Power and Energy Commons^™

2018 Fall Engr333 Project Final Report (Section A), 2018 Fall Engr333 Section A

ENGR 333

Calvin College currently spends 2.35 million dollars on energy every year. Physical Plant is under pressure to reduce the amount of energy that Calvin purchases from the electrical grid since the college is facing many budget constraints. In addition, President Le Roy signed the President’s Carbon Commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2057. With this need to save money on energy and reduce the college’s carbon footprint, the objective of this project was to determine the largest possible reduction in Calvin’s annual energy costs given a five-million-dollar investment in renewable energy.

2018 Fall Engr333 Project Final Report (Section B), Alexander Cooper, Katie Diekema, Grace Fasipe, Daniella Sugijanto, Alec Dejonge, Timothy Dykhuis, Breanna Kooiman, Samuel Olson, Brennan Boice, Tyler Gustman, Daniel Norton, Christopher Vanwhye, Robert Capozzoli, Jared Minderhoud, Clark Richeson, Nathan Schuyten

ENGR 333

What is the largest possible reduction in Calvin College’s annual energy costs from a $5M initial investment in renewable energy? Renewable energy systems are essential for Calvin College to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality to meet the Carbon Commitment that President Le Roy signed in December 2017. Also, a significant cost reduction could be a positive result of transitioning to renewable energy sources such as geothermal, wind, solar, and biomass. Four renewable energy sources were studied throughout the semester to determine a feasible renewable energy plan for Calvin with a $5M investment.

Optimal Placement Of Distributed Energy Storage Systems In Distribution Networks Using Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm, Choton K. Das, Octavian Bass, Ganesh Kothapalli, Thair S. Mahmoud, Daryoush Habibi

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The deployment of utility-scale energy storage systems (ESSs) can be a significant avenue for improving the performance of distribution networks. An optimally placed ESS can reduce power losses and line loading, mitigate peak network demand, improve voltage profile, and in some cases contribute to the network fault level diagnosis. This paper proposes a strategy for optimal placement of distributed ESSs in distribution networks to minimize voltage deviation, line loading, and power losses. The optimal placement of distributed ESSs is investigated in a medium voltage IEEE-33 bus distribution system, which is influenced by a high penetration of renewable (solar and wind) …

2018 Fall Engr333 Poster, Alexander Cooper, Katie Diekema, Grace Fasipe, Daniella Sugijanto, Alec Dejonge, Timothy Dykhuis, Breanna Kooiman, Samuel Olson, Brennan Boice, Tyler Gustman, Daniel Norton, Christopher Vanwhye, Robert Capozzoli, Jared Minderhoud, Clark Richeson, Nathan Schuyten, 2018 Fall Engr333 Section A

ENGR 333

• $158k initial investment in Geothermal systems for various Calvin-owned residential buildings
• $3.34M initial investment in solar panels for Calvin’s rooftops
• The overall savings would be $233,850 per year
• Emissions would be reduced by 864 tons of CO2 emissions per year
• The recommended investment would be fully paid back in 11-15 years

2018 Fall Engr333 Seminar Presentation, Rachel Evans, Alex Gross, Daniella Sugijanto, Jake Shaarda

ENGR 333

File for student presentation, given by students in the Fall 2018 class of ENGR333.

Battery-Buffered Frequency-Controlled Smart Load With Time-Of-Use Energy Arbitrage, Ahmed Jabbar Abbas Zurfi

Theses and Dissertations

In existing long-established power systems, the grid control and balancing are implemented on the generation side in centralized schemes. As the use of renewable, non-dispatchable, inverter-based (inertia-less) energy sources is becoming increasingly pervasive in modern power systems, this paradigm will change and the need for decentralized demand-side control will be imperative to ameliorate the grid’s dynamic performance and stability. Battery energy storage (BES) is one of the essential constituents that will empower this transition. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are eminent for their features of scalability, mobility, high energy density, and rapid response in tracking abrupt power fluctuations. These features …

Development Of A Rapid Fatigue Life Testing Method For Reliability Assessment Of Flip-Chip Solder Interconnects, Cody Jackson Marbut

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The underlying physics of failure are critical in assessing the long term reliability of power packages in their intended field applications, yet traditional reliability determination methods are largely inadequate when considering thermomechanical failures. With current reliability determination methods, long test durations, high costs, and a conglomerate of concurrent reliability degrading threat factors make effective understanding of device reliability difficult and expensive. In this work, an alternative reliability testing apparatus and associated protocol was developed to address these concerns; targeting rapid testing times with minimal cost while preserving fatigue life prediction accuracy. Two test stands were fabricated to evaluate device reliability …

