Inclinometer Research Articles

Research on robust stabilization control of high-voltage power maintenance robot under wind load action

PurposeThe power cable maintenance robot is an important equipment to ensure the reliable operation of high-voltage transmission (HVT) lines and is a useful exploration to achieve high-quality power transmission. In respond to a series of technical problems in the operation process, such as robot shaking, terminal positioning error, camera image blurred and visual servo control difficulty which caused by the influence of high altitude random wind load on the motion control of power maintenance robot. The purpose of this study is to minimizing the impact of wind loads on robot motion control on the high voltage transmission line, so as to obtain the sound motion performance.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a robust stabilization control method for flexible wire power maintenance robot under wind load action, the coupling mathematical model between the flexible wire with the robot has been established, and the robot rolling model under wind load has also been established. According to the tilt sensor, the robot pendulum angle value can be obtained and fitted through sinusoidal function; the robot swing period and frequency under wind load action can be also obtained; the feedforward- and feedback-based robot closed-loop control system is also designed.FindingsThrough the online detection of wind load dection, so as to dynamic control the clamping force of the robot's dual-arm jaws, therefore, the robot robust stabilization control with different grades of wind load can be realized. Finally, the effectiveness and engineering practicability of the proposed algorithm are verified by simulation experiments and field operation experiments. Compared with the conventional proportional integral differential (PID) algorithm, this method can effectively suppress the influence of wind load on the robot robust stabilization motion control, and the robot posture detection operation control has been further optimized.Originality/valueA robust stabilization control method for power robot under wind load is proposed. The coupling motion model of flexible HVT and robot is established. The mathematical relationship between the robot wind rolling angle and the wind force has been deduced, and the corresponding closed-loop control system with feedforward and feedback has also been designed. Through the design of robust stabilization control algorithm based on mixed sensitivity function, the effectiveness of the mixed sensitivity robust stabilization control algorithm is verified by simulation experiments in MATLAB environment. Compared with the traditional PID algorithm, this method can effectively suppress the influence of large-scale disturbance information represented by wind load on the robot motion control. The engineering practicability of the robot robust stabilization control algorithm is further verified by the robot live damper replacement operation under the field wind load, which further improves the robot operation efficiency and intelligence.

A low-cost device for measuring local magnetic anomalies in volcanic terrain

Abstract. Reconstructions of the past behavior of the geomagnetic field critically depend on the magnetic signal stored in extrusive igneous rocks. These rocks record the Earth's magnetic field when they cool and retain this magnetization on geological timescales. In rugged volcanic terrain, however, the magnetic signal arising from the underlying flows may influence the ambient magnetic field as recorded by newly formed flows on top. To measure these local anomalies in the Earth's magnetic field directly we developed a low-cost field magnetometer based on a fluxgate sensor. To improve the accuracy of the obtained paleomagnetic vector and user-friendliness of the device, we combined this fluxgate sensor with tilt and GPS sensors to rotate the measured magnetic vector to true north, east, and down. The data acquisition is done using a ruggedized laptop, and data are immediately available for first-order interpretation. The first measurements done on Mt. Etna show local variations in the ambient magnetic field that are larger than expected and illustrate both the accuracy (certainly <0.5∘ in paleomagnetic direction) and potential of our new device.

An FBG-based smart wearable ring fabricated using FDM for monitoring body joint motion

This study proposed a new fiber Bragg grating-based smart ring for monitoring body joint postures occurred at elbow joint and knee joint positions. A single-mode fiber Bragg grating sensor was embedded into a 3D printed ring for sensing occurred deformation of the ring. The raw material used for fabricating the smart ring was polylactic acid, which was found to have the advantages of being flexible in nature and having ease of fabrication using fused deposition modeling method. The fabrication process of the fiber Bragg grating smart ring was characterized by the advantages of ease of handling, quick prototyping, high resolution, low cost, and time-saving. Bare fiber Bragg grating sensors were successfully embedded into hot printed polylactic acid material during the fused deposition modeling process, even the printing temperature of the printing nozzle exceeded 200℃. Two new smart wearable rings were fabricated and used to monitor systematic bend motion of elbow joint and knee joint. The measurement sensitivities of the two smart rings mounted at the elbow joint and knee joint were 0.0056 nm/° and 0.0276 nm/°, respectively. The corresponding maximum measurement angle within current calibration tests were 90° and 100°, respectively. The method of using both fiber Bragg grating and fused deposition modeling for sensor design can be extended for the fabrication of other sensors such as temperature sensors, strain sensors, pressure sensors, stress sensors, displacement sensors, and tilt sensors.

