Micro-propulsion mechanisms differ from macro scale counterparts owing to the domination of viscous forces in microflows. In essence, propulsion mechanisms such as cilia and flagella of single celled organisms can be deemed as nature’s solution to a challenging problem, and taken as a basis for the design of an artificial micro-propulsion system. In this paper we present numerical analysis of t...

Design of high-performance electric propulsion systems requires thorough dynamic analysis of both the electric power and propulsion systems. This paper presents a simple but effective method to model the relevant components in the electric and propulsion plants to facilitate the integration and analysis of the entire system for the purpose of predicting the overall system performance. The objec...

Background and Objectives: Power electronics infrastructures play an important role in charging different types of electric vehicles (EVs) especially Plug-in Hybrid EVs (PHEVs). Designing appropriate power converters is the topic of various studies. Method: In this paper, a novel bidirectional buck-boost multifunctional integrated converter is presented which is capable of handling battery and ...

Roller-Walker is a leg-wheel hybrid mobile robot using a passive wheel equipped on the tip of each leg. The passive wheel can be transformed into sole mode by rotating ankle roll joint when Roller-Walker walks on rough terrain. This paper discusses energy efficiency of locomotion in wheeled mode. We define a leg trajectory to produce forward straight propulsion and discuss the relationships bet...