Power and Energy Commons^™

Poly(Ethylene Oxide) Based Polymer Electrolytes For All-Solid-State Li-S Batteries, Xue Li, Zheng-Liang Gong

Journal of Electrochemistry

In recent years, research on lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries has received much attention because the sulfur positive electrode and the lithium metal negative electrode produce a high theoretical specific capacity (lithium metal ~ 3800 mAh·g^-1, sulfur ~ 1675 mAh·g^-1). In addition, sulfur is considered to be the most promising cathode material for secondary lithium batteries, due to its advantages of low price and environmental friendly. However, the practical application of conventional liquid Li-S batteries is still obstructed by several critical issues, such as lithium ploysulfides shuttle effect, long-term stability of lithium metal anode with organic liquid electrolytes, …

Synthesis And Raman Study Of Hollow Core-Shell Ni1.2Co0.8P@N-C As An Anode Material For Sodium-Ion Batteries, Jia-Hui Chen, Xiao-Bin Zhong, Chao He, Xiao-Xiao Wang, Qing-Chi Xu, Jian-Feng Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

With the increasing demand for large-scale energy storage, great progress has been made in discovering new advanced energy storage materials. Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted much attention in recent years due to their use of abundant sodium resources and their comparable electrochemical capacity to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this paper, we developed novel hollow core-shell Ni-Co bimetallic phosphide nanocubes with N-doped carbon coatings (Ni_1.2Co_0.8P@N-C) as the anode material for SIBs. The material was synthesized through a low-temperature phosphorization method using resorcinol formaldehyde (RF) resin coating with a Ni-Co Prussian blue analogue (PBA) as a template and …

Stability Studies For A Membrane Electrode Assembly Type Co2 Electro-Reduction Electrolytic Cell, Qing Mao, Bing-Yu Li, Wei-Yun Jing, Jian Zhao, Song Liu, Yan-Qiang Huang, Zhao-Long Du

Journal of Electrochemistry

Electro-catalytic reduction is an efficient way to achieve resourcable transformation of CO₂, which is one of the important techniques to solve the global environmental problems originated from excessive CO₂ emission. In this study, a membrane electrode assembly(MEA) type CO₂ electro-reduction electrolytic cell was constucted, which enables CO₂ feeding and real-time KHCO₃ aqueous updating on both sides of the cathode gas diffusion electrode (GDE). By means of the electrolytic cell, effects of KHCO₃ concentration and updating inside the liquid electrolytic chamber on CO₂ electro-reduction activity, production distribution and stability were investigated. The experimental …

Performance Testing Of Aero-Naut Camfolding Propellers, Or D. Dantsker, Robert W. Deters, Marco Caccamo, Michael S. Selig

Publications

The increase in popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been driven by their use in civilian, education, government, and military applications. However, limited on-board energy storage significantly limits flight time and ultimately usability. The propulsion system plays a critical part in the overall energy consumption of the UAV; therefore, it is necessary to determine the most optimal combination of possible propulsion system components for a given mission profile, i.e. propellers, motors, and electronic speed controllers (ESC). Hundreds of options are available for the different components with little performance specifications available for most of them. By examining a variety of …

A Network Graph Technique For The Design Of Electric Aircraft Power Systems, Damien Lawhorn, Vandana Rallabandi, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Today the electrification of flight is more popular than ever, creating a wide array of concept aircraft and associated power system topologies. In order to gain insights into benefits of these varying architectures, this paper introduces the development of a framework for electric aircraft power system (EAPS) optimization. The proposed framework accepts inputs from a designer in the form of component parameters and desired flight mission characteristics. A collective graph representing many architectures is formed, from which, subgraphs or power system topologies meeting the flight requirements are extracted and analyzed. An optimum topology meeting the flight requirements with minimum mass, …

Cascaded Voltage Clamping And Ldo Offline Power Supply, Elizabeth Davis, Timothy Jeong