A FBG Tilt Sensor Fabricated Using 3D Printing Technique for Monitoring Ground Movement

In this paper, 3D printing method and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensing technology were combined to fabricate a simple and small size tilt sensor. The raw material for creating different sensor components was Polylactic Acid (PLA) material. Bare FBG sensors were directly inscribed into PLA material using fused deposition modeling (FDM) process for complete protection. Printing test using FDM process indicate that bare optical fiber cables successfully survived the FDM process even though the melted PLA materials approached a maximum temperature of around 220°. Two FBG sensors characterized by different wavelength values were symmetrically arranged inside a sensing unit for the measurement of the tilt angle in terms of their wavelength shifts. The minimum resolution and the measurement range of this new FBG tilt sensor were 0.084° and ±75°, respectively. The measurement performance of this new tilt sensor was also verified with the conventional tilt sensor. A small slope model was built up in the laboratory to examine the measurement performance of three FBG tilt sensors which were mounted at different depths inside the slope model. The measured horizontal displacement data from FBG tilt sensors were verified with the output data of the Linear Variable Displacement Transducer (LVDT) and the obtained maximum error was less than 3% when the maximum displacements are approached.

Intelligent Security System for Banking Using Internet of Things

This project proposes a technique for planning a security system for banking with email alerts and sensors. In the presence scenario there are so many banking techniques arrived but none of those are secure the properties without vulnerability. So our project main motto is to protect and also provide security without vulnerability. We use IOT to provide high end security for banking system. Our aim is not only identify the authenticate user but also protecting the customers property from theft. We use tilt sensor, pressure sensor, smoke sensor and pir sensor, this sensors is used to identify the unauthorized person activity and prevent him steeling the property and capture the victim image by using web cam and transfer it to user. This technique remove all the vulnerabilities and make sure that the credentials are safe and it will capture the unauthorised person who tries to axis the security system.

Driver Drowsiness Detection System for Vehicle Safety

Detection of drowsiness of driver is a vehicle safety technology, which helps to put off accidents which caused by the driver being dozy. A variety of studies have recommended that around 20% of all road accidents are due to drowsiness of the driver. The developments of technologies for detecting or preventing drowsiness while driving is a major confront in accident evasion systems. Because of the peril of the tiredness while driving, different new methods need to be developed for counteracting the effect. The paper is based on a example for detection of drowsiness system. The intend of this paper is design of an automated system for safety of driver from improper driving. The system is designed such that it will precisely scrutinize the eye blink. In this paper, the eye blink of the driver is detected by using eye blink sensor which is IR based. The disparity across the eye will vary as per eye blink.The output is high, if the eye is closed or else output is low. It indicates closing or opening position of an eye. TheIR outputis given to circuit to signify the alarm. The controller will send a warning signal so that it is displayed on liquid crystal display screen. The buzzer, which is placed near the driver, will be activated and alters the driver when he falls asleep during driving. The alcohol sensor is also used to detect whether the driver is drunken which avoids accident caused by the drunken drivers. According to the intensity of light, the lights will be ON or OFF inside the vehicle, this saves power consumption. Tilt sensor is also used to detect whether the vehicle met with an accident or not.

Stem and root system response of a Norway spruce tree (Picea abies L.) under static loading

AbstractThe mechanical response of a well-instrumented Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) tree under controlled winch loading was monitored. The main aims of this study were to understand the tree-root-soil response to lateral pull loads, to examine the applicability of simple engineering principles to the tree-root-soil response and to introduce a soil component into the tree stability analysis. The stem response was recorded with tilt sensors at three different heights; two sensors at each height tracked the response in transverse directions. These data were used to derive deflection and bending moment profiles of the stem for different lateral loads. A root on the windward side and one on the leeward side were instrumented using strain gauges. The tree was winched to failure and the data were collected from the strain gauges during winching. Using the data obtained from strain gauges on the roots, strain, bending moment, shear force and deflection profiles the roots with increasing load were calculated. Using the soil reaction force-deflection profiles of the roots, equivalent spring stiffness constants were determined. An estimate of the anchorage strength and moment–rotation relationship was made using a simple characteristic curve equation normalized by the failure moment and rotation that can be modified for different soil conditions.

