976 results about "Force output" patented technology

A method and apparatus for providing a click surface in a graphical environment, such as a graphical user interface, implemented on a host computer for use with a force feedback interface device. A displayed cursor is controlled by a user-moveable user object, such as a mouse, of the interface device. A click surface is displayed with an associated graphical object, such as a graphical button or an edge of a window, icon, or other object. When the click surface is contacted by the cursor, a force is output opposing movement of the user object in a direction into the click surface and into the graphical object. When the user object has moved to or past a trigger position past the contact with the click surface, a command gesture signal is provided to the host computer indicating that the graphical object has been selected as if a physical input device on the user object, such as a button, has been activated by the user. Preferably, the host computer displays the graphical environment including the click surface and cursor, while a microprocessor local to the interface device controls the force output of the click surface in parallel with the host display.

A mouse interface device and method for providing enhanced cursor control and indexing cursor control with force feedback. A force feedback interface device includes a manipulandum, such as a mouse, that is moveable in a local workspace. The device is coupled to a host computer that displays a cursor in a graphical environment, such as a GUI, on a display screen. A cursor position in the display frame is reported to the host computer derived from a reference position of the mouse in the local frame, and the host displays the cursor; for example, the cursor position may be scaled by a ballistics algorithm based on mouse velocity to allow fine positioning or coarse motion of the cursor. A force is output on the mouse based on interactions in the GUI, the force being determined based on mouse reference data or cursor ballistic data, depending on the type of force, to reduce distortion between visual and force outputs. Assistive forces can alternatively be output to achieve the enhanced cursor control. Indexing features allow control of the cursor when an offset between local and display frames exists, allow the user to reduce the offset, and reduce disconcerting collisions of the mouse with physical workspace limits.

A control system for a hybrid vehicle that is capable of absorbing an inertial force which is generated during shifting of a stepped transmission. During shift control of the stepped transmission by a shift control device and before the shift control is completed, a during-shift drive control element controls a driving force which is output from a second drive unit such that a total driving force which is output from first and second drive units to the drive wheels equals a driver request output. Further, the during-shift drive control elements executes control so as to reduce a difference between the total driving force output to a drive wheel and the driver request output based on a change in a transmission force of the stepped transmission caused by a switch-over between a first brake and a second brake. Moreover, in an inertial phase of the switch-over between the first brake and the second brake, the during-shift drive control means controls a driving force of a second motor so as to absorb an inertial force which is generated by change in a rotational speed of the second motor with respect to the rotational speed of the drive wheel.

Systems and methods for efficiently operating a hydraulically actuated device/system are described herein. For example, systems and methods for efficiently operating a gas compression and expansion energy storage system are disclosed herein. Systems and methods are provided for controlling and operating the hydraulic actuators used within a hydraulically actuated device/system, such as, for example, a gas compression and/or expansion energy system, within a desired efficiency range of the hydraulic pump(s)/motor(s) used to supply or receive pressurized hydraulic fluid to or from the hydraulic actuators. In such a system, a variety of different operating regimes can be used depending on the desired output gas pressure and the desired stored pressure of the compressed gas. Hydraulic cylinders used to drive working pistons within the system can be selectively actuated to achieve varying force outputs to incrementally increase the gas pressure within the system for a given cycle.

When vehicle speed V decreases to or below a preset reference vehicle speed Vref during output of regenerative braking force from a motor in response to the driver's depression of a brake pedal, the vehicle of the invention performs a replacement pre-operation (steps S190 to S220 and S160) and a replacement operation (steps S240 to S280 and S160) and controls the motor and an electronically controlled hydraulic braking system to satisfy a braking force demand BF*. The replacement pre-operation actuates and controls pumps included in a brake actuator of the electronically controlled hydraulic braking system to exert their proper pressurization performance. The replacement operation decreases the regenerative braking force output from the motor and enhances a pressure increase by the pumps to replace the regenerative braking force with a pressure increase-based braking force BFpp.

The invention provides a pressure distribution measuring device and a measuring method thereof. The pressure distribution measuring device consists of a flexible array sensor (1), an embedded signal drive collection unit (2) and computer analysis processing software (3). The embedded signal drive collection unit (2) has the function of scanning drive of array lines and rows, and the function of collection of pressure signals of array points. The embedded signal drive collection unit (2) is connected with a computer through a USB 2.0 interface. The computer analysis and processing software comprises a communication interface module, a data access module, a data analysis module, a records management module and a print driver module. The computer gets the information of the acting force, the distribution information of the acting force, the center of pressure, the information about the power spectrum and so on through collecting the information of the acting force output by the force sensor and the analysis software. The invention provides scientific basis for athletic research, instruction of athletic training, scientific research of medical treatment, disabled body recovery training instruction and so on.

