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High voltage (EHV and UHV) transmission facilitates transfer of large amount of power over long distances. However, due to the inherent geometry, the line and substation hardware of EHV and UHV class generate high electric fields, which results in local ionisation of air called corona discharges. Apart from producing audible noise in the form of frying or hissing sound, corona produces significant electromagnetic interferences in the radio range. The limit for this corona generated Radio Interference (RI) has been stipulated by international standards, which are strictly to be followed. In line and substation hardware, corona control rings are generally employed to limit or avoid corona. Standard dimensions of corona rings are not available for EHV and UHV class. In most of the cases, their design is based on either a trial and error method or based on empirical extrapolation. Only in certain specific cases, the dimensioning of the rings is carried out using electric field calculations. In any of these approaches, the unavoidable surface abrasions, which can lead to corona, are not considered. There are also efforts to account for nominal surface irregularity by using a surface roughness factor, which is highly heuristic. In order to address this practically relevant problem, the present work was taken up. The intended exercise requires accurate field computation and a suitable criterion for checking corona onset. For the first part, the Surface Charge Simulation Method is adopted with newly proposed sub-modelling technique. The surface of the toroid is discretised into curvilinear patches with linear approximation for the surface charge density. Owing to its high accuracy, Galerkin’s method of moments formulation is employed. The problem of singularity encountered in the numerical approach is handled using a method based on Duffy’s transformation. The developed codes have also been validated with standard geometries. After a survey of relevant literature the ‘Critical Avalanche Criteria’ is chosen for its simplicity and applicability to the problem. Through a detailed simulation, the effect of avalanche space charge in reducing the corona onset voltage is found to be around 1.5% and hence it is not considered further. For utilities not interested in a detailed calculation procedure for dimensioning of corona rings, design curves are developed for circular corona rings of both 400 kV and 765 kV class with surface roughness factor in the range 0.8 – 1. In the second part of the work, a methodology for dimensioning is developed wherein the inevitable surface abrasion in the form of minute protrusions can be accounted. It is first shown that even though considerable field intensification occurs at the protrusions, such localised modification need not lead to corona. It is shown that by varying the minor radius of the corona ring, it is possible to get a design where the prescribed surface abrasion does not lead to corona onset. In summary, the present work has successfully developed a reliable methodology for the design of corona rings with prescribed surface abrasions. It involved development of an efficient field computation technique for handling minute surface protrusions and use of appropriate criteria for assessing corona inception. It has also provided design curves for EHV and UHV class corona rings with surface roughness factor specified in the range 0.8 – 1.0.

This thesis discusses spin-transfer torques in MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions. The voltage-field switching phase diagrams have been experimentally determined for in-plane CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junctions. In order to limit the effect of thermal activation, experiments have been carried out using nanosecond voltage pulses, as well as at low-temperature (4.2 K). The bias-dependence of the two spin-torque terms (Slonczewski-like and field-like) has been determined from thermally-excited ferromagnetic resonance measurements, yielding values which are in good agreement with previous reports. Additionally, material parameters such as the effective magnetisation and the damping factor have also been extracted. Using these values as input, the switching voltages as function of the applied magnetic field have been calculated numerically and analytically by solving the modified Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. Unlike previous studies, the field-like spin-torque has also been included. Moreover, different configurations have been considered for the magnetic anisotropy directions of the reference and free layer, respectively.:1 Introduction 2 Fundamentals 2.1 Magnetoresistance 2.1.1 Giant magnetoresistance 2.1.2 Tunnel magnetoresistance 