Safe navigation in dynamic environments remains challenging because classical distance-based constraints ignore the coupling between a robot’s translational motion and attitude dynamics, and fixed safety margins are either over-conservative or risky under varying uncertainty and approach speed. This paper presents a Risk-Aware Model Predictive Control (RA-MPC) framework that addresses both limitations through two integrated components. First, we introduce Orientation–Motion Coupled Control Barrier Functions (O-MCBFs) that enforce unified safety constraints linking collision avoidance with attitude stability limits, preventing dangerous pose configurations during dynamic obstacle avoidance. Second, we develop Risk-Aware Adaptive Margins (RAAMs) that compute time-varying safety buffers based on relative velocity, robot braking capability, and prediction uncertainty, enabling context-dependent safety–efficiency trade-offs without manual parameter tuning. The proposed method integrates these components into a quadratic programming formulation within MPC, ensuring real-time computational tractability. Experimental results demonstrate higher success rates, smoother trajectories, and improved progress toward the goal, with no observed safety violations under the tested conditions. These findings indicate that coupling pose-space safety with risk-adaptive margins provides a principled and practical path to safe and efficient navigation in dynamic scenes.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
In recent years, pneumatic proportional valves have become increasingly prevalent in ventilators, particularly proportional solenoid valves. However, these traditional valves face challenges, including a slow response, being prone to overheating from long-term work, and high power consumption. This study presents the development of a fast response, high flow rate, and low power consumption pneumatic proportional valve specifically designed for medical ventilators. Utilizing a piezoelectric bimorph as the actuator, we innovatively eliminate movable components such as springs while ensuring effective sealing of the valve. A support structure was designed to enhance the mechanical performance of the piezoelectric bimorph. A testing platform was established to rigorously assess the valve’s performance. The results indicate that the valve can achieve a maximum output flow rate of approximately 130 L/min at an input pressure of 4 bar, with a hysteresis rate of 25.3%, a response time of under 10 ms, and a power consumption of just 0.07 W. Furthermore, a comparative analysis with existing commercial proportional solenoid valves demonstrated that it has superior performance in terms of response speed, flow rate, and power efficiency. The piezoelectric proportional valve developed in this study holds the potential to replace conventional proportional solenoid valves, significantly enhancing the response speed of ventilators, reducing their overall power consumption, and facilitating the development of portable ventilators.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
To meet the demand for submillimeter-level gripping capabilities in micro-grippers, an amplification mechanism based on a flexible four-bar linkage is proposed. The micro-gripper designed using this mechanism features a large gripping stroke in the millimeter range. First, the amplification effect of the flexible four-bar linkage was structurally designed and theoretically analyzed. Through kinematic analysis, a theoretical model was developed, demonstrating that the flexible four-bar linkage can achieve an extremely high amplification factor, thus providing a theoretical foundation for the design of the micro-gripper. Then, kinematic and mechanical simulations of the micro-gripper were conducted and validated using ANSYS 2025 simulation software, confirming the correctness of the theoretical analysis. Finally, an experimental platform was set up to analyze the characteristics of the micro-gripper, including its stroke, resolution, and gripping force. The results show that the displacement amplification factor of the gripper designed based on the flexible four-bar linkage can reach 40, with a displacement resolution of 50 nm and a gripping range of 0–880 μm. By using capacitive displacement sensors and strain sensors, integrated force and displacement control can be realized. The large-stroke micro-gripper based on the flexible four-bar linkage is compact, with a large stroke, and has broad application prospects.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
Coal-measure source rocks may play an important role in hydrocarbon generation in petroliferous basins where coal seams are well developed. Hydrocarbon generation characteristics and potential of coal-measure source rocks have been well documented for continental petroliferous basins, while the understanding of coal-measure source rocks in offshore basins is yet to be delved into. Significant oil exploration breakthroughs have been made in the well-developed coal measures of Turpan–Hami Basin (THB), a typical continental petroliferous basin in northwestern China. In this study, a comparative analysis is conducted on the Paleogene coal seams in the Zhu I Depression (ZID), located in the northern part of the South China Sea, and the Jurassic coal seams in the THB in terms of genetic conditions, mineral composition, and hydrocarbon generation potential. The geological understandings are obtained as follows. Both the coal-forming periods during the deposition of the ZID and THB were of a warm and wet climate type. The Paleogene coal-forming environments during the deposition of the ZID mainly include peat swamp in the upper plain and interdistributary bays in the lower plain of the braided river delta, along with littoral shallow lakes. As a whole, the coal seams are characterized by multiple layers, thin single layer thickness and poor stability, while those in the upper plain peat swamp of the braided river delta have relatively larger single layer thickness but relatively fewer number of layers. The Jurassic coal-forming environments in the THB include peat swamp in the upper delta plain, lower delta plain, and inter-delta bay. The coal seams formed in the lower delta plain are the most stable, while those in the inter-delta bay are the thickest. The ZID coal has a higher vitrinite content (averaging 76.11 %) and liptinite content (averaging 10.77 %) compared to its THB counterpart, which has an average vitrinite content of 68.28 % and average liptinite content of 7.61 %. The kerogen of the ZID coal is mainly of type II1, while that of the THB coal mainly of type II2, followed by type Ⅲ. Both the ZID and THB coals have entered the oil-generation window, as indicated by their maximum vitrinite reflectance values (Ro, max, %), reflecting good oil generation capacity. However, the hydrocarbon generation potential of the ZID coal is higher than that of the THB.
Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
Abstract The trend of global energy systems towards carbon neutrality has led to an escalating interdependency between electricity, hydrogen fuel, and transportation networks. However, the means of surmounting the many challenges confronting the optimal coupling and coordination of electric power, hydrogen fuel, and transportation systems are not sufficiently understood to guide modern infrastructure planning operations. The present work addresses this issue by surveying the extant literature, relevant government policies, and future development trends to evaluate the present state of technology available for coordinating these systems and then determine the most pressing issues that remain to be addressed to facilitate future trends. On the one hand, the users of transportation networks represent flexible consumers of electric power and hydrogen fuel for those connected via devices such as electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles through charging stations and hydrogen refuelling stations. On the other hand, power grids can mitigate the negative effect of random charging behaviours on grid security through time‐of‐use electricity pricing, while excess renewable energy outputs can be applied to generate hydrogen fuel. The findings of this overview offer support for infrastructure planning and operations. Finally, the most urgent issues requiring further research are summarised.
Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
The drag-free satellite plays an important role in the space-based gravitational wave observatory. The capture control of test mass after release is a crucial technology that can affect the success of the mission. The test mass must be released to the center of the electrostatic suspension cage accurately. This paper presents a nonlinear dynamic model of drag-free satellites in Lagrange formalism. A capture control scheme for test mass release phase is proposed based on the state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) strategy. To deal with the actuator saturation problem, a nonlinear saturation model is introduced to the dynamics of satellite, while the SDRE strategy is applied to the non-affine system. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is verified by the numerical simulation for the drag-free satellite.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
The increasing demand for cost-effective floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) necessitates streamlined mass production and efficient assembly strategies. This research investigates the assembly and integration of 15 MW FOWT floaters, utilising a semi-submersible floater equipped with a 15 MW wind turbine. The infrastructure and existing port facilities of Taiwan are used as an example. The effectiveness of various assembly and integration strategies has been evaluated. The study outlines equipment and infrastructure requirements for on-quay floater and turbine assembly, comparing on-quay assembly to construction at remote locations and subsequent towing. Detailed analyses of port operations, crane specifications, and assembly procedures are presented, emphasising the critical role of crane selection and configuration. The findings indicate that on-quay assembly at one major port is feasible and cost-effective, provided that port infrastructure and operational logistics are optimised. This research offers insights and recommendations for implementing large-scale FOWT projects, contributing to advancing offshore wind energy deployment.
Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
This paper discusses the dynamics of a novel energy harvester that converts heat into mechanical vibrations of two polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric cantilevers that generate electrical energy using a shape memory alloy (SMA) filament. The vibrations are generated by a symmetrical system of two masses placed on the SMA filament, which moves transversely due to its own longitudinal temperature contractions and extensions. Temperature differences over a heat source of constant temperature are the cause of the periodic changes in length of the SMA filament. An experimental setup was created to study the harvester by measuring the mass displacements and electrical voltages generated by the piezoelectric cantilevers. Data were obtained on the dependence of the output voltage and power on the load resistance of the consumer. The experimental results are validated by a multiphysics dynamical model, taking into account the relationships between the mechanical, thermal and electrical domains. The vibrational modeling of the SMA filament takes into account the hysteresis properties and their characteristics when the time gradient changes, leading to the appearance of minor and sub-minor hysteresis. Research has shown that from a heater with a constant temperature of 70 °C, the maximum power obtained is 3.6 μW at a load resistance of 4 MΩ, and a maximum voltage of 5.8 V was generated at a load resistance of 13 MΩ. An important feature of the proposed design is the possibility of miniaturizing the mechanical system.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
Zainab Fatima, Shehnila Zardari, Muhammad Hassan Tanveer
Domain adaptation (DA) is essential for developing robust machine learning models capable of operating across different domains with minimal retraining. This study explores the application of domain adaptation techniques to 3D datasets for industrial object detection, with a focus on short-range and long-range scenarios. While 3D data provide superior spatial information for detecting industrial parts, challenges arise due to domain shifts between training data (often clean or synthetic) and real-world conditions (noisy and occluded environments). Using the MVTec ITODD dataset, we propose a multi-level adaptation approach that leverages local and global feature alignment through PointNet-based architectures. We address sensor variability by aligning data from high-precision, long-range sensors with noisier short-range alternatives. Our results demonstrate an 85% accuracy with a minimal 0.02% performance drop, highlighting the resilience of the proposed methods. This work contributes to the emerging needs of Industry 5.0 by ensuring adaptable and scalable automation in manufacturing processes, empowering robotic systems to perform precise, reliable object detection and manipulation under challenging, real-world conditions, and supporting seamless human–robot collaboration.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
Seyed Saeed Mosayebi Javid, Ghasem Derakhshan, Seyed Mehdi Hakimi
Abstract Nowadays, researchers are studying the energy discharging of electric vehicles (EVs) in charging stations. Furthermore, these stations can help maintain the balance of electric energy and reduce costs in the energy hub in the discharging mode. In this regard, this article proposes a probability and possibility approach by the Z‐number method to investigate the uncertainty of the EV owners’ behaviour at charging stations during the discharge of electric energy to the energy hub. Also, here, the uncertainty of electric energy demand, thermal energy, drinking water, and the price of electric energy, thermal energy, drinking water, and electric energy production from a solar power plant has been done by the scenario‐base method. The seawater desalination unit has been modelled to meet the drinking water needs. To check the final results of the proposed method, the mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model has been selected for energy management in the energy hub in the CPLEX optimization solver. The final results show that modelling the behaviour of EV owners in the charging stations using the Z‐number method leads to reduced consumption of some energy carriers in comparison with the fuzzy method in the proposed energy hub.
