In this paper, the impedance of a piezoelectric transducer is calculated using the three-dimensional finite element method. The validity of numerical routine is confirmed experimentally. Using this numerical routine, the effects of material coefficients on piezoelectric actuators characteristics are analyzed. The material constants, which make significant effects, are selected and the relations between material constants are studied. Using these processes, three variables of material constants for a piezoelectric transducer are selected and the design sensitivity method is adopted as an inversion scheme. The validity of the inversion scheme for a piezoelectric transducer is confirmed by applying the proposed method to the sample piezoelectric transducer.

This paper describes the operating characteristic analysis of the PM-type linear oscillatory actuator used as a magnetic circuit breaker for the electromagnetic field, electric circuit, and mechanical motion problems. Transient calculations are based upon a 2D finite element magnetic field solution including non-linearity of materials. Changes of the dynamic characteristics from the eddy current in the plunger are quantified from finite element analysis. A new laminated model is proposed to decrease the eddy current effect.

The topology optimization for the magnet design is studied. The magnet design in the C-core actuator is investigated by using the derived topology optimization algorithm and finite element method. The design sensitivity equation for the topology optimization is derived using the adjoint variable method and the continuum approach.

The finite element method (FEM) is typically used in the process of motor design. However, the FEM requires computation time, Therefore, decreasing the number of FEM simulations may also decrease the simulation cost. Several optimal design methods overcoming this problem have been recently studied. This paper investigates the optimal design of the magnet pole of a BLDC motor through reducing simulation cost. The optimization minimizes the magnet volume and limits the average and cogging torques to certain values. In this paper, the response surface methodology and Taguchi's table for reducing the number of FEM simulations are used to approximate two constraints. The optimization result shows that the presented strategy is satisfactorily performed.

This paper deals with the design and the characteristic analysis of a coreless axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) motor. Because a direct-drive wheel motor is easily derived from it, the AFPM motor is very suitable for application in an electric scooter. Compared to a conventional motor of the same size and weight, the AFPM motor is proven to have more power and torque per unit weight. In this paper, an AFPM coreless motor with a double-sided rotor disk equipped with Nd-Fe-B rare earth magnets is designed and a prototype of the motor is manufactured, which will be properly applied for the low-speed, and high-torque direct drive required for the electric scooter. The manufactured prototype of the motor has a rating of 300W, 510rpm, 5.6Nm, and 85% efficiency.

In this paper, a recurrent artificial neural network (RNN) based self-tuning speed controller is proposed for the high-performance drives of induction motors. The RNN provides a nonlinear modeling of a motor drive system and could provide the controller with information regarding the load variation system noise, and parameter variation of the induction motor through the on-line estimated weights of the corresponding RNN. Thus, the proposed self-tuning controller can change the gains of the controller according to system conditions. The gain is composed with the weights of the RNN. For the on-line estimation of the RNN weights, an extended Kalman filter (EKF) algorithm is used. A self-tuning controller is designed that is adequate for the speed control of the induction motor The availability of the proposed controller is verified through MATLAB simulations and is compared with the conventional PI controller.

With significant development of power electronics technology, the proliferation of nonlinear loads such as static power converters has deteriorated power quality in power transmission and distribution systems. Notably, voltage harmonics resulting from current harmonics produced by the nonlinear loads have become a serious problem in many countries. Many photovoltaic power generation systems installed in building systems have harmonics that are the worst object for distribution systems as a utility interactive system, and it tends to spread out continuously. Proposed and implemented in this paper is a multi-function inverter control strategy that allows a shunt active filter function to the power inverter of the photovoltaic power generation system established on a building system. The effectiveness of the proposed system is demonstrated through the simulation of a hypothetical power system using PSCAD/EMTDC.