Sharif Digital Repository

Soft Computing (SC) is defined as a group of computational techniques that solve complex problems independent of mathematical models. SC techniques including artificial neural networks (ANNs), fuzzy systems (FSs), evolutionary algorithms (EAs), etc., can solve problems that either cannot be solved by the analytical/conventional methods or require a long computation time. Due to their features, SC techniques are nowadays widely used in scientific and industrial researches. SC techniques have also been included in many types of research related to nuclear power plants (NPPs). In this paper, the applications of SC techniques in NPPs, according to published articles, are presented. The... 

The objective of this research is to diagnose an inaccessible rolling bearing by indirect vibration measurement. In this study, a shaft supported with several bearings is considered. It is assumed that the vibration for at least one bearing is not recordable. The purpose is to diagnose inaccessible bearing by the recorded data from the sensors located on the other bearings. To achieve this goal, the continuous wavelet transform is used to detect weak signatures in the available vibration signals. A new criterion for adjusting the scale parameter of continuous wavelet transform is proposed based on the amplitude of the bearing characteristic frequencies. In this criterion, the optimal scale... 

A modified unscented Kalman filter is presented to estimate the quaternion parameters as well as the angular velocities of a rigid gyro-less satellite under faulty sensor conditions. The task is carried out using the Sun sensor and magnetometers as attitude sensors with bounded noise and unknown fault(s). Following the presentation of the satellite attitude dynamics and filtering formulations, a new fault detection and isolation algorithm is proposed. The latter is based on a modified unscented Kalman filter structure for improved fault detection, sensor isolation, and attitude control (AC). A Backtracking Search Algorithm (BSA) is also used to design and optimize the PID controller gains,... 

In this paper static eccentricity (SE) fault diagnosis in wound rotor (WR) resolver is considered and a new noninvasive index is proposed. Using the proposed index not only leads to SE detection but also, helps to precisely determine the eccentricity level. Furthermore, the location of the fault is determined using two search coils. In this regard, a mathematical model based on the winding function method is proposed. In the proposed model the influence of non-uniform air-gap length on calculating the inductances is considered. Then, time-stepping finite element method (TSFEM) is used for approving the success of the proposed index. Finally, experimental tests are done to validate the... 

We present a nonlinear geometric approach to fault detection and isolation (FDI) in a grid-connected inverter system. Open-switch faults in inverter power transistors together with faults in grid voltages and source current sensors are detected and isolated in the presence of disturbance. The detection process is based on dynamic model of an inverter, including a dc-bus capacitor and an output $RL$ filter. The proposed FDI system does not rely on balanced or zero-sum conditions in the grid point and is functional under nonsinusoidal voltages and currents. © 1993-2012 IEEE  

The safe operating condition for the vacuum tubes is very important and critical since they are very expensive and delicate. Providing limited short circuit energy for the vacuum tube and fast transferring from the short circuit to the nominal operation state are absolutely necessary. Extant protection strategies threat the availability of the vacuum tubes. In addition, they cannot completely protect the tube due to the delay of the fault detection system. This article proposes a high voltage (HV) short circuit fault current limiter which can limit the short circuit energy of the system inherently. The proposed structure activates automatically when the current exceeds the predetermined... 

In this article, we present a cost-effective solution for switching short-circuit fault diagnosis in a three-phase quasi-Z-source inverter (qZSI). The fault is announced to the processor utilizing a peripheral circuit that covers the fault detection in all switches of the inverter. After the fault detection, a nonmaskable interrupt is activated, cutting the CPU routine, and a fault-diagnosis algorithm is initiated. The exact location of the failed switch is identified through the proposed algorithm. The entire process is accomplished in advance of the critical overcurrent condition, which typically arises after a short-circuit fault. Thanks to this overtake, the proposed technique prevents... 

Turn-to-turn fault (TTF) is one of the most prominent reasons for transformer failure. This fault typically initiates by involving only a few turns and can progress to a much more severe fault in a very short time. Therefore, it is critical for the transformer protective relays to detect the TTF in the early stages of its occurrence. The conventional differential relays, in general, cannot detect a minor TTF, and thus, a supplementary protective algorithm is usually required to improve the sensitivity of differential relays against TTFs. This paper proposes a percentage-based fault-related incremental currents method for the precise detection of a low-level TTF. The proposed method employs... 

With the rapid advancement of phasor measurement units (PMUs) technology, system operators in different level of power systems have access to new and abundant measurements. Taking into account these measurements in active distribution systems (ADNs), a new algorithm for short-circuit fault detection and identification based on state estimation (SE) is introduced in this paper. In this regard, as the first step, traditional SE process is revised to be compatible with fault conditions. Then, a fault location algorithm (FLA) based on the revised SE (RDSSE) is presented which attends to detect the location of fault after diagnosing faulted zone. For this purpose, current and voltage... 

Inverter driven electrical machines need resolver for position estimation and efficient electronic commutations. In this paper, the resolver signals are also used for the purpose of mechanical fault diagnosis. Therefore, a comprehensive procedure based on winding function (WF) method is presented to propose a noninvasive index to identify the mechanical fault's type (static/dynamic eccentricity) and even its percentage. In this regard, once the resolver signals are measured and saved in health condition. Then, during the operation of the motor, calculating the proposed index using the healthy and faulty signals leads to predict the fault type and its percentage. The success of the proposed... 

