Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Reference Design For A Cyber-Physical System, Nicholas Paul Blair

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a reference design to assist in the selection of security practices in power electronics design. A prototype will be developed from this reference design for evaluation. This evaluation will include a brief cost/benefit analysis to gauge the efficacy of implementing each layer of security throughout the power electronics design process. This thesis will also describe the obstacles and effectiveness of integrating a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) into a cyber-hardened grid-connected device. The TPM device is a secured crypto processor that assists in generating, storing, and restricting the use of cryptographic keys. The …

Lawn Buddy, Jayson Johnston, Andrew Brown, Jacob Maljian

Electrical Engineering

Grass lawns are a common hallmark of the American home. In 2019, a survey from the National Association of Landscape Professionals found that 81% of all Americans owned a lawn [1]. Mowing is a time consuming and costly chore that is part of maintaining a grass lawn. The manual labor in mowing a lawn can exceed 40 hours per year [2]. People commonly incur weekly costs on mowing services to save time. Traditional gas powered mowers are physically demanding and use engines that need routine maintenance. They operate loudly enough that users should be wearing hearing protection and the noise …

Distribution Line Multi-Tool, Michael Andrew Garcia, Drew Miller, Sukhdeep Singh, Ritwik Kesavath

Electrical Engineering

Power companies are always interested in the best possible monitoring equipment for their grid. The power line multi-tool developed would aid in the monitoring of the power system’s distribution network. This device assesses the current conditions of distribution power lines. The device is able to measure current, detect downed power lines, as well as recognize fire starting conditions, and have wireless communication for ease of access and installation. Overall this device greatly aids in helping utilities monitor their grid in more detail.

With the increase of dry climates yearly, several utility companies are taking measures to aid in the prevention …

An Integrated Resource Plan For Arizona Public Service Electric (Aps), Irene Boghdadi, Randy Chiu

Master's Projects and Capstones

Our Masters Capstone Project is an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for Arizona’s largest electric utility, Arizona Public Service Electric (APS).

An IRP is developed by utilities to identify the optimal combination of demand- and supply-side resources needed to reliably meet forecasted demand for energy and capacity, including a planning reserve margin, over a future period.

In addition to APS’s obligation to serve the growing load in Arizona while minimizing costs, it is required by the state to adhere to the Renewable Energy Standard (RES) policy of 15 percent retail sales from renewable energy resources by 2025.

The analysis described in …

Passive And Active Battery Balancing Methods Implemented On Second Use Lithium-Ion Batteries, Walter Bartek

Masters Theses

As the number of electric vehicles (EVs) increases, the number of used battery packs that require disposal increases; however, many of these packs still have useful capacity and can be repurposed. When using repurposed large lithium-ion battery packs, deviations between cells within a pack become problematic. These deviations result in a pack that is unbalanced, affecting performance and proving potentially hazardous when charging. Consequently, a battery management system (BMS) is needed. To provide safety, the BMS in this paper monitors and controls the operation of the battery pack. In addition, it controls the redistribution of charge between the cells within …

Multiple Input Single Output Converter With Maximum Power Point Tracking For Renewable Energy Applications, Kenneth K. Nguyen, Taufik Taufik

Master's Theses

In this thesis, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for multiple input single output (MISO) converter is presented such that power generated from multiple individual energy sources can be combined to deliver the maximum amount of power to a common resistive load. Typically, MISO converters will employ techniques that yield equal current sharing from each energy source. However, this may not be desirable since each source may be rated at different power ratings and/or may experience different operating conditions, preventing the system MISO converter to acquire the most available total power from the sources. Utilizing MPPT control would therefore be …