Article history: Received 19 February 2014 Received in revised form 2 May 2014 Accepted 2 May 2014

Currently systematic design of actuation (operational degrees of freedom) for process systems is not possible because (i) the required domain knowledge has not been identified and (ii) it is unclear how to explore the relation between actuation and operational improvement. This paper proposes geometry and flux equations as the required domain knowledge. It is explained that the relation between...

This letter demonstrates the linear dynamic range enhancement of a mode-localized microelectromechanical systems sensor based on two weakly coupled cantilevers under electrostatic actuation resulting in repulsive force. An analytical model is proposed to design sensor, and expression force obtained using finite element simulation. Compared attractive actuation, intensity less sensitive change c...

Photoactive liquid crystal elastomers are polymer networks of mesogens embedded with chromophores like azobenzene. They undergo large deformation when illuminated by light a certain wavelength through photochemical reaction, inspiring exciting new applications. However, despite the recent progresses in both experiment and theory these materials, fundamental understanding temperature effect on t...

Abstract In this work, performance of a modified-integral resonant controller with integral tracking is investigated numerically under the effects actuator delay and actuation constraints. Actuation constraints naturally limit performance, so much that it can cause instabilities. A 2-DOF drill-string m nonlinear bit–rock interactions analysed. The aforementioned control scheme implemented on sy...

Compared with traditional actuation materials, such as piezoelectric, ferroelectric and conducting polymer materials which suffered from low flexibility, high driving voltages and low energy efficiency, graphene exhibits outstanding mechanical, electrical, optical properties and chemical stability, which made it a good candidate for actuation materials. In this review, the recent progress in gr...

Efficient actuation is crucial to obtaining optimal performance from nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). We employed epitaxial piezoelectric semiconductors to obtain efficient and fully integrated NEMS actuation, which is based on exploitation of the interaction between piezoelectric strain and built-in charge depletion. The underlying actuation mechanism in these depletion-mediated NEMS beco...

This paper presents a new mechanism for the controlled lateral actuation of organic droplets on dodecylbenzenesulfonate-doped polypyrrole (PPy(DBS)) electrodes at low voltages (∼0.9 V) in an aqueous environment. The droplet actuation is based on the tunable surface wetting properties of the polymer electrodes induced by electrochemical redox reactions. The contact angle of a dichloromethane (DC...

We consider the problem of stochastic prediction and control in a time-dependent stochastic environment, such as the ocean, where escape from an almost invariant region occurs due to random fluctuations. We determine high-probability control-actuation sets by computing regions of uncertainty, almost invariant sets, and Lagrangian coherent structures. The combination of geometric and probabilist...

Considerable advances in robotic actuation technology have been made in recent years. Particularly the use of compliance has increased, both as series elastic elements as well as in parallel to the main actuation drives. This work focuses on the model formulation and control of compliant actuation structures includingmultiple branches andmultiarticulation, and significantly contributes by propo...