Engineering Commons^™

Impact Of Wind Generation Mix On Transient Stability For An Interconnected Power System, Lasantha Meegahapola, Damian Flynn, Jason Kennedy, Tim Littler

Dr Lasantha G Meegahapola

The rapid growth of wind generation in many European countries is pushing power systems into uncharted territory. As additional wind generators are installed, the changing generation mix may impact on power system stability. This paper adopts the New England 39 bus system as a test system for transient stability analysis. Thermal generator models are based on a likely future plant mix for existing systems, while varying capacities of fixed-speed induction generators (FSIG) and doubly-fed induction generators (DFIG) are considered. The main emphasis here has been placed on the impact of wind technology mix on inter-area oscillations following transient grid disturbances. …

Impact On Transient And Frequency Stability For A Power System At Very High Wind Penetration, Lasantha Meegahapola, Damian Flynn

Dr Lasantha G Meegahapola

This paper analyzes the impact on transient and frequency stability for a power system at very high wind penetration (40% wind). Wind penetration is based on the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG), and a systematic approach has been adopted for wind power integration. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out for each wind integration scenario and for different wind generator loading conditions. A range of fault locations has been selected for stability analysis based on the proximity to synchronous generation and wind farms. The analysis has shown that transient stability performance is subject to fault location in the network, especially when …

Optimal Allocation Of Reactive Power Resources To Minimise Losses And Maintain System Security, Eknath Vittal, Lasantha Meegahapola, Damian Flynn, Andrew Keane

Dr Lasantha G Meegahapola

Modern doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbines have significant reactive power control capability, even during low wind speed conditions. This can improve system security by providing terminal voltage control at buses in the system. Generally, such control employs the full range of reactive power production from the turbine which can lead to increased system losses. By utilizing optimal power flow analysis, and limiting the range of reactive power production at certain wind farms, system losses can be minimized. If the reactive power of the wind farms are optimized to achieve the minimum system losses this may adversely affect the voltage …

Transient Stability Analysis Of A Power System With High Wind Penetration, Lasantha Meegahapola, Damian Flynn, Tim Littler

Dr Lasantha G Meegahapola

This paper presents transient stability analysis for a power system with high wind penetration. The transient stability has been evaluated based on two stability criteria: rotor angle stability and voltage stability. A modified IEEE-14 bus system has been used as the main study network and simulations have been conducted at several wind power penetration levels, defined as a fraction of total system generation. A wide range of scenarios have been presented based on the wind farm voltage at the point of connection, i.e. low voltage (LV) distribution level and high voltage (HV) transmission level, and the type of wind generator …

Design And Development Of Seed Hydration Analyzing Device And Its Utilization In Studying Cereal And Legume Hydration, Vinay Kumar Mannam

Doctoral Dissertations

Cereals and legumes are important sources of vegetable-based human nutrition. Together they account for 48.6 % of protein and 8.7 % carbohydrate consumption around the world. During preparation, majority of these agricultural staples are re-hydrated to aid in their digestibility, palatability and the bio-availability of the nutrients.

Study of hydration kinetics of cereals and legumes is an important and valuable necessity for industry and academia to understand and gain insights into seed hydration characteristics. An automatic seed hydration analyzing system is developed as a solution for lack of instruments with broad capabilities to study variety of seed properties. The device …

Comparison Of The New Moskin Detector And Fiber Optic Dosimetry System For Radiotherapy, Ian Kwan, Bong Soo Lee, Wook Jae Yoo, Donghyun Cho, Kyoungwon Jang, Sanghun Shin, Martin Carolan, Michael Lerch, V Perevertaylo, Anatoly Rosenfeld

Michael L.F. Lerch

In radiotherapy, interest in real-time dosimetry stems from the desire to monitor the dose delivered to the target volume and the surrounding normal tissue to enable clinicians to track the progress of the treatment, and prevent surrounding tissue from receiving too much radiation dose. In this study, the dosimetric performance of the new MOSkin dosimeter and a Bicron BCF-20 scintillating fiber was compared to depth dose measurements taken with a Farmer-type ionization chamber. The performance of the MOSkin and BCF-20 detectors in the build-up region of the depth dose curve, where the dose gradient is steep, is also compared to …

Brachyview: A Novel In-Body Imaging System For Prostate Brachytherapy, Kevin Loo, Marco Petasecca, Mitra Safavi, Michael Lerch, Zhangbo Han, Jan Jakubek, Stanislav Pospisil, Steven Meikle, Marco Zaider, Joseph Bucci, Anatoly Rosenfeld