2.2 Spin-transfer torque effect 2.2.1 Physical picture of the STT 2.2.2 In-plane and perpendicular STT 2.3 Equation of motion for the magnetisation 2.3.1 The Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation 2.3.2 Extension including spin-transfer-torque (LLGS) 2.4 Applications of MR and spin-transfer torque 2.4.1 Read heads in hard disk drives 2.4.2 Spin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory 2.5 STT effects in magnetic tunnel junctions 2.5.1 Current-induced switching 2.5.2 Magnetisation precession 2.5.3 Bias-dependence of STT 2.5.4 Back-hopping 3 Experimental 3.1 Samples 3.1.1 Stack composition 3.1.2 Properties of samples used in this work 3.2 Experimental setup 3.2.1 Overview of equipment for the different measurement techniques 3.2.2 Electromagnet and Kepco power supply 3.2.3 Contacting of the sample 3.2.4 Principle specifications of equipment 3.3 Experimental techniques 3.3.1 Measurement of DC R-H and R-I loops 3.3.2 Measurement of phase diagrams: off and on-pulse 3.3.3 Thermally-excited ferromagnetic resonance 4 Results and discussion 4.1 Switching phase diagrams of MTJs 4.1.1 Theory: Calculating the phase diagram 4.1.2 Experimental phase diagrams 4.2 Thermally excited ferromagnetic resonance 4.2.1 Smoothing and fitting of raw data 4.2.2 Determination of Ms 4.2.3 Signal evolution with bias voltage 4.2.4 Analysis of peak position: perpendicular STT 4.2.5 Analysis of peak linewidth 5 Summary and outlook A Appendix List of figures List of tables Bibliography / Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit Spin-Transfer-Torque-Effekten in MgO-basierten magnetischen Tunnelstrukturen. Die Phasendiagramme als Funktion von Spannung und Magnetfeld von CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB-Tunnelstrukturen mit Magnetisierung in der Ebene wurden experimentell bestimmt. Um thermische Anregungseffekte zu limitieren, wurden die Experimente einerseits mit nanosekundenlangen Spannungspulsen und andererseits bei niedrigen Temperaturen (4.2 K) durchgeführt. Die Spannungsabhängigkeit der beiden Spin-Torque-Parameter (in-plane und senkrechter Spin-Transfer-Torque) wurde aus Messungen der thermisch angeregten ferromagnetischen Resonanz bestimmt, wobei sich Werte ergaben, die gut mit vorangegangenen Untersuchungen übereinstimmen. Zusätzlich wurden Werte für Materialparameter wie die effektive Magnetisierung und den Dämpfungsparameter gewonnen. Unter Verwendung der erhaltenen Werte wurden die Schaltspannungen als Funktion des angelegten Magnetfeldes analytisch und numerisch berechnet, indem die erweiterte Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert-Gleichung gelöst wurde. Im Gegensatz zu vorangegangenen Untersuchungen wurde der senkrechte Spin-Transfer-Torque dabei mit einbezogen. Darüber hinaus wurden verschiedene Konfigurationen für die Richtung der magnetischen Anisotropie der freien und fixierten Schicht berücksichtigt.:1 Introduction 2 Fundamentals 2.1 Magnetoresistance 2.1.1 Giant magnetoresistance 2.1.2 Tunnel magnetoresistance 2.2 Spin-transfer torque effect 2.2.1 Physical picture of the STT 2.2.2 In-plane and perpendicular STT 2.3 Equation of motion for the magnetisation 2.3.1 The Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation 2.3.2 Extension including spin-transfer-torque (LLGS) 2.4 Applications of MR and spin-transfer torque 2.4.1 Read heads in hard disk drives 2.4.2 Spin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory 2.5 STT effects in magnetic tunnel junctions 2.5.1 Current-induced switching 2.5.2 Magnetisation precession 2.5.3 Bias-dependence of STT 2.5.4 Back-hopping 3 Experimental 3.1 Samples 3.1.1 Stack composition 3.1.2 Properties of samples used in this work 3.2 Experimental setup 3.2.1 Overview of equipment for the different measurement techniques 3.2.2 Electromagnet and Kepco power supply 3.2.3 Contacting of the sample 3.2.4 Principle specifications of equipment 3.3 Experimental techniques 3.3.1 Measurement of DC R-H and R-I loops 3.3.2 Measurement of phase diagrams: off and on-pulse 3.3.3 Thermally-excited ferromagnetic resonance 4 Results and discussion 4.1 Switching phase diagrams of MTJs 4.1.1 Theory: Calculating the phase diagram 4.1.2 Experimental phase diagrams 4.2 Thermally excited ferromagnetic resonance 4.2.1 Smoothing and fitting of raw data 4.2.2 Determination of Ms 4.2.3 Signal evolution with bias voltage 4.2.4 Analysis of peak position: perpendicular STT 4.2.5 Analysis of peak linewidth 5 Summary and outlook A Appendix List of figures List of tables Bibliography

