This study proposes a multilayer hybrid deep-learning system (MHS) to automatically sort waste disposed of by individuals in the urban public area. This system deploys a high-resolution camera to capture waste image and sensors to detect other useful feature information. The MHS uses a CNN-based algorithm to extract image features and a multilayer perceptrons (MLP) method to consolidate image features and other feature information to classify wastes as recyclable or the others. The MHS is trained and validated against the manually labelled items, achieving overall classification accuracy higher than 90% under two different testing scenarios, which significantly outperforms a reference CNN-based method relying on image-only inputs.

High voltage gain DC-DC converter is a prime requirement for renewable applications, in particular for PV. Though numerous DC-DC converter is available for increasing the voltage gain, the passive elements requirement is higher which reduces the compactness, consequently, increases the cost of the system. To address this issue, a high gain DC-DC converter is reported recently. However, the number of passive elements is quite high which increases the size. To reduce the number of passive elements and maintain the same number of semiconductor devices, in this paper, a new switched inductor arrangement is proposed which is named as switched inductor double switch DC-DC converter (SL-DS-DC). Moreover, the proposed converter has a higher gain as compared to the recently reported converter. The proposed converter is analyzed in steady state and a comparative analysis is presented to prove the suitability. Finally, the proposed converter is validated experimentally.

In this article, the free-will arbitrary time consensus is formulated for multiagent systems. This consensus protocol is independent of initial conditions and any other system parameters. With such a protocol, the multiagent system is shown to attain consensus as well as average consensus within the prespecified arbitrary time. Agents rendezvous can also be accomplished with the given protocol. Communication imperfections are easily handled with the designed protocol. Robust free-will arbitrary time consensus protocol is also designed. The stability of such nonlinear nonautonomous protocols is established using suitable Lyapunov functions. Simulation examples confirm the theoretical findings.

The essential feature of DC-DC converter for fuel cell vehicle is to ensure the higher voltage gain to meet out the higher DC link voltage demand, continuous input current to improve the life span of fuel cell, presence of common grounding to avoid electromagnetic interference issue and lower voltage stress with reduced components. This paper presents a high voltage gain DC-DC converter by combining the switched capacitor and quasi switched boost networks modules. The proposed high voltage gain converter provides the continuous input current, lower voltage stress, utilizes fewer number of elements and common grounding feature. The operating characteristics, steady state analysis both in continuous current mode (CCM) and discontinuous current mode (DCM), comparative analysis with contemporary converters are discussed. The theoretical claimed analysis is validated by the simulation and experimental study. The proposed converter is operated for 200 W output power rating and tested for providing the voltage gain in the range of 5-8 times the input voltage gain by varying the input voltage from 25 V-40 V. The efficiency of the proposed converter is also reported for different output power rating which is in the range 91.3%-93.7%.

Bidirectional DC-DC converters are critical aspects of integrating energy storage units with hybrid electric vehicle. In this paper, a new bidirectional DC-DC converter is presented based on the quasi Z-source and switched capacitor network. The proposed converter can achieve higher voltage gain in a lower duty cycle as compared to existing converters reported in the literature. The proposed converter achieves high gain in low duty cycle range thus avoids the inductor core saturation problem in converters. In addition, the proposed converter exhibits lower voltage stress across capacitors. The proposed converter operation, steady-state analysis, voltage and current stress analysis are discussed along with comparative analysis is also presented. For validating the feasibility of the proposed converter, an simulation and experimental setup is designed.

In renewable application, a compact high step up DC-DC converter is a prime requirement with continuous input current and lower voltage stress across the devices. In this paper, a high gain DC-DC converter is proposed which utilizes the concept of switched inductor/capacitor and dual switch. The proposed converter has reduced conduction losses, reduced component count, low voltage stress across the devices and therefore compact in size. In addition, the proposed converter has lower inductor current ripple which is suitable for renewable integration. The operation and steady state analysis of the converter is done in continuous current mode. The proposed converter voltage and current stress along with the losses are calculated analytically. Moreover, a comparative analysis is presented to prove the effectiveness of the proposedconverter. Finally, an experimental set up is designed and tested for two distinct power ratings.