Electrical interfaces for electromechanical and energy systems

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 59).The design, construction, and testing of a versatile robot driver circuit is described. The printed circuit board produced can be used as an interface between any two-motor robot and the R31-JP, an eight-bit microcontroller system. The circuit board implements sensing, Ethernet communications, and motor driving modules. These modules are composed of eight bit peripheral microcontroller chips such as the ADC0808 analog-to-digital converter and the 84C54 programmable timer. Additionally, a programmable logic chip, the GAL22V1O creates the signals necessary for driving both direct current and stepper motors. The robot driver printed circuit board was testing in simulation and in hardware. The results are listed in this document. This robot driver will allow for the use of wireless mobile robots that can be used in future iterations of the Microcomputer Project Laboratory, 6.115. The design, construction, and testing of a sensor signal conditioning printed circuit board for use in a hardware emulator for a Gas Turbine Generator used on the US Navy's DDG-51 Class Destroyer is described. The system emulator project seeks to construct a scaled hardware model and perform control experiments to explore different shipboard power distribution systems. The synchronization of two generators is necessary to fulfill these goals to extend versatility and allow for the testing of new power distribution systems. The signal conditioning circuit uses digital logic to develop a frequency sensor, which reduces the required sampling rate. Additionally, analog amplifier circuits are used to condition the signals output by voltage and current transducers, preparing them for analog to digital conversion. These signals will be used to implement the synchronization and load-balancing algorithms described in this document. This scaled model for shipboard power distribution systems will be demonstrate and compare experimental power distribution systems that will lead to increases in the safety and efficiency of shipboard power distribution systems.by Rachel M. Chaney.M.Eng