Power and Energy Commons^™

Solar Photovoltaic Iv Curve Tracer, Jonathan W. Skelly

Electrical Engineering

The Solar Photovoltaic Current-Voltage (IV) Curve Tracer, sponsored by Cal Poly Professor Dale Dolan, characterizes solar array current vs. voltage curves for any given temperature and irradiance. The curve tracer is battery powered, and functions autonomously across loading conditions from short circuit to open load on any sub-450-watt solar array. The curve tracer supports separate data logging modes for both single cells and single modules to maximize data accuracy for each. For testing full strings of solar panels, up to 10 IV curves may be stored in persistent EEPROM memory. Stored data may be recalled later for output to a …

Optimization Of Single Axis Tracker Settings In The Cal Poly Goldtree Solar Farm, Charles A. Studdard, Liliana Reyes

Electrical Engineering

Solar farms use direct sunlight when operating; additionally, solar modules produce the most energy aligned perpendicular to the sun. Single axis solar tracking systems allow the rotation tilted photovoltaic panels to rotate during the day, maintaining the panels at the utmost efficiency angle. Achieving maximum power generation and reducing shade on the panels, make it crucial to have constant optimum positioning. Larger farms contain multiple rows and columns leading the panels to cast shadows on one another. Backtracking happens when you eliminate or reduce shadow casted on panels from adjacent modules. Panels positioned equidistantly and on even terrain allows backtracking …

2021 Department Of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition Electrical System, Grayson Capers, Shane Alayvilla, Justin Rodrigues

Electrical Engineering

In this work, the implementation of the electrical system for Cal Poly’s 2021 Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition turbine is described. The mission of this project was to complete the turbine testing tasks to the best of the team’s ability. This system includes an off the shelf slotless permanent magnet synchronous generator and rectifier to produce a DC voltage. To maximize the power output at below-rated wind speeds, current sensors, voltage sensors, and a dynamic load with variable resistance were designed and tested. To curtail the power and rotor speed in high wind events, the turbine was equipped with …

Hybrid Ac/Dc House, Vinh Q. Tran, Casey Winans, Erin O'Rourke

Electrical Engineering

The Hybrid AC/DC house is a proof of concept implementing a DC bus in residential power systems. The implementation of the DC bus is motivated by efficiency through a direct path for DC sources and loads. The avoidance of DC-to-AC and AC-to-DC conversions used in typical residential systems especially those with DC sources such as solar panels could experience higher efficiencies through only DC-to-DC conversions between the sources and the loads.

Controlled Reduction Of Graphene Oxide And Graphene Oxide-Carbon Nanotube Hybrids And Their Applications, Samar Azizighannad

Dissertations

Graphene and graphene derivatives are widely used in diverse research and industrial applications. Graphene production on a large scale is carried out by exfoliating graphite oxide and producing graphene oxide (GO), which comprises of graphene sheets with different oxygen-containing functional groups such as hydroxyl, carboxyl, and carbonyl. GO is reduced to reduced graphene oxide (rGO), which has properties that are closer to graphene. Properties of GO and rGO depend upon the oxygen content, and the effect of reducing oxygen content on the aqueous behavior of rGOs is not well understood.

In an effort to understand how properties of rGO change …

A Novel Variable Reluctance Resolver With Simplified Winding Arrangement And Adaptive Pi Controller, Bikram Bhandari

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Conventional variable reluctance resolvers require a complicated winding arrangement (i.e., one set of excitation winding and two sets of signal winding), high-frequency ac supply, extra circuit component to demodulate the high frequency induced voltage (i.e., amplitude demodulation circuit), and a resolver-to-digital converter with the PI controller. The thesis presents an innovative design solution to reduce the structural complexity of the resolver and improve the functionality of the controller unit. The proposed novel design simplifies the winding arrangement and eliminates the necessity of the demodulation signal processing circuit component. In addition, the conventional PI controller is being replaced by the adaptive …

Method Of Modeling The Swing Equation Using Time Synchronized Measurements, Robert Matthew Ferraro

Dissertations and Theses

In three phase, high-voltage transmission systems, synchronous generators accelerate or decelerate to adapt to changing power transfer requirements that occur during system disturbances. In network electrical power systems, frequency changes constantly based on system dynamics. Modeling network dynamics from oscillations and transients using time-synchronized measurements can provide real-time information, including angular displacements, voltage and current phasors, frequency changes, and rate of signal system decay from positive-sequence components.

