Recent Patents on Engineering - Volume 14, Issue 4, 2020

Background: In the recent years, due to proliferation of the internet and smart computing there has been progress in the areas of energy, manufacturing, oil and gas, smart grid and other industrial applications. The progress in these areas is due to the advances in the emerging areas such as Big data, cloud computing, fog computing and wireless networks. The advancement in these areas has paved the way for new industrial evolution, Industry 4.0 or smart factory or Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). IIoT is made up of a collection of devices, with each device being able to monitor, collect, exchange, analyze and take decisions intelligently based on the environment through proper communication channels. IIoT consists of smart solutions in the fields of electricity (smart-grid), home automation (smart-home), supply-chains (smart-automation) and agriculture (smart-agriculture). The interconnection among the different smart components of IIoT is a key requirement for IIoT systems. We revised all the patents relating to industry 4.0 and its application in Internet of Services (IoS). Methods: In this paper, a novel three-layered architecture is proposed to handle the heterogeneity of components of IIoT, thus providing a way for the digital transformation of IIoT systems. Results: The paper also provides an overview of underlying components, principles, communication standards and enabling technologies for IIoT or smart factory. There is no patent information used in the paper for discussing the framework. Conclusion: Recent technologies such as cloud computing, fog computing, and big data are the key enablers for IIoT systems and are transforming the way in which the industrial systems work and operate.

Background: Cloud Computing (CC) provides an open computing feature where a large number of customers can interact with the cloud services hosted by the cloud service providers (CSP) for their business requirements. Objectives: Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are legal agreements between an enterprise and the CSP. To increase the confidence of the customer towards their CSP(s) will be determined by SLA fulfillment and possible actions should be adopted to minimize the violation of the SLAs. Which in turn will also lead to the revenue generation towards CSP. When SLA is breached by the customer, penalties are imposed; whereas SLA breach by the CSP will affect the trust of its valuable customers. Methods: Identify the metrics with respect to the resources and its Service level agreements (SLAs) and measure (monitoring) this to maintain its value and if the value is less as per the SLAs (threshold values) then take precautionary actions to maintain this. Results: The results indicate the present status of the resource utilization of the CPU and categories into three levels and based upon this take necessary actions to maintain the SLAs. Conclusion: The methodology discussed herein this paper can be used for monitoring the SLA parameter and to avoid the circumstances that can lead to breaching of the SLA(s).

Background: Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging plays a significant role in the computer- aided diagnostic systems for remote healthcare. In such systems, the soft textures and tissues within the denoised MR image are classified by the segmentation stage using machine learning algorithms like Hidden Markov Model. Thus, the quality of the MR image is of extreme importance and is decisive in the accuracy of the process of classification and diagnosis.

Objective: To provide real-time medical diagnostics in the remote healthcare intelligent setups, the research work proposes CUDA GPU based accelerated bilateral filter for fast denoising of 2D high- resolution knee MR images.

Methods: To achieve optimized GPU performance with better speed-up, the work implements an improvised technique that uses on-chip shared memory in combination with a constant cache.

Results: The speed-up of 382x is achieved with the new proposed optimization technique which is 2.7x as that obtained with the shared memory only approach. The superior speed-up is along with 90.6%occupancy index indicating effective parallelization. The work here also aims at justifying the appropriateness of bilateral filter over other filters for denoising magnetic resonance images. All the patents related to GPU based image denoising are revised and uniqueness of the proposed technique is confirmed.

Conclusion: The results indicate that even for a 64Mpixel image, the execution time of the proposed implementation is 334.91 msec only, making the performance almost real time. This will surely contribute to the real-time computer-aided data diagnostics requirement under remote critical conditions.

Background: Modern day software applications involve management and processing of huge amount of data, originating from a variety of sources such as Internet of Things. Such data may be dynamic, homogenous or heterogeneous. Such data is processed by the users according to their own specific needs through programming code. The coding tool should be such that it is extensible and appropriate to manage such data. The aspect-oriented approach of programming can be a good option to handle such data for extracting useful and timely information. Aspect-oriented approach can contribute positively in extending the software design and code dynamically. Objective: The aim of the research is to provide a formal framework for evaluating the extensibility of the software. Method: In order to design a framework for extensibility, a maintainability model is used. By applying the maintainability model, a novel framework for evaluating the extensibility characteristic is exhibited. The proposed framework is tested for a set of aspect-based software. Also, validation of the proposed extensibility metric is done by applying Karl Pearson Product Moment Correlation method. Finally, a comparison is made between software built using object-oriented approach and aspect-oriented approach. Results: Results suggest that novel framework for extensibility is a valid framework. Further, the findings reveal a strong positive relation between the selected attributes and extensibility. Also, after comparison it was found that, software built using aspect-oriented approach is more extensible than the one built using object-oriented approach. Conclusion: The experimental results show that the level of sub-attributes can contribute effectively to determine the level of extensibility, with design size being the top contributor, followed by complexity, coupling and cohesion. And the proposed framework is found to help software developers in selecting software that can be easily extensible.

