ABB Ltd

About: ABB Ltd is a company organization based out in Zurich, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Voltage & Signal. The organization has 6222 authors who have published 6852 publications receiving 83994 citations.

Structured collaborative behavior of industrial robots in mixed human-robot environments

Abstract: In mixed human-robot environments safety and productivity are two important factors for the design of robotic collaborative behaviors. The collaborative behavior should be able to uphold productivity as far as possible while respecting safety constraints for varying collaboration modes and evaluation criteria. In this paper, a concept of using a finite state automaton for structuring the collaborative behavior of industrial robots is proposed to systematically handle the following exceptions. Safety and productivity (S&P) exceptions which either interfere with productivity or compromise workers safety are caught by the corresponding exception reaction. The regular production operation after an exception reaction is restored with exception recovery strategies. The state automaton model for an industrial assembly scenario is finally presented to illustrate this concept. A demonstration realizing the example for interaction between an ABB Dual-Arm Concept Robot and a human is discussed.

Key management for substations: Symmetric keys, public keys or no keys?

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss symmetric-key and public-key protocols for key management in electricity transmission and distribution substations — both for communication within substations, and between substations and the network control center. Key management in the electricity network is widely regarded as a challenging problem, not only because of the scale, but also due to the fact that any mechanism must be implemented in resource-constrained environments. NISTIR 7628, the foundation document for the architecture of the US Smart Grid, mentions key management as one of the most important research areas, and the IEC 62351 standards committee has already initiated a new specification dedicated to key management. In this document, we describe different variants of symmetric-key and public-key protocols. Our design is motivated by the need to keep the mechanism simple, robust, usable and still cost effective. It is important to take into account the complexity and the costs involved not just in the initial bootstrapping of trust but also in subsequent key management operations like key update and revocation. It is vital to determine the complexity and the cost of recovery mechanisms — recovery not only from malicious, targeted attacks but also from unintentional failures. We present a detailed threat model, analysing a range of scenarios from physical intrusion through disloyal maintenance personnel to supply-chain attacks, network intrusions and attacks on central systems. We conclude that while using cryptography to secure wide area communication between the substation and the network control center brings noticeable benefits, the benefits of using cryptography within the substation bay are much less obvious; we expect that any such use will be essentially for compliance. The protocols presented in this paper are informed by this threat model and are optimised for robustness, including simplicity, usability and cost.

Method for programming timer to execute timing operations

Abstract: In the present invention, several timer functions (e.g. delay on make, delay on break, recycle, single shot, etc.) are expressed in terms of a series of timer subfunctions, and code segments are developed for each identified subfunction. A program of a timer is established to include a plurality of subfunction code segments and a subfunction ordering table for determining the ordering of execution for the subfunction code segments. The ordering of subfunctions of the subfunction ordering table may be selectable in accordance with a model number input received at a program builder system adapted for use in programming the programmable timer. In one embodiment, the programming method provides for reprogramming of a timer including a control circuit having a one-time programmable processor.

Fault direction parameter indicator device and related methods

Abstract: A method of determining a fault direction parameter of a fault on an AC transmission line of a power distribution system relative to a measurement location of the transmission line. The method includes measuring a time-dependent AC current of the transmission line at the measurement location to obtain time-domain current data indicative of the measured current, obtaining a time of the fault on the transmission line, identifying first and second times by identifying a periodically re-occurring feature of the current data, such that the fault time is between the first and second times, extracting, from the current data, an offset indicative parameter indicative of a time offset of the current at the fault time and between the first and second times, calculating an offset direction parameter by comparing the offset indicative parameter to a non-offset indicative parameter, and establishing the fault direction parameter based on the offset direction parameter.

High temperature alloy for machine components based on doped tial

Abstract: The high temperature alloy is intended for machine components subjected to high mechanical and thermal stress. It is essentially based on doped TiAl and has the following composition: Ti.sub.x El.sub.y Me.sub.z Al.sub.1 -(x+y+z), in which El=B, Ge or Si and Me=Co, Cr, Ge, Hf, Mn, Mo, Nb, Pd, Ta, V, W, Y, and/or Zr and: ______________________________________ 0.46 ≦x ≦0.54,0.001 ≦y ≦0.015 for El = Ge and Me = Cr, Hf, Mn, Mo, Nb, Ta, V and/or W,0.001 ≦y ≦0.015 for El = Si and Me = Hf, Mn, Mo, Ta, V and/or W,0 ≦y ≦0.01 for El = B and Me = Co, Ge, Pd, Y and/or Zr,0 ≦y ≦0.02 for El = Ge and Me = Co, Ge, Pd, Y and/or Zr,0.0001 ≦y ≦0.01 for El = B and Me = Cr, Mn, Nb and/or W,0.01 ≦z ≦0.04 if Me = an individual element,0.01 ≦z ≦0.08 if Me = two or more individual elements and0.46 ≦(x + y + z) ≦0.54.______________________________________