Other Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

A Novel Time-Domain Method Of Fault Diagnosis In Induction Motors, Bryan J. Davis

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper introduces a novel time-domain method for detecting the four major types of induction motor faults without requiring complex signal processing or additional sensors other than those already in place for closed-loop motor control. This method artificially modulates the motor current feedback signal with a perturbed frequency that oscillates about the characteristic frequency of the fault in question. After filtering out the unwanted frequency components that result from the modulation, the selected fault-indicative component is a very slow sinusoid that is only present when the fault is present. The method looks for this fault-indicative component by monitoring the time …

Centralized Control For Dc Microgrid Using Finite State Machine, Mahmoud Saleh, Yusef Esa, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

In this paper, an autonomous communication-based centralized control for DC microgrids (MG) has been developed and implemented. The proposed controller enables smooth transition between various operating modes. Finite state machine (FSM) has been used to mathematically describe the various operating modes (states), and events that may lead to mode changes (transitions). Therefore, the developed centralized controller aims at optimizing the performance of MG during all possible operational scenarios, while maintaining its reliability and stability. Results of selected cases have been presented. These results show stable transition between modes, verifying the validity and applicability of the proposed controller.

Data-Centric Situational Awareness And Management In Intelligent Power Systems, Xiaoxiao Dai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rapid development of technology and society has made the current power system a much more complicated system than ever. The request for big data based situation awareness and management becomes urgent today. In this dissertation, to respond to the grand challenge, two data-centric power system situation awareness and management approaches are proposed to address the security problems in the transmission/distribution grids and social benefits augmentation problem at the distribution-customer lever, respectively.

To address the security problem in the transmission/distribution grids utilizing big data, the first approach provides a fault analysis solution based on characterization and analytics of the synchrophasor …

Photovoltaic Cooking In The Developing World, Tyler Watkins, Christopher O'Day, Omar Arriaga

Mechanical Engineering

The challenge of clean cooking is faced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. We present a cooking technology consisting of a solar panel directly connected to an electric heater in a well-insulated chamber. Assuming continued decrease in solar panel prices, we anticipate that in a few decades Solar Electric Cooking technologies will be the most common cooking technology for the poor. Appropriate use of insulation reduces the power demand making low-power Insulated Solar Electric Cooking systems already cost competitive.

Impact Of Clustering Microgrids On Their Stability And Resilience During Blackouts, Mahmoud S. Saleh, Ammar Althaibani, Yusef Esa, Yassine Mhandi, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

In this paper, the impact of clustering multiple microgrids during blackouts, on their stability and supply availability, will be investigated. Microgrids have the capability of satisfying their emergency loads during blackouts. However, distributed energy resources (DERs)-dominated microgrids are affected by the uncertainty of their input energy supply, e.g. impact of solar irradiance on photovoltaic (PV) output. Moreover, an individual islanded microgrid is prone to instability issues due to large sudden load/generation changes. In order to increase the supply security, and enhance system stability, we propose to use the existing distribution grid infrastructure, if applicable, during blackouts to form microgrid clusters. …

Power System Simulation Using An Adaptive Modeling Framework, Matthew Stajcar

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Power system operation has changed significantly in the last several decades. Factors such as renewable energy integration and deregulation are major contributors to this change. In response, today’s power grid requires supplemental simulation techniques to ensure stable and reliable operation. One supplemental simulation technique includes a simulation tool that encompasses system dynamics of multiple time frames. This thesis proposes initial research of a power system simulation tool, Adaptive Modeling Framework (AMF), capable of modeling multiple dynamic characteristics including slow dynamics, such as transient stability, as well as long term dynamics (LTD), such as frequency regulation or voltage stability. Each power …

Offshore Electrical Networks And Grid Integration Of Wave Energy Converter Arrays - Techno-Economic Optimisation Of Array Electrical Networks, Power Quality Assessment, And Irish Market Perspectives, Fergus Sharkey

Doctoral

Wave energy is an emerging industry and faces many challenges before commercial wave energy converter (WEC) arrays are installed. One of these challenges is the grid integration of WEC arrays. This includes offshore electrical networks, grid compliance, and access to electrical markets. This must be achieved in a technically viable manner and also at an acceptable cost. As electrical networks are expected to make up a large proportion of the overall WEC array CAPEX, perhaps up to 25%, this area is critical to the long term competitiveness of wave energy.