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are widely used in portable consumer electronics such as cellphones, laptops, etc. These batteries are capable to provide high energy density with no memory effect and they have small self-discharge when they are not in use, which increases their potential for future electric vehicles. Investigators are attempting to improve the performance of these cells by focusing on the energy density, cost, safety, and durability. The energy density improves with high operation voltage and high capacity. Before any further development of high voltage materials, safe electrolytes with high ionic conductivity, wide electrochemical window, and high stability with both electrodes need to be developed. In this thesis a new strategy was investigated to develop electrolytes that can contribute to the further development of battery technology. The first study is focused on preparing a hybrid electrolyte, the combination of inorganic solid and organic liquid, for lithium based rechargeable batteries to illustrate the effect of electrode/electrolyte interfacing on electrochemical performance. This system behaves as a self-safety device at higher temperatures and provides better performance in comparison with the solid electrolyte cell, and it is also competitive with the pure liquid electrolyte cell. Then a multilayer electrolyte cell (MEC) was designed and developed as a new tool for investigating electrode/electrolyte interfacial reactions in a battery system. The MEC consists of two liquid electrolytes (L.E.) separated by a solid electrolyte (S.E.) which prevents electrolyte crossover while selectively transporting Li+ ions. The MEC successfully reproduced the performance of LiFePO4 comparable with that obtained from coin cells. In addition, the origin of capacity fading in LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4full-cell (with graphite negative electrode) was studied using the MEC. The performance of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 MEC full-cell was superior to that of coin full-cell by eliminating the Mn dissolution problem on graphite negative electrode as evidenced by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The MEC can be a strong tool for identifying the electrochemical performances of future high voltage positive electrode materials and their electrode/electrolyte interfacial reactions. Finally, by employing the multilayer electrolyte concept, a new application will be introduced to recycle the lithium. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using water and the contents of waste Li-ion batteries for the electrodes in a Li-liquid battery system. Li metal was collected electrochemically from a waste Li-ion battery containing Li-ion source materials from the battery’s anode, cathode, and electrolyte, thereby recycling the Li contained in the waste battery at the room temperature.

Für die Menschen zählen Gewitter mit Donner und Blitz zu den ältesten bekannten Phänomenen der Natur. Die Tatsache, dass Blitze dennoch bis heute nicht abschließend erforscht sind, liegt in dem äußerst komplexen, schnellen und stochastischen Verhalten der Blitzentladung begründet. Der Autor befasste sich in Rahmen dieser Arbeit u.a. mit der Entwicklung eines modernen Messsystems, durch das die Erfassung von sowohl elektrischen als auch optischen Parametern der im Nanosekundenbereich ablaufenden Prozesse der Entladungen möglich wurde. Es handelt sich um technisch anspruchsvolle Messungen von hohen Stoßspannungen und schwachen Vorentladungsströmen in einem großen Frequenzbereich. Außerdem gelang es durch eine geschickte Synchronisation, die Entladungsprozesse präzise und erstmalig in einer Fotosequenz aufzunehmen. Auf Grundlage der Messergebnisse konnte der Entladungsprozess in mehrere Phasen der Vorentladung unterteilt und beschrieben werden. Vor allem beweisen die Messergebnisse die Existenz einer kanalartigen Vorentladung, die nicht zwingend zu einem Durchschlag führt. Dieser Mechanismus, der bei langsam ansteigenden Spannungen als stabile Leaderentladung benannt und mit Thermoionisation gekennzeichnet ist, war bei Blitzstoßspannungen bisher umstritten. / The breakdown behavior of long air gaps by Lightning Voltages has been investigated and the results of a new measurement system are reported. A series of up to eight photos (made by a high-speed camera) have recorded the expansion of discharge activities during the breakdown process. The pre-discharge current and voltage have been measured as well. The modern measurement techniques have made possible the synchronization of the photos with the current and voltage measurements in nanosecond-ranges. The combination of the measured current, voltage, and photos can precisely explain the breakdown process. The experiments have been carried out with the lightning impulses up to 2.4 MV and the air gaps up to 4 m. Despite of such high voltages, the experimental system has been verified to be appropriate for measuring the pre-discharge current in mA-ranges.

