This paper presents analysis and study of the single-phase transverse-flux machine. The finite element method results of the machine are compared with the laboratory measurements to confirm the accuracy of the computer model. This computer model is then used to investigate the effect of the machine’s geometry on its output characteristics. Parametric analysis of the machine is carried out to find the optimal air-gap diameter at which the cogging torque of the machine is minimal. In addition, the influence of the coil cross-section on the torque and output power characteristics of the machine is investigated and discussed.

Wireless inductive-coupled power transfer is a very appealing technique for the battery recharge of autonomous devices like surveillance drones. The charger design mainly focuses on lightness and fast-charging to improve the drone mission times and reduce the no-flight gaps. The charger secondary circuit mounted on the drone generally consists of a full-bridge rectifier and a second-order filter. The filter cut-off frequency is usually chosen to make the rectifier output voltage constant and so that the battery is charged with continuous quantities. Previous works showed that an increase in power transfer is achieved, if compared to the traditional case, when the second-order filter resonant frequency is close to the double of the wireless charger excitation and the filter works in resonance. This work demonstrates that the condition of resonance is necessary but not sufficient to achieve the power increment. The bridge rectifier diodes must work in discontinuous-mode to improve the po... [more]

The paper presents a new concept of determining the resultant position of a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) based on individual SBAS (Satellite-Based Augmentation System) determinations from all available EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) satellites for the SPP (Single Point Positioning) code method. To achieve this, the authors propose a weighted mean model to integrate EGNOS data. The weighted model was based on the inverse of the square of the mean position error along the component axes of the BLh ellipsoidal frame. The calculations included navigation data from the EGNOS S123, S126, S136 satellites. In turn, the resultant UAV position model was determined using the Scilab v.6.0.0 software. Based on the proposed computational strategy, the mean values of the UAV BLh coordinates’ standard deviation were better than 0.2 m (e.g., 0.0000018° = 0.01″ in angular measurement). Additionally, the numerical solution used made it possible to increase the UAV’s position a... [more]

Permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) are becoming more popular, both in industrial applications and in electric and hybrid vehicle drives. Unfortunately, like the others, these are not reliable drives. As in the drive systems with induction motors, the rolling bearings can often fail. This paper focuses on the possibility of detecting this type of mechanical damage by analysing mechanical vibrations supported by shallow neural networks (NNs). For the extraction of diagnostic symptoms, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and the Hilbert transform (HT) were used to obtain the envelope signal, which was subjected to the FFT analysis. Three types of neural networks were tested to automate the detection process: multilayer perceptron (MLP), neural network with radial base function (RBF), and Kohonen map (self-organizing map, SOM). The input signals of these networks were the amplitudes of harmonic components characteristic of damage to bearing elements, obtained as a result of FFT or HT... [more]

In this paper, different Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) strategies for operating with a low-switching frequency, a topology that combines Conventional Matrix Converters (CMCs), and Coupled Reactors (CRs) are presented and discussed. The principles of the proposed strategies are first discussed by a conceptual analysis and later validated by simulation. The paper shows how the combination of CMCs and CRs could be of special interest for sharing the current among these converters’ modules, being possible to scale this solution to be a modular system. Therefore, the use of coupled reactors allows one to implement phase shifters that give the solution the ability to generate a stair-case load voltage with the desired power quality even the matrix converters are operated with a low-switching frequency close to the grid frequency. The papers also address how the volume and weight of the coupled reactors decrease with the growth of the fundamental output frequency, making this solution especial... [more]

In this paper, we study a wind energy conversion system designed for domestic use in urban or agricultural areas. We first present the turbine, which was specifically designed to be installed on the buildings that it supplies. Based on turbine characteristics, we perform analytical sizing of a Permanent Magnet Vernier Machine (PMVM), which will be used as a generator in our energy conversion system. We show the influence of this generator on system operation by studying its association with a PWM rectifier and with a diode bridge rectifier. We then seek to improve generator design so that the turbine operates closely to maximum power points, while using a simple and robust energy conversion system. We use simulation to show the improvements achieved by taking into account the entire energy conversion system during machine design.

