve the solution to provide controlled wrist flexion and extension. Concept brainstorming identified four alternative solutions which were evaluated to find the preferred concept. The chosen solution was called the Self Powered Wrist Extension Orthosis, more commonly referred to as the 'orthosis'. This concept contained a shoulder harness which provided both energy and control to the wrist harness, which in turn changed the wrist position. The orthosis was developed with the use of a mathematical model which theoretically predicted the functional performance by comparing the required force needed to move the wrist harness to the achievable force supplied by the user's shoulders. Using these parameters, the orthosis was optimized using the matlab Nelder-Mead algorithm which adjusted the wrist harness geometries to maximize the functional performance. A prototype was constructed and tested with the help of two participants who when combined, achieved an average of 18.5° of wrist rotation. The theoretical model however predicted an average range of motion of 28.4°. The discrepancy found between the theoretical and experimental result can be contributed to incorrect assumptions in the theoretical model. This included unaccounted friction and inaccurate modeling of the orthosis dynamics. The feedback from potential users of the orthosis was enthusiastic and encouraging especially towards the simplicity, usability and practicality of the design.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / With improvements in actuation technology and sensory systems, it is becoming increasingly feasible to create powered exoskeletal garments that can assist with the movement of human limbs. This class of robotics referred to as human-machine interfaces will one day be used for the rehabilitation of paralysed, damaged or weak upper and lower extremities. The focus of this project was the development of an exoskeletal interface for the rehabilitation of the hands. A novel sensor was designed for use in such a device. The sensor uses simple optical mechanisms centred on a spring to measure force and position simultaneously. In addition, the sensor introduces an elastic element between the actuator and its corresponding hand joint. This will allow series elastic actuation (SEA) to improve control and safely of the system. The Hand Rehabilitation Device requires multiple actuators. To stay within volume and weight constraints, it is therefore imperative to reduce the size, mass and efficiency of each actuator without losing power. A method was devised that allows small efficient actuating subunits to work together and produce a combined collective output. This work summation method was successfully implemented with Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) based actuators. The actuation, sensory, control system and human-machine interface concepts proposed were evaluated together using a single-joint electromechanical harness. This experimental setup was used with volunteer subjects to assess the potentials of a full-hand device to be used for therapy, assessment and function of the hand. The Rehabilitation Glove aims to bring significant new benefits for improving hand function, an important aspect of human independence. Furthermore, the developments in this project may one day be used for other parts of the body helping bring human-machine interface technology into the fields of rehabilitation and therapy.

Récepteurs récupérateurs d’énergie sans fil (WPR) détiennent un avenir prometteur pour la génération d'énergie électrique continue afin d’alimenter complètement ou partiellement les circuits compris dans les systèmes de communication sans fil. Applications importantes telles que l'identification par radiofréquence (RFID) et les réseaux de capteurs sans fils (WSN) fonctionnant aux bandes de fréquences UHF et SHF sont apparues, nécessitant un important effort sur la conception de WPRs d’haute efficacité pour étendre la distance de fonctionnement ou de la durée de vie de ces applications portables. Dans ce contexte, les redresseurs intégrés et les antennes sont d'un intérêt particulier, car ils sont responsables pour la tâche de conversion d'énergie. Ce travail de thèse vise à faire progresser l'étatde l'art à travers de la conception et réalisation de WPRs d’haute efficacité, dès l'antenne jusqu’au stockage de la puissance DC convertie, en explorant les défis d’interconnexion avec leur pleine intégration sur PCBs. / Wireless Powered Receivers (WPR) hold a promising future for generating a small amount ofelectrical DC energy to drive full or partial circuits in wirelessly communicating electronic devices.Important applications such as RFIDs and WSNs operating at UHF and SHF bands have emerged,requiring a significant effort on the design of high efficient WPRs to extend the operating range or thelifetime of these portable applications. In this context, integrated rectifiers and antennas are of aparticular interest, since they are responsible for the energy conversion task. This thesis work aims tofurther the state-of-the-art throughout the design and realization of high efficient WPRs from the antennaup to the storage of the converted DC power, exploring the interfacing challenges with their fullyintegration into PCBs.