Power Optimization Of Solar Powered Standalone Wireless Sensor System, Rajan Amatya

Masters Theses

Wireless sensor systems are common in applications where harsh environmental conditions or remote locations make it difficult to run wires. Having these sensor systems self-powered is essential as it is difficult for battery replacement. Using solar as an alternative source of energy can be a medium to charge the battery in such scenarios. With an increasing number of portable devices powered by battery; more and more research is focused on low-power design technique. For this thesis, a microcontroller (Texas Instruments MSP432) was used along with a digital sensor (Bosch BME280) to provide temperature, pressure and humidity information, and Wi-Fi module …

Automatic Performance Optimization On Heterogeneous Computer Systems Using Manycore Coprocessors, Chenggang Lai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging computer architectures and advanced computing technologies, such as Intel’s Many Integrated Core (MIC) Architecture and graphics processing units (GPU), provide a promising solution to employ parallelism for achieving high performance, scalability and low power consumption. As a result, accelerators have become a crucial part in developing supercomputers. Accelerators usually equip with different types of cores and memory. It will compel application developers to reach challenging performance goals. The added complexity has led to the development of task-based runtime systems, which allow complex computations to be expressed as task graphs, and rely on scheduling algorithms to perform load balancing between …

Dc-Dc 4-Switch Buck-Boost Converter For Energy Harvesting From Elliptical Machines, Alexander C. Samietz, Gustavo Guzman

Electrical Engineering

The senior project report documents the process of replacing the network of resistors inside an elliptical machine with a DC-DC buck-boost converter. The buck-boost DC-DC converter accepts a wide input range of 5-60 Volts, with an output of 36 Volts for the most efficient use of the already available microinverter. The microinverter reclaims the lost energy and safely distributes it back to the electrical grid. The addition of this project reduces heat emissions from wasted energy and shrinks the carbon footprint of its users.

Grid-Tied Solar System, Virginia Yan

Electrical Engineering

Distribution level solar energy generation has gained importance and popularity, because it helps create a sustainable electricity system while reducing the harmful environmental impacts our current power systems have. This project proposes an alternative energy source, a laboratory-scale grid-connected photovoltaic system. A KC120-1 solar panel produces 120 Watts maximum. A grid-tied solar power inverter does DC-to-AC conversion and minimizes energy transfer losses. The inverter also has an anti-islanding feature, which senses a power outage and prevents back-feeding through isolating the circuit. The circuit breakers isolate electrical components and protect the circuit. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories SEL-751 feeder protection relay and SEL-735 …

Solar Irradiance Microforecasting, Austin Jeffrey Fite, Sara Naseem Kipps

Computer Engineering

In late winter quarter 2018 the University of New Mexico and Microgrid Labs provided the Cal Poly Electrical Engineering department with their prototype Solar Irradiance Microforecasting (SIMF) hardware. This hardware was provided to the University under the lone condition that data collected with it would be returned to Microgrid Labs to train their weather model. The goal of this senior project was to take the provided hardware and software and make it usable for students in the Cal Poly Electrical and Computer Engineering departments to hack and expand. The end goal with the hardware is near term cloud and weather …

Comparison Of Organic And Inorganic Solar Photovoltaic Systems, Khulan Orgil

Electrical Engineering

This senior project report addresses the consumer’s need for accurate and easily accessible information when making a solar panel purchasing decision. Thus, the project analyzes and compares the costs and benefits of organic and inorganic photovoltaic systems during their life cycle. The cost comparison includes analysis of the environmental and economic costs of materials, production, installation, and disposal. The benefit comparison includes analysis of the economic, environmental, and social benefits accrued during the system’s lifetime. With the project’s data, consumers can make more informed decisions to fit their specific needs.