The objectives of this thesis are to develop technically and …

A Clustering Approach To Domestic Electricity Load Profile Characterisation Using Smart Metering Data, Fintan Mcloughlin, Aidan Duffy, Michael Conlon

Articles

The availability of increasing amounts of data to electricity utilities through the implementation of domestic smart metering campaigns has meant that traditional ways of analysing meter reading information such as descriptive statistics has become increasingly difficult. Key characteristic information to the data is often lost, particularly when averaging or aggregation processes are applied. Therefore, other methods of analysing data need to be used so that this information is not lost. One such method which lends itself to analysing large amounts of information is data mining. This allows for the data to be segmented before such aggregation processes are applied. Moreover, …

Boost Battery, Samuel Rauch, Alvin Ng, Lacy Sigman

Electrical Engineering

In modern times, the problem of a depleted battery confronts us too often. Whether it appears with a smartphone or with any other electronic device, the situation frustrates all consumers. This project designs and constructs a compact portable battery charger that charges through kinetic energy. Thus, one can perform everyday activities, such as walking or running, and charge up a backup battery with no extra effort or time. Additionally, an attachable band harvests thermal energy to maximize the amount of clean power generated. Energy harvesting from kinetic motion and thermal differences provide users with power when no actual power suppliers …

Microprocessor Management Of Energy Harvesting Buck Boost Converters, Timothy O'Sullivan

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Piezoelectric Powered Led Street Reflector, Collin Shane Douglass

Electrical Engineering

In many areas of Washington, it rains for a majority of the year. During rainy weather it becomes difficult to see street lanes and dividers, causing hazardous road conditions. The Piezoelectric Powered LED Street Reflector solves this problem. The PPL Street Reflector modifies a street reflector with LED lights. These lights help drivers clearly see where dividers and street lines are in non-ideal weather conditions, such as rain, fog, and snow. The PPL Street Reflector capabilities include harvesting energy through the Piezoelectric Effect, creating a self-sustaining device with minimal maintenance.

Solar Data Analysis, Mike C. T. Ray

Dissertations and Theses

The solar industry has grown considerably in the last few years. This larger scale has introduced more problems as well as possibilities. One of those possibilities is analyzing the data coming from the sites that are now being monitored, and using the information to answer a variety of questions.

We have four questions which are of prime importance identified in this thesis:

1. Can data from customers be trusted?

2. Can we use data from existing sites to determine which sites need the most improvement?

3. Can we implement a location-based algorithm to reduce the amount of false positives for …

Energy Dashboard Tool For Cal Poly Dormitories, Katie Zombro

Electrical Engineering

This project defines the needs, uses, and future projects (as well as business cases and procurement) of a University Housing dashboard tool, utilized by the Red Brick Dormitories on the Cal Poly campus. This easily accessed tool provides simple information regarding energy trending data, allowing for all student residents no matter their academic discipline, to understand their energy trends and opportunities for reduction. With the Energy Dashboard in place, Cal Poly’s red brick dormitories experienced savings ranging from 10%-20% from the 2011-2012 school year baseline, by the end of the 2012-2013 academic year. With the help of the Dashboard, competitions …

Development And Prototyping Of A Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter For 3-Phase 480 Volt Systems, Matthew R. Norlander

Master's Theses

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) technology was first introduced in the NEC in 1971, yet four decades later the technology has not been introduced to a great extent outside of the home environment. This thesis introduces the difficulties encountered in low-voltage three phase ground fault current detection, and adopts a previously patented tripping scheme to develop and prototype a digital relay for 3-phase 480 volt systems capable of the sensitivity and speed required for personnel safety. Results demonstrate the feasibility of the concept and suggest commercial development should be pursued. The prototype is capable of mA sensitivity and reliably detects …

Development Of Wind Tunnel For Laboratory Wind Turbine Testing, Danny Alexander Zepeda

Electrical Engineering

A wind tunnel with a 0.5 HP motor was purchased by Cal Poly Electrical Engineering Department from Hampden for $16,000. It can only simulate winds of up to 10 MPH. The tunnel has a manual dial that controls the wind speed. It also measures the voltage and current output with an analog measure display. This wind tunnel was expensive and unfortunately cannot achieve very high wind speeds. For this reason, a similar wind tunnel with more potential and with a smaller budget was proposed to be built for use in the Sustainable Energy Lab. The new wind tunnel that was …

Bridgeless Active Power Factor Correction Using A Current Fed Push Pull Converter, Jeramie Seth Bianchi

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Bridgeless Active Power Factor Correction

