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In this paper, the procedure for designing a sliding-mode controller for maximum power point tracking photovoltaic (PV) applications is proposed. It is applied to a single-ended primary inductor converter, thus to a fourth-order topology, but it can be extended to a wide class of converters suitable for PV applications. The reachability and existence conditions give rise to a number of design inequalities that add to the classical steady-state conditions in order to have the desired closed-loop converter's performances. The superiority of the control technique over the classical tracking methods is analytically demonstrated through the procedure proposed in this paper. The analytical results have been validated by means of both simulations and experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The phasor-PWM-based current source inverter (CSI) is a boost inverter. The difference between conventional CSIs and the boost inverter is that the boost ratio (VLLrms/Vdc ) in the boost inverter can easily be above 3.0, whereas this ratio is around 1 in conventional CSIs. In order to realize the potential capabilities of the boost inverter and to assist its penetration into renewable energy systems, the boost inverter dynamic behaviors are studied in this paper. First, the large- and small-signal models as well as the dq-equivalent circuits of the boost inverter are presented. Then, the developed models are verified using circuit simulations and experiments on a laboratory-scale 2-kW 208/240- V_{\rm LLrms} V_{\rm dc}=65\ \hbox{V} $ boost inverter made of reverse-blocking IGBTs. Finally, the developed small-signal model is used to study the stability of the boost inverter through root locus of small signal poles (eigenvalues) as control inputs, and load parameters vary within the boost inverter's operating limits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a four-leg matrix converter is proposed as the power conversion core for aircraft ground power unit (GPU) applications. This structure allows easy management of unbalanced and nonlinear loads with minimal disruption of the power supply operation. A hybrid repetitive-traditional control system is proposed to regulate the output voltage of the GPU. This solution reduces the steady-state tracking error, maintaining fast dynamic characteristics, and increases the stability of the converter compared to conventional approaches. Simulations and experimental results from a 7.5-KW converter prototype are presented to verify the operation of the proposed configuration and to prove the effectiveness of the solution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Due to its capacity to store or supply energy with high power, the supercapacitor is becoming an attractive component. Because of the electrostatic nature of energy storage, the endurance of this component toward repetitive charge and discharge cycles is relatively high. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate that cycling has an impact on the degradation of the supercapacitor and, as a result, on its lifetime. Based on accelerated cycling tests, some supercapacitors were studied using a dedicated test bench. Temperature, voltage, and current, which are the parameters that accelerate aging, are monitored. In fact, observations during the cycling tests show an important acceleration in the degradation compared with a similar static test having the same voltage and core temperature but without cycling. This paper proposes a method to quantify the acceleration of aging during a cycling phase. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers the problem of designing adaptive output feedback sliding mode controllers for a class of linear systems with matched external disturbances, where the norm bound of the external disturbance is unknown. First, we derive a new design approach of linear sliding surface in the singular system framework, and propose an adaptive output feedback sliding mode controller such that the motion of the closed-loop system is uniformly ultimately bounded stable. Second, to improve the transient performance, a memory-based adaptive output feedback sliding mode controller is also proposed. Finally, an illustrative example is utilized to demonstrate the design procedures proposed in this paper. It is shown that the memory-based adaptive output feedback sliding mode control approach provides a better transient performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an interleaved buck converter (IBC) with continuous input current, extremely low output current ripple, low switching losses, and improved step-down conversion ratio. Unlike the conventional IBC, the proposed converter has a continuous input current, and its output current ripple is extremely low. The proposed converter has a lower voltage stress in comparison to the conventional IBC and can also provide a high step-down ratio, which makes it a proper choice for high-power applications where a nonisolated step-down converter with low output current ripple and continuous input current is required. Also, the proposed converter can provide current sharing between two interleaved modules without using additional current-sharing control method. All of these benefits are obtained without any additional stress on the circuit components. A prototype converter with 200-V input and 24-V–10-A output is implemented to verify the theoretical analysis. Operational principles and experimental results are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The realm of hardware-in-the-loop simulation resorts to field-programmable gate arrays to achieve time steps below 1 \mu\s . Such low time steps are of importance for the aerospace and automotive industries, where power converters have their switching frequencies in the 10- to 200-kHz range. This paper proposes a network tearing technique that allows subsets of switches to be treated independently, alleviates embedded memory requirements, and reduces the computational burden. An iterative algorithm is used to determine the state of naturally commutated switches, thus offering a realistic model of the power converter, independently of its operation mode or topology. A Gauss-Jordan processing unit is implemented to solve interface voltages/currents from the torn circuit. Custom floating-point operators are used to ensure good accuracy, high-frequency operation, and low computational latency. A neutral-point-clamped converter case study is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. Simulation results are validated against a reference model at a 750-ns time step and a 30-kHz sine pulsewidth modulation switching frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The development of advanced techniques for process monitoring and fault diagnosis using both model-based and data-driven approaches has led to many practical applications. One issue that has not been considered in such applications is the ability to deal with key performance indicators (KPIs) that are only sporadically measured and with significant time delay. Therefore, in this paper, the data-driven design of diagnostic-observer-based process monitoring schemes is extended to include the ability to detect changes given infrequently measured KPIs. The extended diagnostic observer is shown to be stable and hence able to converge to the true value. The proposed method is tested using both Monte Carlo simulations and the Tennessee-Eastman problem. It is shown that although time delay and sampling time increase the detection delay, the overall effect can be mitigated by using a soft sensor. Furthermore, it is shown that the results are not strongly dependent on the sampling time, but do depend on the time delay. Therefore, the proposed soft-sensor-based monitoring scheme can efficiently detect faults even in the absence of direct process information. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a novel bias-reduction method is proposed to analytically express and reduce the bias arising in sensor network localization problems, thereby improving the localization accuracy. The proposed bias-reduction method mixes Taylor series and a maximum-likelihood estimate and leads to an easily calculated analytical bias expression in terms of a known maximum-likelihood cost function. In contrast to existing contributions, this paper considers a sensor network as a whole when the bias is investigated by introducing the geometric structure of the sensor network into the proposed bias-reduction method via the rigidity matrix, a concept drawn from graph theory. The maximum-likelihood cost function is related to the rigidity matrix resulting in the final analytical expression of localization bias in terms of the rigidity matrix. Another important contribution of this paper is that, in addition to the presented simulation results, experimental results obtained by using a wireless localization system, which is developed based on reconfigurable software-defined radios (SDRs), are also provided to verify the performance of the proposed bias-reduction method. Both the simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can reduce the bias, thereby improving the localization accuracy in different scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an analytical procedure for computation of all pairs of valid switching angles used in pattern generation in five-level H-bridge cascaded inverters. The proposed procedure eliminates harmonic components from inverter output voltage and, for each harmonic, returns the exact boundaries of all valid modulation index intervals. Due to its simple mathematical formulation, it can be easily implemented in real time using a digital signal processor or a field-programmable gate array. In this paper, after a detailed description of the method, simulation and experimental results demonstrate the high quality of achievable results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In past years, LLC resonant converters have become a mainstream topology for dc–dc power conversion due to their advantages, such as the superior efficiency obtained with the soft switching of MOSFETs. In order to further improve the efficiency of the converter, synchronous rectification (SR) can be implemented as an alternative for diode rectification. As a result, the vast majority of the literature related to this field of study presents different LLC SR control algorithms, which aim to improve the operation of the rectification. Unlike prior work on SR controllers, this paper contributes to the area of power loss estimation using rectifier current equations (RCE). The developed method based on time-domain analysis of SR currents provides a new analytical framework to characterize the behavior of SR. Implications in SR power losses of different time delays are investigated using the developed loss estimation method. In addition, different converter design parameters, such as choice of inductance ratio, can be analyzed. The RCE captures the true discontinuous and complex behavior of SR, which is often oversimplified by the conventional first-harmonic approximation (FHA). As a result, the proposed method facilitates the design of LLC resonant converters and provides increased precision in SR power loss estimation when compared to FHA, and in a considerably faster fashion when compared with precise yet computationally intensive simulation software. This paper is validated with simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a high-frequency ac-link photovoltaic (PV) inverter is proposed. The proposed inverter overcomes most of the problems associated with currently available PV inverters. In this inverter, a single-stage power-conversion unit fulfills all the system requirements, i.e., inverting dc voltage to proper ac, stepping up or down the input voltage, maximum power point tracking, generating low-harmonic ac at the output, and input/output isolation. This inverter is, in fact, a partial resonant ac-link converter in which the link is formed by a parallel inductor/capacitor (LC) pair having alternating current and voltage. Among the significant merits of the proposed inverter are the zero-voltage turn-on and soft turn-off of the switches which result in negligible switching losses and minimum voltage stress on the switches. Hence, the frequency of the link can be as high as permitted by the switches and the processor. The high frequency of operation makes the proposed inverter very compact. The other significant advantage of the proposed inverter is that no bulky electrolytic capacitor exists at the link. Electrolytic capacitors are cited as the most unreliable component in PV inverters, and they are responsible for most of the inverters' failures, particularly at high temperature. Therefore, substituting dc electrolytic capacitors with ac LC pairs will significantly increase the reliability of PV inverters. A 30-kW prototype was fabricated and tested. The principle of operation and detailed design procedure of the proposed inverter along with the simulation and experimental results are included in this paper. To evaluate the long-term performance of the proposed inverter, three of these inverters were installed at three different commercial facilities in Texas, USA, to support the PV systems. These inverters have been working for several months now. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The generalized modulation strategy of the conventional matrix converter (MC), i.e., three-leg MC, was previously developed using the duty-cycle space vector (DCSV) representation of switch duty cycles. This paper uses the DCSV representation of switch duty cycles to develop a new formulation of the generalized modulation strategy for one-, three-, and four-leg MCs. The four-leg MC, unlike the three-leg MC, is capable of providing a neutral connection at the output side of the MC. The neutral connection enables the four-leg MC to operate as a power supply providing a balanced, regulated, and fixed-frequency voltage for balanced and unbalanced loads, including the single-phase load. The generalized modulation strategy of the four-leg MC in this paper is developed in the context of power supply applications. Using the new formulation of the generalized modulation strategy, the direct duty-cycle modulation strategies based on DCSV calculation are developed for one-, three-, and four-leg MCs, which are referred to as the DCSV-based modulation strategy of the MC. Part I of the paper formulates the DCSV-based modulation strategy of the three- and four-leg MCs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main objective of this paper is to provide an efficient computational model for fast and accurate calculation of electromagnetically induced vibrations in electrical machines. Although a three-phase permanent-magnet synchronous machine has been used in this paper, the same methodology can be extended to other types of electric machinery. A brief comparison between the different methods for structural analysis in electrical machines is introduced. The method proposed in this paper uses finite-element analysis in order to extract the impulse responses that are used in calculating the vibration. A field reconstruction method is used for the electromagnetic field analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent advances in lithium-ion battery modeling suggest unequal but controlled and carefully timed charging of individual cells by reduce degradation. This paper compares anode-side film formation for a standard equalization scheme versus unequal charging through switches that are controlled by deterministic dynamic programming (DDP) and DDP-inspired heuristic algorithms. A static map for film growth rate is derived from a first-principles battery model adopted from the electrochemical engineering literature. Using this map, we consider two cells that are connected in parallel via relay switches. The key results are the following: 1) optimal unequal and delayed charging indeed reduces film buildup, and 2) a near-optimal state feedback controller can be designed from the DDP solution and film growth rate convexity properties. The simulation results indicate that the heuristic state feedback controller achieves near optimal performance relative to the DDP solution, with significant reduction in film growth compared to charging both cells equally, for several film growth models. Moreover, the algorithms achieve similar film reduction values on the full electrochemical model. These results correlate with the convexity properties of the film growth map. Hence, this paper demonstrates that unequal charging may indeed reduce film growth, given certain convexity properties exist, lending promise to the concept for improving battery pack life. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the field oriented control of a salient pole wound field synchronous machine in stator flux coordinates. The procedure for derivation of flux linkage equations along any general rotating axes including stator flux axes is given. The stator flux equations are used to identify the cross-coupling occurring between the axes due to saliency in the machine. The coupling terms are canceled as feedforward terms in the generation of references for current controllers to achieve good decoupling during transients. The design of current controller for stator-flux-oriented control is presented. This paper proposes the method of extending rotor flux closed loop observer for sensorless control of wound field synchronous machine. This paper also proposes a new sensorless control by using stator flux closed loop observer and estimation of torque angle using stator current components in stator flux coordinates. Detailed experimental results from a sensorless 15.8 hp salient pole wound field synchronous machine drive are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed control strategy from a low speed of 0.8 Hz to 50 Hz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to an autonomous approach to a moving ship for unmanned vehicles. The problem is introduced and formulated first. Cooperation between the vehicle and the ship is needed, such that the moving ship to be approached is set to move at a constant speed along a straight line or a circle. Hence, an approaching algorithm based on 3-D path generation is proposed. The 3-D vehicle trajectory produced by the path generation realizes smooth transition from the initial pose to the final pose with geometric constraints. The final poses the unmanned vehicle and the ship's reach simultaneously are analyzed and obtained based on 3-D path generation. The related parameters for autonomous navigation of an unmanned vehicle are discussed according to the straight line or the circle that the ship sails along. The approaching algorithm is sequentially summarized. The simulations are conducted, and the results show the effectiveness and real-time performance of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Low-bandwidth communication channels are used to support the information exchange between a microgrid centralized controller and local controllers in the secondary frequency control of an islanded microgrid. However, the impact of the inherent time delay in these communication channels on the microgrid performance has not been taken into account when the secondary frequency controller is designed. This paper investigates the effect of the communication delays on the secondary frequency control of an islanded microgrid with multiple distributed generators. A small-signal model-based method is introduced for the microgrid to find delay margins below which the microgrid can remain stable. By performing a series of trial studies, the relationships between secondary frequency control gains and delay margins are obtained. A gain scheduling approach is also proposed to compensate the effect of the communication delay on the secondary frequency control. Results from the Canadian urban distribution system have verified that communication delays can adversely affect the microgrid secondary frequency control, and the proposed gain scheduling approach can improve the robustness of the microgrid secondary frequency controller to communication delays. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper offers a model-based fault detection and isolation (FDI) scheme for a rudder servo system (RSS) that manages ship navigation. Inherent nonlinearities and unknown external disturbances present great challenges in applying FDI technologies to RSS in practice. This paper presents the derivation of the state equations and commonly encountered fault types of RSS from physical laws, and the design of five nonlinear unknown input observers (NUIOs) capable of eliminating the influences of unknown disturbance while detecting and isolating faults. In the NUIOs, no boundary assumption is made on the disturbance, and their parameter matrices are obtained using a linear-matrix-inequality method. Along with an algorithm that programs the logic rules for FDI, the model-based FDI scheme has been implemented on an actual RSS test rig for validating the RSS model and experimentally evaluating it in a real-world environment; both actuator and sensor faults are considered. Based on experimental tests, an adaptive threshold method is introduced to improve decision making and hence effectively eliminate false alarms. Experimental results show that the model-based scheme is efficient and can be used for online FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper studies different circulating current references for the modular multilevel converter. The circulating current references are obtained from the instantaneous values of the output current and modulation signal of the phase leg. Therefore, the determination of the amplitude and phase of the output current is not needed, which is a significant improvement compared to other methods such as those based on injecting specific harmonics in the circulating currents. Among the different methods studied in this paper, a new method is introduced, which is able to reduce the capacitor voltage ripples compared to the other methods. A closed-loop control is also proposed which is able to track the circulating current references. With the discussed methods, the average values of the capacitor voltages are maintained at their reference while the voltage ripples are kept low. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed and discussed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a dynamic-model-based control scheme for the balancing and velocity control of a unicycle robot. Unicycle robot motion consists of a pitch that is controlled by an in-wheel motor and a roll that is controlled by a reaction wheel pendulum. The unicycle robot lacks an actuator for yaw-axis control, which makes the derivation of the dynamics relatively simple although it may limit the motion control. The Euler–Lagrange equation is applied to derive the dynamic equations of the unicycle robot to implement dynamic speed control. To achieve real-time speed control, a sliding-mode control and a nonzero set-point linear quadratic regulator (LQR) are utilized to guarantee stability while maintaining the desired speed-tracking performance. In the roll controller, a sigmoid-function-based sliding-mode controller has been adopted to minimize switching-function chattering. An LQR controller has been implemented for pitch control to drive the unicycle robot to follow the desired velocity trajectory in real time using the state variables of pitch angle, angular velocity, wheel angle, and angular velocity. The control performance of the two control systems using a single dynamic model has been experimentally demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a voltage-source converter (VSC) topology for high-power applications. This topology combines three three-phase converters with isolated dc buses. The proposed topology can be implemented by using two-level or multilevel three-phase converters. In this paper, three three-level neutral-point-clamped (3L-NPC) converters have been combined. Two zero-sequence blocking transformers (ZSBTs) are used to interconnect the three converters. In order to validate the good performance of the proposed VSC topology, two modulation techniques are implemented: phase-shifted carrier pulsewidth modulation (PSCPWM) and selective harmonic elimination (SHE) modulation. The VSC topology has been simulated in the simulation tool Saber, and the results have been validated experimentally in a test bench of 60 kVA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The maximum power point (MPP) tracking function allows one to extract the maximum power from the photovoltaic (PV) system in any operating condition. The perturb and observe technique is one of the mainly used algorithms aimed at this function. Its performances depend on the values of the two design parameters, which are the amplitude and the frequency of the perturbations that it applies in identifying the position of the MPP. In this paper, a method for the online optimization of the perturbation period is presented. It is based on the identification of the whole system, including the PV source and the dc/dc converter controlling it. The system impulse and frequency responses are evaluated by using the cross-correlation method. Such a technique, as well as the tracking algorithm, is effectively implemented by using a field-programmable gate array, and it is validated by means of simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main hypothesis proposed in this paper is that by controlling the harmonic and zero-sequence components of the current in nonsinusoidal permanent-magnet synchronous generators (PMGs), additional energy can be obtained, thereby increasing the machine power density without increasing the Joule effect losses. Two different strategies are proposed for three- and four-wire topologies; therefore, four different cases are analyzed. The strategies consist in controlling the PMG stator currents, following a function that depends on the waveform of the back electromotive force (EMF). The current function is obtained from the instantaneous reactive power theory. An experimental system was built to validate the proposal. Experimental results prove that it is possible to increase power in a tested PMG by 7% using the four-wire topology in comparison with the conventional block commutation and same losses. Higher power gain can be obtained for machines with almost rectangular-shaped EMF waveforms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a discrete-time neural network for solving convex quadratic programming (QP) problems in constrained model predictive control (MPC) technology is investigated and implemented on a digital signal processor (DSP) device. This makes it possible to apply MPC technology to local control for high-dimensional multiple-input–multiple-output systems. The convergence issue of the discrete-time neural network is first studied. By choosing a proper error function, a sufficient condition is obtained under which the neural network converges to the exact optimal solution globally. This is the theoretical basis of this paper. An integrated hardware and software design method to implement the neural network on a DSP chip as a universal QP solver is then developed. With the QP solver handling the computational tasks in MPC problems, a general DSP-based MPC controller is achieved. A prototype system is built on a TMDSEVM6678L DSP development board. It is then applied to an air-separation-unit system and achieves satisfactory control performance. This verifies the effectiveness of the whole