Electrical and Electronics Commons^™

Laser-Induced Acoustic Signal Generation, Resonance Characterization, And Optical Sensing In Metallic Plates, Xinghang Zhao

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This thesis investigates laser-induced acoustic signal generation, resonance characterization, and optical sensing in metallic plates as a foundational study for damage-sensitive inspection. Rather than presenting a complete defect-detection system, the work focuses on how measurable acoustic responses can be generated, amplified, and interpreted in a controlled laboratory setting. Experiments showed that pulsed-laser excitation can produce strong and repeatable acoustic responses in metallic structures. Repetition-rate sweeping identified narrow resonant responses, including a cantilever resonance at 57.862 kHz and a maximum circular-disk response at an FFT frequency of 48.8 kHz with a laser repetition rate of about 49.1 kHz. High-Q resonances exceeding …

Neural-Network-Based Modeling Of Grid-Forming Inverters, Jacob D. Levesque

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Renewable energy production has grown significantly in recent years and continues to expand, resulting in an increasing number of inverter-based resources (IBRs) in the grid. As the number of IBRs in the grid continues to grow, grid-forming (GFM) inverters are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to regulate voltage and frequency, providing increased grid stability and enabling islanding. As GFM inverters become more widely used in power systems, accurate and efficient models of their behavior are needed for system design purposes.

Emerging advances in neural networks have led to research on computationally efficient neural-network-based (NN-based) modeling approaches for inverters. …

Enhancing Reliable Performance Of Microgrids With Autonomous Control Of Distributed Energy Resources, Sahand Liasi

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This dissertation presents a comprehensive investigation into enhancing the reliability, efficiency, and autonomous operation of modern power networks through advanced microgrid integration and control strategies. The research addresses critical challenges across three interconnected domains: microgrid control, thermodynamic modeling of heat recovery system (HRS), and optimal distribution network reliability.

In the realm of microgrid control, this work introduces novel methodologies for grid forming inverter-based resources (IBRs). A significant contribution is the development and validation of an "Auto Frequency Change" controller, which drastically reduces microgrid synchronization time with the main grid from several minutes to approximately four seconds, with theoretical potential for …

Thermal Management Of Power Electronic Converters In Electric Motor Drives Using Active Thermal Control And Active Cooling, S M Imrat Rahman

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The application of power electronic converters (PEC) in electric vehicles (EVs) has significantly increased due to their enhanced controllability and flexibility. Additionally, Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (PMSMs) are favored in EVs for their higher torque, efficiency, performance, and heat dissipation capabilities compared to asynchronous machines. The reliable operation of power converters in PMSM drives is crucial for EV operation, and this is driving interest in developing innovative and sustainable technologies that ensure the safe and reliable functioning of PECs. One of the main challenges in achieving reliable PECs is designing effective thermal management systems to control junction temperature and reduce …

Resilient Control Framework For Ev Motor Drive System Subject To Cyber-Physical Security, Ali Arsalan

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The electric drive system (EDS) in electric vehicles (EVs) is one of the key safety-critical components. As IoT-enabled communication infrastructure for modern cyber-physical automotive systems continues to evolve, the importance of securing EDS against cyber threats along with physical faults, has become increasingly prominent. Among physical faults, power switches are particularly vulnerable and exhibit the highest susceptibility to open-circuit faults (OCFs). A compromised EDS, whether due to cyber threats or physical issues, can lead to excessive mechanical vibrations, increased thermal stress, fluctuations in electromagnetic torque, and elevated total harmonic distortion. These factors can substantially undermine traction control stability and jeopardize …

Low Energy Ion Irradiation Effects In Electronic Devices And Materials, David C. Mccall

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The physics and engineering of ion-solid interactions are governed by the ion beam characteristics (flux, charge, energy) and target(s) in question. Here I present work on two projects related to the extraction of a high flux of low charge state Argon ions from a commercial plasma source and the irradiation of an engineered target, a transistor, with high charge state Argon ions.

An end-Hall ion source that produces a a high current plasma of ions and electrons in a rough vacuum environment is characterized. Using a Langmuir probe and multiple pressure measurements, the ion and electron content of the source …

Self-Poled P(Vdf-Trfe) Based Composites For Energy Harvesting And Wearable Sensor Applications, Lavanya Muthusamy

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The growing demand for flexible, low-power, and self-powered wearable electronic systems has accelerated research interest in polymer-based sensors and energy harvesting technologies. Among piezoelectric polymer materials, Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoro ethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)], over the years, has garnered significant attention due to its unique piezoelectric properties, high dielectric constant, mechanical flexibility, thermal stability, chemical resistance, biocompatibility and compatibility with scalable fabrication processes. Despite its advantages, conventional P(VDF-TrFE)-based devices often require external poling and face limitations in integration with low-cost, flexible substrates. To overcome these limitations, this research study explores the nanofiller approach, along with facile fabrication processes, and structural design strategies aimed at …

Emerging Applications On Reconfigurable Computing Platforms, Zhenyu Xu

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Security and high-performance computing have become two of the most critical demands in modern technology. The increasing complexity of digital systems, the need for real-time processing, and the emergence of sophisticated cyber threats require computing solutions that balance computational power with adaptability and security. Reconfigurable computing platforms, particularly Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), offer a promising solution to these challenges by combining flexibility with hardware acceleration. Many new applications have emerged with the developing of reconfigurable platforms.