The technological advancement in electrical machinery represents the need to understand the lubricant behaviour in the electrical environment. As shaft voltages are unavoidable in electrical machinery, developing new grease formulations and studying their performance against electric loads is required. The thesis aims to design, develop, install and validate a novel test machine to study grease performance under the influence of electric currents. The system aims to supply damaging electric currents through the bearing, but that was not possible to accomplish due to miscalculations. The test machine is designed to carry out experiments using angular contact bearings. The experiments were performed with four greases, Lithium-complex and polypropylene-based, of high and low base-oil viscosity, respectively. The study compares the frictional moments and self-induced temperatures in the bearings with and without the influence of electric currents. Along with the frictional moment measurements, the lubricant film thickness was estimated using the “electrical-capacitance” method to monitor the status of the lubricant inside the bearing in real-time. The test machine is limited to speeds up to 3600 rpm, and the project lays out a foundation for research in film thickness estimation in rolling element bearings. As a part of the thesis, new slip rings were specified to facilitate the test machine to perform studies at higher speeds up to (17000rpm). / De tekniska framstegen inom elektriska maskiner representerar behovet av att förstå smörjmedlets beteende i den elektriska miljön. Eftersom axelspänningar är oundvikliga i elektriska maskiner krävs utveckling av nya fettformuleringar och studier av deras prestanda mot elektriska belastningar. Avhandlingen syftar till att designa, utveckla, installera och validera en ny testmaskin för att studera fettprestanda under påverkan av elektriska strömmar. Systemet syftar till att leverera skadliga elektriska strömmar genom lagret, men det var inte möjligt att åstadkomma på grund av felberäkningar. Testmaskinen är designad för att utföra experiment med vinkelkontaktlager. Experimenten utfördes med fyra fetter, litiumkomplex- och polypropenbaserade, med hög respektive låg basoljeviskositet. Studien jämför friktionsmomenten och självinducerade temperaturer i lagren med och utan påverkan av elektriska strömmar. Tillsammans med mätningarna av friktionsmomentet uppskattades smörjmedelsfilmtjockleken med hjälp av metoden "elektrisk kapacitans" för att övervaka statusen för smörjmedlet inuti lagret i realtid. Testmaskinen är begränsad till hastigheter upp till 3600 rpm, och projektet lägger en grund för forskning inom filmtjockleksuppskattning i rullager. Som en del av avhandlingen specificerades nya släpringar för att underlätta för testmaskinen att utföra studier vid högre hastigheter upp till (17000rpm).

