Investigating the Dynamics and Control of Electromechanical Networks with Semiresonant Latches

许多工程技术都是由被动元件组成的网络，这些元件承受不可预测的动态载荷。例如工程结构和电力电子电路。对于这类技术，一个主要的设计挑战是在面对随机动态负载或干扰时控制其动态行为。通常，可用于此目的的能量受到限制，本项目的重点是研究称为半谐振锁存器(SRL)的低功率可控机电开关器件的使用。它们的基本优势是，它们利用外部干扰的能量来显著改变能量在机电网络中流动的方式，同时只需要很少的电力就能运行。目标应用包括：(I)民用和航空航天系统中柔性结构的振动控制；(Ii)可再生能源技术电力电子网络中的动力传输优化；(Iii)能够通过捕获和重新定向扰动能量来调整其形状的柔性桁架结构；(Iv)通过扰动驱动预应力类似地调整其刚度特性的结构。这项工作将研究在这类应用中有效控制的节能技术。与此同时，研究成果将被整合到密歇根大学土木与环境工程专业严格的、以系统为导向的研究生课程中，以及一个夏季推广计划，重点是为来自人口代表性不足的学生提供本科生研究体验。SRL已经独立出现在几个不同的工程应用中。电动SRL是围绕晶体管建造的，而机械式SRL则使用离合器。它们有能力在响应传感器反馈的情况下，在电力网络的电压和电流以及机械网络的力和速度中引发近瞬时的跳跃。这些技术的现有控制技术大多是特别设计方法，对于这些设备的最佳使用以及它们可以实现的性能限制，存在相当大的模糊性。这项工作的主要成果将是一个通用和抽象的SRLS最优控制理论，它适用于广泛的应用，并利用了混合控制理论的最新成果。一个中心的重点将是为随机动力响应中的一般SRL系统的分析培养坚实的数学基础。目前，这样的理论只存在于非常特殊的情况下。除了一般的理论贡献外，这项工作的概念将产生一种全新的高性能工程结构，能够在扰动驱动下进行形状调整和刚度调整。

Many engineering technologies comprise networks of passive components, which are subjected to unpredictable dynamic loads. Examples include engineering structures and power-electronic circuits. For such technologies, a central design challenge is to control their dynamic behavior in the face of random dynamic loads or disturbances. Often, there are restrictions on the energy available for this purpose, and the focus of this project is to investigate the use of low-power controllable electromechanical switching devices called Semi-Resonant Latches (SRLs). Their fundamental advantage is that they harness the energy of external disturbances to dramatically alter the way energy flows through an electromechanical network, while requiring very little power to operate. Target applications include: (i) Vibration control of flexible structures in both civil and aerospace systems; (ii) Power transmission optimization in power-electronic networks for renewable energy technologies; (iii) Flexible truss structures capable of adapting their shape by capturing and re-directing disturbance energy; (iv) Structures that similarly adapt their stiffness properties through disturbance-driven pre-stress. This work will investigate energy-efficient techniques for effective control in such applications. Meanwhile, research results will be integrated into a rigorous new systems-oriented graduate curriculum in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan, as well as a summer outreach program focused on providing undergraduate research experiences to students from underrepresented demographics.SRLs have emerged independently in several disparate engineering applications. Electrical SRLs are built around transistors, while mechanical SRLs employ clutches. They have the ability to instigate near-instantaneous jumps in the voltages and currents of an electrical network, and in the forces and velocities of a mechanical network, in response to sensor feedback. Existing control techniques for these technologies are mostly ad hoc design approaches, and there is considerable ambiguity regarding the optimal use of these devices, as well as the limits on the performance they can achieve. The primary outcome of this work will be a general and abstract theory for optimal control of SRLs, which is applicable across the wide array of applications in which they are used, and which exploits recent results in hybrid control theory. A central focus will be to cultivate a solid mathematical foundation for analysis of general SRL systems in stochastic dynamic response. At present, such a theory only exists in very special cases. In addition to general theoretical contributions, concepts from this work will result in a fundamentally new class of high-performance engineering structure, capable of disturbance-driven shape adaptation, as well as stiffness adaptation.