In the last few decades India has advanced socioeconomically due to the rapid growth of industries and automobile sector. This in turn increases the use of fossil fuel and diesel. The atmosphere gets polluted due to the harmful substances, which comes from the burning of fuel. These pollutants can be in the form of gaseous, liquid or solid particulate. Diesel engines, the major source of power in industries and automobiles, play a significant part in causing air pollution. The major pollutants in diesel exhaust are oxides of nitrogen (NOX), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOC), aldehydes and alcohols. Due to the heavy consumption of diesel as a fuel there is an urgent need to control diesel exhaust. Diesel exhaust is a complex mixture of several gases and fine particles (commonly known as soot) that contains more than 40 toxic air contaminants. Amongst the gaseous pollutants in diesel exhaust, the major concern and a challenging task is to control oxides of nitrogen, commonly referred to as NOX as it is the major contributor for acid rain, photochemical smog etc. Successful control of emissions from diesel engines is yet to be achieved. The conventional techniques which are available to control emission now are either difficult to operate or does not satisfy the stringent emission standards. This has made the researchers throughout the world to find an alternative and effective non-conventional after treatment technique to reduce diesel engine emission. The failure of conventional techniques lead to the development of non-conventional techniques such as high voltage electric discharge based plasma which has already been proved to be economical and highly efficient in industrial electrostatic precipitators. Electric discharge plasma or non-thermal plasma produce energetic electrons which react with background molecules in flue gas leading to active species such as radicals. These radicals being chemically active selectively react with the harmful pollutants facilitating their removal/reduction. The present thesis work is an attempt to provide a technical solution to achieve higher removal efficiencies of oxides of nitrogen in the backdrop of shortcomings that exist in conventional technologies to do so. The current thesis describes the research in four stages: (i) studies on NOX removal from diesel exhaust by cross-flow DBD reactor, where design and fabrication of cross-flow DBD reactor, exhaust treatment using cross-flow DBD reactor and exhaust treatment with cascaded plasma-adsorbent technique is described (ii) studies on NOX removal from diesel exhaust by compact discharge plasma sources, where design and fabrication of high frequency high voltage AC (HVAC) using old television flyback transformer, Design and fabrication of high voltage pulse (HVPulse) using automobile ignition coil, exhaust treatment with both HVPulse and HVAC and exhaust treatment with cascaded plasma-adsorbent technique is described (iii) studies on NOX removal from diesel exhaust using solar powered discharge plasma source is described (iv) studies on the NOX removal from diesel exhaust using red mud, where exhaust treatment with red mud and Exhaust treatment cascaded plasma-red mud is covered. The results have been discussed in light of enhancing the NOX removal efficiency for stationary and automobile engine exhausts.

The thesis deals with the design and creation of a weather station suitable for gardeners. The created device is able to measure temperature, pressure, humidity, amount of precipitation, wind speed and direction, UV index and also temperature and soil moisture at several depths. The weather station is powered by a battery with auxiliary charging from a photovoltaic panel. The thesis is divided into several parts. The theoretical part describes the individual physical principles of measurement of the considered physical quantities. Subsequently, a comparison of available sensors is made and then a final selection is made. The third part deals with the design and implementation of the hardware circuitry including the creation of the PCB. In this section, the holders of each sensor are also designed for printing on a 3D printer, which are then printed. The fourth section deals with software design issues, which is described in more detail. Finally, the whole weather station is assembled, wired and the functionality of all components is verified by sending the measured data to Thingspeak.

The thesis deals with a concept of turning a conventional petrol powered lawn mower to a battery powered solution which is powered by lithium cells. A division to three chapters, comparison, mechanical and electrical, provides fluency of the whole design and further realization. The arrangement of chapters is performed so that the continuity of the thesis is maintained. Calculations of parameters of every motor and transmission with choosing particular devices are just a part of much interesting information which can be found in this thesis. All new components have full documentation except those which were changed during manufacturing. The electrical part explains every part of the schematics in detail. The realization contains difference between preliminary design and further production, manufacturing of the PCB and powering up the motor drives. The last part of the thesis contains temperature measurements of the device at no load.

The thesis deals with power harvesting sensors as a source of energy. As the power requirements for microelectronics decreases the environmental energy sources become more perspective. In a few last years batteries reach a higher capacity but there is still problem with their replacement. Power harvesting sensors appears as a good solution for powering microelectronics.

This work describes the design, construction a performance of such a complete wireless pager suitable for health care centers, rest homes, home application, for example for calling an attendant. This appliance is designed to be easy to attendance. A wireless transceiver is simplified and is attended only by one button. A wireless receiver also doesn't require a complicated manipulation. The aim is to create pager, which will be an useful assistant thanks to its price and simple construction.

The Thesis solves design of light unmanned reconnaissance aircraft carrying 3 kg payload. Based on statistical research chooses the field of long endurance flights, trying to manage problem via solar powered batteries. Difficulities and advantages of this issue are researched and optimal aircraft setup is discussed.