Power and Energy Commons^™

Lithium-Sulfur (Selenium) Batteries: Interface Issues And Solving Strategies, Nian-Wu Li, Ya-Xia Yin, Yu-Guo Guo

Journal of Electrochemistry

The stable interface is still a challenge for lithium-sulfur (selenium) batteries because of the low conductivity of sulfur (selenium), dissolution of polysulfide (polyselenide), volume expansion of sulfur (selenium), and lithium dendrite growth. This review describers some recent developments in lithium-sulfur (selenium) batteries and highlights our efforts in this field. The possible strategies for building stable interface in the lithium-sulfur (selenium) batteries including nano-restriction effect, chemical bonding, interface adsorption, surface coating, electrolyte optimization, and Lithium anode treatment have been discussed.

Stm Investigation Of Oxygen Reduction Reaction On Solid Interface In Fuel Cell, Zhen-Feng Cai, Bing Sun, Wen-Jie Jiang, Ting Chen, Dong Wang, Li-Jun Wan

Journal of Electrochemistry

An electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an important component for fuel cells. An investigation at interfacial electrochemical reactions toward ORR at a molecular scale benefits mechanistic understanding as well as rational design of catalysts. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) has been proven to be a powerful tool to monitor chemical reactions and to provide in-situ information about the interfacial electrochemical reactions at a molecular level. This review summarizes the recent STM studies in monitoring the interface processes such as morphological changes, molecular changes, reaction intermediates, and oxidation products. The prospects of future development in this field are outlined.

Syntheses Of Ag@Pd@Pt Nanoparticles With Tunable Shell Thickness For Electrochemical Oxidation Of Formic Acid, Xiao-Dong Lin, Du-Hong Chen, Zhong-Qun Tian

Journal of Electrochemistry

In an effort to lower cost of a catalyst, the silver (Ag) core with palladium (Pd) layer then platinum (Pt) island (Ag@Pd@Pt) nanoparticles were synthesized and the electrocatalytic activity of Ag@Pd@Pt nanoparticles on formic acid was compared with that of Au@Pd@Pt nanoparticles reported previously. The results showed that the existence of a small amount of Pt could significantly improve the activity of the catalyst. When the surface coverage of Pt approached 0.5 monolayers, the activity of Ag@Pd@Pt nanoparticles reached the maximum. Though the onset potential of the electro-oxidation was slightly more positive (about 50 mV), the overall electrocatalytic activity of …

Intrinsic Interfacial Property Between High-Voltage Lini0.5Mn1.5O4 Cathode And Electrolyte, Li Li, Jing-Jing Xu, Shao-Jie Han, Wei Lu, Li-Wei Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

To obtain high energy density, developing high-voltage cathode materials is an effective approach. The cathode/electrolyte interface stability is the key factor for the cycle performance and safety performance of high-voltage lithium ion batteries. It is, therefore, of significant importance to study the stability of cathode/electrolyte interface. However, many reports have shown that at the cathode/electrolyte interface the cathodes were prepared by coating the mixture of active materials with a conductive additive and a binder on an Al current collector. The introduction of additives will interfere the surface morphology and component analyses, resulting in difficulty to acquire the intrinsic information at …

Chitosan/Nonahydrate Gel Derived Fe-N-Doped Porous Carbon Sheet As High-Efficient Orr Electrocatalyst, Fan-Lu Meng, Xin-Bo Zhang, Jun-Min Yan

Journal of Electrochemistry

The chitosan/nonahydrate gel was used as a precursor to realize the uniform mixture of N-polymer and metal salt. After lyophilization treatment, the gel went through heat treatment and acid etch. Accordingly, the Fe-N-doped porous carbon sheet with homogenous composition and microstructure was prepared. Compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst, the Fe-N-doped porous carbon sheet exhibited more positive onset potential and half-wave potential, higher current density, and especially, excellent durability. The power density of 318 mW·cm^-2 was obtained in alkaline fuel cell with the Fe-N-doped porous carbon sheet as a cathode catalyst, which is higher than 267 mW·cm^-2 with …

Synthesis Of Ultrathin Co3O4 Nanoflakes Film Material For Electrochemical Sensing, Hui-Juan Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Ultrathin cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄) nanoflakes film material was synthesized by using an electro-deposited cobalt layer as a raw material through a simple oxidation method and followed by a heat treatment at 350 ^oC. The physical characterizations of the Co₃O₄ nanoflakes film were performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technologies, and the electrochemical activity was measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV). As a promising material for electrochemical sensing, the as-synthesized ultrathin Co₃O₄ nanoflakes film material exhibited excellent electrochemical activity for H₂O …