A new method to eliminate the misalignment angle in dynamic goniometer based on fiber optic gyro

A new development in the dynamic angle measurement based on fiber optic gyro is described, in which a tilt sensor using for accurate measurement of the inclination angle is added to the dynamic goniometer, aiming to eliminating the misalignment angle and improving precision. The principle of the method to eliminate the misalignment angle is introduced in detail. A series of experiments have been carried out to verify this method. Experimental results show the measurement error of the goniometer is better than 2″ and the standard deviation is nearly 0.2″ by this method. It indicates that the method is effective for reducing the misalignment angle and improving the precision of the dynamic goniometer.

Structural health monitoring of a 250‐m super‐tall building and operational modal analysis using the fast Bayesian FFT method

This paper presents the work on the structural health monitoring design and operational modal analysis of a 250-m super-tall building situated in Shanghai, China. The building is a steel–concrete composite structure with a steel composite frame-concrete core tube system. At the 21st and 36th–38th floors, outrigger trusses and ring-shaped trusses are set to strengthen this structure. Because the height of this structure is overlimited and its lateral stiffness in the vertical direction is nonuniform, a SHM system was designed to monitor the structural condition and evaluate its safety. The SHM system is presented in this paper, and the instrumented equipment includes accelerometers and tilt sensors. The locations of sensors were well arranged so that SHM could be conducted using the least amount of sensors. On the basis of the system, an ambient vibration test was carried out to perform the analysis with four setups designed to investigate the modal parameters in the X and Y directions. The Fast Bayesian FFT method was employed to perform the operational modal analysis. The first 10 modes were identified. The modal parameters obtained by the Bayesian method are studied and discussed, and they are compared with the results obtained by other methods. Long-term monitoring of this super-tall building was also carried out to investigate the change of modal parameters in different stages. The results of this study are expected to provide a reference for model updating, damage detection, and SHM of this high-rise building.

Through the eye of a Gobi khulan - Application of camera collars for ecological research of far-ranging species in remote and highly variable ecosystems.

The Mongolian Gobi-Eastern Steppe Ecosystem is one of the largest remaining natural drylands and home to a unique assemblage of migratory ungulates. Connectivity and integrity of this ecosystem are at risk if increasing human activities are not carefully planned and regulated. The Gobi part supports the largest remaining population of the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus; locally called “khulan”). Individual khulan roam over areas of thousands of square kilometers and the scale of their movements is among the largest described for terrestrial mammals, making them particularly difficult to monitor. Although GPS satellite telemetry makes it possible to track animals in near-real time and remote sensing provides environmental data at the landscape scale, remotely collected data also harbors the risk of missing important abiotic or biotic environmental variables or life history events. We tested the potential of animal born camera systems (“camera collars”) to improve our understanding of the drivers and limitations of khulan movements. Deployment of a camera collar on an adult khulan mare resulted in 7,881 images over a one-year period. Over half of the images showed other khulan and 1,630 images showed enough of the collared khulan to classify the behaviour of the animals seen into several main categories. These khulan images provided us with: i) new insights into important life history events and grouping dynamics, ii) allowed us to calculate time budgets for many more animals than the collared khulan alone, and iii) provided us with a training dataset for calibrating data from accelerometer and tilt sensors in the collar. The images also allowed to document khulan behaviour near infrastructure and to obtain a day-time encounter rate between a specific khulan with semi-nomadic herders and their livestock. Lastly, the images allowed us to ground truth the availability of water by: i) confirming waterpoints predicted from other analyses, ii) detecting new waterpoints, and iii) compare precipitation records for rain and snow from landscape scale climate products with those documented by the camera collar. We discuss the added value of deploying camera collars on a subset of animals in remote, highly variable ecosystems for research and conservation.

Research on Remote Automatic Monitoring System of High and Steep Slope Based on FBG Tilt Sensor

A remote automatic monitoring system for high and steep slope based on FBG tilt sensor was established along Shuohuang railway, and an FBG tilt sensor with a high sensitivity was developed in this monitoring system. The monitoring system is running smoothly, and the monitoring results show that the maximum deformation of the slop is less than 2 mm in the rainy season, slope slip occurs at the location of 9.5 meters above, the overall deformation of slope is small, and the slope is steady.