Background: The fly ash produced by coal-fired power plants is an industrial waste. The environmental pollution problems caused by fly ash have been widely of public environmental concern. As a waste of recoverable resources, it can be used in the field of building materials, agricultural fertilizers, environmental materials, new materials, etc. Unburned carbon content in fly ash has an influence on the performance of resource reuse products. Therefore, it is the key to remove unburned carbon from fly ash. As a physical method, triboelectrostatic separation technology has been widely used because of obvious advantages, such as high-efficiency, simple process, high reliability, without water resources consumption and secondary pollution.

Objective: The related patents of fly ash triboelectrostatic separation had been reviewed. The structural characteristics and working principle of these patents are analyzed in detail. The results can provide some meaningful references for the improvement of separation efficiency and optimal design.

Methods: Based on the comparative analysis for the latest patents related to fly ash triboelectrostatic separation, the future development is presented.

Results: The patents focused on the charging efficiency and separation efficiency. Studies show that remarkable improvements have been achieved for the fly ash triboelectrostatic separation. Some patents have been used in industrial production.

Conclusion: According to the current technology status, the researches related to process optimization and anti-interference ability will be beneficial to overcome the influence of operating conditions and complex environment, and meet system security requirements. The intelligent control can not only ensure the process continuity and stability, but also realize the efficient operation and management automatically. Meanwhile, the researchers should pay more attention to the resource utilization of fly ash processed by triboelectrostatic separation.

Background: The mounting growth of wireless technology is attracting a high demand for the frequency spectrum. The measurements of spectrum usage depict that a significant portion of the spectrum lays unoccupied or overcrowded. The main cause of the glitch is the existing inefficient and fixed scheme of spectral allocation. Cognitive radio is one such technology that permits wireless devices to detect the unused frequency band and reconfigure its operating parameters to attain the required quality of service. Objective: To permit the dynamic allocation of the frequency band, spectrum sensing is performed which is an essential function of Cognitive radio and involves detection of an unused spectrum space to set up a communication link. Method: This paper presents a meta-heuristic approach for selection of a decision threshold for energy detection based spectrum sensing. At low SNR and in the presence of noise uncertainty, the performance of energy detection method fails. A novel adaptive double threshold based spectrumsensing method is proposed to avoid such a sensing failure. Further, the metaheuristic approach employs Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to compute an optimal value of the threshold to attain robustness against noise uncertainty at low SNR. Results: The simulation results of the proposed metaheuristic double threshold based spectrum sensing method demonstrate enhanced performance in comparison to the existing methods in terms of reduced error rate and increased detection probability. Some of the existing methods have been analyzed and compared from a survey of recent patents on spectrum sensing methods to support the new findings The concept of adaptive thresholding improves the detection probability by 39 % and 27 % at noise uncertainty of 1.02 and 1.04, respectively at a signal to noise ratio of -10 dB. Furthermore, the error probability reduces to 58% at the optimal threshold using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm for the signal to noise ratio of -9 dB. Conclusions: The main outcome of this work is the reduction in the probability of sensing failure and improvement in the detection probability using adaptive double thresholds at low SNR. Further, particle swarm optimization helps in obtaining the minimum probability of error under noise uncertainty with an optimal threshold.

Background: Signal generator plays a crucial role in the field of automatic measurement. However, Domestic signal generator usually uses a number of discrete phases locked loop components, whose circuits are usually complex with low precision and are easily affected by the external environment. Objective: Based on direct digital synthesis (DDS) technology, a small sized high precision economic waveform generator with a simple structure and operational convenience is developed. Methodology: The hardware circuit is designed with an AT89S52 controller, and the corresponding peripheral circuit. A DDS integrated chip AD9834 is employed as a signal source, and the modular programming principle with C and assembly language is used to accomplish the software design, through which the sine wave, square wave, triangular wave signals with adjustable amplitude, frequency, and TTL signal with adjustable duty ratio can be generated. Conclusion: The whole system is advantageous with several aspects such as high frequency precision, wide frequency range, and operational convenience. The experimental results show that the stability and reliability of the waveform generator are good with a simple hardware circuit structure.