Power system voltage and current waveforms are not steady-state sinusoids, especially during system disturbances. These waveforms contain sustained harmonic and non-harmonic components. Additionally, because of faults and other switching electromagnetic transients, there may …

A Bibliometric Review Of Characterization Of Outdoor Solar Pv Panel For Shading And Validation By Pv Emulator, Viplove Malik, Poojan Pavagadhi, Aman Kumar Pandey, Saharsh Vyas, Javed Sayyad, Paresh Nasikkar

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Many researchers and experts have begun to work in Renewable Energy (RE) Research and Development (R&D) as an interdisciplinary area ineluctable solution to lower the use of conventional power generation or non-renewable resources. Solar photovoltaic energy has gained a lot of recognition as one of the best green alternatives. However, its firm reliance on environmental and climatic conditions makes it difficult for researchers to conduct experiments at the operational temperature (T) and Solar insolation level (G). These solar PV panels with a controllable light source are inefficient, unreliable, and unsuitable for testing PV algorithms such as Maximum Power Point Tracking …

Solar Photovoltaic Panels Utilization To Extract Clean And Green Energy For Utility Application Using Pvsyst Software: A Bibliometric Review, Anil Bhati, Mansi Srivastava, Nitesh Aggarwal, Hardik Singh, Javed Sayyad, Paresh Nasikkar

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper presents a survey on educational documents in the field of solar photovoltaic (PV) utilization to extract clean and green energy. The main purpose of this bibliometric analysis is to understand the size of the available documents for the research of PV solar panel utilization using PVsyst. This detailed review was conducted in the PV research, literature considering all subjects from the Scopus database. The pattern for the specific arrangement of keywords was separated with the recovered results from the Scopus database, publication type, year of publication, distribution conveyance by nations, subject classes, association, authors, and financing organizations. It …

2050 Integrated Resource Plan For Public Services Company Of Colorado, Rehana Aziz, Josh Litwin

Master's Projects and Capstones

Our IRP aims to determine the optimal resource mix that will meet the forecasted load in 2030, 2040, and 2050. This report models a Reference or “business-as-usual” case and four alternative scenarios that deploy renewable energy resources or carbon capture technologies at varying levels to meet load at the beginning of each of these three decades. We assumed zero-carbon emissions targets for all four alternative scenarios, which go above and beyond Colorado’s current RPS. We are also retiring coal before 2040 for all four alternative scenarios in alignment with Xcel’s current plan.

The forecasted load in the Reference scenario is …

Smart E-Bike Conversion Kit And Helmet, Megan West, Marena Trujillo, Hossein Asghari

Honors Thesis

With many state governments across the United States implementing shutdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19, many bike retailers have seen dramatic increases in bike sales. Electric bicycles (e-bikes) have become increasingly popular as the public searches for alternatives to public transportation. Unfortunately, e-bike users assume some risk by riding bikes that are faster than conventional bicycles. While kits to convert conventional bicycles to e-bikes exist, no “smart” e-bike/helmet kit specifically designed to keep the user safe is currently available on the market. To mitigate risks, a smart e-bike conversion kit with multiple novel safety features, including auditory and visual …

Evaluating The Thermal Conductivity Of Potting Materials Using The Hot-Wire Method, Yeny Hau Chen

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis is focused on the evaluation of the thermal conductivity of certain potting materials, in particular Aluminum Nitride (AlN), thermal putty, and silicone oil using the “hot-wire” method in order to allow volume reductions of inductors, and thus, increase the power density of converters. The main objective of this thesis is then to study the behavior of these specific materials intended for high-density power converters by mixing them with different proportions and placing the resulting compounds into a can for calculating their thermal conductivities, in order to evaluate the effects on the power density of inductor-based converters. One objective …

Design And Fabrication Of A Microstrip Bandpass Filter In Ltcc, Allison Rucker

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The goal of the project was to design and fabricate a bandpass filter with a center frequency of 25GHz with a 2GHz bandwidth. The first step was to do the calculation to design a bandpass filter to meet these specifications along with the properties of the Dupont^TM GreenTape^TM 9K7. HFSS was then used to verify the results from the initial calculations. There was a significant error between the two results, so more tweaking was done to the calculations to get a better center frequency. After a final design was decided, the fabrication process started. Low-Temperature Co-Fired Ceramics (LLTC) …

Data Forgery Detection In Automatic Generation Control: Exploration Of Automated Parameter Generation And Low-Rate Attacks, Yatish R. Dubasi

