Traffic efficient control of a water irrigation system

Water scarcity is a persistent global issue that requires effective solutions. One increasingly popular approach to address the distribution of freshwater in different regions is the utilization of Water Irrigation Systems (WIS). Due to their vital role in ensuring people's well-being, it is crucial to design a reliable infrastructure that can...

Dynamic Positioning around an alternative control point

Traditionally, the control point (CP) of a dynamically positioned vessel is located around its center of gravity (CoG). However, during offshore operations, other locations, such as the crane tip or gripper position, become more critical due to the load being located there. This thesis proposes shifting the control point from the CoG to an...

Economic Engineering for Supply Chain Management: Mitigating the Bullwhip Effect Using PID Control

The purpose of Supply Chain Management (SCM) is to maximize and stabilize the flow of goods through a supply chain. Disruptions to this flow, such as the Bullwhip Effect (BWE), have become increasingly severe and dynamic, challenging current methods for counteracting these disruptions. This thesis develops a systems and control framework for...

Model Predictive Control for Vehicle Platooning: A Practical Comparison against Traditional Methods

Due to the increase in traffic, road congestion has gone up. Vehicle platooning is a possible way to increase the capacity of a given road, by decreasing the distance between the vehicles in the platoon. At the moment, the control of vehicle platoons is commonly done using PDD controllers. The advantage of this is that it requires little...

Optimal multi-model control for a Motion Compensated Gripper Frame: Installing XXL monopiles with a Motion Compensated Gripper Frame on a Dynamically Positioned vessel

Due to an increase demand for renewable and sustainable forms of energy, the offshore wind industry is growing rapidly. To make wind energy more cost-effective, new wind turbines are becoming larger in size and are placed further offshore. This results in deeper waters, making the installation more difficult. The current methodology uses a jack...

Low-cost Benchtop Equipment and Procedures for Organ-on-Chip Prototyping

The Organ on Chip (OoC) market is fast-growing and has the promise to drastically reduce the cost of developing drugs and the need for animal testing. However, the growth could be obstructed by the difficulties of scaling up production of developed prototypes. Most OoC prototypes are not suited for mass production because of the material used,...

The Dynamical Behaviour and Control of an Enterprise: Firm and Consumer as the System, Management as the Controller

This thesis develops a method to forecast the cash flows that determine the value of an enterprise. From a control engineers perspective, three stages arise to develop such a method: the research, the system and the control part. The research part presents the results of a control theoretic analysis of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) valuation...

Dynamic Analysis of a subsea cable during cable installation: Improving operability of the cable installation for shallow and deep water

The investigation into the dynamic behavior of a cable during installation was done with the aim of improving cable installation for safety, operational and commercial value. In order to increase the operational limit of the vessel during cable installation, the investigation into improvement systems was desired. The workability of a vessel...

Design a complete active heave system based on an existing concept

The handling of a payload by a crane at sea poses numerous challenges. One of the main technical challenges is the movement of the vessel due to the hydrodynamic forces exerted by the waves. The resulting heave, pitch, and roll of the vessel results in time-varying crane-tip motion. This motion propagates to the payload through the rope and this...

A Compact, High Precision Position Sensing Embedded System for Fast Steering Mirror

A fast steering tip-tilt mirror is widely used as a pointing and tracking device in aerospace engineering, in laser beam stabilizers and in many other applications. A fast steering mirror has the capability to project light in two-dimensional space. The correct positioning of the mirror is crucial for the device overall operation. In this...

Nanometer Precision Six Degrees of Freedom Planar Motion Stage with Ferrofluid Bearings

This MSc research project is a feasibility study to explore the possibilities of using ferrofluid bearings in high precision, low load applications. Ferrofluids are fluids containing suspended ferromagnetic particles, which are influenced by magnetic fields due to their ferromagnetic properties. In similarity to for example iron powder, a...

Modelling and Steering of Tuggerwinches

This report described the study of the Tuggerwinch system used by Heerema Marine Contractors SE.