In this study, we investigated the resonance mechanism of 6.78 MHz resonant wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. The depletion mode of a gallium nitride high-electron-mobility transistor (GaN HEMT) was used to switch the states in a class-E amplifier circuit in this high frequency. The D-mode GaN HEMT without a body diode prevented current leakage from the resonant capacitor when the drain-source voltage became negative. The zero-voltage switching control was derived according to the waveform of the resonant voltage across the D-mode GaN HEMT without the use of body diode conduction. In this study, the effect of the resonant frequency and the duty cycle on the resonance mechanism was derived to achieve the highest WPT efficiency. The result shows that the power transfer efficiency (PTE) is higher than 80% in a range of 40 cm transfer distance, and the power delivered to load (PDL) is measured for different distances. It is also possible to cover different applications related to batt... [more]

In this study, a GLSDC (Gaussian Least Squares Differential Correction) based parameter estimation algorithm is used to identify a PMSM (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor) model. In this method, a nonlinear model is assumed to be the correct representation of the underlying state dynamics and the output signals are assumed to be measured in a noisy environment. Using noisy input and output signals, parameters that constitute the coefficients of the nonlinear state and input signal terms are to be estimated using the state transition matrix which is computed by the numerical means that are detailed. Since a GLSDC algorithm requires correct initial state value, this term is also estimated in addition to the unknown coefficients whose bounds are assumed to be known, which is mostly the case in the industrial applications. The batch input and output signals are used to iteratively estimate the parameter set before and after the convergence, and to recover the filtered state trajectories.... [more]

The spoke-type permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM), which is a general ferrite magnetic flux-concentrated motor, has a low portion of reluctance torque at the total torque magnitude. Therefore, as a way to increase the reluctance torque, there is a double-layer spoke-type PMSM that can maximize the difference in inductance between the d-axis and the q-axis. However, in the double-layer spoke-type PMSM, cogging torque, torque ripple, and total harmonic distortion (THD) increase with reluctance torque, which is the main cause of vibration and noise. In this paper, a method is proposed that provides the same effect as skew without dividing stages of the permanent magnet by dividing the core of the rotor into two types so that it is easy to manufacture according to the number of stages, unlike extant skew methods. Based on the method, the reduction in cogging torque and THD was verified by finite element analysis (FEA).

Peer review is the driving force of journal development, and reviewers are gatekeepers who ensure that Energies maintains its standards for the high quality of its published papers [...]

The partial discharge (PD) leads to catastrophic failure of the medium voltage (MV) switchgear insulation. Determination of the PD source (defect) location in high voltage (HV) equipment is very important in the maintenance procedures and in isolating the root cause of PD generation. In this paper, the transient earth voltage (TEV) detection method was used to acquire defect-initiated PD signals in a simulated MV switchgear model. An array of four TEV sensors were placed on the surface walls outside an MV switchgear tank to acquire the PD signals generated from the known location(s)/coordinates of sharp needle type defect inside the tank. The time difference of arrival (TDOA) between signals that are captured by the TEV sensors array was critically analyzed. Estimating the TDOA between PD signals generated by PD source at a known location with high accuracy is of great importance for accurate defect localization. The cumulative energy method (CEM) is used to estimate the onset time poi... [more]

An autonomous surface vehicle, known as a wave glider, was used to record refracted and reflected signals from a seismic source penetrating the shallow subsurface. An integrated survey system consisting of a wave gilder and a human-operated source vessel was deployed. These survey systems are used to acquire wide-offset seismic survey data from specific areas, such as offshore structures. The wave gliders can collect seismic refraction and reflection data, which can be used to estimate subsurface information, e.g., acoustic wave velocity and subsurface structure. We processed raw data collected by a receiver equipped with the wave glider and used the relationship between travel time and offset distance to calculate the velocities of shallow sedimentary deposits and the acoustic basement. The velocities of the sedimentary deposits and basement were estimated to be 1557 and 3507 m/s, respectively. We then overlaid the velocities on subsurface data measured using a single-channel streamer... [more]

This article presents three variants of the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) for the Double Square Multiphase type Conventional Matrix Converters (DSM-CMC) supplying loads with the open-end winding. The first variant of PWM offers the ability to obtain zero value of the common-mode voltage at the load’s terminals and applies only six switches within the modulation period. The second proposal archives for less Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the generated load voltage. The third variant of modulation concerns maximizing the voltage transfer ratio, minimizing the number of switching, and the common-mode voltage cancellation. The discussed modulations are based on the concept of sinusoidal voltage quadrature signals, which can be an effective alternative to the classic space-vector approach. In the proposed approach, the geometrical arrangement of basic vectors needed to synthesize output voltages is built from the less number of vectors, which is equal to the number of the matrix converte... [more]

Interturn short circuits are a common fault of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). This paper proposes a new method to detect the interturn short-circuit fault (ISCF) of a five-phase PMSM. The method first takes the command voltage and measured current of each phase winding as the original signal and then obtains the delay signal orthogonal to the original signal via Hilbert transform. Then, the generalized instantaneous reactive power of each phase can be calculated from the orthogonal voltage and current signals of each phase. Finally, the influence of the ISCF on the generalized instantaneous reactive power of each phase is analyzed under different working conditions. By comparing the difference in the generalized instantaneous reactive power of each phase, it can be determined which phase winding has the ISCF. The proposed method is verified by simulated and experimental results.