Michael L.F. Lerch

The dosimetric quality of seed implants is a crucial part of the prostate brachytherapy treatment procedure. Incorrect seed placement during or after deployment leads to both short and long term complications, including urethral and rectal toxicity. The BrachyView system is a fast intraoperative planning system, providing real-time dosimetric information by acting as an in-body gamma camera. It incorporates three tiled Medipix2 pixellated detectors coupled to a multi-pinhole collimator. Three-dimensional reconstructed images from multiple planar images are used to determine the seed placement in real time. The seed image, when fused with the ultrasound dataset, provides both anatomical and dosimetric information …

A Multi-Agent Solution To Distribution System Management By Considering Distributed Generators, Fenghui Ren, Minjie Zhang, Darmawan Sutanto

Dr Fenghui Ren

A traditional distribution network carries electricity from a central power resource to consumers, and the power dispatch is controlled centrally. Distributed generators (DGs) emerge as an alternative power resource to distribution networks at a smaller and distributed scale, which will bring benefits such as reduced voltage drop and loss. However, because most of high penetration DGs are not utility owned and characterized by high degree of uncertainty such as solar and wind, the distribution network may perform differently from the conventionally expected behaviors. How to dynamically and efficiently manage the power dispatch in a distribution network to balance the supply …

Interaction Model Of Functions In The National Airspace System, Nathan F. Koerschner, Steven J. Landry

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The National Airspace System (NAS) is comprehensively described by five functions derived from big-picture goals: (1) conflict detection and resolution, (2) controlling aircraft states, (3) traffic flow management, (4) controlling passenger states, and (5) controlling company resources. It can be reasonably assumed that these functions interact in some way; this interaction is currently unknown. A model of the entire NAS would be helpful in discovering these interactions, yet no such comprehensive model exists. To address this problem an agent-based state-based model was created in MATLAB. To date, only functions (1) and (2) were implemented. Running the model shows that there …

Automated Offline Programming For Robotic Welding System With High Degree Of Freedoms, Zengxi Pan, Joseph Polden, Nathan P. Larkin, Stephen Van Duin, John Norrish

zengxi pan

Although robotics based flexible automation is an intriguing prospect for small to median enterprises in the era of the global competition, the complexity of programming remains one of the major hurdles limiting its applications. This paper presents an automated offline programming (AOLP) method to address this issue. AOLP is software that automatically plans and programs for a robotic welding system with high Degree of Freedoms (DOFs). It takes CAD model as input, and is able to generate the complete robotic welding code without any further programming effort.

Calculation Of Colouration Voltage For A Multifunctional Glazing Powered By Photovoltaic, Aritra Ghosh, Brian Norton, Aidan Duffy

Conference papers

Multifunctional glazing is a combination of various glazing systems and can comprise permutations of vacuum glazing, aerogel glazing, PV double glazing and Electrochromic (EC) glazing. It controls solar heat gain, improves thermal conductivity and can generate small scale electricity, in a variety of climates. The objective of this research is to investigate the switching voltage of multifunctional glazing, with respect to orientation, time of day and temperature of the system. We report a relation between temperature and voltage required for the switching condition.

Removal Of Trace Organic Contaminants By A Membrane Bioreactor-Granular Activated Carbon (Mbr -Gac) System, Luong N. Nguyen, Faisal I. Hai, Jinguo Kang, William E. Price, Long Nghiem

Faisal I Hai

The removal of trace organics by a membrane bioreactor–granular activated carbon (MBR–GAC) integrated system were investigated. The results confirmed that MBR treatment can be effective for the removal of hydrophobic (logD > 3.2) and readily biodegradable trace organics. The data also highlighted the limitation of MBR in removing hydrophilic and persistent compounds (e.g. carbamazepine, diclofenac, and fenoprop) and that GAC could complement MBR very well as a post-treatment process. The MBR– GAC system showed high removal of all selected trace organics including those that are hydrophilic and persistent to biological degradation at up to 406 bed volumes (BV). However, over an …

Performance Of A Novel Osmotic Membrane Bioreactor (Ombr) System: Flux Stability And Removal Of Trace Organics, Abdulhakeem Alturki, James Mcdonald, Stuart J. Khan, Faisal I. Hai, William E. Price, Long Nghiem