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Automatic Generation Control (AGC) is a key control system utilized in electric power systems. AGC uses frequency and tie-line power flow measurements to determine the Area Control Error (ACE). ACE is then used by the AGC to adjust power generation and maintain an acceptable power system frequency. Attackers might inject false frequency and/or tie-line power flow measurements to mislead AGC into falsely adjusting power generation, which can harm power system operations. Various data forgery detection models are studied in this thesis. First, to make the use of predictive detection models easier for users, we propose a method for automated generation …

Transimpedance Amplification Of Optocoupler Output For High Temperature Applications, Kara Maurer

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

When looking to the future of electronics, one characteristic is becoming more lucrative: high temperature capabilities. With the goals of not only becoming more efficient electronically, spatially, and cost-wise, adapting electronics for a high temperature environment can potentially be a route to all three of these goals. Not only does it take away the need for a cooling method, but it can also increase the longevity of a product which can make it even more cost effective. In an effort to contribute to the push for high temperature electronics, the University of Arkansas is developing a high temperature power module …

Ironless, Axial Flux, Electric Bldc Motor For Aircraft Electric Propulsion, Kevin W. Hobbs

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

3D printing has shown much promise as a method of rapidly manufacturing lightweight ironless motors to meet the growing demand that airlines have for more cost-effective products that reduce emissions and flight prices. 3D-printed ironless, axial flux, electric BLDC motors would meet these needs with both their high efficiency and power density.

A Halbach array motor was designed and 3D-printed for the analysis of its magnetic properties to gain more insight about it performance. Fusion 360 was used to design the 3D drawings of the motor parts. The rotor, stator, and stator mount were designed to accommodate the sizes of …

An Examination Of Grid Stability As It Relates To The Increased Integration Of Inverter-Based Resources, Daniel Voss

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is currently a growing interest in increasing the amount of renewable energy resources connected to the bulk electric system (BES) that stems from various environmental, political, and social concerns. However, the differences between conventional generation resources and inverter-based resources (IBR)—namely wind and solar—pose new issues that make this increased integration a larger problem. In other studies, the increased penetration of renewable energy resources has resulted in weak-grid systems that are more susceptible to collapse. This comes as a result from the inability for IBRs to effectively provide enough reactive power, an effect especially apparent during fault conditions, which the …

Automation, Annunciation, And Emergency Safety Shutdown Of A Laboratory Microgrid Using A Real-Time Automation Controller (Rtac), Do Vo

Master's Theses

Over the last decade, microgrid deployments throughout the world have increased. In 2019, a record number of 546 microgrids were installed in the United States [1]. This trend continues upward to combat extreme weather conditions and power shortages throughout the country. To better equip students with the necessary skillsets and knowledge to advance in the microgrid field, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's Electrical Engineering Department and the Power Energy Institute have invested resources to develop a laboratory microgrid.

This thesis sets to improve the laboratory microgrid's existing automation using the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory SEL-3530 Real-time Automation Controller (RTAC). The improved …

Integrated Ac To Ac Converters For Single-Phase Input To Two-Phase Output Motor Drives, Yibin Zhang, Damien L. Lawhorn, Peng Han, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

The single-phase to two-phase converters have become attractive for low-power motor drives due to the full electromagnetic isolation between phases of two-phase motors. One of the commonly used topologies is the ac/dc/ac pulse width modulation (PWM) converter which contains twelve active power semiconductor switches and a common dc link. To minimize the system cost and size for low power applications, an integrated ac/ac converter with a single-phase input and a two-phase output which reduces the switch count to six is proposed in this paper. Additionally, modulation scheme and filters for the proposed converter are developed and modeled in details. In …

Integrated Modular Motor Drives Based On Multiphase Axial-Flux Pm Machines With Fractional-Slot Concentrated Windings, Peng Han, Greg Heins, Yibin Zhang, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

The integrated motor drive (IMD) concept with possible modularization has attracted much attention in a broad spectrum of applications ranging from low-power general-purpose industrial drives to high-power electric propulsion. This paper presents the feasibility study and performance evaluation of using common axial-flux permanent-magnet (AFPM) machines with fractional-slot concentrated windings in IMDs, with the same diameter and a minimum increase in its axial length. Different winding configurations are compared in terms of the torque/power capability and fault tolerance without changing the winding current rating. The possibility of further torque improvement is discussed from the perspective of making full use of the …