Cette thèse porte sur l'étude de micro-plasmas froids à la pression atmosphérique générés à partir de différents réacteurs des configurations basées sur le principe des Décharges à Barrière Diélectrique (DBD) et alimentés par des générateurs de tension impulsionnelle et sinusoïdale. Les plasmas sont formés dans des gaz nobles tels que l'hélium et l'argon (gaz vecteurs), et également dans des mélanges réalisés avec des gaz moléculaires tels que l'azote et l'oxygène afin de produire des Espèces Réactives de l’Azote et de l’Oxygène (ERA, ERO). La (ré)activité chimique du plasma est ainsi supposée être accrue, permettant le traitement de matériaux inertes ou vivants pour diverses applications (fonctionnalisation de surfaces, inactivation de cellules, régénération de tissus vivants, etc.). La caractérisation des plasmas étudiés est réalisée en enregistrant les aspects électriques et optiques en fonction des paramètres élémentaires, comme l’amplitude et la fréquence de la tension, le débit du gaz, la configuration des électrodes, et le rapport cyclique dans le cas du régime pulsé. Ainsi, la (ré)activité chimique des plasmas est évaluée tandis que au même temps les mécanismes de la génération des plasmas et les façons de l’optimisation de la chimie sont dévoilées. Finalement, nous examinons l'efficacité du plasma dans le domaine biomédical en traitant divers systèmes biologiques (bactéries, liposomes, cellules) sans effets thermiques. / The present PhD thesis is devoted to the study of atmospheric pressure cold micro-plasmas produced in different Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) reactors which are driven by pulsed or sinusoidal high voltages. Noble gases such as helium and argon are used as carrier gases, whereas admixtures with nitrogen and oxygen are studied as well. The formation of Reactive Nitrogen and Oxygen Species (RNS, ROS) is thus achieved, and the possibility of improving the chemical (re)activity of the plasmas is demonstrated. This is of interest in the treatment of inert or living materials (e.g. surface functionalization, cell inactivation, living tissue regeneration, etc.). Plasmas are characterized by recording electrical and optical features as a function of principal operational parameters, including voltage amplitude and frequency, gas flow rate, electrode configuration, and voltage duty cycle in the case of pulsed waveform. The physico-chemical (re)activity of the plasmas is thus evaluated, while at the same time mechanisms on the plasma generation and paths for chemistry optimization are unveiled. Finally, the efficiency of the plasma in relation to biomedical applications is tested by treating different biological systems (bacteria, liposomes, cells) while preventing any thermal effect.

Dans l’état actuel des techniques utilisées pour l’isolation gazeuse des systèmes d’énergie électrique à haute tension, l’hexafluorure de soufre (SF6) tient une place prépondérante en raison de ses performances diélectriques et chimiques (bonne tenue diélectrique, point d'ébullition bas, stabilité chimique, non toxicité, etc.) ; il est l’un des meilleurs isolants gazeux connus à ce jour. Il est principalement utilisé dans les appareils de coupure pour l’extinction de l’arc électrique, les lignes de transmission à isolation gazeuse et autres équipements de puissance. Cependant, de par sa taille excessive, sa durée de vie trop importante et son grand effet radiatif, la molécule de SF6 constitue un agent aggravant de l’effet de serre avec un potentiel de réchauffement global (PRG ou GWP en anglais) très élevé (23900 fois supérieur à celui du CO2). Ainsi, les recommandations internationales (COP3) et européennes (règlement (UE) n°517/2014) tendent à restreindre très fortement, voire interdire son utilisation pour préserver l’environnement. Depuis, une tâche importante a été engagée par les industriels pour trouver d’autres gaz ou mélanges de substitution avec moins d’impact sur l’environnement et des exigences diélectriques comparables ou supérieures à celles du SF6. Les candidats les plus prometteurs appartiennent tous au groupe des molécules poly-fluorées (CF3I, Perfluorinated Ketones, Octafluorotetra-hydrofuran, Hydrofluoroolefin (HFOs) ou heptafluoro-iso-butyronitrile(Fluoronitriles)), Ils offrent tous une tenue diélectrique entre 1.2 et 2.71 par rapport au SF6. Ces molécules candidates ouvrent des perspectives