FPGAs can be utilized in two primary directions: as control and high-precision measurement units for security-sensitive applications, and as accelerators capable of outperforming GPUs …

Hardware Applications Of High-Speed Fault Detection Algorithms, Daniel Zintsmaster

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The growing need for a sustainable electric energy infrastructure has driven research into control, protection, and optimization of power systems. A key challenge is that the changing grid must operate at increasingly higher speeds, but many current hardware devices cannot meet these demands. This thesis focuses on power system protection, aiming to design a hardware solution that can detect and isolate faults in microseconds, ensuring faster, more reliable grid operations. The first hardware developed was for a low-voltage direct current (LVdc) microgrid, which faces challenges due to a lack of protection schemes and novel speed requirements. This thesis presents protection …

Analyzing A Software Based Lossy Compression Algorithm On An Fpga Platform, Tripp Herlong

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In HPC, the ability to generate data is outpacing our hardware capabilities of storing said data. This presents the need for compression so we can keep important data preserved without costly hardware upgrades or worrying about hardware speed limitations. Traditional forms of compression are software based, which presents a speed issue that can lead to bottlenecks when storing data.Scientific data lossy compression methods such as SZ enable a speedup on memory transfer by simplifying computation to minimize the essential data size. SZx is a lightweight version of the popular SZ floating point compressor that may benefit from hardware acceleration. This …

Phasor-Domain Short-Circuit Analysis Of Power Transmission Systems In The Presence Of Inverter-Based Resources, Dol Kunwar

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Although a power system is nonlinear during healthy operation because of constant power loads and controlled power injections from the sources, a conventional power system fed by synchronous generators is linear during fault, and can be represented by bus impedance matrix (Z-bus), which is useful in power system analyses such as short circuit (SC) analysis. However, With increasing penetration of inverter-based resources (IBRs) in the system, the assumption of linearity of the faulted network does not hold. This impacts the analyses relying on Z-bus and Thevenin’s equivalent impedance (TEI), such as certain protection schemes set using short circuit analysis. Therefore, …

Photovoltaics And Battery-Based End-To-End Direct Current Sustainable Power Networks- Concept, Design, And Control, Vishwas Powar

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The consequences of climate change have emphasized the need for a power network that is centered around green, low-cost, and renewable sources of energy. Currently, photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines are the only two technologies that can convert renewable energy from the sun and wind, respectively, into large-scale power for the electricity network. This dissertation aims to provide a novel solution to implement direct current-based architecture for PV generation coupled with lithium-ion battery storage in an efficient and sustainable manner. Such a power network can enable efficiency, reliability, low cost, and sustainability with minimum impact on the environment. The first …

Cyber-Threat Detection Strategies Governed By An Observer And A Neural-Network For An Autonomous Electric Vehicle, Douglas Scruggs

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A pathway to prevalence for autonomous electrified transportation is reliant upon accurate and reliable information in the vehicle’s sensor data. This thesis provides insight as to the effective cyber-attack placements on an autonomous electric vehicle’s lateral stability control system (LSCS). Here, Data Integrity Attacks, Replay Attacks, and Denial-of-Service attacks are placed on the sensor data describing the vehicle’s actual yaw-rate and sideslip angle. In this study, there are three different forms of detection methods. These detection methods utilize a residual metric that incorporate sensor data, a state-space observer, and a Neural-Network. The vehicle at hand is a four-motor drive autonomous …

Custom-Designed And Collaborative Unmanned Systems With Learning-Based Applications, Robert Zanone

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This paper presents a culmination of work utilizing custom-designed autonomous vehicles and learning based simulations applied to real world applications across three distinct research domains. The first focuses on deploying autonomous drones in an agricultural setting for plant phenotyping. A telescoping arm is used to deploy a camera into the plant foilage for under-the-canopy imaging. The system utilizes on-board image processing to identify early-stage issues such as diseases, bacteria, and pests in crop plants to provide data for crop loss mitigation. The system takes advantage of the maneuverability of drones allowing for quick random sampling when traversing large areas.

