Engineering Commons^™

Exercise Power Grid Display And Web Interface, Alexander (Alex) Chernetz

Computer Engineering

The 2008-2009 expansion of the Recreation Center at Cal Poly includes three new rooms with cardiovascular fitness equipment. As part of its ongoing commitment to sustainable development, the new machines connect to the main power grid and generate power during a workout. This document explains the process of quantifying and expressing the power generated using two interfaces: an autonomous display designed for a television with a text size and amount of detail adaptable to multiple television sizes and viewing distances, and an interactive, more detailed Web interface accessible with any Java-capable computer system or browser.

Dc-Dc Converter For Harvesting Energy From An Exercise Bike, Henry Ureh, Chris Henry

Electrical Engineering

Create an efficient buck-boost converter that adapts to input voltage range from ~3.8V to 70V, and outputs 13.7V DC, the voltage required by a charge controller to charge a battery. The energy stored in the battery will be supplied back to the grid.

The cost of energy saved by the converter should eventually cover the initial price of the converter. The converter should help reduce the net power consumption of the exercise machines used in the Cal Poly gym

Lab-Scale Thyristor Rectifier And Static Var Compensator Circuits, Haroun Idris, Ibrahim Idris

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to design thyristor circuits by using single-phase FCRO 4100 firing board donated by ENERPRO. These circuits in conjunction with a thyristor module will be used for future lab experiments in power electronics courses.

The first part of this project is to study the full effect of a firing angle on a controlled single phase full bridge thyristor rectifier circuit. Furthermore, the resulting circuit setup will be implemented as part of future lab experiments in Power Electronics I course. The next purpose of this project is to design a small-scale Static VAR Compensator (SVC) lab …

Solar Panel Experiment, John Hauger

Electrical Engineering

This senior project will focus on creating a suitable testing procedure for the provided solar panel system. The testing parameters will be based on the expected 60W output power of the system. The complete procedure will provide a thorough analysis of the power flow and overall efficiency of the system.

This senior project report will discuss the importance of this experiment in the Electrical Engineering curriculum, the system requirements and parameters tested in the design, and the provided results based on the test conditions. In addition, this report will include the complete testing procedure and recommendations for possible future additions …

Energy Harvesting From Elliptical Machines: Dc Converter Troubleshooting, Michelle Lum, Jonathan Yuen

Electrical Engineering

In continuing the global effort to integrate innovative technology and renewable energy in the world’s power system, Cal Poly endeavors to harvest energy from elliptical machines and feed that power back into the electrical grid. This continuation of the previous project, Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines Self‐generating Elliptical Machines, seeks an alternative DC to DC converter to function within the existing elliptical self‐generating system. By attempting to implement this new DC to DC converter, the project strives to reduce the size of the converter in order to mount it on the elliptical machine. The project also tries to explain how …

Switching Circuit For A Permanent Magnet Dc Motor, Alex Boatman

Electrical Engineering

The project is a circuit that will basically supply current from the battery to the different stator coils at opportune moments. With a hall-effect sensor on the shaft as a feedback to a microcontroller, I was able to toggle switches based on the position of the shaft at the moments where we would be using as little power as possible. The operation of the control circuit works similar to a stepper motor; it takes a signal from the microcontroller that is sent to some FET drivers, which in turn sends signals to the FETs to open or close as the …

Overcurrent Coordination Study, Edwin Pho

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Design And Development Of Rapid Battery Exchange Systems For Electric Vehicles To Be Used As Efficient Student Transportation, Jonathan A. Bevier

Master's Theses

Rapid battery exchange systems were built for an electric van and pedal assist electric bike as a method of eliminating the need to recharge the vehicles batteries in order to increase the feasibility of using electric propulsion as a method of efficient student transportation. After selecting proper materials it was found that the systems would need a protective coating to ensure consistent operation. 1020 cold rolled steel samples coated with multiple thicknesses of vinyl resin paint, epoxy resin paint, and powder coating were subjected to environmental wear tests in order to determine if the type and thickness of common protective …

1.5 Kw Pwm Bipolar Inverter, Michael Newbry, Percy Vigo

Electrical Engineering

This report focuses on the design, construction, and testing of a PWM inverter capable of converting 1.5 kW. The purpose for the inverter is to convert DC solar energy to power an air conditioner. The inverter uses a bipolar control scheme which comes from a PIC microcontroller. This report contains the advantages and disadvantages of all the PWM control schemes. Furthermore, the testing shows bipolar inverter characteristics and a sample use of filters to obtain sinusoidal waveforms. The design of the circuit makes the inverter easy and safe to use and test.

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Of An Extreme Aspect Ratio Hale Uav, Bryan J. Morrisey

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of an Extreme Aspect Ratio HALE UAV

Bryan J. Morrisey

Development of High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft systems is part of a vision for a low cost communications/surveillance capability. Applications of a multi payload aircraft operating for extended periods at stratospheric altitudes span military and civil genres and support battlefield operations, communications, atmospheric or agricultural monitoring, surveillance, and other disciplines that may currently require satellite-based infrastructure. Presently, several development efforts are underway in this field, including a project sponsored by DARPA that aims at producing an aircraft that can sustain flight for multiple years and …

Novel Current-Fed Boundary-Mode Parallel-Resonant Push-Pull Converter, Jonathan David Paolucci

Master's Theses

The inherent difficulty in designing high voltage power supplies is often compounded by demands of high reliability, high performance, and safe functionality. A proposed high step-up ratio DC-DC converter meets the exacting requirements of applications such as uninterruptible power systems, radar, and pulsed power systems. The proposed DC-DC converter topology combines a multi-phase buck input stage with a novel self-tracking zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) resonant output stage. Traditionally, the inclusion of multiple power processing stages within a power supply topology severely degrades the overall converter efficiency. Due to the inherent high efficiency per stage, however, this effect is minimized. The self-tracking switching …

Harmonic Analysis Of A Static Var Compensated Mixed Load System, James David Ruckdaschel

Master's Theses

As power electronic based controllers and loads become more prevalent in power systems, there is a growing concern about how the harmonics generated by these controllers and loads affect the power quality of the system. One widely used power electronic based load is the Variable Frequency Drive (VFDs) used to vary the speed of an induction motor; whereas a common example of a power electronic based controller used in power systems is the Static VAR Compensator (SVC) for improving a system’s power factor. In this thesis, the harmonic content and overall performance of a system including both a VFD and …

Analysis And Design Of Continuous Input Current Multiphase Interleaved Buck Converter, Sean Michael Zich

Master's Theses

The power requirements for microprocessors have been increasing per Moore's Law. According to International Technology Roadmap (ITRS), Voltage Regulator Module (VRM) for microprocessors will be about 200 W at 1 V output in 2010. With the VRM’s topology of synchronous buck, serious technical challenges such as small duty cycle, high switching frequencies, and higher current demands, contribute to decreased power density and increased cost.

This thesis proposes a Continuous Input Current Multiphase Interleaved Buck topology to solve the technical challenges of powering future microprocessors. This new topology is aimed to improve past topologies by providing continuous input current and improved …