design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a real-time implementation of selective harmonic elimination pulsewidth modulation (SHEPWM) using generalized Hopfield neural network (GHNN) as applied to the single-phase inverter is designed and discussed. Finding the location of the switching instants in the case of SHEPWM involves the solution of a set of nonlinear algebraic transcendental equations. The problem is redrafted as an optimization problem, and it is solved by using GHNN. Though, in principle, the $n$ number of harmonics can be eliminated using the presented methodology, this paper tries for the case of the elimination of the 5th-, 7th-, 11th-, and 13th-order harmonics while retaining the desired fundamental. An energy function is formulated for this problem and the set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) describing the behavior of GHNN is obtained. A program in KEIL C was developed to solve these systems of ODEs by the Runge–Kutta fourth-order method to give the switching instants for continuously varying modulation indexes $(M)$. A MATLAB simulation was carried out, and an experimental setup was also constructed in order to validate the simulated results. The fast Fourier transform analysis of the simulated output voltage waveform and the experimental output voltage waveform confirms the effectiveness of the proposed method. Hence, the proposed method proves that it is much applicable in the industrial applications by virtue of its suitability in real-time applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dual-phase lock-in amplifiers (LIAs) are designed to extract information (amplitude and phase) from signals buried in high noise levels. In spite of their popularity, their use has been traditionally limited to input sinusoidal waves with symmetric power supplies. This paper presents an algorithm that enables single-supply analog LIAs to properly process input square waves. Formed by linear equations, its computational implementation is much simpler than that of the traditional sinusoidal algorithm. Moreover, applied to battery-operated microcontrolled systems where square signals can be generated by the embedded microcontroller, it presents intrinsic advantages such as simplicity, versatility, and reduction in power and size. Experimental results validate the proposed algorithm, confirming its enormous possibilities in sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a new method to calculate the five parameters of the single-diode model of a photovoltaic cell or panel is presented. This new method takes into account the intrinsic properties of the model equation and the technique of linear least-squares fitting; so, the computational complexity and costs are very low. Moreover, the proposed method, named two-step linear least-squares method, is able to work absolutely blindly with any kind of I–V curve. It does not need initial guesses at all and, consequently, it is not necessary to know previously any information of any parameter. The proposed method provides the parameters of the single-diode model just using the coordinates of $N$ points $(N\ge 5)$ of the I–V curve. The results provided by this method in a first stage have the same order of accuracy of the best documented methods in the field of parameters extraction, but, furthermore, in a second stage, the best accuracy documented until now is obtained in two important case studies usually used in the literature as well as in a large-scale I–V curve repository with more than one million of curves. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to introduce power quality added function to the standard Vienna rectifier in order to compensate reactive power and to cancel current-type harmonics drawn by nonlinear loads connected to the same point of common coupling. A theoretical investigation that demonstrates the ability of such topology to compensate harmonics and limited reactive power is first presented. Then, the design and implementation of a linear quadratic regulator with integral action is presented. The converter is controlled as a whole i.e., a multiple-input–multiple-output system, and uses an augmented model that was developed in the d–q frame. Experimental results obtained with a digital-signal-processor-based DS1103 controller and the converter operating at a 20-kHz switching frequency proved the effectiveness of the theoretical study and the high performance of the proposed control strategy in compensating load harmonics and limited reactive power. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a 3-degrees-of-freedom parallel manipulator developed by Tsai and Stamper known as the Maryland manipulator is considered. In order to provide dynamic analysis, three different sequential trajectories are taken into account. Two different control approaches such as the classical proportional–integral–derivative (PID) and fractional-order PID control are used to improve the tracking performance of the examined manipulator. Parameters of the controllers are determined by using pattern search algorithm and mathematical methods for the classical PID and fractional-order PID controllers, respectively. Design procedures for both controllers are given in detail. Finally, the corresponding results are compared. Performance analysis for both of the proposed controllers is confirmed by simulation results. It is observed that not only transient but also steady-state error values have been reduced with the aid of the \PI^\lambda\D^\mu controller for tracking control purpose. According to the obtained results, the fractional-order \PI^\lambda\D^\mu controller is more powerful than the optimally tuned PID for the Maryland manipulator tracking control. The main contribution of this paper is to determine the control action with the aid of the fractional-order \PI^ \lambda\D^\mu controller different from previously defined controller structures. The determination of correct and accurate control action has great importance when high speed, high acceleration, and high accuracy needed for the trajectory tracking control of parallel mechanisms present unique challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The problem of formation control of a team of mobile robots based on the virtual and behavioral structures is considered in this paper. In the virtual structure, each mobile robot is modeled by an electric charge. The mobile robots move toward a circle, and due to repulsive forces between the identical charges, regular polygon formations of the mobile robots will be realized. For swarm formation, a virtual mobile robot is located at the center of the circle, and other mobile robots follow it. In the introduced approach, each mobile robot finds its position in the formation autonomously, and the formation can change automatically in the case of change in the number of the mobile robots. This paper also proposes a technique for avoiding obstacles based on the behavioral structure. In this technique, when a mobile robot gets close to an obstacle, while moving toward its target, a rotational potential field is applied to lead the mobile robot to avoid the obstacle, without locating in local minimum positions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Kalman filter (KF) has received a huge interest from the industrial electronics community and has played a key role in many engineering fields since the 1970s, ranging, without being exhaustive, trajectory estimation, state and parameter estimation for control or diagnosis, data merging, signal processing, and so on. This paper provides a brief overview of the industrial applications and implementation issues of the KF in six topics of the industrial electronics community, highlighting some relevant reference papers and giving future research trends. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an adaptive control method of three-phase inverters for stand-alone distributed generation systems (DGSs). The proposed voltage controller includes two control terms: an adaptive compensating term and a stabilizing term. The adaptive compensating control term is constructed to avoid directly calculating the time derivatives of state variables. Meanwhile, the stabilizing control term is designed to asymptotically stabilize the error dynamics of the system. Also, a fourth-order optimal load current observer is proposed to reduce the number of current sensors and enhance the system reliability and cost effectiveness. The stability of the proposed voltage controller and the proposed load current observer is fully proven by using Lyapunov theory. The proposed control system can establish good voltage regulation such as fast dynamic response, small steady-state error, and low total harmonic distortion under sudden load change, unbalanced load, and nonlinear load. Finally, the validity of the proposed control strategy is verified through simulations and experiments on a prototype DGS test bed with a TMS320F28335 DSP. For a comparative study, the control scheme of feedback linearization for multi-input and multioutput is implemented, and its results are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reliable and accurate photovoltaic (PV) models are essential for simulation of PV power systems. A solar cell is typically represented by a single diode equivalent circuit. The circuit parameters need to be estimated accurately to get an accurate model. However, one circuit parameter was assumed because of the limited information provided by commercial manufacturing datasheets, and thus the model accuracy is affected. This paper proposes a parameterization approach for PV models to improve modeling accuracy and reduce implementation complexity. It develops a method to accurately estimate circuit parameters, and thus improving the overall accuracy, relying only on the points provided by all commercial modules datasheet. The proposed modeling approach results in two simplified models demonstrating the advantage of fast simulation. The effectiveness of the modeling approach is thoroughly evaluated by comparing the simulation results with experimental data of solar modules made of mono-crystalline, multi-crystalline, and thin film. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Depleting fossil fuels, increasing energy demand, and need for high-reliability power supply motivate the use of dc microgrids. This paper analyzes the stability of low-voltage dc microgrid systems. Sources are controlled using a droop-based decentralized controller. Various components of the system have been modeled. A linearized system model is derived using small-signal approximation. The stability of the system is analyzed by identifying the eigenvalues of the system matrix. The sufficiency condition for stable operation of the system is derived. It provides upper bound on droop constants and is useful during planning and designing of dc microgrids. Furthermore, the sensitivity of system poles to variation in cable resistance and inductance is identified. It is proved that the poles move further inside the negative real plane with a decrease in inductance or an increase in resistance. The method proposed in this paper is applicable to any interconnecting structure of sources and loads. The results obtained by analysis are verified by detailed simulation study. Root locus plots are included to confirm the movement of system poles. The viability of the model is confirmed by experimental results from a scaled-down laboratory prototype of a dc microgrid developed for the purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recently, a highly efficient midrange wireless transfer technology using electromagnetic resonance coupling has been proposed and has received much attention due to its practical range and efficiency. The resonance frequency of the resonators changes as the gap between the resonators changes. However, when this technology is applied in the megahertz range, the usable frequency is bounded by the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. Therefore, to achieve maximum power transmission efficiency, the resonance frequency has to be fixed within the ISM band. In this paper, an automated impedance matching (IM) system is proposed to increase the efficiency by matching the resonance frequency of the resonator pair to that of the power source. The simulations and experiments verify that the IM circuits can change the resonance frequency to 13.56 MHz (in the ISM band) for different air gaps, improving the power transfer efficiency. Experiments also verified that automated IM can be easily achieved just by observing and minimizing the reflected wave at the transmitting side of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, mobile-hapto is analyzed, which is a remote control system that enables the realization of two tasks: velocity control of a mobile robot and force transmission between a handle robot and a mobile robot. To date, there have been no analyses of mobile-hapto because of the fact that the dynamics of mobile-hapto is difficult to derive without the motion equation proposed in our previous study. This motion equation, in turn, allowed for the proposal of a stable mobile-hapto controller. In this paper, the proposed mobile-hapto controller is analytically compared to a conventional mobile-hapto controller. The results show that decoupled tasks can be obtained only in the proposed method. We also show the robustness of the proposed method. To confirm the validity of the proposed method, the proposed controller is experimentally compared to the conventional controller. This is the foremost study on the analysis and experimental comparison of mobile-hapto. Consequently, the usefulness of the proposed motion equation is shown. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a single-phase multilevel inverter with battery balancing is proposed. The input of each individual inverter is directly connected to a battery. The combination of batteries can be controlled according to the batteries' voltages to implement the battery-balancing function. The operational principle of the proposed system is first described, and then, the design equation is derived. Experiments show that the battery-balancing discharge function is achieved. Finally, a prototype is designed and implemented to verify the feasibility and excellent performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents the automatic reactive power control of isolated wind–diesel hybrid power systems having a permanent-magnet induction generator for a wind energy conversion system and a synchronous generator for a diesel generator set. To minimize the gap between reactive power generation and demand, a variable source of reactive power is used such as a static synchronous compensator. The mathematical model of the system used for simulation is based on small-signal analysis. Three examples of the wind–diesel hybrid power system are considered with different wind power generation capacities to study the effect of the wind power generation on the system performance. This paper also shows the dynamic performance of the hybrid system with and without change in input wind power plus 1% step increase in reactive power load. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a positive feedforward control (PFFC) for a multimodule output-series (MMOS) system with individual nonideal sources. By adding PFFC-loop regulation into the conventional negative feedback control loop, the power module can easily harvest the maximum power from the source, and the output voltage of the converter can be slowly decreased when the input voltage is kept constant. In MMOS applications, an automatic master-loop regulation (AMLR) control is proposed to achieve voltage allocation among the individual power modules; however, this scheme has some drawbacks because its output voltage and power decrease immediately when the power of any one source is insufficient for the converter's needs. By utilizing the characteristics of the PFFC loop, the output voltage of the individual modules can be effectively allocated for managing the output power of the MMOS system. In this paper, the characteristics of the PFFC-loop regulation are derived through dc analysis. An experimental prototype is implemented for three forward modules with individual nonideal sources, and the characteristics of the PFFC loop are verified. By adding the proposed PFFC loop to AMLR, the measured power rating of the experimental MMOS system can be increased by about 20%. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is concerned with a fixed-point implementation of the extended Kalman filter (EKF) for applications in sensorless control of ac motor drives. The sensitivity of the EKF to round-off errors is well known, and numerically advantageous implementations based on the square-root decomposition of covariance matrices have been developed to address this issue. However, these techniques have not been applied in the EKF-based sensorless control of ac drives yet. Specific properties of the fixed-point implementation of the EKF for a permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive are presented in this paper, and suitability of various square-root algorithms for this case is discussed. Three square-root algorithms—Bierman–Thorton, Carlson–Schmidt–Givens, and Carlson–Schmidt–Householder—were implemented, and their performances are compared to that of the standard implementation based on full covariance matrices. Results of both simulation studies and experimental tests performed on a developed sensorless PMSM drive prototype of rated power of 10.7 kW are presented. It was confirmed that the square-root algorithms improve the behavior of the sensorless control in critical operating conditions such as low speeds and speed reversal. In particular, the Carlson–Schmidt–Givens algorithm was found to be well suited for the considered drive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inductive loop detectors are widely deployed in strategic roadway networks. This paper investigates recursive estimation of traffic densities using the information provided by loop detectors. The existing studies for multilane roadways mainly focus on the scenario where vehicles' lane-change movements are not common and can be ignored. This paper, however, takes into consideration lane-change effect in traffic modeling and incorporates a Markov chain into the state space model to describe the lane-change behavior. We update the traffic density estimate using the Kalman filter. To avoid the approximation due to the linearization of the nonlinear observation equation in the extended Kalman filter, we have considered a suitable transformation. Numerical studies were carried out to investigate the performance of the developed approach. It is shown that it outperforms the existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The objective of this paper is to propose a modularized bidirectional single-phase grid-connected inverter (BGI) with constant-frequency asynchronous sigma–delta modulation (CF-ASDM) control for the renewable energy (RE)-supplied dc power system. The proposed BGI can be operated either in the inverter mode (IM) or rectified mode (RM); both are necessary features for the RE-supplied dc power system. By comparing to the conventional ASDM with variable switching frequency, the proposed CF-ASDM can simplify the filter design and can reduce the computational burden of the digital signal processor while maintaining the merit of quick dynamic response. Moreover, the proposed BGI has a redundant central controller which can increase the system reliability. The major contribution of this paper includes developing the modularized BGI with CF-ASDM control scheme for IM and RM operations thoroughly and applying it to the RE-supplied dc power system successfully. In this paper, the mathematical equations to achieve the constant switching frequency operation for the CF-ASDM will be derived. Computer simulations and hardware experiments are shown to verify the performance of the proposed modularized BGI with CF-ASDM control. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A main problem in autonomous vehicles in general, and in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in particular, is the determination of the attitude angles. A novel method to estimate these angles using off-the-shelf components is presented. This paper introduces an attitude heading reference system (AHRS) based on the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) using the three-axis attitude determination (TRIAD) algorithm as the observation model. The performance of the method is assessed through simulations and compared to an AHRS based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF). The paper presents field experiment results using a real fixed-wing UAV. The results show good real-time performance with low computational cost in a microcontroller. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an adaptive sensorless position control system for a synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM). By using the proposed dual current-slope estimating technique, the rotor position of the SynRM can be precisely obtained. In addition, a comparison which shows that the proposed dual current-slope method has better performance than the traditional single current-slope method is discussed. To improve the transient responses and load disturbance rejection capability, an adaptive controller and a novel online self-tuning-gain state estimator are proposed here. A TMS-320F-28335 digital signal processor is used to execute the rotor position estimation, self-tuning-gain state estimation, adaptive control algorithm, d –q to a–b–c coordinate transformation, and PWM switching strategy. As a result, the hardware circuit is very simple. Experimental results show that the proposed system has satisfactory performance and good robustness. The estimated position error of the proposed dual current-slope estimating method can be reduced to 50% as compared to the traditional single current-slope position estimating method. Several experimental results are provided to validate the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry-proven field-weakening solutions for nonsalient-pole permanent-magnet synchronous motor drives are presented in this paper. The core algorithm relies on direct symbolic equations. The equations take into account the stator resistance and reveal its effect on overall algorithm quality. They establish a foundation for an offline calculated lookup table which secures effective d-axis current reference over entire field-weakening region. The table has been proven on its own and in combination with a PI compensator. Usage recommendations are given in this paper. Functionality of the proposed solutions has been investigated theoretically and in practice. The investigation has been carried out in the presence of motor magnetic saturation and parameter tolerance, taking into account the change of operating temperature. The results and analysis method are included in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Multiphase (more than three phases) power electronic converters are required mainly for feeding variable-speed multiphase drive systems. This paper presents one such solution by using a direct ac–ac converter that can be used to supply a nine-phase drive system. The input is a fixed-voltage and fixedfrequency three-phase input, and the output is a variable-voltage and variable-frequency nine-phase output. A simple pulsewidthmodulation technique is developed for the proposed ac–ac converter named as a nonsquare three-to-nine-phase matrixconverter configuration. The developed modulation technique is based on the comparison of a high-frequency carrier signal with the duty ratios. Although the carrier-based scheme is widely employed for the control of back-to-back converters, it has recently been used for controlling a three-to-three-phase matrix converter. This concept is extended in this paper for controlling a threeto-nine-phase matrix converter. With the two techniques that are proposed, one outputs 0.75 of the input magnitude and the other outputs reach 0.762 of the input. This is the maximum value of the output voltage in the linear modulation range that can be achieved in this configuration of the matrix converter. The viability of the proposed control techniques is proved analytically through simulation and an experimental approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes two sets of topologies for single-phase to three-phase four-wire ac–dc–ac power conversion. All proposed configurations are characterized by reduction in the number of switches. The first set includes five configurations using ten power switches, while the second one includes six configurations using eight power switches. Such configurations are conceived for supplying three-phase four-wire loads and to guarantee bidirectional power flow between grid and load. Besides collecting different configurations, this paper proposes a synchronization technique, which can be applied for configurations with shared leg. The overall control strategy for providing dc link voltage control, grid current control, and PWM generation are presented. Simulated and experimental results are presented as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an adaptive method for tracking the amplitude, phase, and frequency of a time-varying sinusoid in white noise. Although the conventional techniques like adaptive linear elements and discrete or fast Fourier transforms are still widely used in many applications, their accuracy and convergence speed pose serious limitations under sudden supply frequency drift, fundamental amplitude, or phase variations. This paper, therefore, proposes a fast and low-complexity multiobjective Gauss–Newton algorithm for estimating the fundamental phasor and frequency of the power signal instantly and accurately. Further, the learning parameters in the proposed algorithm are tuned iteratively to provide faster convergence and better accuracy. The proposed method can also be extended to include time-varying harmonics and interharmonics mixed with noise of low signal-to-noise ratio with a great degree of accuracy. Numerical and experimental results are presented in support of the effectiveness of the new approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A digital sensorless adaptive voltage positioning (SLAVP) control method is presented in this paper in order to realize AVP control without the need for load or inductor current sensing and high-resolution high-speed analog-to-digital converter sampling. The SLAVP control law utilizes the readily available error signal of the conventional voltage-mode closed-loop compensated controller or, in other words, the duty cycle of a dc–dc buck converter in order to realize AVP control. The elimination of the need for high-speed and accurate sensing and sampling of currents using the proposed SLAVP control reduces the size and cost of the digital controller, reduces the power losses associated with current sensing and sampling, and simplifies hardware design. Moreover, the SLAVP control can easily be added to controllers with conventional voltage-mode closed-loop control with minimum size and cost increase, and therefore, SLAVP control can be used for a wide range of applications and not only for high-end applications like powering microprocessors. The theoretical SLAVP control law derivation and analysis and SLAVP controller architecture are presented in this paper and verified by experimental results obtained from a proof-of-concept experimental prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]