PERANCANGAN SISTEM KENDALI KENDARAAN BERMOTOR JARAK JAUH MENGGUNAKAN NodeMCU ESP8266

Menghidupkan kendaraan bermotor dari jarak jauh adalah merupakan satu kendala bagi pemilik kendaraan bermotor, hal ini dapat terjadi apabila dia bepergian jauh dan tidak ada orang yang dapat menghidupkan kendaraannya. Untuk itu penulis membuat suatu penelitian untuk memanfaatkan teknologi IoT (internet of things) yang dapat mematikan dan menghidupkan kendaraan bermotor dari jarak jauh. Dengan menggunakan NodeMCU ESP8266 yang dihubungkan dengan 2 relay dan 2 sensor yaitu sensor getar SW420 dan sensor kemiringan (tilt) SW460D dapat menghasilkan konfigurasi hardware untuk mengendalikan kendaraan bermotor jarak jauh. Sebagai antar muka pengendali, telah dibuat satu aplikasi yang diprogram menggunakan aplikasi Blynk yang berbasis android. Rancangan yang penulis teliti ini, telah di uji cobakan kepada sepeda bermotor dari tanggal 1 Maret hingga 1 April, di mana hasilnya selalu berhasil mengendalikan kendaraan bermotor dari jarak jauh jika sistem ini mendapatkan sinyal wifi dengan koneksi internet.
 Kata-kata Kunci: IoT, NodeMCU ESP8266, Sensor getar SW420, sensor kemiringan SW460D

Performance evaluation of parabolic trough solar collector with solar tracking tilt sensor for water distillation

The distilled water production by the application of the parabolic trough solar collector technology has its significant importance that still needs further exploration. The current study represent...

Probabilistic rainfall thresholds in Chibo, India: estimation and validation using monitoring system

The Himalayan region has been severely affected by landslides especially during the monsoons. In particular, Kalimpong region in Darjeeling Himalayas has recorded several landslides and has caused significant loss of life, property and agricultural land. The study region, Chibo has experienced several landslides in the past which were mainly debris and earth slide. Globally, several types of rainfall thresholds have been used to determine rainfall-induced landslide incidents. In this paper, probabilistic thresholds have been defined as it would provide a better understanding compared to deterministic thresholds which provide binary results, i.e., either landslide or no landslide for a particular rainfall event. Not much research has been carried out towards validation of rainfall thresholds using an effective and robust monitoring system. The thresholds are then validated using a reliable system utilizing Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) tilt sensor and volumetric water content sensor installed in the region. The system measures the tilt of the instrument which is installed at shallow depths and is ideal for an early warning system for shallow landslides. The change in observed tilt angles due to rainfall would give an understanding of the applicability of the probabilistic model. The probabilities determined using Bayes’ theorem have been calculated using the rainfall parameters and landslide data in 2010–2016. The rainfall values were collected from an automatic rain gauge setup near the Chibo region. The probabilities were validated using the MEMS based monitoring system setup in Chibo for the monsoon season of 2017. This is the first attempt to determine probabilities and validate it with a robust and effective monitoring system in Darjeeling Himalayas. This study would help in developing an early warning system for regions where the installation of monitoring systems may not be feasible.

Absolute Encoder-Based Dual Axis Tilt Sensor

In this paper, an optical type dual axis tilt sensor is demonstrated for the measurement of surface inclination in the range of ±90°. The proposed sensor measured the surface tilt by tracking a pendulum motion in two different axes. Unlike the traditional tilt sensor, the proposed concept used an absolute encoder for sensing the pendulum motion. This newly designed encoding track (named as index and code track) is attached separately with two pendulum blocks. As the encoder tracks are used a gray color coded pattern instead of binary code, hence the pendulum position is encoded as the variant intensity of gray colors. Thus, during the inclination of the sensor, a pair of optical trans-receiver reads the pendulum position by capturing the track information’s as well as transformed it into the variant intensity of lights. Furthermore, a simple signal processing circuit has been used for calibrating the light intensity as measured surface inclination. The static behavior of the proposed sensor has been observed in laboratory conditions and found satisfactory performance in the above-mentioned measured range.

A modified approach of peak extraction from BCG for heart rate estimation

We propose a novel method for detecting a single heartbeat interval from ballistocardiogram (BCG) from healthy subjects. An inconspicuous tilt sensor is embedded in the mattress to record a robust estimate of the local beat interval. The sensor could measure body movements caused by cardiac activity. Compared to many existing methods, this new method provides real-time and accurate heart rate estimation for all normal data and most both artifacts and anamorphic data on a beat-by-beat basis. The consistency of the proposed method with the ECG reference has been evaluated. In this data set containing approximately 15,000 heart beats, records of 10 subjects achieved an average beat interval error of 0.88% with a coverage rate of 96.94%.

