Related papers: Controllable Mechanical-domain Energy Accumulators
Mobile machines using a hydrostatic transmission is highly efficient under lower working-speed condition but less capable at higher transport velocities. To enhance overall efficiency, we have improved the powertrain design by combining a…
The flexible power consumption feature of thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) such as heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems makes them attractive targets for demand response (DR). TCLs possess a brief period where…
In this study, one-dimensional systems of masses connected by springs, i.e., spring-chain systems, are investigated numerically. The average kinetic energy of chain-end particles of these systems is larger than that of other particles,…
Soft robotic grippers are shown to be high effective for grasping unstructured objects with simple sensing and control strategies. However, they are still limited by their speed, sensing capabilities and actuation mechanism. Hence, their…
Frequency control reserves are an essential ancillary service in any electric power system, guaranteeing that generation and demand of active power are balanced at all times. Traditionally, conventional power plants are used for frequency…
We explore methods to use thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs), such as water heaters and air conditioners, to provide ancillary services by assisting in balancing generation and load. We show that by adding simple imbedded instructions…
This work demonstrates preliminary results on energy harvesting from a linearly stable flutter-type system with circulatory friction forces. Harmonic external forcing is applied to study the energy flow in the steady sliding configuration.…
Logic locking remains one of the most promising defenses against hardware piracy, yet current approaches often face challenges in scalability and design overhead. In this paper, we present TLGLock, a new design paradigm that leverages the…
Reconfigurable robot swarms are capable of connecting with each other to form complex structures. Current mechanical or magnetic connection mechanisms can be complicated to manufacture, consume high power, have a limited load-bearing…
Legged robots offer several advantages when navigating unstructured environments, but they often fall short of the efficiency achieved by wheeled robots. One promising strategy to improve their energy economy is to leverage their natural…
This paper presents a model based experimental investigation to demonstrate the usefulness of an active damping strategy to manage fluid sloshing motion in spacecraft tanks. The active damping strategy is designed to reduce the degrading…
The underwater traps of the carnivorous plants of the Utricularia species catch their preys through the repetition of an "active slow deflation / passive fast suction" sequence. In this paper, we propose a mechanical model that describes…
Power dissipation and energy consumption have become one of the most important problems in the design of processors today. This is especially true in power-constrained environments, such as embedded and mobile computing. While lowering the…
Parallel-elastic joints can improve the efficiency and strength of robots by assisting the actuators with additional torques. For these benefits to be realized, a spring needs to be carefully designed. However, designing robots is an…
In this paper, we propose an event-based sampling policy to implement a constraint-tightening, robust MPC method. The proposed policy enjoys a computationally tractable design and is applicable to perturbed, linear time-invariant systems…
This paper presents a passivity-based control framework for AC-DC converters supplying non-passive Information Technology rack loads in DC data centers. Unlike conventional cascaded proportional-integral controllers that ensure stability…
Achieving long battery lives or even self sustainability has been a long standing challenge for designing mobile devices. This paper presents a novel solution that seamlessly integrates two technologies, mobile cloud computing and microwave…
The accelerated penetration rate of renewable energy sources (RES) brings environmental benefits at the expense of increasing operation cost and undermining the satisfaction of the N-1 security criterion. To address the latter issue, this…
Single-particle heat engines at atomic and colloidal scales obey the universal thermodynamic bounds on work and efficiency. Here, we translate these principles to the macroscale by building an athermal Stirling engine whose working medium…
This paper presents an interaction control algorithm for a dielectric elastomer membrane actuator. The proposed method permits efficient exploitation of the controllable stiffness of the material, allowing to use the membrane as a…