Electrical and Electronics Commons^™

Smart Usb-C Wall Plug For The Dc House Project, Ridge Lahti, Dino Maslic

Electrical Engineering

DC operated devices and appliances powered by AC systems suffer inefficiencies resulting from the losses of converting AC energy into DC energy. At Cal Poly, the DC House Project aims to minimize the need for AC electricity in homes and encourage the use of renewable energy systems. The DC House uses a 48V DC bus that must be stepped down for use with increasing number of DC loads in a typical home. In this project, a Smart USB-C Wall Plug is designed to work with USB Power Delivery to provide a variable voltage output for use with these DC loads …

Current-Source Dc-Dc Converter For Fiber-Optic Communication Systems, Jissell C. Jose

Master's Theses

In this thesis, a proof of concept for a current-source DC-DC converter for powering sensors used in an underwater communications system is presented. The proposed converter steps down an input current of 0.9 A to 0.625 A, while maintaining an output voltage of 24 V and output power of 15 W. The complete steady-state analysis and design of the proposed converter in its single-stage form is also explained in detail. Performance evaluation of the proposed converter was carried out using LTspice. Results of the simulation demonstrate that the design was able to produce average output current of 0.639 A at …

Zero Voltage Switching Hybrid Voltage Divider Converter, Timothy Jeong

Master's Theses

This project proposes a new hybrid voltage divider DC-DC converter that utilizes switching capacitors and inductors to produce zero voltage switching (ZVS) at the turn on state of its switches. By achieving ZVS, the switching losses are significantly reduced; thus, increasing the overall efficiency of the converter at various loads. The goal for this thesis is to perform analysis of the operation of the converter, derive equations for sizing the main components, and demonstrate its functionality through computer simulation and hardware prototype. Results of the simulation and hardware testing show that the proposed converter produces the desired output voltage while …

Flexible Custom Electric Skateboard, Caleb Adam Kelsay

Electrical Engineering

At Cal Poly traveling long distances only accessible by foot such as across campus or from the car park to class can be tiring and time-consuming. While not physically demanding, the trek consumes time in our tight college life schedule. To improve our time efficiency this project provides a relatively lightweight, powered solution to quickly and effectively travel long distances while maintaining full control and safety even on hills, a current limitation of traditional skateboards.

This electric skateboard includes the battery capacity to travel all around campus on a single charge with a compact and flexible skateboard design that provides …

Smart Wall Outlet Design And Implementation For The Dc House Project, Kevin Roy Mendoza

Master's Theses

Most everyday AC appliances are designed to operate off of 120V coming from the wall outlet in our homes. This voltage is a standard set from our established infrastructure. Unlike AC devices, DC devices do not have any set standard of voltage they all will run off of. This presents a problem for the DC house as the various loads that will be used will have different required input voltages. One set voltage for a wall outlet will not suffice for the DC House. This Smart Wall Outlet is designed with a DC-DC converter that will have its output voltage …

Efficiency Performance Improvement Using Parallel Dc-Dc Converters With A Digital Controller, Daniel Forbes

Master's Theses

A system to improve efficiency performance of a DC-DC converter is simulated and built. The proposed system combines multiple DC-DC converters in parallel and implements a digital control scheme and load-share controller. A model of the system is developed in MATLAB Simulink and the model demonstrates the improved converter’s efficiency particularly at low load conditions. This simulation is then designed into a hardware system running three DC-DC converters in parallel, controlled by a microcontroller and a load-share controller. The hardware also confirms the simulation results, although some hardware refinements are evident as simulation results are superior. The system is designed …

Imu Integration To The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator Power System, Wayland Chan

Electrical Engineering

The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator mimics the rotation dynamics of a spacecraft in orbit and acts as a test bed for spacecraft attitude control system development and demonstration. Prior to this project, the simulator measured its attitude dynamics from a total of seven sensors mounted on to the platform, including three micro-electromechanical system (MEMs) gyroscopes, and four motor encoders. This project entails the installation of an LN-200 high performance gyroscope, which will provide a greater measure of accuracy. The goal of this project is to design a power circuit that will integrate the LN-200 inertial measurement unit onto …

Design And Analysis Of A Wind Energy Harvesting Circuit Using Piezoelectric Polymers, Jameson J. Thornton

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates a relatively new method for harvesting wind energy by using flexible piezoelectric polymers with additional sails to increase their ability to harvest wind energy. This paper also introduces a new topology deemed the “stacked buck” that allows for multiple inputs to a system with a single output. Derivations and analysis detail the workings of the “stacked buck” with a laboratory test to show a working model. This paper also reports another experiment done in a wind tunnel to analyze the capability of the piezoelectric polymers as sources to the “stacked buck” topology with measurements of the power …