Attitude-aware method for hydraulic support groups in a virtual reality environment

Current monitoring methods for hydraulic supports are designed for single machines and are unsuitable for global monitoring. This paper presents an attitude-aware method for hydraulic support groups in a virtual reality environment, which predicts the next cycle attitude in real time by a Grey–Markov prediction model. The attitude datum includes the supporting height and the corresponding attitude angles, which are obtained by installing tilt sensors on the base, the front or rear connecting rod, or the roof beam. The operation state of the hydraulic supports was determined by comparing the predicted and actual data. Next, the hydraulic support attitude was related to the coal-mining height observed through multiple cycles. The three-dimensional virtual monitoring was solved in SQL SERVER, Kingview, Unity3d, and Matlab software. Finally, the proposed method was verified on 40 hydraulic supports of a working face through 17 cycles in an underground experiment. The predictive lateral and longitudinal accuracy reached 78.9 and 82.3%, respectively. By efficiently visualizing the operation state of the hydraulic support groups in three-dimensional mode, this method can predict the future attitude with high accuracy and reliability. Therefore, it provides a theoretical approach to safe and efficient operation of a fully mechanized coal-mining face.

A fiber Bragg grating tilt sensor for posture monitoring of hydraulic supports in coal mine working face

Hydraulic supports are indispensable equipment in coal mining face. In order to establish an intelligent monitoring system for posture monitoring of hydraulic supports and realize posture monitoring of hydraulic supports online, the posture monitoring system structure of two columns shield hydraulic supports is established in theory. Then, the kinematics model of the hydraulic supports is analyzed and the fiber Bragg grating tilt sensor is designed. Besides, a method of error compensation for tilt monitoring is proposed. What’s more, the performance test is carried out. The test results indicated that the linear relationship between angles and the FBG center wavelength was good with an angular sensitivity of 32.4 pm/(°) and a linear fitting coefficient of 0.9992 in the range from −30° to 30°, and the repeatability of the FBG tilt sensor was superior. Finally, posture monitoring programs of the hydraulic supports is designed to test the performance of the FBG tilt sensor. The engineering monitoring instance is displayed, and the reliability of the hydraulic support monitoring system based on optical fiber sensing technology is analyzed, and the dynamic state of the hydraulic support posture during production process of the working face is obtained. Furthermore, such a posture monitoring system can be extensively used for quasi-distributed measurement and long-term online monitoring of other types of hydraulic supports such as four-column chock-shield hydraulic supports and standing supports.

High-sensitive tilt sensor based on macro-bending loss of single mode fiber

Abstract A novel high-sensitive tilt sensor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated based on the macro-bending loss of single mode fiber (SMF), and its sensitivity can be improved by forming multiple fiber laps. The tilt sensor is formed by an SMF bend into a semicircle with radius small enough to acquire the macro-bending loss, and it is fixed in a vessel with suitable amount of liquid. The surrounding refractive index around the semicircle changes along with the liquid level when the vessel is tilted. According to theoretical derivation, the macro-bending loss is related to the tilted angle, which means the angle can be modulated from the measured macro-bending. The experiment result corresponds to theoretical prediction and shows that the sensor has a high tilted angle sensitivity, which reaches −0.074 dB/degree in the initial scheme and −0.188 dB/degree in two turns situation. The detectable range of the tilted angle is from −90° to 90° in the improved scheme. The temperature influence is also theoretically predicted in this paper.

Wireless sensor module for 3-axis vibration and tilt monitoring on the structural building

In this paper, a simple and low-cost wireless sensor module has been developed for structural health monitoring (SHM) purposes. The module can be divided into three main parts: sensing unit, data acquisition (DAQ) unit, and data communication (DC) unit. The sensing unit is three-axis vibration and tilt sensor. It is composed using single MEMS accelerometer e.g. MMA7361L, and signal conditioning circuit for both tilt and vibration parameters. The DAQ unit function for A/D converter and data formatting, built based on a microcontroller PIC16F873. Whereas DC unit is radio (RF) transceiver, it is used to communicate with the control module (monitoring room) wirelessly. In here, we use RF-transceiver YS-C20K. In the control room, vibrations and tilts data are analysed using the developed software to get information about dynamics condition of structural building being monitored. Results of experiment and evaluation show the tilt sensor is capable to detect up to ± 30 degrees dynamic range with resolution of about 0.05 degrees, while the vibration sensor can achieved up to sensitivity of (80 V/g) with noise compensation. To get portability and easiness in field installation, the sensor system was packaged into one module.