Using a Current Fed Push Pull Converter

Jeramie Seth Bianchi

Switched Mode Power Supplies have become increasingly popular for efficient methods of delivering power to an assortment of electronic devices. This thesis proposes a method of using a current fed push pull converter to provide active power factor correction and rectification in a single stage. While most AC-DC converters utilize a bridge rectifier to convert AC-DC and then perform DC-DC conversion, the proposed circuit will utilize its output diodes to perform rectification, thus eliminating the need for a bridge rectifier. This circuit will also …

Wireless Sensor Network For Energy And Environmental Monitoring: Helping Old Buildings Go Green, Jacob Power

Electrical Engineering

Today, the rising cost of energy and social trend of “going green” has put increasing pressure on commercial property owners to improve the efficiency of their investments.  There is good reason for this, too.  In the State of California, office buildings represent the single largest user of energy in the commercial sector.  This project consisted of the design, implementation, construction, testing, and deployment of a wireless sensor network for energy and environmental monitoring in retrofit commercial office installations.  The analyzed data generated by this system can be used by building management and owners to identify areas of inefficiency within the …

Increasing Efficiency In Boundary Security With Wireless Sensor Networks And Geospatial Information Systems Using Homology Theory, Luis Berumen^, Eric Chaidez^, Hamide Dogan*, Jose Gerardo Rosiles**

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

As part of an institutional investigation, we attempt to address the challenges the US customs and Border protection agency faces in the El Paso region. Our research focuses on defining a system for the surveillance application, and the use of mathematical models employed to achieve a greater efficiency of such architecture. With the use of the defined system, we apply homology theory through the algebraic process of topology, to accomplish an independent coordinate-free based system, which covers the surveillance area, with lesser quantity of sensor nodes. Our architecture makes the use of an operating system for wireless sensor networks; TinyOS, …

Fabrication Of Silicon Photovoltaic Micro-Particles For Low-Cost Solar Energy Generation, Siddhartha Kala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relatively high cost of the high quality semiconductor materials (typically silicon) and complex conventional techniques for the fabrication of solar cells result in the overall high cost of the commercially available solar cells. Although, research in the field of solar technologies has been going on for a long time, but, utilization of solar energy still remains limited to a very few applications, owing to the high manufacturing costs and lower efficiency. In this work we present a new solar technology based on silicon photovoltaic micro-particles and demonstrate a fabrication technique for such particles. The photovoltaic micro-particles can be manufactured …

Time-Resolved Photoluminescence Of Quaternary Alingan-Based Multiple Quantum Wells, Mee-Yi Ryu, C. Q. Chen, E. Kuokstis, J. W. Yang, Grigory Simin, M. Asif Khan, G. G. Sim, P. W. Yu

Faculty Publications

Time-resolvedphotoluminescence(PL)dynamics has been studied in AlInGaN/AlInGaN multiple quantum wells(MQWs) grown by a pulsed metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (PMOCVD) procedure. The PL decay kinetics was found to be sensitive to the emission energy and temperature. The PL decay time increases with decreasing emission energy, which is a characteristic of localized carrier/exciton recombination due to alloy fluctuations. Its temperature dependence shows radiative recombination to be the dominant process at low temperatures, indicating a high quality of PMOCVD grown quaternary AlInGaN MQWs and establishing them as promising structures for the active region of deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes.

Pulsed Atomic Layer Epitaxy Of Quaternary Alingan Layers, J. Zhang, E. Kuokstis, Q. Fareed, H. Wang, J. Yang, Grigory Simin, M. Asif Khan, R. Gaska, M. Shur

Faculty Publications

In this letter, we report on a material deposition scheme for quaternary Al_xIn_yGa_1−x–yN layers using a pulsed atomic layer epitaxy (PALE) technique. The PALE approach allows accurate control of the quaternary layer composition and thickness by simply changing the number of aluminum,indium, and gallium pulses in a unit cell and the number of unit cell repeats. Using PALE, AlInGaN layers with Al mole fractions in excess of 40% and strong room-temperature photoluminescence peaks at 280 nm can easily be grown even at temperatures lower than 800 °C.

Fuel Cells, Frederick J. Munster Jr.

Maine Collection

Fuel Cells

by Frederick J. Munster Jr.

Edited by: Mr. Christopher Carroll

Maine Department of Economic Development, Augusta, Maine, 1998.

Contents: Hydrogen / Hydrogen Safety / Electrolysis / Electrolyzers / History of Fuel Cells / How Fuel Cells Operate / Fuel Cell Types / Fuel Cell Electrochemistry / Power Systems / Fuel Cells in Transportation / Hydrogen Powered Internal Combustion Engines / Home, Garden, Education and Industry / For More Information / Glossary / References