The use of a rigid linkage balancer with torsion springs to realize nonlinear moment-angle characteristics

In this work, the possibilities to approach various nonlinear moment-angle characteristics with a kinematically indeterminate rigid body balancer with torsion springs are examined. These torsion springs are mounted on the axes that intersect the rigid bodies. The rigid body balancer is coupled to an inverted pendulum. Although the kinematic...

Realtime Data-driven Learning and Model Predictive Control using Gaussian Processes for Dynamical Systems

Nowadays, machine learning (ML) methods rapidly evolve for their use in model-based control applications. Model-based control requires an accurate model description of the dynamical system to reassure the performance of the controller. Conventionally, this model description is retrieved from first-principles modelling which can be problematic if...

Model-free Positioning Control of a Payload by use of Wires

With the highly increased interest in offshore wind turbines and their technologies, the sector has witnessed rapid development in the past decade. For installed offshore wind turbines, there has been a lot of research conducted in the field of aero-, hydro- and structural dynamics, wind turbine-control, operation & maintenance, foundations...

Ilissos and Kifissos rivers – Greece: Influence of human factors on basins’ evolution: A sociohydrological point of view

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the evolution of Ilissos and Kifissos river basins in Athens, Greece and the ways this evolution was influenced by specific human factors. The dynamics of the human-water interactions have been studied in the frame of sociohydrology and the central key was to study the impact society had on the...

Centre of pressure modulations in double support effectively counteract anteroposterior perturbations during gait

Centre of mass (CoM) motion during human balance recovery is largely influenced by the ground reaction force (GRF) and the centre of pressure (CoP). During gait, foot placement creates a region of possible CoP locations in the following double support (DS). This study aims to increase insight into how humans modulate the CoP during DS, and...

Experimental setup of the dry test for Gyroscopic-pendulum wave energy converter

Oceans account for 71 percent of the earth’s surface, marine resources and energy are abundant. Therefore, making full use of marine energy is a good choice for humans to solve the energy crisis. One way to capture ocean energy is converting wave energy to electrical energy, by means of devices called wave energy converters (WECs). This project...

Power Efficiency of the Gyroscopic-Pendulum Wave Energy Converter

The oceans, which cover nearly 70% of the earth’s surface, can be considered as an inexhaustible energy source for renewable electricity due to its size and predictability. One way to capture ocean energy is by harnessing the energy produced by waves at sea, by means of devices called wave energy converters (WECs).<br/><br/>Delft University of...

Humanoid Robot Balance Control using Center of Mass Height Variation

This research considers using center of mass (CoM) height variation as an input for balance control on a humanoid robot. Traditional balance strategies for humanoid robots are taking a step, control of the center of pressure (CoP) location, a result of the ‘ankle strategy’, and changing the angular momentum about the CoM, for example by a ‘hip...

Gyroscopically enhanced vertical axis pendulum for wave energy conversion

The vertical axis pendulum is a type of point absorber device which can absorb wave energy from a width exceeding the physical width of the device. Mechanical power is harvested from the rotation of the pendulum, in which the pivot point is directly connected to the generator. In this paper, a new concept of the vertical axis pendulum device is...

Pioneering Spirit Jacket Lift System: A dynamic analysis of the jacket mating loads

Allseas Engineering B.V. is an offshore contractor, focussed on offshore pipeline installation. Since the late 80's, Allseas has been working on the design and construction of the Pioneering Spirit, a heavy lift vessel designed for the single-lift installation and removal of offshore topsides. From 2019, it is scheduled to be able to single-lift...

Revealing compactness of basins of attraction of multi-DoF dynamical systems

Global properties of Multi-Degrees-of-Freedom (M-DoF) systems, in particular phase space organization, are largely unexplored due to the computational challenge requested to build basins of attraction. To overcome this problem, various techniques have been developed, some trying to improve algorithms and to exploit high speed computing,...

The effect of perturbation properties on system identification of human balance control during stance

Introduction: System identification of the neuromuscular controller that regulates human balance, gives insight in the causes and effects of human balance disorders. The combination of varying perturbation properties in literature and lack of rationale behind chosen perturbation properties, reveals possible violations of assumptions made to...

Optimal Swing-up Control of an Inverted Pendulum

Inverted pendulums have been classic setups in the control laboratories since the 1950s. They were originally used to illustrate ideas in linear control such as stabilization of unstable systems. Because of their nonlinear nature, pendulums have maintained their usefulness and they are now used to illustrate many of the ideas emerging in the...

Bepalen van het massatraagheidsmoment met behulp van een bifilar pendulum: Determining the moments of inertia using a bifilar pendulum

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the use of a bifilar pendulum for determining the moments of inertia of the TU Delft solar boat and to quantitatively predict the estimates. In the first part, several methods are discussed which can be applied in deriving the equations of motion of the pendulum. A new method, Kane's method, will be...

The effect of visuohaptic delays on task performance and human control strategy in manual control tasks

Currently haptic technology is being widely implemented in applications such as tele-operation. One of the main concerns are the communication delays due to the visual or haptic feedback signals traveling long distances. Also, different subsystems handling visual and haptic feedback cause modality-specific delays causing asynchrony between...

Numerical Methods for Differential-Algebraic Equations

In recent years, the use of differential equations in connection with algebraic constraints on the variables has become a widely accepted tool for modeling the dynamical behaviour of physical processes. Compared to ordinary differential equations (ODEs), it has been observed that a number of difficulties can arise when numerical methods are used...

Step location prediction for bipedal robots: Evaluating and improving Capture Point theory

There are many good reason for the development of a robust bipedal walking robot. However, until recently this development was hampered by the lack of a disturbance rejecting locomotion algorithms. With the introduction of Capture Point theory by Pratt et al. [2006] this problem has been largely solved. Capture Point theory describes the point...

Learning to simulate and predict chaotic dynamical systems

With precise knowledge of the rules which govern a deterministic chaotic system, it is possible to interact with the system and change its dynamics. This research is part of a larger project, in which chaos control is used to improve the bubbling behavior of multi-phase chemical reactors. Chaos control requires models which capture the complete...