We present a nonlinear geometric approach to fault detection and isolation (FDI) in a grid-connected inverter system. Open-switch faults in inverter power transistors together with faults in grid voltages and source current sensors are detected and isolated in the presence of disturbance. The detection process is based on dynamic model of an inverter, including a dc-bus capacitor and an output RL filter. The proposed FDI system does not rely on balanced or zero-sum conditions in the grid point and is functional under nonsinusoidal voltages and currents. IEEE  

System health management based on condition monitoring is of great value and significance for improving system performance and reliability. As more data from condition monitoring is obtained, the efficiency of system health monitoring improves. However, increasing the amount of data by installing new sensors on system components is restricted by a variety of factors such as budget, weight and space allowance. Therefore, sensor selection in the most optimal manner in order to achieve maximum valuable information from system is an important issue. In this study, a novel concept is introduced that can be used in sensor combination optimization problems. This concept employs failure modes and... 

Vulnerability of power electronic converters in DC microgrids in case of fault occurrence in DC cables necessitates using a fast fault detection and isolation scheme. In this paper, a modified, fast and selective protection scheme has been presented, which provides the required tripping of low voltage DC (LVDC) microgrids. This protection scheme has been developed based on the natural characteristics of the fault current, in which the first and second derivatives of the fault current have been employed to define thresholds for discriminating between faulted and non-faulted situations. To enhance fault detection capability of the protection scheme, definition of thresholds have been improved... 

Rolling-element bearing (REB) Failure is one of the most common failure in rotary machines in industry. Therefore, this concern draws attention to the concept of diagnostic and the prediction of REB failure. The efficacy of vibration analysis in this area has led many researchers to focus on this topic in recent decades. Defective bearings such as fatigue, surface roughness, and corrosion can lead to disastrous accidents. Therefore, providing an algorithm for the detection and classification of bearing defects is valuable and useful. The prediction of the bearing's lifetime is important to ensure the planned production in an industrial unit. In this paper, different models for performance... 

Reliability of model-based failure detection and isolation (FDI) methods depends on the amount of uncertainty in a system model. Recently, it has been shown that the use of joint torque sensing results in a simplified manipulator model that excludes hardly identifiable link dynamics and other nonlinearities. We present a geometric approach to fault detection and isolation (FDI) for robotic manipulators using joint torque sensor in presence of model uncertainty. A systematic procedure is introduced for representing a robotic system model using joint torque sensor being affine with respect to faults and disturbances. The proposed FDI filter has smooth dynamics with freely selectable functions... 

In this paper, a multiple model-based nonlinear identification approach is introduced for a conventional aircraft in the presence of different types of actuator faults. Occurrence of actuator faults can obviously reduce the validity of a predetermined dynamic model of nonlinear systems. In such cases, use of multi-model structures can be an effective choice. However, determining the optimal validity functions of the local models in a multi-model structure is still a challenging problem. This problem becomes even more challenging in case of unpredictable faults, which are not considered in training the local models. In this paper, two effective techniques are proposed for online determination... 

Short-circuit fault (SCF) detection is mandatory in a high voltage DC power supply (HVPS) to prevent fatal damage. The majority of converters employ a single sensor to detect the SCF. This attribute increases the interference vulnerability of the fault detection (FD) system in the presence of noise. Therefore, miss detections and false alarms are possible to occur. Miss detections and false alarms are harmful catastrophes in most applications. A commonly used method to suppress the noise impacts is using a low-bandwidth low-pass filter. However, the use of the low-bandwidth low-pass filter reduces the speed of FD due to the filter delay. This paper proposes a fast FD algorithm based on... 

Due to several advantages, three-phase Dual Active Bridge (DAB) converter is widely used in numerous applications nowadays. On the other hand, this converter is very vulnerable to Transistor Open-Circuit Fault (TOCF). Therefore, a fault-tolerant (FT) scheme has been proposed in this paper to solve the problem. First, normal and faulty conditions are investigated, and according to the results, a fault-diagnosis (FD) approach is introduced. Using the outcomes of FD unit, a new post-fault strategy is proposed for the converter. The FD method is based on the DC component of transformer phase currents, and the basis of FT technique is shedding the faulty phase. Some benefits of the proposed... 

In recent years, confrontation with hardware Trojans has become a major concern due to various reasons including outsourcing. Such a growing threat is more pronounced in reconfigurable devices as they are used in widespread applications due to low design cost and short time-to-market. Besides their vulnerability to hardware Trojan attacks, SRAM-based reconfigurable devices are also significantly susceptible to faults originated by particle strikes. There have been various methods to mitigate either hardware Trojan attacks or faults. To our knowledge, however, no method has been presented that can integrate detecting, distinguishing, and mitigating faults and Trojans. In this paper, we... 

Vacuum tubes are widely used for various applications. These vacuum tubes are supplied by high voltage power supplies. The amount of delivered energy from the high voltage power supply to the vacuum tube is an important issue during the vacuum arc in the tube. The protection mechanism consists of a shunt crowbar which diverts the fault current from the tube to itself as a parallel path. Detection of the vacuum arc is crucial and only one sensor is usually employed to detect the vacuum arc. This characteristic intensifies the interference susceptibility of the vacuum arc diagnosis system in a noisy environment. As a result of the noise, the arc detection system can report false alarms. False...