Background: The need for a diagnosis today, becomes a necessity for variable speed AC drives in several industrial applications. An important research axis is oriented towards monitoring the state of the converter supplying the electric motor. Indeed, the voltage source inverter is likely to have switching faults. Therefore, an emergency stop of the motor drive must be done.

Objective: After reviewing related patents and works, the objective of this paper is to identify the feasibility of fault detection and diagnosis in a three-phase inverter feeding an induction motor.

Method: The proposed approach is a simple threshold fault classification method applied to fault diagnosis of a Direct Torque Control (DTC) induction motor drive using the stator Concordia mean current vector. With a fault occurrence, a localization domain consisting of seven patterns is constructed.

Results: Simulated results on 1.5-kW induction motor drive show the effectiveness of the proposed approach with a good classification performance.

Conclusion: The classification performance of our simple diagnosis system is acceptable for one fault occurrence compared to other methods. Faulty switch detection and identification is completed within a few periods of current. Using intelligent technique should improve classification performances for multiple faults occurrence.

Background: The study of kerosene fuel for gasoline engines is of great significance to the supply, management, storage, transportation of military fuel, as well as its safety. A small aviation twostroke kerosene engine fuel injection controller is the key technology of kerosene engines. It is very important to improve the performance of kerosene engine by controlling the air-fuel ratio accurately. Objective: In this study, the initial injection pulse spectrum was firstly obtained by numerical calculation in the absence of kerosene injection pulse spectrum, and then the injection controller was designed based on the initial injection pulse spectrum. Methodology: Firstly, a numerical model of the whole engine was established by using BOOST software. The air mass flow data of the inlet was obtained through numerical calculation. The amount of initial engine fuel injection was calculated according to the requirements of air-fuel ratios in each working condition, from which an initial injection pulse spectrum was obtained. Then, based on Freescale 16-bit embedded micro-controller MC9S12DP512, a kerosene engine fuel injection controller was developed, together with the circuit. According to the initial fuel injection pulse spectrum, a twodimensional interpolation algorithm was developed by using assembly language and C language mixed programming, and the anti-electromagnetic interference ability of the controller was further enhanced. Finally, the accuracy of the initial injection pulse spectrum and the performance and reliability of the injection controller of the kerosene engine were verified by the kerosene engine bench test. Results: The experimental results show that the numerical model was accurate, and the development time of the injection controller reduced by using the numerical model to calculate the initial injection pulse spectra. Conclusion: The developed controller was observed to be stable and reliable, which can meet the control requirement.

Background: The Hyphantria cunea is a worldwide quarantine pest. It has the characteristics of a wide variety of recipes, strong adaptability, wide transmission channels and serious harm, which seriously endanger the sustainable development of the ecological environment. At present, the control methods of the Hyphantria cunea are costly and inefficient. Objective: An intelligent target spraying robot based on machine vision is designed for cleansing Hyphantria cunea larva nets according to the characteristics of the net curtain and the background color.

Methodology: The mobile mechanism of the spraying robot is based on a crawler type trolley and the three-dimensional movements are achieved by stepping motor and synchronous belt driving linear guide slider in the horizontal plane, and by the lead screw in the vertical direction. The on-board software controls the hand-eye actuator to scan the target trees with a specific trajectory, and performs image processing to identify the target so as to intelligently spray on the target.

Results: The spraying robot can cope with the irregular distribution of Hyphantria cunea larva nets, and can realize the three-dimensional movement of the nozzle, and perform the progressive scanning to identify the larva nets, and the robot controls the nozzle to spray the medicine, thereby realizing the intelligent spraying of the target.

Conclusion: Experiments show that accurate target spraying of the robot can be achieved, and the target coverage rate can reach up to 85% of the total larva nets, which greatly improves the spraying efficiency.