Fault Discrimination Algorithm For Busbar Differential Protection Relaying Using Partial Operating Current Characteristics, Monir Hossain

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Differential protection is the unit protection system which is applied to protect a particular unit of power systems. Unit is known as zone in protection terminology which is equivalent to simple electrical node. In recent time, low impedance current differential protection schemes based on percentage restrained characteristics are widely used in power systems to protect busbar systems. The main application issue of these schemes is mis-operation due to current transformer (CT) saturation during close-in external faults. Researchers have suggested various solution of this problem; however, individually they are not sufficient to puzzle out all mis-operational scenarios. This thesis presents a …

Optimal Dg Placement: A Multimethod Analysis, Saiful A. Ratul

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

With Power System being restructured in the vision of Smart Grid, it is important now more than ever to find suitable locations to place Distributed Generators (DG). Distributed generators, which may be renewable, are not limited to specific locations as in the case of conventional generators. Several papers have been published that make suggestions on where the optimal location of DG should be in a system. Objectives ranging from loss minimization to total cost minimization have been the factor for such studies. In this study, a new method is introduced that hopes to improve a current system in three ways …

Selective Resistive Sintering: A Novel Additive Manufacturing Process, Austin Bryan Van Horn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is one of the most popular 3D printing methods that uses a laser to pattern energy and selectively sinter powder particles to build 3D geometries. However, this printing method is plagued by slow printing speeds, high power consumption, difficulty to scale, and high overhead expense. In this research, a new 3D printing method is proposed to overcome these limitations of SLS. Instead of using a laser to pattern energy, this new method, termed selective resistive sintering (SRS), uses an array of microheaters to pattern heat for selectively sintering materials. Using microheaters offers significant power savings, significantly …

Photovoltaic Cooking In The Developing World, Tyler Watkins, Christopher O'Day, Omar Arriaga

Mechanical Engineering

The challenge of clean cooking is faced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. We present a cooking technology consisting of a solar panel directly connected to an electric heater in a well-insulated chamber. Assuming continued decrease in solar panel prices, we anticipate that in a few decades Solar Electric Cooking technologies will be the most common cooking technology for the poor. Appropriate use of insulation reduces the power demand making low-power Insulated Solar Electric Cooking systems already cost competitive.

Power Distribution:Protection Analysis, Avneet S. Samra

Electrical Engineering

The objective of this project is to build a radial distribution system that operates on a lower voltage. The system consists of a transmission line protected by a SEL-351 Relay, a three- phase transformer protected by a SEL-587 Relay, and a three-phase induction motor protected by a Cooper Form 6 Controller. The SEL-351, SEL-587, and the Cooper Form 6 Controller are microprocessor-based relays that are used to provide protection under faulted conditions. When a fault is detected in the system, the closest upstream relay sends a trip signal to its assigned local breaker. The SEL-351 provides overcurrent protection for the …

Designing A Power Distribution System For The Arce 257 Revit Structural Model, Reid Wilhelm

Electrical Engineering

The construction industry needs engineers. Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers, better known as MEPs, comprise a large number of employees who design and assist in the building of commercial structures. In particular, electrical engineers design power distribution systems for these buildings, including the power, lighting, low voltage, and fire protection subsystems.

Here at Cal Poly, architectural engineers enrolled in ARCE 257 create authentic structural plans for a fictitious two-story structure. This senior project transforms these structural plans into an architectural model and creates a power distribution system for the entire building. This is done through a building information modeling (BIM) …

Optimal Sensing And Transmission In Energy Harvesting Sensor Networks, Xianwen Wu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sensor networks equipped with energy harvesting (EH) devices have attracted great attentions recently. Compared with conventional sensor networks powered by batteries, the energy harvesting abilities of the sensor nodes make sustainable and environment-friendly sensor networks possible. However, the random, scarce and non-uniform energy supply features also necessitate a completely different approach to energy management.

