1. A hose clamp comprising:
a clamp body formed by bending a strip-shaped leaf spring material into an annular shape; and
a pair of operation sections having a first operation section and a second operation section, the first operation section extending radially from an end portion of the clamp body and the second operation section extending radially from another end portion of the clamp body,
wherein tightening of a hose is made possible by diameter reduction by an elastic restoring force of the clamp body,
the clamp body is expanded in diameter by using elastic deformation by bringing the pair of operation sections close to each other,
the clamp body has a first inclined side edge and a first opposing side edge at one end side of the clamp body and has a second inclined side edge and a second opposing side edge at the other end side of the clamp body, the first and second inclined side edges each inclined with respect to a straight line extending in a circumferential direction, the first and second opposing side edges being parallel to each other,
the first inclined side edge has a first tilt prevention section which prevents radially inward tilt of the first inclined side edge by coming into contact with the hose during tightening of the hose, and
the second inclined side edge has a second tilt prevention section which prevents radially inward tilt of the second inclined side edge by coming into contact with the hose during tightening of the hose.
2. The hose clamp according to claim 1, wherein each of the first tilt prevention section and the second tilt prevention section is formed in the form of a plate which protrudes axially outward from each of the first and second inclined side edges of the clamp body and has a side edge that is long in a extends parallel to the straight line extending in the circumferential direction.
3. The hose clamp according to claim 2, wherein a corner portion of each of the first and second tilt prevention sections is bent to the outside in a radial direction of the clamp body.
4. The hose clamp according to claim 1, wherein the each of the first and second tilt prevention sections forms a protrusion extending axially outward from the clamp body.
5. The hose clamp according to claim 4, wherein a tip portion of each of the first and second tilt prevention sections is bent to the outside in a radial direction of the clamp body.
6. The hose clamp according to claim 1, further comprising a leak prevention section which directly comes into contact with an area between both end portions of the clamp body in an axial direction of the clamp body and presses the hose during tightening of the hose.
7. The hose clamp according to claim 1, further comprising a leak prevention section which does not come into contact with an area between both end portions of the clamp body in an axial direction of the clamp body and presses the hose during tightening of the hose.
8. The hose clamp according to claim 1, wherein the first tilt prevention section and the second tilt prevention section are arranged point symmetrically to a center point of the clamp body.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A controller comprising:
a nonlinear controller component capable of providing, over each time interval from a plurality of time intervals, an amplitude determining input signal to a control signal providing component; said control signal providing component providing an output having a predetermined amplitude; said amplitude determining input signal corresponding to at least one predetermined system state variable;
said nonlinear controller component being operatively connected to receive as inputs at least one predetermined system state variable;
a relationship between said amplitude determining input signal and at least one predetermined system state variable being obtained by optimizing a predetermined function of said amplitude determining input signal and internal states.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein said nonlinear controller component comprises a memory for access by an application component, said memory comprising:
a data structure stored said memory, said data structure comprising:
a plurality of amplitude determining input signals, each amplitude determining input signal in said plurality of amplitude determining input signal having a corresponding at least one predetermined system state variable;
said amplitude determining input signal, when provided to the control signal providing component, enables obtaining a predetermined system output.
3. The controller of claim 1 wherein said nonlinear controller component comprises;
at least one processor; and
at least one computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein, said computer readable code being capable of causing said at least one processor to:
apply an optimization technique to minimize a predetermined function; and
obtain, from applying the optimization technique, the relationship between amplitude determining input signals and at least one predetermined system state variable.
4. The controller of claim 1 wherein said relationship is obtained by minimizing said predetermined function utilizing dynamic programming.
5. The controller of claim 1 wherein said predetermined function is subject to at least one constraint.
6. The controller of claim 1 wherein said relationship is obtained by minimizing said predetermined function utilizing optimization techniques.
7. The controller of claim 1 further comprising:
a state estimation component capable of receiving an output voltage and an input to a system and of providing an estimate of states in a state model of the system and an estimate of a output variables of said system.
8. The controller of claim 7 further comprising
a output variables predictor receiving an estimate of at least one present output variable from said state estimator component; said output variables predictor being capable of predicting at least one future output variables value.
