Engineering Commons^™

Dc-To-Dc Buck Converter, Kyle Christopher Roman

Electrical Engineering

The growth of sustainable energy requires many components to work in harmony creating one efficient and effective system. Sustainable energy generation that produces a DC current varying in voltage requires a subsystem to convert voltage to a practical and usable value. The DC to DC Buck converter converts high DC solar generated voltage to a 12V output. This Modular -Level power electronic (MLPE) device performs as a solar charge controller for small lithium ion batteries. Fluctuating voltage levels generated by Photovoltaic cells makes the solar controller a critical part of the solar system. Regulating the DC voltage allows safe and …

Simulating Distributed Battery And Solar Array Placement For Voltage Regulation, Michael Misch

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Energy storage has been around for many years in the US, mainly in the form of pumped hydro. However, in recent years, other storage technologies have developed quickly, with lithium ion batteries receiving significant investment and delivering technological and price improvements. Electricity storage has the potential to assist the US in transitioning to a smarter grid, as well as enabling increasing amounts of renewable generation to connect to the grid, without costly reinforcement works. Electricity storage can be co-located with power generation assets, installed along distribution systems for network services, or placed behind the meter, i.e., on the customer’s premises. …

Modeling And Simulation Of Microgrid, Ahmad Alzahrani, Mehdi Ferdowsi, Pourya Shamsi, Cihan H. Dagli

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Complex computer systems and electric power grids share many properties of how they behave and how they are structured. A microgrid is a smaller electric grid that contains several homes, energy storage units, and distributed generators. The main idea behind microgrids is the ability to work even if the main grid is not supplying power. That is, the energy storage unit and distributed generation will supply power in that case, and if there is excess in power production from renewable energy sources, it will go to the energy storage unit. Therefore, the electric grid becomes decentralized in terms of control …

Solar Irradiance Forecasting Using Deep Neural Networks, Ahmad Alzahrani, Pourya Shamsi, Cihan H. Dagli, Mehdi Ferdowsi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Predicting solar irradiance has been an important topic in renewable energy generation. Prediction improves the planning and operation of photovoltaic systems and yields many economic advantages for electric utilities. The irradiance can be predicted using statistical methods such as artificial neural networks (ANN), support vector machines (SVM), or autoregressive moving average (ARMA). However, they either lack accuracy because they cannot capture long-term dependency or cannot be used with big data because of the scalability. This paper presents a method to predict the solar irradiance using deep neural networks. Deep recurrent neural networks (DRNNs) add complexity to the model without specifying …

Solar Powered Single-Axis Heliostat Active Solar Tracking Device, Mason Kyle Roberts

Physics

As a means of cooking food, the burning of biomass accounts for over 4 million premature deaths in third world countries (“Household Air Pollution and Health”). The focus of this project was to explore an alternative that could utilize focused sunlight to cook food. A solar tracker was designed to be affixed to a parabolic, reflective, tilted single axis heliostat to follow the sun throughout the day and focus the reflected light to the bottom of a cooking surface. This surface became hot enough to for the preparation of food or boiling/sterilization of water.

A goal for each project was …

Solar Roller - Solar Powered Usb Charging Station, Aaron Bartfeld, Tanner Mjelde, Kaylan Naicker

Electrical Engineering

As the necessity for renewable energy increases, solar power becomes more and more prevalent. At the same time, as technology increases, the necessity for charging one’s electronic devices also increases. The Solar Roller merges solar energy with the ability to charge one's electronic device in one compact cart. The Solar Roller is a solar-powered USB charging station that allows people of all backgrounds to develop a better understanding of alternative fuels, while charging their USB device. It has a touch screen display that provides voltage levels of the battery as well as a TV that displays solar powered information. The …

Dc House Energy Management System, Zachary L. Eldredge, Zoe M. Hay

Electrical Engineering

In this work, a previously completed proof of concept for an Energy Management System (EMS) for the DC House project has been revised and re-implemented. The implemented design changes will improve the performance and reproducibility of the system. This new design of the EMS replaces the two-separate buck and boost DC-DC converters with a single bidirectional DC-DC converter to reduce components and improve efficiency. Analysis of the bidirectional DC-DC converter shows high efficiency especially at larger load currents. The code of the previous work was updated for smoother operation as well as to accommodate an LCD capable of displaying more …

Solar Powered Electric Vehicle Charger, Jessica A. Bombardier Shaw, Andrew F. Moradpour

Electrical Engineering

This project will look into how to create an efficiently-operated solar powered electric vehicle charger. The solar panel will harvest energy from the sun that will be stored a battery pack to be readily available to charge an electric vehicle. These stations could be commercialized to be located along a highway, or personalized for a in-house installation.

Investigating Solutions For Peak Electrical Demand In Central Region, Saudi Arabia, Abdulhameed Mohammed Almaarik

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the electrical power challenges of the Central Region, Saudi Arabia. This includes a look into the geography of Saudi Arabia, to assess the lack of traditional power sources such as coal and hydroelectric. Next, a comprehensive look into the nature of demand in Riyadh, which include the demand types, and comprehensive data about the peak demand and the times associated with it. A problem of very high peak demand that is unique to the region is identified. Then, a study into current electric generation methods to meet this demand, and the associated technologies and fuel costs. This …

Smart Home Energy Management: An Analysis Of A Novel Dynamic Pricing And Demand Response Aware Control Algorithm For Households With Distributed Renewable Energy Generation And Storage, Jamal Abushnaf

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Home energy management systems (HEMS) technology can provide a smart and efficient way of optimising energy usage in residential buildings. One of the main goals of the Smart Grid is to achieve Demand Response (DR) by increasing end users’ participation in decision making and increasing the level of awareness that will lead them to manage their energy consumption in an efficient way. This research presents an intelligent HEMS algorithm that manages and controls a range of household appliances with different demand response (DR) limits in an automated way without requiring consumer intervention. In addition, a novel Multiple Users and Load …