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Electrical and Computer Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

2004

Power Convertors

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Low-Input-Voltage, Low-Power Boost Converter Design Issues, Jonathan W. Kimball, Theresa L. Flowers, Patrick L. Chapman Sep 2004

Low-Input-Voltage, Low-Power Boost Converter Design Issues, Jonathan W. Kimball, Theresa L. Flowers, Patrick L. Chapman

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Issues associated with boost converter design and performance are investigated when a low input voltage is used. Low-input-voltage sources include single fuel cells, single solar cells, and thermoelectric devices. The primary context is interfacing single micro fuel cells to portable electronic loads, such as mobile phones. Efficiency and circuit startup are the two most difficult issues for a low-cost design. It is shown in theory and experiment that the boost converter has a voltage collapse point. A simple startup technique is proposed that is appropriate for some applications.


Digital Scr Control Box For Educational Laboratory, Zakdy Sorchini, Jonathan W. Kimball, Philip T. Krein Aug 2004

Digital Scr Control Box For Educational Laboratory, Zakdy Sorchini, Jonathan W. Kimball, Philip T. Krein

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A "blue box" has been designed to introduce the silicone controlled rectifier (SCR) to power electronics students. SCRs are useful in many real-world applications, and are conceptually important in a student's understanding of power converters. The box is highly flexible in application, and its internal design is simple enough to explain to students. Experiments are shown, both of the type commonly used in the laboratory and of the type used for demonstrations. The box has also been designed to be suitable for research purposes and line voltage applications.


Issues With Low-Input-Voltage Boost Converter Design, Jonathan W. Kimball, Theresa L. Flowers, Patrick L. Chapman Jun 2004

Issues With Low-Input-Voltage Boost Converter Design, Jonathan W. Kimball, Theresa L. Flowers, Patrick L. Chapman

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper addresses boost converter circuits that are built for very low input voltages, i.e. less than 1 V. Such circuits can be useful for single-cell solar and fuel cell power supplies. Important issues are physical size, high conversion ratio, efficiency, and startup. Several experimental studies show the impact of these issues. A startup technique is proposed that works for arbitrarily low input voltages.


A Multi-Processor Control System Architecture For A Cascaded Statcom With Energy Storage, Chang Qian, Stan Atcitty, Mariesa Crow Feb 2004

A Multi-Processor Control System Architecture For A Cascaded Statcom With Energy Storage, Chang Qian, Stan Atcitty, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a multi-processor control system for a general purpose five-level cascaded inverter for real time power system applications. Practical design considerations for the digital controller architecture as well as the power converter are discussed and a 3 kVA laboratory prototype is presented. As a case study, a StatCom with battery energy storage was implemented on this multi-processor controlled inverter system. To eliminate the troublesome PI parameter tuning and the limitation of small signal models, which exist in conventional control for StatComs, a new and simple control method based on large signal model was designed to realize four-quadrant power …


A Reconfigurable Facts System For University Laboratories, Liangying Dong, Zhiping Yang, Shen Chen, Lin Zhang, Stan Atcitty, Mariesa Crow Feb 2004

A Reconfigurable Facts System For University Laboratories, Liangying Dong, Zhiping Yang, Shen Chen, Lin Zhang, Stan Atcitty, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To fully understand the dynamic performance of the multiple flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS) devices, a hardware setup is needed to complement software simulation for university research laboratories. This paper presents the schematic and basic controls of a reconfigurable FACTS system that can be used to realize the major voltage-sourced-converter FACTS topologies: the StatCom, the static synchronous series compensator (SSSC), and the unified power-flow controller (UPFC). Furthermore, the state models and control algorithms for the FACTS devices are proposed. The digital signal processor (DSP)-based control system enables new control methods to be rapidly implemented. The comparison of the experimental and …