Electrical Engineering

Offline power supplies are necessary for any sort of electronic device that utilizes wall power. For offline power supplies, it is a common practice to use the switching mode method where the high voltage AC input is first rectified and then switched at high frequency to a much lower voltage. This method has been known to be very efficient. Also, it’s more efficient than a linear supply method where the AC input is stepped down and then linearly regulated down to a low voltage. Despite the efficiency benefit, the switching method employs a high frequency transformer and inductor. This will …

Bi-Directional Dc-Dc Converter, John W. Hamlin, Oscar Ambriz, Luis Onofre

Electrical Engineering

This project was developed with the purpose of creating an efficient energy management system for the DC House project, with a centralized 12V battery system fed by a 48V Multiple Input Single Output Source (MISO). The energy management system will consist of a bidirectional DC-DC converter. During the day when the renewable sources produce enough energy to fulfill the load’s energy demand, the converter will make use of the excess energy by taking a 48V DC input and stepping it down to a 12V DC output in order to charge a 12V 100 Ah battery. When renewable sources can no …

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 …

Electricity Price Prediction With Computational Intelligence, Toan Hoang

Electrical Engineering

Electricity price depends on numerous factors including the weather, location, time of year/month/day (summer, holidays, day/night, etc.), consumption, and market changes or disruptions. The power loss in the transmission lines and the use of electricity also affect the load's price. Forecasting about the electricity price provides future trends and patterns consumption of the users. Forecasting electricity price is crucially important for producers and consumers in the energy trading markets. It is a complicated task because of the uncertainty behaviors and demand fluctuation. The maximization of profit for participants is highly associated with the bidding strategies. Multiple forecasting electricity price tools …

Energy And Economic Losses Due To Soiling On Utility Scale Pv Systems To Guide Timing Of Cost Effective Cleaning, Jackson P. Puckett, Maximilian M. Sosa, Brandon F. Grossman

Electrical Engineering

The energy and associated economic losses due to soiling on both residential and utility scale PV (photovoltaic) systems can be both significant and avoidable. Losses from 1.2% up to 6% have been reported, which is of interest to system operators [1]. Modules may be cleaned to reduce losses, but this comes with an offsetting economic cost. A quantification of energy losses, and the corresponding economic loss, will allow a determination of a closer to optimal cleaning schedule depending on the level of soiling and corresponding energy loss. Two methods are proposed and compared. Method 1 uses an ARES Soiling Measurement …

Dual Axis Solar Panel Tracker, Xavier Joseph Lugue, Javier Harrison, Nicholas Ryan Wolfe

Electrical Engineering

Photovoltaic systems generate more energy when orthogonally facing the sun where solar cells absorb the most light. By creating an effective, autonomous solar tracking system, the developed solar panels consistently generate maximum energy while using less power. Dual axis solar trackers surpass single axis trackers in energy generation, however, their cost and reliability provide a significant drawback. This project develops different algorithmic implementations designed to provide optimal and efficient behavior for photovoltaic systems. These algorithms adjust the solar panel’s position appropriately with the sun’s location, weather conditions, and selected operating modes. The solar tracking system’s operations include latitudinal axis capability …

Optimization Of Aggregated Ev Power In Residential Communities With Smart Homes, Huangjie Gong, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Electric vehicles (EVs) tend to increase peak power for residences in the evening when house owners return home and begin charging. The aggregated EV charging demand can cause a sudden rise in the peak power at the distribution system level, resulting in a “dragon curve” Such phenomenon, combined with the “duck curve” that is caused by high photovoltaic (PV) penetration in residential communities, requires fast ramping rates and expanded capabilities for local distribution transformers and main feeder cables provided by the utility. As a solution, a residential energy storage system (RESS) can store surplus PV generation during midday and use …

Rf Power Amplifier, Angel De Jesus Delgado, Rachanon Wajanakunakorn, Andrew John Ferguson

Electrical Engineering

Wireless devices are part of everyday life, cellphones and radio receivers impact more people than any piece of technology. Thus, the respective building blocks continue to advance and achieve better performance. A primary component of all wireless communication systems is the power amplifier that drives the antenna. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) holds the International Microwave Symposium (IMS) every year where teams compete internationally for the most efficient RF Power Amplifier (PA). Power amplifier technologies strive to maximize efficiency and linearity. Topologies to consider are D, E, F, F-1 and Doherty since they have a maximum theoretical …