Faisal I Hai

Results reported here highlight the potential and several challenges in the development of a novel osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR) process for the treatment of municipal wastewater. Following the initial gradual decline, a stable permeate flux value was obtained after approximately four days of continuous operation. There was evidence of continuous deterioration of biological activity of the OMBR system, possibly due to the build-up of salinity in the reactor. The removal of 25 out of 27 trace organic compounds with molecular weight higher than 266 g/mol was above 80% and was possibly governed by the interplay between physical separation of the …

X-Tream: A Novel Dosimetry System For Synchrotron Microbeam Radiation Therapy, M Petasecca, A Cullen, I Fuduli, A Espinoza, C Porumb, C Stanton, A H. Aldosari, E Brauer-Krisch, H Requardt, A Bravin, V Perevertaylo, Anatoly B. Rosenfeld, M L. F Lerch

Anatoly Rozenfeld

Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT) is a radiation treatment technique under development for inoperable brain tumors. MRT is based on the use of a synchrotron generated X-ray beam with an extremely high dose rate ( ~ 20 kGy/sec), striated into an array of X-ray micro-blades. In order to advance to clinical trials, a real-time dosimeter with excellent spatial resolution must be developed for absolute dosimetry. The design of a real-time dosimeter for such a radiation scenario represents a significant challenge due to the high photon flux and vertically striated radiation field, leading to very steep lateral dose gradients. This article analyses …

Specifying System Requirements Using The 5s Method, Robert B. K Brown, Peter Hyland, Ian C. Piper

Dr Ian Piper

The 5S Method takes an Activity Theory approach to stakeholder elicitation. We interview stakeholders and build up a network of Activities according to Activity Theory precepts. These Activities are hierarchically decomposed into the smaller units of Action and Operation. This comprises a useful conceptual map of the human motivations and dependencies prior to insertion of the new computer based system. To identify and describe such a potential computer system, we analyse and identify linkages between the Activities and assemble a list of those which could usefully pass through such a computer system. Design decisions are driven and evaluated by reference …

A Combined Hydrogen Storage System Of Mg(Bh4)(2)-Linh2 With Favorable Dehydrogenation, S X. Dou, Zaiping Guo, Hua-Kun Liu, Abbas Ranjbar, Xuebin Yu, Zunxian Yang, D. L. Sun, Y H. Guo

Shi Xue Dou

The decomposition properties of Mg(BH4)2−LiNH2 mixtures were investigated. Apparent NH3 release appeared from 50 to 300 °C for the Mg(BH4)2−LiNH2 mixtures with mole ratios of 1:1.5, 1:2, and 1:3, while only hydrogen release was detected for the mixture with a mole ratio of 1:1. In the case of the Mg(BH4)2−LiNH2 (1:1) sample, the onset of the first-step dehydrogenation starts at 160 °C, with a weight loss of 7.2 wt % at 300 °C, which is improved significantly compared to the pure Mg(BH4)2 alone. From Kissinger’s method, the activation energy, Ea, for the first and second step dehydrogenation in Mg(BH4)2−LiNH2 (1:1) …

Effect Of Different Additives On The Hydrogen Storage Properties Of The Mgh 2-Lialh 4 Destabilized System, S X. Dou, Yue Zhao, Xuebin Yu, Mohammad Ismail

Shi Xue Dou

The hydrogen storage properties of the MgH2-LiAlH4 (4 : 1) composite system with and withoutadditives were studied. 5 wt.% of TiF3, NbF5, NiF2, CrF2, YF3, TiCl3?1/3AlCl3, HfCl4, LaCl3, CeCl3,and NdCl3, respectively, was added to the MgH2-LiAlH4 (4 : 1) mixture, and their catalytic effect wasinvestigated. Temperature programmed desorption results show that addition of metal halides to theMgH2-LiAlH4 (4 : 1) composite system improves the onset desorption temperature. The hydrogendesorption properties of metal halide-doped MgH2-LiAlH4 (4 : 1) composites were also improved ascompared to the undoped MgH2-LiAlH4 (4 : 1) composite. Furthermore, the activation energy andthe change in enthalpy in the …

A Gbh/Libh4 Coordination System With Favorable Dehydrogenation, Yanhui Guo, Qinfen Gu, Zaiping Guo, Jianfeng Mao, Hua-Kun Liu, S. X. Dou, Xuebin Yu

