Challenging Operating Conditions Research Articles

Application of computational intelligence for on-line control of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) at Morrinsville sewage treatment plant

Morrinsville Sewage Treatment Plant has recently been upgraded to an Extended Aeration SBR. The plant needs to comply with stringent discharge requirements despite the variations in organic and hydraulic load caused by tradewaste discharges and stormwater infiltration. Effluent data from a nearby dairy factory is transmitted to the treatment plant by radio and processed by a back propagation neural network trained to correlate the data with the corresponding BOD. BOD oxidation, nitrification and denitrification rate constants are estimated by fuzzy systems as function of temperature and MLVSS. Output data generated by the model are used to assist control of SBR cycle duration, sludge wasting, and temporary storage of excessive load in a lagoon. The model does not pretend to provide an accurate description of the process, nor a fully optimised control system, but rather a common-sense approach to the very challenging operating conditions. This is a plant receiving a low level of supervision and it is expected that the control system will improve process performance and compliance with discharge requirements.

Application of computational intelligence for on-line control of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) at Morrinsville Sewage Treatment Plant

Morrinsville Sewage Treatment Plant has recently been upgraded to an Extended Aeration SBR. The plant needs to comply with stringent discharge requirements despite the variations in organic and hydraulic load caused by tradewaste discharges and stormwater infiltration. Effluent data from a nearby dairy factory is transmitted to the treatment plant by radio and processed by a back propagation neural network trained to correlate the data with the corresponding BOD. BOD oxidation, nitrification and denitrification rate constants are estimated by fuzzy systems as function of temperature and MLVSS. Output data generated by the model are used to assist control of SBR cycle duration, sludge wasting, and temporary storage of excessive load in a lagoon. The model does not pretend to provide an accurate description of the process, nor a fully optimised control system, but rather a common-sense approach to the very challenging operating conditions. This is a plant receiving a low level of supervision and it is expected that the control system will improve process performance and compliance with discharge requirements.

A study on the design and control of robot manipulators with flexibilities

Joints and links flexibility limit the performance of industrial robots by introducing resonant frequencies in the range of the control bandwidth. Two robots were designed and built to better understand the dynamics and demonstrate the control of such robots under challenging operating conditions. One of the robots is a 3D anthropomorphic robot with two flexible links, and the other is a two-link planar robot with changeable, built-in joint flexibility. Robust and adaptive control algorithms have been demonstrated. The experimental results illustrate the difference between various control algorithms in meeting the required goals.

Design and Control of Robots with Flexibilities

Industrial and special robots are used increasingly in applications requiring fast motions and high accuracy, while manipulating large payloads. Joints and links flexibility limit the performance of such robots by introducing resonant frequencies in the range of the control bandwidth. Two robots were designed and built to better understand the dynamics and demonstrate the control of such robots under challenging operating conditions. One of the robots is a 3D anthropomorphic robot with two flexible links, and the other is a two link planar robot with changeable, built-in joint flexibility. Robust and adaptive control algorithms have been demonstrated. The experimental results illustrate the difference between various control algorithms in meeting the required goals.