9. The controller of claim 8 wherein said output variables predictor comprises a digital filter.
10. The controller of claim 9 wherein said digital filter is a finite impulse response filter.
11. The controller of claim 9 wherein said digital filter is an infinite impulse response filter.
12. The controller of claim 9 wherein filter coefficients of said filter are determined by an LMS type algorithm.
13. The controller of claim 9 wherein filter coefficients of said filter are determined by an RLS type algorithm.
14. The controller of claim 8 wherein said output variables predictor receives an input signal indicating future occurrence of a sudden change in load; said output variables predictor being capable of predicting said at least one future output variable value after occurrence of the sudden change in load.
15. The controller of claim 14 wherein said output variables predictor utilizes a nonlinear lookup table.
16. The controller of claim 15 wherein said nonlinear lookup table is implemented by means of a neural network.
17. The controller of claim 8 wherein said nonlinear controller component comprises a memory for access by an application component, said memory comprising:
a data structure stored said memory, said data structure comprising:
plurality of amplitude determining input signals, each amplitude determining input signal in said plurality of amplitude determining input signals having a corresponding at least one predetermined system state variable;
said each amplitude determining input signal, when provided to the control signal providing component of the system, enables obtaining a predetermined system output.
18. The controller of claim 2 wherein said nonlinear controller component comprises:
at least one processor; and
at least one computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein,
said computer readable code being capable of causing said at least one processor to:
apply an optimization technique to minimize the predetermined function; and
obtain, from applying the optimization technique, the relationship between amplitude determining input signal and at least one predetermined system state variable.
19. The controller of claim 18 wherein said optimization technique is dynamic programming.
20. The controller of claim 18 wherein said optimization technique is selected from the group consisting of model predictive control, genetic programming, simulated annealing, exhaustive numerical search, and neural networks.
21. The controller of claim 1 wherein said nonlinear controller component comprises;
a plurality of comparators, said plurality of comparators operatively connected to provide a substantially piecewise linear approximation to said relationship between duty cycle and at least one predetermined switching power supply state variable.
22. The controller of claim 1 wherein said nonlinear controller component comprises a component for obtaining a value of said amplitude determining input signal by evaluating a predetermined polynomial function of at least one system state variable at a predetermined value of said at least one system state variable; said value of said amplitude determining input signal corresponding to said predetermined value of said at least one system variable; said value of said one amplitude determining input signal, when provided to the control signal providing component enables obtaining a predetermined system output.
23. The controller of claim 22 wherein the system is a switching power supply, the amplitude determining input signal is a duty cycle and the control signal providing component is a pulse width modulator (PWM).
24. The controller of claim 22 wherein said nonlinear controller component comprises a memory for access by an application component, said memory comprising coefficients of said predetermined polynomial function.
25. The controller of claim 3 wherein, in causing said at least one processor to apply an optimization technique, said computer readable code causes said at least one processor to:
a) predict, utilizing a system model, values of system state variables at each of a predetermined number of time intervals from said plurality of time intervals; said system model receiving system state data at a predetermined initial time;
b) obtain one value of said amplitude determining input signal at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals; said one value being obtained from a predetermined polynomial function of at least one of said system state variables;
c) predict system output at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals; said system output being predicted utilizing said system model; said system model utilizing output from said control signal providing component at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals; said output at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals corresponding to said one value of said amplitude determining input signal at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals;
d) substantially minimize a cost function; said cost function being a function of a difference of said predicted system output and a predetermined desired system output and of said one value of said amplitude determining input signal at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals;
e) obtain, from said substantially minimizing of said cost function, one substantially optimal amplitude determining input signal at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals;
f) provide, at a time interval from said predetermined number of time intervals subsequent to said predetermined initial time, said one substantially optimal amplitude determining input signal at said time interval to said control signal providing component;
g) obtain system state data at a time substantially equal to a sum of said predetermined initial time and time interval subsequent to said predetermined initial time; and
h) repeat steps a) through g) for another predetermined time substantially equal to said sum of said predetermined initial time and time interval subsequent to said predetermined initial time.