A printer has a carriage being movable between a first end and a second end of a reciprocating path; and a driving force transmitting path selecting mechanism provided at the second end of the reciprocating path. The selecting mechanism has: a common driving force outputting member; a plurality of force receiving members; a selecting member; and a position retainer for keeping the position of the selecting member. The selecting member connects the force outputting member to one of the plurality of force receiving members, and moves in association with the carriage when the carriage moves in a vicinity of the second end in a first direction extending from the first end to the second end. The position retainer keeps the position of the selecting member when the carriage moves in a second direction extending from the second end to the first end. The force receiving member connected to the force outputting member via the selecting member is selected in accordance with a movement of the carriage along the reciprocating path.

There is provided a control system which controls a link structure constructed by connecting a plurality of rigid body links and driven by making a joint actuator generate an actuator force. The control system includes a mechanical model including geometric parameters and dynamical parameters of the link structure, a virtual external force calculating means for calculating a virtual force acting on the mechanical model of the link structure, a contact part detecting means for detecting contact parts between the link structure and the outside, and an actual force converting means for converting the virtual force calculated by the virtual external force calculating means into an external force capable of existing actually and the actuator force of the joint actuator, using contact information detected by the contact part detecting means. The joint actuator is made to generate the actuator force output by the actual force converting means.

A gas turbine engine includes a variable area nozzle having a plurality of flaps. The flaps are actuated by a plurality of actuating mechanisms driven by shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators to vary fan exist nozzle area. The SMA actuator has a deformed shape in its martensitic state and a parent shape in its austenitic state. The SMA actuator is heated to transform from martensitic state to austenitic state generating a force output to actuate the flaps. The variable area nozzle also includes a plurality of return mechanisms deforming the SMA actuator when the SMA actuator is in its martensitic state.

A method and apparatus for adjusting force output from force feedback devices based on user contact with the device. A degree of user contact with a manipulandum of the device is determined by examining the motion of the manipulandum in at least one degree of freedom. A force is output in the degree of freedom of the manipulandum by an actuator of the force feedback device, where a magnitude of the force is adjusted in accordance with the degree of user contact. The force output can be stopped if the user is not contacting the manipulandum, or the forces can be reduced in magnitude if the user has a light contact or reduced grip on the manipulandum. The device can also continue to monitor manipulandum motion to determine when the user is again interacting with the manipulandum and to reapply or increase the magnitude of the forces.

A hybrid electric vehicle is capable of transmitting both of a driving force outputted from an engine and a driving force outputted from an electric motor and blocking the transmission of the driving force from the engine to a transmission unit by using a clutch. If the electric motor is in an inoperable state when a gear currently used in the transmission is shifted to a target gear, after disengaging the clutch and bringing the transmission unit into a neutral mode, the vehicle ECU implements temporary engagement control for temporarily engaging and then disengaging the clutch, selects the target gear, and then engages the clutch again.

A device and method for adjusting the magnetic strength of a magnetic end effector for lift systems is described. The magnetic end effector is capable of lifting discriminate payloads by selectively varying the strength of the magnetic forces output by the magnetic end effector. An actuator can be operatively coupled to the variable strength magnet end effector, wherein the actuator is selectively actuatable to control the adjustment of the variable strength magnet. The actuator may also be configured to maintain the variable strength magnet at a desired magnetic force output strength once achieved for any given amount of time.

A plurality of individual shape memory alloy (SMA) wires are formed into a SMA bundle to increase force output therefrom. The SMA bundle has a parent shape and a deformed shape. The SMA bundle in the deformed shape resumes its parent shape once the SMA bundle is heated to generate increased force output. The SMA wires can be configured into strands, ropes, arrays or other shapes. The SMA material is also used in a variety of actuators for generating substantially continuous motion.