Investigation Of A Gan-Based Power Supply Topology Utilizing Solid State Transformer For Low Power Applications, Akrem Mohamed Elrajoubi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gallium nitride (GaN) power devices exhibit a much lower gate capacitance for a similar on-resistance than its silicon counterparts, making it highly desirable for high-frequency operation in switching converters, which leads to their significant benefits on power density, cost, and system volume. High-density switching converters are being realized with GaN power devices due to their high switching speeds that reduce the size of energy-storage circuit components. The purpose of this dissertation research is to investigate a new isolated GaN AC/DC switching converter based on solid-state transformer configuration with a totem-pole power factor corrector (PFC) front-end, a half-bridge series-resonant converter (SRC) …

Intelligent Application Of Flexible Ac Transmission System Components In An Evolving Power Grid, Robert Wall

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The world revolves around energy and the energy sector is continually transforming and evolving. The status quo has been set by governing agencies in the United States for completely reliable power. The demand for energy efficiency continually rises for multiple reasons. Technology has improved for all sectors of the power grid, including renewable energy sources, fault protection, and SMART grid technology. The addition of new energy sources has led to the decommissioning of inefficient energy sources. The implementation of new technologies and power load on a large scale, coupled with the removal of grid stabilizers has posed different challenges that …

Comparative Study Of Power Semiconductor Devices In A Multilevel Cascaded H-Bridge Inverter, Kenneth Mordi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis compares the performance of a nine-level transformerless cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter with integrated battery energy storage system (BESS) using SiC power MOSFETs and Si IGBTs. Two crucial performance drivers for inverter applications are power loss and efficiency. Both of these are investigated in this thesis. Power devices with similar voltage and current ratings are used in the same inverter topology, and the performance of each device is analyzed with respect to switching frequency and operating temperature. The loss measurements and characteristics within the inverter are discussed. The Saber® simulation software was used for the comparisons. The power MOSFET …

Linking Lignin Source With Structural And Electrochemical Properties Of Lignin-Derived Carbon Materials, Wenqi Li, Yan Zhang, Lalitendu Das, Yikai Wang, Mi Li, Namal Wanninayake, Yunqiao Pu, Doo Young Kim, Yang-Tse Cheng, Arthur J. Ragauskas, Jian Shi

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Valorization of lignin to high-value chemicals and products along with biofuel production is generally acknowledged as a technology platform that could significantly improve the economic viability of biorefinery operations. With a growing demand for electrical energy storage materials, lignin-derived activated carbon (AC) materials have received increasing attention in recent years. However, there is an apparent gap in our understanding of the impact of the lignin precursors (i.e., lignin structure, composition and inter-unit linkages) on the structural and electrochemical properties of the derived ACs. In the present study, lignin-derived ACs were prepared under identical conditions from two different lignin …

Cfd Modeling On Hydrodynamic Characteristics Of Multiphase Counter-Current Flow In A Structured Packed Bed For Post-Combustion Co2 Capture, Li Yang, Fang Liu, Kozo Saito, Kunlei Liu

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Solvent-based post combustion CO₂ capture is a promising technology for industrial application. Gas-liquid interfaces and interactions in the packed bed are considered one of the key factors affecting the overall CO₂ absorption rate. Understanding the hydrodynamic characterizations within packed beds is essential to identify the appropriate enhanced mass transfer technique. However, multiphase counter-current flows in the structured packing typically used in these processes are complicated to visualize and optimize experimentally. In this paper, we aim to develop a comprehensive 3D multiphase, counter-current flow model to study the liquid/gas behavior on the surface of structured packing. The output from …

Two-Level Surrogate-Assisted Differential Evolution Multi-Objective Optimization Of Electric Machines Using 3-D Fea, Narges Taran, Dan M. Ionel, David G. Dorrell

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

A two-level surrogate-assisted optimization algorithm is proposed for electric machine design using 3-D finite-element analysis (FEA). The algorithm achieves the optima with much fewer FEA evaluations than conventional methods. It is composed of interior and exterior levels. The exploration is performed mainly in the interior level, which evaluates hundreds of designs employing affordable kriging models. Then, the most promising designs are evaluated in the exterior loop with expensive 3-D FEA models. The sample pool is constructed in a self-adjustable and dynamic way. A hybrid stopping criterion is used to avoid unnecessary expensive function evaluations.

Optimal Design Of A Switched Reluctance Motor With Magnetically Disconnected Rotor Modules Using A Design Of Experiments Differential Evolution Fea-Based Method, Vandana Rallabandi, Jie Wu, Ping Zhou, David G. Dorrell, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Switched reluctance (SR) machines are attractive because they present relatively high efficiency and torque density in spite of lacking permanent magnets. This paper focuses on a two-objective optimization of an external rotor SR motor with a stator that has concentrated coils and a rotor with magnetically isolated modules. The objectives are minimum loss and mass, and 11 independent dimensionless geometric variables are considered as inputs that affect them. A combined design of experiments (DOE) and differential evolution (DE) approach is proposed. The DOE methodology is used to reduce the search space by eliminating from consideration input variable values, leading to …