In …

The Application Of Model Predictive Control On Paralleled Converters For Zero Sequence Current Suppression And Active Thermal Management, Justin Dobey

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In the field of power electronics, the control of rectifiers is a crucial area of study. Rectifiers are used to convert AC power into DC power, and are commonly used in a wide range of applications, including renewable energy systems, industrial automation, and consumer electronics. However, in medium and high-power systems when multiple rectifiers are connected in parallel to a DC bus, stability issues can arise, including voltage fluctuations, zero sequence circulating current, and thermal imbalance.

Achieving stable DC bus voltage is essential for maintaining the proper functioning of electronic devices, while suppressing zero sequence current is necessary for protecting …

Virtual Prototyping Of Pebb Based Power Electronics System For Ground Vehicles, Yi Li

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Power electronics are heavily involved in power and energy systems in plenty of applications nowadays. The increase of demand brings more challenges into simulations for development. Considering the complexity of the systems and high frequency operational conditions, this paper presents comprehensive research on modeling, simulating, and validation on ground vehicle propulsion system applications.

To reduce the computational burden, the Power Electronics Building Blocks concept is utilized to simplify the structure of modeling under different conversion scenarios in ground vehicle systems. In addition, the Average and Switching versions models are included. To speedup the simulation, the engagement of advanced computing technique …

Integrating Sensor Development, Risk Assessment, And Community Engagement To Support Environmental Justice In The Rural Community Of El Tiple, Colombia, David Bahamon Pinzon

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In Colombia, ethnic communities have traditionally been responsible stewards of natural resources. They recognize the importance of these resources for their livelihood, as well as their ancestral and cultural heritage. El Tiple, a rural Afro-Colombian community, has been affected by the incursion of private corporations that promoted the expansion of sugarcane monocrops in their territory. Since the introduction of the monoculture industry, local freshwater sources have been depleted due to intensive water use for irrigation of the sugarcane crops. Additionally, the intensive usage of agrochemicals has been linked with loss of native flora, damages to family farms, and pollution of …

Investigation Of Vo2 Thin Films And Devices For Opto-Electromechanical Applications, Samee Azad

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Specialized and optimized low pressure direct oxidation technique have been implemented to synthesize high quality VO₂ thin films on various substrates (sapphire, SiO₂/Si, AT-cut quartz, GaN/AlGaN/GaN/Si and muscovite). Structural and surface characterization methods such as X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy have been administered on the grown VO₂ films which indicate their material quality. Transition of characteristics of the VO₂ films are caused by semiconductor metal transition (SMT). This phenomenon is attributed as the change maker in transition of resistivity and transmitted optical power through the VO₂ films. Apart the substrates mentioned, …

Universal Short-Circuit And Open-Circuit Fault Detection For An Inverter, Buck Brown

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Short-circuit and open-circuit faults of an inverter’s power device often lead to catastrophic failure of the entire system if not detected and acted upon within a few microseconds, particularly for emerging wide bandgap (WGB) power semiconductors. While a significant amount of research has been done on the fast and accurate protection and detection of short-circuit faults, there has been less success corresponding to the research on open-circuit faults. Common downfalls include protection and detection that are too application-specific, take longer than a couple of microseconds, and are not cost-efficient. This study proposes a new open-circuit fault protection and detection system …

Photovoltaics, Batteries, And Silicon Carbide Power Electronics Based Infrastructure For Sustainable Power Networks, Prahaladh Paniyil

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The consequences of climate change have emphasized the need for a power network that is centered around clean, green, and renewable sources of energy. Currently, Photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines are the only two modes of technology that can convert renewable energy of the sun and wind respectively into large-scale power for the electricity network. This dissertation aims at providing a novel solution to implement these sources of power (majorly PV) coupled with Lithium-ion battery storage in an efficient and sustainable approach. Such a power network can enable efficiency, reliability, low-cost, and sustainability with minimum impact to the environment.

The …

Design And Implementation Of High-Efficiency, Lightweight, System-Friendly Solid-State Circuit Breaker, Dehao Qin

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Direct current (DC) distribution system has shown potential over the alternative current (AC) distribution system in some application scenarios, e.g., electrified transportation, renewable energy, data center, etc. Because of the fast response speed, DC solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) becomes a promising technology for the future power electronics intensive DC energy system with fault-tolerant capability. First, a thorough literature survey is performed to review the DC-SSCB technology. The key components for DC-SSCB, including power semiconductors, topologies, energy absorption units, and fault detection circuits, are studied. It is observed that the prior studies mainly focus on the basic interruption capability of the …

Assessing Hardware Security Threats Posed By Hardware Trojans In Power Electronics, Quinn Kinzie