Wireless power transfer (WPT) is becoming popular increasingly in stationary electric vehicle (EV) charging. Various coil structures were proposed to improve the coupling characteristics, and polarized couplers have been proven to have better performance. Considering the varying spatial scales of transmitting and receiving, coils will alter the mutual inductance, further affecting the output power and transmission efficiency; therefore, it is crucial to calculate the mutual inductance of polarized couplers with variable offset for WPT system design. However, given the complex structure and the various excitation conditions of polarized couplers, the solving process based on the finite element model is time-consuming and resource intensive, therefore it is necessary to develop analytical models of mutual inductance for polarized couplers under misalignment. In this paper, the analytical models of the two commonly used polarized couplers with a Double-D polarized coil (DDP) or a Bipolar... [more]

The microwave wireless power transfer (MWPT) technology has found a variety of applications in consumer electronics, medical implants and sensor networks. Here, instead of a magnetic resonant coupling wireless power transfer (MRCWPT) system, a novel MWPT system based on a frequency reconfigurable (covering the S-band and C-band) microstrip patch antenna array is proposed for the first time. By switching the bias voltage-dependent capacitance value of the varactor diode between the larger main microstrip patch and the smaller side microstrip patch, the working frequency band of the MWPT system can be switched between the S-band and the C-band. Specifically, the operated frequencies of the antenna array vary continuously within a wide range from 3.41 to 3.96 GHz and 5.7 to 6.3 GHz. For the adjustable range of frequencies, the return loss of the antenna array is less than −15 dB at the resonant frequency. The gain of the frequency reconfigurable antenna array is above 6 dBi at different w... [more]

Multi-sensor imagery data has been used by researchers for the image semantic segmentation of buildings and outdoor scenes. Due to multi-sensor data hunger, researchers have implemented many simulation approaches to create synthetic datasets, and they have also synthesized thermal images because such thermal information can potentially improve segmentation accuracy. However, current approaches are mostly based on the laws of physics and are limited to geometric models’ level of detail (LOD), which describes the overall planning or modeling state. Another issue in current physics-based approaches is that thermal images cannot be aligned to RGB images because the configurations of a virtual camera used for rendering thermal images are difficult to synchronize with the configurations of a real camera used for capturing RGB images, which is important for segmentation. In this study, we propose an image translation approach to directly convert RGB images to simulated thermal images for expa... [more]

An interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) drive system with machine learning-based maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) as well as flux-weakening (FW) control was developed and is presented in this study. Since the control performance of IPMSM varies significantly due to the temperature variation and magnetic saturation, a machine learning-based MTPA control using a Petri probabilistic fuzzy neural network with an asymmetric membership function (PPFNN-AMF) was developed. First, the d-axis current command, which can achieve the MTPA control of the IPMSM, is derived. Then, the difference value of the dq-axis inductance of the IPMSM is obtained by the PPFNN-AMF and substituted into the d-axis current command of the MTPA to alleviate the saturation effect in the constant torque region. Moreover, a voltage control loop, which can limit the inverter output voltage to the maximum output voltage of the inverter at high-speed, is designed for the FW control in the constant power region... [more]

The comparison of building energy efficiency in different climates is a growing issue. Unique structural solutions will not ensure the same energy use, but the differences also remain if cost-optimal solutions are applied. This study developed a new equation for the assessment of building envelope optimal insulation in different climates for office buildings. The developed method suggests determining actual degree days from simulated heating energy need and the thermal conductance of a building, avoiding in such a way the use of a base temperature. The method was tested in four climates and validated against cost-optimal solutions solved with optimization. The accuracy of the method was assessed with sensitivity analyses of key parameters such as window-to-wall ratios (WWRs), window g-values, costs of heating, and electricity. These results showed that the existing square root equation overestimated the climate difference effect so that the calculation from the cold climate U-value res... [more]

A permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) based on the principle of variable exciting magnetic reluctance (VMRPMSM) is presented. The motor is equipped with symmetrical non-magnetic conductors on both sides of the tangential magnetized permanent magnets (PMs). By placing the non-magnetic conductor (NMC), the magnetic reluctance in the exciting circuit is adjusted, and the flux weakening (FW) of the motor is realized. Hence, the NMC is studied comprehensively. On the basis of introducing the motor structure, the FW principle of this PMSM is described. The shape of the NMC is determined by analyzing and calculating the electromagnetic force (EF) acting on the PMs. We calculate the magnetic reluctance of the NMC and research on the effects of the NMC on electromagnetic force, d-axis and q-axis inductance and FW performance. The critical speeds from the test of the no-load back electromotive force (EMF) verify the correctness of the NMC design. The analysis is corresponding to the test r... [more]

The common-mode voltage (CMV) generated by the switching operation of the pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter leads to bearing failure and electromagnetic interference (EMI) noises. To reduce the CMV, it is necessary to reduce the magnitude of dv/dt and change the frequency of the CMV. In this paper, the range of the CMV is reduced by using opposite triangle carrier for ABC and XYZ winding group, and the change in frequency in the CMV is reduced by equalizing the dwell time of the zero voltage vector on ABC and XYZ winding group of dual three phase motor.

The longitudinal vibration of the drill pipe contains considerable energy which can be used to improve the rock-breaking efficiency during drilling. It is very important to the development of drilling speed-up tools to have a comprehensive understanding of the energy conversion efficiency of downhole drill string vibration. In this paper, the characteristics of downhole bit load and longitudinal vibration of drill string under different conditions were studied in the experiment, and the analysis method of energy conversion efficiency from drill string vibration to spring potential energy was proposed. The experimental analysis showed that the fluctuation of the downhole bit load was reduced by 10%−90% after the spring was installed in the bottom hole assembly. The rotation rate and the spring elastic stiffness had a significant and positive influence on the fluctuation amplitude of the downhole bit load. Meanwhile, the longitudinal vibration amplitude and acceleration of the drill stri... [more]

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is among the dominant multi-attribute methods of comprehensively representing the competitiveness of a company. A large number of studies have commonly found that profitability can positively affect CSR. However, positivity depends on firm type and the economy, and there is little research in this area. The objective of this paper is to study and verify whether the profitability of different types of companies has a comparable impact on CSR measures in Chinese appliance listed companies. A specific multi-attribute AHP (analytic hierarchy process) model was proposed to determine the CSR for the conditions of Chines appliance listed companies. The interactive regression model serves to analyse the impact of a firm type. The specific multi-attribute AHP model was verified as a suitable tool for CSR evaluation of Chines appliance listed companies. The regression results show that for family firms, the impact of profitability on CSR is significant, whil... [more]

Single-phase short-circuits are most often faults in electrical systems. The analysis of this damage type is taken for backup power supply systems, from small power synchronous generators. For these hybrid installations, there is a need for standard protection devices, such as fuses or miniature circuit breaker (MCB) analysis. Experimental research mentioned that a typical protective apparatus in low-voltage installations, working correctly during supplying from the grid, does not guarantee fast off-switching, while short-circuits occur during supplication from the backup generator set. The analysis of single-phase short-circuits is executed both for current waveform character (including sub-transient and transient states) and the carried energy, to show the problems with the fuses and MCB usage, to protect circuits in installations fed in a hybrid way (from the grid and synchronous generator set).

A new silicon carbide (SiC) planar-gate insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is proposed and comprehensively investigated in this paper. Compared to the traditional SiC planar-gate IGBT, the new IGBT boasts a much stronger injection enhancement effect, which leads to a low on-state voltage (VON) approaching the SiC trench-gate IGBT. The strong injection enhancement effect is obtained by a heavily doped carrier storage layer (CSL), which creates a hole barrier under the p-body to hinder minority carriers from being extracted away through the p-body. A p-shield is located at the bottom of the CSL and coupled to the p-body of the IGBT by an embedded p-MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors). In off-state, the heavily doped CSL is shielded by the p-MOSFET clamped p-shield. Thus, a high breakdown voltage is maintained. At the same time, owing to the planar-gate structure, the proposed IGBT does not suffer the high oxide field that threatens the long-term reliability... [more]