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 …

Wind/Hydro Power Generation Simulator, Justin Shaun Otus, Nicholas Joseph Steele, Patrick Daniel Murphy

Electrical Engineering

This project aims to design a wind or hydro power generation simulator. The original scope of this project was to construct a physical simulation apparatus in which wind/water speed data is fed to a microcontroller that adjusts the control voltage of a motor drive. The spinning DC motor would generate power via a coupled generator whose power output would be a scaled down version of wind/hydroelectric generator power output given the same wind/water speed input. Due to Covid-19, the project was altered to be entirely virtual and was made through Simulink in MATLAB. The virtual simulator attempts to mimic physical …

Single Axis Solar Panel Tracking Mount Using Stepper Motor And Accelerometer Positional Control, Ezra Pramono

Electrical Engineering

Optimal solar panel systems rotate to track the sun, as solar panels operate at their maximum potential when the panel plane is completely normal to the sun’s rays. These tracking systems often using two axes of movement. This project is to design a system that will allow a solar panel to track the sun using only one rotational axis, which saves energy and uses fewer parts. The system tracks the entire range of the sun's motion and has positional feedback to allow control of the solar panel's angle. The position of the tracking system is controllable via an external computer. …

Conducted And Radiated Emi Measurements Of Parallel Buck Converters Under Varying Spread Spectrum Parameters, Elena Postupalskaya, Nathan Wang

Electrical Engineering

The Conducted and Radiated EMI Measurements with Parallel Buck Converters Under Varying Spread Spectrum Parameters research senior project aims to explore the effects from Spread Spectrum Frequency Modulation (SSFM) on the input electromagnetic interference (EMI) or noise of a switching power supply, specifically with LM53601MAEVM hardware. The input EMI is important as the main input bus needs to be clean to provide a reliable source for other sensitive devices connected to it. SSFM can replace a conventional EMI filter and save weight, space, and cost. This project provides a basis in terms of the impacts of variable SSFM in simulation …

Pulsed Electric Field System Development For Algae Biofuel Extraction, Juan David Gonzalez Aguayo, Aspyn Bessler

Electrical Engineering

The search for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels proves necessary due to the effects fossil fuels have on Earth’s environment. These alternatives must have a minimum ecological footprint and cause no long-term harm to the environment. An environmentally friendly fuel is necessary to usher in a generation of renewable green energy.

The production of algae refined biofuels becomes a possible solution to this growing issue. Algae absorb CO2from the atmosphere during their reproduction and growth cycles, yielding a positive environmental impact. As the biofuel is refined and becomes suitable for use, the combustion of the finished fuel generates an equal …

Energy And Economic Losses Due To Soiling On Utility Scale Pv Systems To Guide Timing Of Cost Effective Cleaning, Sophia Mcmillin Stockburger, Vicente Jesus Rios

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this senior project is to develop and recommend a cleaning schedule for Goldtree Solar Farm that is both economically beneficial and an efficient use of cleaning for the client. Solar farms can have various factors that influence the cleaning schedule such as weather behavior, time of the year, soiling, and other factors. Through this senior project, the goal is to assess these factors effect on the solar farm to produce a cleaning schedule that will maximize energy production, maximize profits, and prevent insignificant cleaning

This analysis is motivated by defining and promoting the benefits of regular maintenance …

Design And Development Of Laboratory Single-Axis Pv Module Tracker, Helen A. Rice, Delaney Berger, Avishek Maitra

Electrical Engineering

Solar energy is an integral part of the renewable energy industry. Advanced solar farms actively track solar movement and update solar panel angles to maximize the system’s output power. Cal Poly boasts its own Solar Farm that features a single-axis tracking system. Single-axis tracking aims to get panels as close to perpendicular as possible given the panel arrangements and given the time of year. Single-axis tracking is a more robust measurement and tracking option. Single-axis tracking systems usually only have East-West panel arc movement, following the sun’s rotation. Dual-axis trackers have both East-West and North-South panel arc movements. Dual-axis systems …