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This study investigates the threat of hardware Trojans (HTs) in power electronics applications, a rising concern due to the growing demand for cost-effective embedded solutions in power systems. With the supply chain for electronic hardware devices expanding globally, particularly to low-cost foundries in foreign locations, there is an increasing risk of HT attacks. While there has been extensive research on HTs in computer applications, little consideration has been given to their threat in power electronics. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a power electronics HT by implementing a novel HT design into a gate drive circuit. Additionally, the research proposes …

Permanently-Installed Distributed Pressure Sensors For Downhole Applications, Xuran Zhu

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Technology advancements (e.g., hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling) to recover unconventional oil and gas (UOG) resources are critical in maintaining future U.S. oil and gas production levels. Permanently installed distributed downhole pressure sensors could monitor fracture propagation, assess the effectiveness of hydraulic fracturing, and optimize hydraulic fracturing placement so that overall UOG recovery efficiency can be increased. However, the harsh environment (high temperatures, high pressures, strong vibration, and presence of brine, mud, debris, hydrate, and various gases), the long data telemetry distance, and the requirements of reliability and service lifetime make the downhole monitoring a very challenging task. To combat …

Multi-Criteria Performance Evaluation And Control In Power And Energy Systems, Payam Ramezani Badr

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The role of intuition and human preferences are often overlooked in autonomous control of power and energy systems. However, the growing operational diversity of many systems such as microgrids, electric/hybrid-electric vehicles and maritime vessels has created a need for more flexible control and optimization methods. In order to develop such flexible control methods, the role of human decision makers and their desired performance metrics must be studied in power and energy systems. This dissertation investigates the concept of multi-criteria decision making as a gateway to integrate human decision makers and their opinions into complex mathematical control laws. There are two …

Embedding A Grid Of Load Cells Into A Dining Table For Automatic Monitoring And Detection Of Eating Events, Mohammad Mayyan

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This dissertation describes a “smart dining table” that can detect and measure consumption events. This work is motivated by the growing problem of obesity, which is a global problem and an epidemic in the United States and Europe. Chapter 1 gives a background on the economic burden of obesity and its comorbidities. For the assessment of obesity, we briefly describe the classic dietary assessment tools and discuss their drawback and the necessity of using more objective, accurate, low-cost, and in-situ automatic dietary assessment tools. We explain in short various technologies used for automatic dietary assessment such as acoustic-, motion-, or …

Sub-Bandgap Photon-Assisted Electron Trapping And Detrapping In Algan/Gan Heterostructure Field-Effect Transistors, Andrew Gunn

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We have investigated photon-assisted trapping and detrapping of electrons injected from the gate under negative bias in a heterostructure field-effect transistor (HFET). The electron injection rate from the gate was found to be dramatically affected by sub-bandgap laser illumination. The trapped electrons reduced the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density at the AlGaN/GaN heterointerface but could also be emitted from their trap states by sub-bandgap photons, leading to a recovery of 2DEG density. The trapping and detrapping dynamics were found to be strongly dependent on the wavelength and focal position of the laser, as well as the gate bias stress time …

Hybrid Smart Transformer For Enhanced Power System Protection Against Dc With Advanced Grid Support, Moazzam Nazir

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The traditional grid is rapidly transforming into smart substations and grid assets incorporating advanced control equipment with enhanced functionalities and rapid self-healing features. The most important and strategic equipment in the substation is the transformer and is expected to perform a variety of functions beyond mere voltage conversion and isolation. While the concept of smart solid-state transformers (SSTs) is being widely recognized, their respective lifetime and reliability raise concerns, thus hampering the complete replacement of traditional transformers with SSTs. Under this scenario, introducing smart features in conventional transformers utilizing simple, cost-effective, and easy to install modules is a highly desired …

An Evaluation Of Wi-Fi 802.11b Backscatter, Anthony Chen

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Internet of Things (IoT) devices are in need of low-power communications systems with longevity and reliability. With the use of backscatter technology, IoT devices can communicate at the cost of almost no power and can last for up to a decade. Furthermore, backscatter technology is compatible with everyday wireless signals such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, allowing for easy communication without specific hardware constraints. This thesis aims to evaluate a Wi-Fi backscatter system and analyze its ease in triggering off of such ambient signals and sources. The system will utilize Wi-Fi 802.11b as a backscatter source to trigger the backscatter system …

Miniaturized Battery Powered Air Quality Monitoring System, Bryan Chacon

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In this work, an air quality monitoring system was developed using various sensors that measure specific air quality parameters, including Volatile Organic Compounds, Carbon Dioxide, particulate matter of varying sizes, ambient pressure, humidity, and temperature. This system is based off a Particle micro-controller, Boron LTE CAT-M1 which allows for cellular connectivity for real-time data transmission. It is powered by a 3.7 Volt Li-Po battery and has a miniaturized design which allows for portability. This data is processed through an Internet of Things software provider that allows for the device to be connected and accessed to and from anywhere in the …