Shi Xue Dou

A novel combined hydrogen storage system LiBH4/[C(NH2)3]+[BH4]− (GBH) complexes were reported. By a short time ball milling of LiBH4 and guanidinium chloride, a series of new LiBH4/GBH complexes were produced. It was found that the two potential hydrogen storage materials exhibited a mutual dehydrogenation improvement, releasing >10.0 wt.% of fairly pure H2 from LiBH4/GBH below 250 °C. Further investigations revealed that balancing the protic and hydridic hydrogens, and the complexation between LiBH4 and GBH, are two important roles in the improvement of the dehydrogenation of this system, which may serve as an alternative strategy for developing a new metal borohydride/B–N–H …

Structural Control Of D-F Interaction In The Cefe1−Xruxaso System System, Cao Wang, Hao Jiang, Yongkang Luo, Chunmu Feng, Wenxian Li, Zhu-An Xu, Guanghan Cao, Jung Ho Kim, S. X. Dou

Shi Xue Dou

The isovalent substitution effect of Ru in CeFe1−xRuxAsO (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) has been systematically studied by powder X-ray diffraction, electrical resistivity, magnetization, and specific heat measurements. The antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering of both d and 4f electrons are suppressed upon Ru doping, followed by Pauli paramagnetism (d electrons) and local moment paramagnetism (4f electrons) with strong ferromagnetic fluctuation, respectively. Neither superconductivity above 2K nor pronounced Kondo screening are observed in the substitution phase diagram. Combined with published results of the cerium-based quaternary compounds CeMXO(M =Fe, Ru; X =P, As), our data suggest that the end member CeRuAsO is on …

Design And Implementation Of A Micro Force Displacement System, Evan Cate

Materials Engineering

The design and implementation of a micro-force displacement system was completed to test various Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices including silicon diaphragms and cantilevers. The system utilizes a World Precision Instruments Fort 10g force transducer attached to a World Precession Instruments TBM4M amplifier. A Keithley 2400 source meter provided data acquisition of the force component of the system. A micro prober tip was utilized as the testing probe attached to the force transducer with a tip radius of 5um. The displacement of samples was measured using a Newport M433 linear stage driven by a Newport ESP300 motion controller (force readings at …

Architectural Engineering Earthquake Shake Table, Garrett Gudgel, John Whitmer, Brandan Williams

Mechanical Engineering

The Architectural Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, owns and operates a single-axis earthquake shake table that previously was only capable of basic wave motion. After implementing a computer based interface to the existing system, Mechanical Engineering student seniors were able to create control algorithms that can take existing or user created acceleration data from earthquakes as well as any user defined position data to be accurately run on the earthquake shake table.

Automated Offline Programming For Robotic Welding System With High Degree Of Freedoms, Zengxi Pan, Joseph Polden, Nathan P. Larkin, Stephen Van Duin, John Norrish

Nathan Larkin

Although robotics based flexible automation is an intriguing prospect for small to median enterprises in the era of the global competition, the complexity of programming remains one of the major hurdles limiting its applications. This paper presents an automated offline programming (AOLP) method to address this issue. AOLP is software that automatically plans and programs for a robotic welding system with high Degree of Freedoms (DOFs). It takes CAD model as input, and is able to generate the complete robotic welding code without any further programming effort.

An Overview Of U.S. Commuter Rail, Timothy J. Brock, Reginald R. Souleyrette

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Planners view commuter rail as a means of managing urban sprawl, stimulating economic development and reducing the environmental impacts of transportation. Commuter rail systems, which use shared rights-of-way to connect suburban hubs with downtown urban centers, are beginning to have a large impact on the way people and freight move through US cities. Currently, there are 26 commuter rail systems operating in 29 major U.S. metropolitan areas. However, there is confusion among the general public and disagreement among transportation organizations as to what constitutes a commuter rail system and how to classify some rail systems. This research establishes a complete …

A Galvanic Cell Driven Controlled Release System Based On Conducting Polymers, Caiyun Wang, Chee O. Too, Philip G. Whitten, G G. Wallace

Gordon Wallace

A self-powered controlled release system is achieved via galvanic coupling of a conducting polymer and a zinc anode. Release of an anionic dye molecule, phenol red (PR), as the polymer is reduced is quantified. Triggered release using the galvanic cell is demonstrated in a freeze-thaw experiment when melting of the electrolyte completes the galvanic cell and enables oxidation/reduction to occur.