intéressantes pour la substitution de SF6 dans l’appareillage sous enveloppe métallique destiné pour le réseau T&D haute tension. Leur principal inconvénient réside dans leur masse moléculaire élevée, ce qui implique une température de fonctionnement plus élevée par rapport au SF6. Ce travail porte sur l’étude expérimentale des performances diélectriques des mélanges de Fluoronitriles-CO2. Les paramètres intrinsèques de l’avalanche électronique sont identifiés à partir des courants de la décharge stationnaire de Townsend. L’évaluation de ces courants a permis d’extraire le coefficient d’ionisation effectif pour différents mélanges de Fluoronitriles. Une comparaison du potentiel d’isolation de ces mélanges avec celui du SF6 pur, dans différentes géométries électrodes (sphère-plan, pointe-plan, sphère-sphère, système avec le profil de Bruce), sur une large gamme de pression et pour toutes les formes d'ondes de tension normalisées pour d'isolation est présentée. Les résultats de mesures de tensions de claquage de ces mélanges et du CO2 pur, pour comparaison, dans un système coaxial cylindrique de taille réelle, similaire à celui utilisé dans les postes à enveloppe métallique (GIS - Gas Insulated Switchgear), sont également présentés ; une étude de l’influence de la surface et de l’état de surface des électrodes sur la tenue diélectrique en fonction de différents paramètres (pression, rugosité, surface effective, forme de tension et polarité, température de gaz …) est faite. / SULPHUR hexafluoride, SF6, is the most common compressed gas used in high voltage power equipment since the 1950s and in HV transmissions and substations applications (GIS, GCB, GIL …), SF6 holds a prominent place because of its dielectric and chemical performance (high dielectric strength, non-toxicity, low condensation temperature, thermal stability, non-flammability, chemical inactivity with the other constituent materials of the apparatus, availability and moderate cost). It is one of the best insulators gas known today. Despite its excellent properties in both electrical insulation and current interruption performance, the excessive size, the radiative effect and atmospheric lifetime of SF6 molecule makes this gas an aggravating agent for the greenhouse gas effect, with a very high global warming potential (GWP) (23900 times higher than CO2). Thus, the international and European recommendations (COP 3) and (Regulation (EU) No 517/2014) respectively tend to strongly restrict or prohibit its use to preserve the environment. Since then, an important task was undertaken by manufacturers to find other gases or mixtures of substitution with less impact on the environment and dielectric performances comparable or superior to those of SF6. Naturally, the investigations were oriented towards halogenated products that have reduced GWP such as CF3I, Perfluorinated Ketones, Octafluorotetra-hydrofuran, Hydrofluoroolefin (HFOs) or heptafluoro-iso-butyronitrile (Fluoronitriles)), all offer a dielectric strength between 1.2 and 2.71 relative to SF6. These candidates open interesting perspectives for the substitution of SF6 in the GIS applications designed for high voltage T & D network. Their main disadvantage is their high molecular weight, which implies a higher operating temperature compared to SF6. This work deals with the experimental study of dielectric performance of Fluoronitriles CO2 mixtures. Intrinsic parameters of the measured steady state Townsend swarm currents are identified. The evaluation of the currents produce the effective ionization rate constant in different Fluoronitriles-CO2 mixtures. In addition, this work provides a conventional assessing of insulating performance with typical breakdown experiments, conducted for different field configurations over a wide pressure range and for all standard voltage waveforms. The experiments are conducted with different electrodes geometries namely plane-to-plane (Bruce profile), sphere-to-sphere, sphere-to-plane and rod-to-plane. AC and LI breakdown characteristics of CO2 and different Fluoronitriles /CO2 mixtures gas were experimentally analyzed in a real scale GIS coaxial test system. The main investigated parameters are the effect of roughness and effective surface area HV inner conductor on insulation performance, depending on various parameters (pressure, form and voltage polarity, gas temperature…).

