ECE Graduate Seminar
<p> </p> <p> You are cordially invited to the following seminar:</p> <p> Old Dominion University</p> <p> Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering</p> <p> </p> <p> “What Really Happened with the ODU Maglev – A Control Engineering Perspective</p> <p> </p> <p> Dr. Thomas E. Alberts</p> <p> Professor</p> <p> Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering</p> <p> Old Dominion University</p> <p> </p> <p> Host: Dr. Oscar González</p> <p> </p> <p> Friday, March 7, 2014</p> <p> 3:00 p.m. KH 224</p> <p> </p> <p> In the years 2001 to 2002, an experimental Maglev transportation system was installed on the Old Dominion University (ODU) campus by American Maglev Technologies (AMT). Control system design was performed by Lockheed Martin. This system, which was intended to become a permanent student transportation system after one year of demonstration, never achieved fully operational status. The system was constructed on an aggressive schedule, and AMT reported encouraging results based on early testing in Florida. However, late in 2002 after installation of the system at ODU and some initial on-campus testing, the project came to a halt due technical difficulties in achieving stable levitation, and eventually budget overruns. Since then, the ODU Maglev system infrastructure has been used for research by several of the University’s engineering faculty. The initial AMT tests of the vehicle were conducted in Florida on a guideway mounted to the earth on a concrete foundation. In contrast, the ODU installation employed an elevated guideway using 90 foot long, essentially simply supported, girders of pre-stressed concrete construction. The inability to achieve stable levitation was attributed to flexibility of the guideway girders, and the widely accepted conclusion was that the guideway was simply too flexible to permit stable levitation. This presentation sets out to dispel that notion using Routh stability analysis of a simplified magnetically levitated flexible structure. The talk will go on to present several practical results that led to the successful levitations of experimental systems beginning with a single degree of freedom laboratory system, progressing to a 6 magnet 5000 pound “test bogey” and eventually the full scale 40,000 pound vehicle using 12 magnets. A comparison is made of two controller schemes, de-centralized or centralized for EMS maglev system levitation and guidance using a unified approach for the controllers’ gain tuning based on an optimal criterion for simulation purposes. A gradient-like search algorithm based on an optimal criterion for De-centralized and Centralized PD controller gain tuning, and simulations are presented of a full scale vehicle travelling at speeds up to 100m/s on a flexible guideway.</p> <p> </p> <p> <strong>Bio sketch </strong></p> <p> Dr. Thomas E. Alberts is a full Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Old Dominion University and a frequent engineering consultant. His most recent research is primarily focused on magnetically levitated transportation systems. Dr. Alberts has performed funded research and published in a number of applied research areas including robotics, smart structures, active noise control, internal combustion engine control, sensor design, spacecraft control, flight control, and active and passive control of flexible structures. He is the author of numerous journal and conference publications, editor of several conference proceedings and holds a U.S. patent related to passive damping. He has served as chair of the ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division Education and Aerospace panels, and served two terms as Associate Editor of the ASME <em>Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control. </em>He has performed funded research for a variety of agencies, including NASA, NSF, FRA, FTA, The U.S. Air Force, Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), Britain’s SERC, and industry.</p>
Posted By: Linda Marshall
Date: Mon Mar 03 09:59:02 EST 2014