Background: Vehicle centroid height is an important parameter in vehicle control systems. It plays an important role in vehicle roll stability and handling stability. At present, there are mainly static and dynamic measurement methods such as swing method, mass reaction method, marking method and so on. These static measurement methods often require a fixed suspension to make the measurement process time-consuming and laborious, and measurement errors will occur when the suspension is not fixed firmly, and it is impossible to measure the mass center position of spring-loaded mass and non-spring-loaded mass. Objective: Therefore, it is of great practical significance to study a high accuracy, low cost and fast measurement method of vehicle centroid height. We revised and summarized all patents relating to methods for estimating vehicle centroid height. And a new method of centroid measurement is designed in this paper. Methods: According to the change of tire flattening radius and suspension, the change of spring and non-spring mass center height when vehicle axle load changes, the method of delineation is used to calculate the change of tire flattening radius and suspension; According to the relationship between vehicle tilt angle and front and rear axle load, the principle of moment balance and the principle of mass balance, it determines the geometric relationship between the variables, and to take the moment of the contact point between the front wheel and the ground, the moment balance equation is established, and the height of the vehicle mass center, spring load and non-spring load mass center in the horizontal position of the vehicle are obtained. Results: This measurement method is different from the existing static measurement of vehicle centroid height, it does not need the fixed suspension, only need to measure several dimensions, we can avoid heavy labor and safety accidents brought by the fixed suspension, it can also reduce the measurement error caused by fixation, but also can draw the centroid location of the sprung mass and unsprung mass. The measurement method is simple, economical and accurate, and is widely applicable on two-axle vehicles. Conclusion: The purpose of this paper is to provide a static and accurate measurement method of vehicle centroid height, so as to solve the problem that the current static measurement method of vehicle centroid height needs fixed suspension, and measurement errors will occur when the suspension is not fixed properly, so it is impossible to measure the centroid position of spring-loaded mass and non-spring-loaded mass.

Background: There has been an increasing interest in the soft pneumatic networks (also referred to as pneu-nets) actuators for soft robotics due to their innate softness, ease of fabrication and high customizability. More and more structures of the soft pneu-nets actuators are reported in various relevant patents and papers. The bending ability of soft pneu-nets actuator is one of the key characterizing performances. It is characterized as a function of input air pressure as well as geometrical and material parameters, and influenced by the air pressures and design angle. Objective: In this paper, a new structure soft pneu-nets actuators (with different chambers morphology) was developed. The goal of this paper is to analyze the influence of the air pressures and design angle on the bending ability of the soft pneu-nets actuators with a new structure. Method: Firstly, a new structure of soft pneu-nets (adjusting chamber’s shape), based on the soft pneu-nets architecture described previously was developed. Then, the soft pneu-nets actuators were treated with a standard Finite Element Method (FEM) using the Abaqus 6.14 Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) package. Several soft pneu-nets actuators with various design angles were analyzed to investigate the influence of the design angle on the bending ability. In order to investigate the effect of these parameters, the relationship between the angle of bending and these parameters was conducted. Thirdly, the influence of chambers morphology on the bending ability of soft pneunets actuators could be assessed. Results: When the air pressure P is under 13.5 kPa, with increase the air pressure, the difference of angle of bending under same design angle is less evident, but when the air pressure P is over 13.5 kPa, the difference of angle of bending at same design angle increase; At the same air pressure P, when the air pressure P is under 13.5 kPa, the difference of the angle of the bending between different design angle is less, The effect of gravity is greater than that of the air pressures P. When the air pressure P is over 13.5 kPa, the design angle shows more influential on the angle of the bending. Conclusion: The angle of bending increases with the increase of the air pressures P; the chambers with a bigger design angle (thinner inside walls) enabled greater bending at given air pressures P.

Background: Axial-flux permanent magnet synchronous generators (AFDS PMSG) have been found suitable in wind energy conversion system and electric vehicle owing to its compactness, high torque capability at low speed, high torque to inertia ratio, modular geometry, and high magnet usability index. Such applications require the generator to operate in Extended Speed Range (ESR). In ESR, voltage regulation is achieved by generator field-weakening. Usually, negative daxis current is injected in the armature winding of the generator to achieve field-weakening. However, in the axial-flux machine field-weakening by current injection is not substantial due to the low inductance of the machine and use of permanent magnets with high coercivity. We have revised all patents related to field-weakening methods applied to axial-flux permanent magnet generators. Methods: Therefore, this paper emphasizes field-weakening using mechanical methods. This paper compares the performance of AFDS PMSG topologies based on its mechanical-field-weakeningbased voltage regulation capability. In this paper, generator field-weakening is achieved by angularly displacing, one of the stators with respect to the other via a mechanical actuator. Result: The experimental results show that during voltage regulation of the DS PMSG with perfectsinusoidal back-emf characteristic, least amount of harmonics is injected in the generated output power. Conclusion: Thus, the same is best suited to design an automotive generator based on MFW method for wind energy conversion system and electric vehicle running in ESR.