The invention discloses a model predication control based cooling heating and power generation type micro-grid operation method. The method comprises the steps of building a predication model to predicate the wind power, photovoltaic power and cooling heating power generation load power data within a control time domain in the future; solving a rolling optimizing model at every moment according to the latest predication result and the real-time operation state of each device; calculating the force output of each device at the following time quantum; re-calculating the rolling optimizing model at the next time according to the latest predication result, monitoring the actual wind power value, photovoltaic value, cooling load value, heating load value and power generation load value on real time; updating the historic data; solving and feeding back to correct the model at every 5 minutes to obtain the adjustment of each device; distributing to each device for adjusting until reaching the next rolling optimizing time. With the adoption of the method, the influence of inaccurate predication on the optimal operation of the system can be removed well, thus the system operation risk is reduced, and the system operation stability is improved; meanwhile, the economy of the operation of a cooling heating and power generation type micro-grid can be increased.

The invention discloses a method and system for dual-driving and dual-control of automobiles based on steering intervention. An ECU controller receives instructions from a host computer to determine whether steering intervention occurs, and realizes the simultaneous operation or switching of the manual driving mode and the automatic driving mode; When in the state of manual driving mode and automatic driving mode at the same time, it receives the driver's steering wheel to turn the steering wheel and the auxiliary force output by automatic driving to assist the driver in steering manipulation; when in the automatic driving mode, the steering angle The upper computer sends it to the steering controller through the ECU controller, automatically controls the output shaft for steering, reads the feedback value of the rotation angle sensor, and sends the actual rotation angle to the ECU controller. The invention realizes switching between the manual driving controlled by the manual control and the automatic driving controlled by the ECU, and improves the safety of personnel and vehicles in the actual use process.

The invention discloses a large-output-force robot flexible energy-storing joint based on gravity energy storing and relates to a flexible driving device used for a robot. The large-output-force robot flexible energy-storing joint based on gravity energy storing aims to solve the problems that due to the linear type force output of an existing series elastic actuator of a robot joint, the structure is not compact, occupied space is large, power required by a motor is large, and accurate force output control and accurate position control of the joint are not facilitated. The large-output-force robot flexible energy-storing joint based on gravity energy storing comprises an upper limb connecting plate, an upper limb motor shell, a joint gearbox, a lower limb connecting plate, a lower limb support, a speed reducer, a rotary transformer, a motor provided with an encoder, an series elastic body and a torsion spring, wherein the joint gearbox comprises a shell body, a third bevel gear, a fourth bevel gear, a first bevel gear, a second bevel gear and a joint shaft, the series elastic body comprises an inner ring body, an outer ring body and at least four groups of wavy clips, the inner ring body and the outer ring body are concentric, and the at least four groups of wavy clips which are integrated are connected between the inner circle and the outer circle of the inner ring body in the circumferential direction and between the inner circle and the outer circle of the outer ring body in the circumferential direction. The large-output-force robot flexible energy-storing joint based on gravity energy storing is applied to the field of robots.

The invention relates to a real-time monitoring method for the construction quality of a core rockfill dam. The method comprises the following steps: the dynamic coordinates and the exciting force output state of a rolling machine and the dynamic coordinates, the no-load and full-load states and the discharge point coordinates of a dam material transporter are collected in real time by monitoring terminals arranged on the rolling machine and the dam material transporter, and are transmitted to a remote database server in real time by a GPRS network; the server analyzes and judges whether the running speed and the exciting force output of the rolling machine exceed a standard or not and whether dam material discharge points match or not in real time, and transmits a corresponding alarm by an alarm device and PDA; and the monitoring terminals of a site sub-control station and a master control center read data by a cable network or a wireless network, carry out real-time calculation and analysis on a dam surface rolling quality parameter and a dam transportation monitoring parameter, compare the result with a setting standard, send out an alarm by the PDA and the monitoring computers of the master control center and the site sub-control station according to the deviation and guide correlative personnel to perform site feedback. The invention effectively improves the precision of the construction quality monitoring of the core rockfill dam and the flexibility of graphical calculation.

A hybrid electric vehicle is equipped with an engine output system that makes the engine generate a driving force and outputs the driving force of the engine and a motor output system that makes an electric motor generate a driving force and outputs the driving force of the electric motor, and is capable of transmitting to driving wheels the driving forces outputted from the respective systems. If a failure of the motor output system is not detected, a vehicle ECU sets the gear of an automatic transmission for start-up of the vehicle to a first gear. If the failure is detected, the vehicle ECU sets the gear of the automatic transmission for start-up the vehicle to a second gear that is lower than the first gear.