Motion Control

Briefs: Motion Control

Spin Bearings

Spin bearings have been invented as alternatives to such conventional rolling-element bearings as ball, spherical, needle, and roller bearings. Like a conventional bearing assembly, a spin-bearing assembly includes opposing...

Briefs: Motion Control

Controlling Speed of a Robotic Vehicle Over Rough Terrain

A method of computing the speed at which to command an autonomous robotic vehicle to travel over rough terrain has been devised. The method amounts to a robotic implementation of the...

Briefs: Motion Control

Estimation of Wheel-Contact State of a Robotic Vehicle

A method of estimating the state of contact between (1) the wheels of a robotic vehicle equipped with a rocker-bogey suspension and (2) the ground has been devised. The contact-state...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

First-Order Theory of Control of Motion of a Crane and Load

A first-order mathematical model has been developed in a theoretical study of the dynamics of a load suspended by a cable from a crane that moves along a straight track. The model...

Briefs: Motion Control

Temporary Fullerene Films in Microelectromechanical Devices

In a proposed technique for fabrication of microelectromechanical devices, thin films of fullerenes would be used as temporary packaging to protect and position delicate...

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Inertial/GPS Pointing and Positioning System

A data system generates information on the position and orientation of a pointing instrument (e.g., a telescope or a laser) that could be mounted on a moving platform (e.g., an aircraft) and...

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Conformably Stowable Canard

An improved secondary wing system of the canard type has been invented to improve performance and increase efficiency of airplanes capable of flight at supersonic and high subsonic speeds. Canards, including...

Briefs: Motion Control

Asymmetric Dual-Axis Goniometer for Positioning on a Sphere

The ability to position an object at various locations corresponding to a portion of a spherical surface has long been accomplished using nested goniometers, in which, as observed...

Briefs: Motion Control

Multiple-DOF Surface-Acoustic-Wave Piezoelectric Motors

Surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) piezoelectric motors capable of operating in multiple degrees of freedom (DOFs) simultaneously have been proposed. A particularly useful motor of this type...

Briefs: Motion Control

Electrohydrodynamic Pumping Enhances Operation of Heat Pipe

Experiments have shown that electrohydrodynamic pumping can be utilized to increase the heat-transport capacity of a heat pipe. More specifically, electrohydrodynamic pumping can...

Briefs: Motion Control

Rolling-Piston Compressor With Flow-Through Lubrication

The figure presents a simplified and partly schematic view of a two-stage rolling-piston compressor that is undergoing development for use as the prime mover in a vapor-compression...

Briefs: Motion Control

Closed/Momentary-Opening/Closed Solenoid Valve

A proposed solenoid-actuated valve would open for a short time to pass a very small quantity of fluid. The valve could be used to meter a specified total quantity of the fluid through repeated...

Briefs: Motion Control

Efficient Periodic Driving of Piezoelectric Benders

Modified Hartley oscillator circuits are being developed for use in driving large piezoelectric benders in periodic motion, as in some piezoelectrically driven pumps. These circuits...

Briefs: Motion Control

Non-Inertial Calibration of Vibratory Gyroscopes

A proposed method of calibration of micromachined vibratory gyroscopes would make it unnecessary to test the gyroscopes at known rates of rotation. At present, calibration entails inertial...

Briefs: Motion Control

Acoustic-Emission-Analysis System for Diagnosis of Machinery

A personal-computer-based system has been developed as a prototype of electronic signal-processing and computing systems for diagnosis of turbines, motors, and other rotary...

Briefs: Motion Control

Motion-Measuring Circuit for a Vibratory Capacitive Sensor

The figure illustrates an improved electronic circuit that generates a signal proportional to either the instantaneous vibrational velocity or the instantaneous position...

Briefs: Motion Control

Vibration-Regulating Circuit for a Mechanical Resonator

The figure illustrates an improved electronic circuit that excites constant-magnitude vibrations in an electrostatically actuated, capacitively sensed mechanical resonator. The circuit...

Briefs: Motion Control

Using Commercial-Grade Tb/Dy in Magnetostrictive Actuators

Single crystals of Tb-Dy alloys exhibit magnetostrictive strains approaching 1 percent and can generate forces sufficiently large to make them useful as actuators in cryogenic...

Briefs: Motion Control

Circuit Generates Rotation Signal From a Vibratory Gyroscope

This is the first of four articles that address various issues concerning the generation and utilization of electronic signals in the operation of micromachined planar vibratory...

Briefs: Motion Control

Q-Compensation Circuit for a Planar Vibratory Microgyroscope

Electronic circuitry has been devised to compensate for variations in the resonance quality factor (Q) of a planar vibratory microgyroscope like that described in the first of the...

Briefs: Motion Control

Controller for Bistable Brakes

The circuit shown in the figure is a controller for bistable brakes. The use of bistable brakes reduces energy consumption and spurious heating, as explained below.

A bistable brake is one that can stay...

Briefs: Motion Control

Neural Networks Monitor the Health of Space Shuttle Valve

The gaseous hydrogen flow control vale (GH2FCV; see Figure 1) is a critical space shuttle component that controls the pressure of the hydrogen external tank during launch and ascent...

Briefs: Motion Control

Radio-Frequency Wireless Flight-Control System

Technological advances have driven the evolution of aircraft flight-control systems. In the dawn of 20th-century aviation, the Wright Brothers used cables and warping of wing surfaces to change...

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Adaptive Variable Bias Control for Magnetic Bearings

Adaptive variable bias control (AVBC) is an improved technique for controlling the currents supplied to the electromagnets in magnetic bearings. In AVBC, the bias currents are varied in...