All-Polymer Battery System Based On Polypyrrole (Ppy)/Para (Toluene Sulfonic Acid) (Pts) And Polypyrrole (Ppy)/Indigo Carmine (Ic) Free Standing Films, Irin Sultana, Md. Mokhlesur Rahman, Jiazhao Wang, Caiyun Wang, Gordon G. Wallace, Hua-Kun Liu

Gordon Wallace

In this study, we introduce a novel all-polymer battery system based on conducting polymer (polypyrrole, PPy) doped with dopants of para (toluene sulfonic acid) (pTS) and indigo carmine (IC), respectively. The performance of the systems consisting of polypyrrole-para (toluene sulfonic acid) (PPy-pTS) as cathode and polypyrrole-indigo carmine (PPy-IC) as anode in conjunction with either a polymer based electrolyte or a commercial organic electrolyte of 1M LiPF6 in a 50:50 (v/v) mixture of ethylene carbonate (EC) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) was evaluated. In the system, all the free-standing PPy-pTS and PPy-IC films were directly used without needing any metal substrate support …

Method And System For Creating Three-Dimensional Spatial Audio, Jens Hannemann, Kevin D. Donohue

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Patents

A system and method for rendering a virtual sound source using a plurality of speakers in an arbitrary arrangement includes expanding a wave field of the virtual sound source and a composite wave field generated by the plurality of speakers into multi-pole expansions, and equating the multi-pole expansions to each other to form a continuous equation. A set of constraints is applied to the continuous equation that minimize an error in a sweet spot region resulting in a linear system of equations. The linear system of equations is solved using singular-value decomposition to arrive at a pseudo-inverse representing a multi-dimensional …

Simulation Model Of A Grid-Connected Single-Phase Photovoltaic System In Pscad/Emtdc, Brian K. Perera, Sridhar R. Pulikanti, Philip Ciufo, Sarath Perera

Dr Philip Ciufo

In this paper, a complete simulation model of a grid-connected single-phase two-stage photovoltaic (PV) system with associated controllers is presented. The simulation model is developed in PSCAD/EMTDC simulation program. The component models of the grid-connected PV system include a PV array, a dc-dc boost converter, a voltage source converter (VSC) and an LCL filter. Components of the LCL filter, the dc-link capacitor of the VSC and the inductor of the dc-dc boost converter are established theoretically and that are used in modelling the grid-connected PV system. The control architecture of the presented system incorporates a synchronous reference frame phase-locked-loop (s-PLL), …

System And Method For 3d Imaging Using Structured Light Illumination, Laurence G. Hassebrook, Daniel L. Lau, Henry G. Dietz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Patents

A biometrics system captures and processes a handprint image using a structured light illumination to create a 2D representation equivalent of a rolled inked handprint. A processing unit calculates 3D coordinates of the hand from the plurality of images and maps the 3D coordinates to a 2D flat surface to create a 2D representation equivalent of a rolled inked handprint.

Cost Effectiveness Of Recycling: A Systems Model, David J. Tonjes, Sreekanth Mallikarjun

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

Financial analytical models of waste management systems have often found that recycling costs exceed direct benefits, and in order to economically justify recycling activities, externalities such as household expenses or environmental impacts must be invoked. Certain more empirically based studies have also found that recycling is more expensive than disposal. Other work, both through models and surveys, have found differently. Here we present an empirical systems model, largely drawn from a suburban Long Island municipality. The model accounts for changes in distribution of effort as recycling tonnages displace disposal tonnages, and the seven different cases examined all show that curbside …

Improved Dehydrogenation Properties Of The Combined Mg(Bh4) 2·6nh3-Nnh3bh3 System, Xiaowei Chen, Feng Yuan, Qinfen Gu, Yingbin Tan, Hua-Kun Liu, S X. Dou, Xuebin Yu

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

A combined strategy via mixing Mg(BH4)2·6NH3 with ammonia borane (AB) is employed to improve the dehydrogenation properties of Mg(BH4)2·6NH3. The combined system shows a mutual dehydrogenation improvement in terms of dehydrogenation temperature and hydrogen purity compared to the individual components. A further improved hydrogen liberation from the Mg(BH4)2·6NH3–6AB is achieved with the assistance of ZnCl2, which plays a crucial role in stabilizing the NH3 groups and promoting the recombination of NHδ+⋯HBδ−. Specifically, the Mg(BH4)2·6NH3–6AB/ZnCl2 (with a mole ratio of 1:0.5) composite is shown to release over 7 wt.% high-pure hydrogen (>99 mol%) at 95 °C within 10 min, thereby …