A typical EH wireless sensor node consists of an EH module that converts ambient energy to electrical energy, which is stored in a rechargeable battery, and will be used to power the sensing and transmission operations of the sensor. Therefore, both sensing and transmission are subject …

Single Carrier Frequency Domain Equalization And Energy Efficiency Optimization For Mimo Cognitive Radio., Xiaohui Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation studies two separate topics in wireless communication systems. One topic focuses on the Single Carrier Frequency Domain Equalization (SC-FDE), which is a promising technique to mitigate the multipath effect in the broadband wireless communication. Another topic targets on the energy efficiency optimization in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) cognitive radio network. For SC-FDE, the conventional linear receivers suffer from the noise amplification in deep fading channel. To overcome this, a fractional spaced frequency domain (FSFD) receiver based on frequency domain oversampling (FDO) is proposed for SC-FDE to improve the performance of the linear receiver under deep fading …

Electric Smart Load Meter, Johnny Tran

Electrical Engineering

This project details the design of an electric meter that reads the signals of any device plugged into an outlet and displays cost readings that may potentially reduce power consumption. The sensor monitors whether a plugged in device continuously consumes power after completely charging up. For a charging device, the current remains constant until the device reaches 100% charge. Once the device becomes fully charged, the current discontinues for proper power usage. A unique aspect of the meter is that it displays cost per hour, day, and year. Displaying the cost per unit of time creates awareness for customers, potentially …

Development, Characterization, & Implementation Of Phase-Change Material Cold Plates For Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Battery Systems, Kevin Cwiok

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Due to the regulations on internal combustion engine vehicles, there is a large demand of hybrid and electric vehicles with large battery packs as Energy Storage Systems (ESS) capable of long ranges and decreased emissions. These battery packs output large heat loads during charge-depletion mode and currently require active cooling to keep the batteries within operating conditions. The current systems relied onto achieve this are the air and liquid cooled thermal managements systems. A recent alternative approach to current cooling for ESS thermal management is the use of phase-change materials (PCMs). PCMs regulate the temperature of the ESS by leveraging …

Optimized Sizing And Placing Of Distributed Energy Resources (Ders) In An Island Microgrid Using Der-Cam, Bhuwan B. Bastola

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The electric grid at La Gomera, an island in the Canary archipelago, has been the subject of interest in optimized integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) primarily because of high distribution losses and concerns about complying with emission regulations. Consequently, the utility that operates the island power system wishes to mitigate the problem with installation of renewable and distributed energy sources like PV and battery, which is the focus of this research.

Specifically, the focus of this thesis is to use Distributed Energy Resource - Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM) to optimize the installation of PV and battery in terms of …

Quantum Dot Band Gap Investigations, John Ryan Peterson

Student Works

Improving solar panel efficiency has become increasingly important as the world searches for cheap renewable energy. Recent developments in the industry have focused on multi-layer cells, some of which use semiconducting dyes to absorb light in place of crystalline solids. In this paper, I characterize various dyes recently synthesized for use in solar panels. These dyes contain semiconducting nanoparticles enclosed primarily by the protein ferritin to limit particle size. The band gaps were measured using either optical absorption spectroscopy or measuring the photoluminescence spectrum, depending on the type of semiconductor. The results indicate that both manganese oxide and lead sulfide …

"Feasibility Of Efficient Photovoltaics In Eastern Kentucky" / "Developing A 3-D Printed Solar Vehicle With Computational Fluid Dynamics (Cfd) Simulator", Adam N. Stanley, Matthew R. Hezseltine

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Abstract 1

Feasibility of Efficient Photovoltaics in Eastern Kentucky

Photovoltaics (PV-also called solar photovoltaic devices) are used to harness the power of the sun via the electronic process that occurs within semiconductor cells. The solar energy is absorbed by the cells, which causes the electrons to break away from their atoms, allowing them to flow within the material to produce electricity. This electricity will become the renewable energy for Kentucky, as the generation of coal will but come to a stop within the near future. Like Denmark who is running on 100% renewable generation we must stride to become fully …

Modeling Of A Multi-Megawatt Grid Connected Pv System With Integrated Batteries, Vandana Rallabandi, Oluwaseun M. Akeyo, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

The multi-megawatt grid connected photovoltaic (PV) system studied in the paper includes parallel arrays and power electronic units, each with their own DC-DC and DC-AC converters. In one configuration, the DC-AC converters of adjacent parallel sections are connected in cascade, in order to effectively operate as a multilevel inverter, thereby reducing the filtering requirements. Grid voltage oriented control is employed for inverters and a battery is incorporated for energy storage and performance improvement. Modeling is performed with the PSCAD/EMTDC software, such that both the power electronics components, controls and subsystem aspects, and the electric grid power system issues, can be …