26. The controller of claim 25 wherein the system is a switching power supply, the amplitude determining input signal is a duty cycle and the control signal providing component is a pulse width modulator (PWM).
27. The controller of claim 25 wherein, in causing said processor to obtain system state data, said computer readable code causes said processor to estimate system state data from system output and system input.
28. A method for controlling a system, the method comprising the steps of:
minimizing a function of system output and internal states of the system;
obtaining, from said minimizing, the relationship between amplitude determining input signals and at least one predetermined system state variable;
providing an amplitude determining input signal to a control signal providing component in the system.
29. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of minimizing the function comprises the step of utilizing dynamic programming to minimize the function.
30. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of:
estimating at least some of the internal states and at least one output variable of the system; and
utilizing results of estimating in minimizing the function.
31. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of estimating parameters for a model of the system.
32. A method for controlling a system, the method comprising the steps of:
a) predicting, utilizing a system model, values of system state variables at each of a predetermined number of time intervals from said plurality of time intervals; said system model receiving system state data at a predetermined initial time;
b) obtaining one value of said amplitude determining input signal at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals; said one value being obtained from a predetermined polynomial function of at least one of said system state variables;
c) predicting system output at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals; said system output being predicted utilizing said system model; said system model utilizing output from said control signal providing component at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals; said output at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals corresponding to said one value of said amplitude determining input signal at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals;
d) substantially minimizing a cost function; said cost function being a function of a difference of said predicted system output and a predetermined desired system output and of said one value of said amplitude determining input signal at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals;
e) obtaining, from said substantially minimizing of said cost function, one substantially optimal amplitude determining input signal at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals;
f) providing, at a time interval from said predetermined number of time intervals subsequent to said predetermined initial time, said one substantially optimal amplitude determining input signal at said time interval to said control signal providing component;
g) obtaining system state data at a time substantially equal to a sum of said predetermined initial time and time interval subsequent to said predetermined initial time; and
h) repeating steps a) through g) for another predetermined time substantially equal to said sum of said predetermined initial time and time interval subsequent to said predetermined initial time.
33. The method of claim 32 wherein the step of obtaining system data comprises the step of estimating system state data from system output and system input.
34. A switching power supply comprising:
a circuit comprising at least two reactive components configured to provide an output voltage and capable of being switched from one output state to another output state;
a switching component capable of switching said circuit between at least two switching states, said at least two switching states comprising said one output state and said another voltage state;
a pulse width modulator capable of receiving a duty cycle and of driving the switching component in order to cause switching between two of said at least two switching states; and
a nonlinear controller component capable of providing a duty cycle to said pulse width modulator, said duty cycle corresponding to at least one predetermining switching power supply state variable; said nonlinear controller comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein, said computer readable code causing said at least one processor to:
a) predict, utilizing a system model, values of system state variables at each of a predetermined number of time intervals from a plurality of time intervals; said system model receiving system state data at a predetermined initial time;
b) obtain one value of said duty cycle at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals; said one value being obtained from a predetermined polynomial function of at least one of said system state variables;
c) predict system output at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals; said system output being predicted utilizing said system model; said system model utilizing output from said control signal providing component at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals; said output at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals corresponding to said one value of said duty cycle at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals;
d) substantially minimize a cost function; said cost function being a function of a difference of said predicted system output and a predetermined desired system output and of said one value of said duty cycle at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals;
e) obtain, from said substantially minimizing of said cost function, one substantially optimal duty cycle at said each of said predetermined number of time intervals;
f) provide, at a time interval from said predetermined number of time intervals subsequent to said predetermined initial time, said one substantially optimal duty cycle at said time interval to said pulse width modulator;
g) obtain system state data at a time substantially equal to a sum of said predetermined initial time and time interval subsequent to said predetermined initial time; and
h) repeat steps a) through g) for another predetermined time substantially equal to said sum of said predetermined initial time and time interval subsequent to said predetermined initial time;
said nonlinear controller component being operatively connected to receive as inputs at least one predetermined switching power supply state variable.
35. The system of claim 34 further comprising:
a state estimation component capable of receiving an output voltage and an input to a switching power supply and of providing an estimate of states in a state model of the switching power supply.