Cette thèse est consacrée à l'étude de diagnostic de pannes pour les systèmes pile à combustible de type PEMFC. Le but est d'améliorer la fiabilité et la durabilité de la membrane électrolyte polymère afin de promouvoir la commercialisation de la technologie des piles à combustible. Les approches explorées dans cette thèse sont celles du diagnostic guidé par les données. Les techniques basées sur la reconnaissance de forme sont les plus utilisées. Dans ce travail, les variables considérées sont les tensions des cellules. Les résultats établis dans le cadre de la thèse peuvent être regroupés en trois contributions principales.La première contribution est constituée d'une étude comparative. Plus précisément, plusieurs méthodes sont explorées puis comparées en vue de déterminer une stratégie précise et offrant un coût de calcul optimal.La deuxième contribution concerne le diagnostic online sans connaissance complète des défauts au préalable. Il s'agit d'une technique adaptative qui permet d'appréhender l'apparition de nouveaux types de défauts. Cette technique est fondée sur la méthodologie SSM-SVM et les règles de détection et de localisation ont été améliorées pour répondre au problème du diagnostic en temps réel.La troisième contribution est obtenue à partir méthodologie fondée sur l'utilisation partielle de modèles dynamiques. Le principe de détection et localisation de défauts est fondé sur des techniques d'identification et sur la génération de résidus directement à partir des données d'exploitation.Toutes les stratégies proposées dans le cadre de la thèse ont été testées à travers des données expérimentales et validées sur un système embarqué. / Aiming at improving the reliability and durability of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) systems and promote the commercialization of fuel cell technologies, this thesis work is dedicated to the fault diagnosis study for PEMFC systems. Data-driven fault diagnosis is the main focus in this thesis. As a main branch of data-driven fault diagnosis, the methods based on pattern classification techniques are firstly studied. Taking individual fuel cell voltages as original diagnosis variables, several representative methodologies are investigated and compared from the perspective of online implementation.Specific to the defects of conventional classification based diagnosis methods, a novel diagnosis strategy is proposed. A new classifier named Sphere-Shaped Multi-class Support Vector Machine (SSM-SVM) and modified diagnostic rules are utilized to realize the novel fault recognition. While an incremental learning method is extended to achieve the online adaptation.Apart from the classification based diagnosis approach, a so-called partial model-based data-driven approach is introduced to handle PEMFC diagnosis in dynamic processes. With the aid of a subspace identification method (SIM), the model-based residual generation is designed directly from the normal and dynamic operating data. Then, fault detection and isolation are further realized by evaluating the generated residuals.The proposed diagnosis strategies have been verified using the experimental data which cover a set of representative faults and different PEMFC stacks. The preliminary online implementation results with an embedded system are also supplied.

A scheme for Built-in-Self-Test (BIST) of analog signals with minimal area overhead, for measuring on-chip voltages in an all-digital manner is presented in this thesis. With technology scaling, the inverter switching times are becoming shorter thus leading to better resolution of edges in time. This time resolution is observed to be superior to voltage resolution in the face of reducing supply voltage and increasing variations as physical dimensions shrink. In this thesis, a new method of observability of analog signals is proposed, which is digital-friendly and scalable to future deep sub-micron (DSM) processes. The low-bandwidth analog test voltage is captured as the delay between a pair of clock signals. The delay thus setup is measured digitally in accordance with the desired resolution. Such an approach lends itself easily to distributed manner, where the routing of analog signals over long paths is minimized. A small piece of circuitry, called sampling head (SpH) placed near each test voltage, acts as a transducer converting the test voltage to a delay between a pair of low-frequency clocks. A probe clock and a sampling clock is routed serially to the sampling heads placed at the nodes of analog test voltages. This sampling head, present at each test node consists of a pair of delay cells and a pair of flip-flops, giving rise to as many sub-sampled signal pairs as the number of nodes. To measure a certain analog voltage, the corresponding sub-sampled signal pair is fed to a Delay Measurement Unit (DMU) to measure the skew between this pair. The concept is validated by designing a test chip in UMC 130 nm CMOS process. Sub-mV accuracy for static signals is demonstrated for a measurement time of few milliseconds and ENOB of 5.29 is demonstrated for low bandwidth signals in the absence of sample-and-hold circuitry. The sampling clock is derived from the probe clock using a PLL and the design equations are worked out for optimal performance. To validate the concept, the duty-cycle of the probe clock, whose ON-time is modulated by a sine wave, is measured by the same DMU. Measurement results from FPGA implementation confirm 9 bits of resolution.