Gabrielle Mallette, Charles-Étienne Gauthier, Masoud Hemmatian
et al.
Active suspension systems for automotive vehicles were developed in the past using hydrostatic, electric, magnetic and magnetorheological (MR) technologies to control road vibrations and vehicle dynamics and thus improve ride comfort and vehicle performance. However, no such systems were developed for heavy equipment, trucks and off-highway vehicles. For instance, agricultural tractors are still equipped with minimal suspension systems causing discomfort and health problems to drivers. The high suspension loads due to the massive weight of these vehicles are a challenge since high forces are needed to achieve efficient active suspension control. This paper presents an experimentally validated feasibility study of a hydrostatic, MR clutch-driven system of actuators. The scope of this paper is to evaluate the preliminary performance of the actuator for future vibration control. The hydraulic system allows the actuators to be remotely located from the wheels or cabin of the heavy vehicle and conveniently placed on the vehicle’s suspended frame. The design includes two MR clutches driven in an antagonistic configuration to push and pull on the end effector. Experiments on a laboratory prototype show that the low-inertia characteristics of the clutches allow a high blocked-output force bandwidth of 20 Hz with peak output forces exceeding 15 kN.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
High and low pressure bypass combined heating supply and low-pressure cylinder zero output technology are two important flexibility transformation technologies, which can effectively improve thermal power units’ peak regulation capacity and heating capacity. In this paper, for the two same model 350 MW supercritical units of North China power grid, a therma lsystem simulating software named Ebsilon is used to build the high and low pressure bypass combined heating supply and low-pressure cylinder zero output model, whose reliability are demonstrated by actual field performance tests. The models’ full operation interval calculation results show that:the high and low pressure bypass combined heating supply model has better thermoelectric decoupling capacity because of it's maximum heating load capacity is 57.27 MW more and minimum electrical load capacity is 141.04 MW less than the low-pressure cylinder zero output model; The low-pressure cylinder zero-output model has a higher energy utilization rate because of its’ electrical load is 61.012 MW higher than high and low pressure bypass combined heating supply model when they have the same main steam and heating steam. Under the existing peak regulation revenue mechanism of North China Power Grid, the low-pressure cylinder zero-output heating can obtain a higher maximum comprehensive income when the main steam flow is less than 505 t/h; the two technologies can obtain the same max comprehensive benefit when the main steam flow is 505 t/h; the high and low pressure bypass combined heating supply model can obtain higher maximum comprehensive revenue when the main steam flow rate is greater than 505 t/h.
Electricity, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
Reza Saberi, Hamid Falaghi, Mostafa Esmaeeli
et al.
Abstract High‐impact, low‐probability events that cause significant annual damages seriously threaten the health of distribution networks. The effects of these events have made the expansion planning for distribution systems something beyond the traditional reliability criteria, so there is an ever‐increasing need for modifications in current planning approaches and focusing on the resilience in the expansion planning of distribution networks. The new attitude dealing with resilience and distributed generation sources in distribution networks necessitates a fundamental reconsidering of traditional distribution network planning methods. Here, by modelling common natural disasters such as floods and storms, an appropriate index is introduced to evaluate the distribution network resilience in the presence of distributed generation (DG) sources, including conventional gas‐fired and photovoltaic sources. Then, by presenting an appropriate model for load and photovoltaic production, the problem of comprehensive distribution network planning, including substations, feeders, and DG sources, is mathematically formulated as a multi‐objective optimization problem to improve resilience and optimize costs. Furthermore, a non‐dominated sorting genetic algorithm is used to solve the problem of comprehensively planning a resilient distribution network. Implementation of the proposed model on the IEEE 54‐bus sample network shows that network resilience can be improved with minimum cost by optimal network planning.
Distribution or transmission of electric power, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations