Power and Energy Commons^™

The Impact Of Power Curve Estimation On Commercial Wind Power Forecasts - An Empirical Analysis, Gianni Goretti, Aidan Duffy, Tek Tjing Lie

Conference papers

An increasing number of utilities participating in the energy market require short term (i.e. up to 48 hours) power forecasts for renewable generation in order to optimize technical and financial performances. As a result, a large number of forecast providers now operate in the marketplace, each using different methods and offering a wide range of services. This paper assesses five different day-ahead wind power forecasts generated by various service providers currently operating in the market, and compares their performance against the state-of-the-art of short-term wind power forecasting. The work focuses on how power curve estimations can introduce systematic errors that …

Energy From Chemical Reactions: Understanding The Combustion Engine, Tammy Guthrie, Kathy Prophet, Greg Herzig, Cassie Kautzer

Middle School Lesson Plans

Automobiles produce a large amount of heat generated by the burning of gasoline. Burning gasoline is a chemical reaction that causes a phase change. This is called combustible energy. During combustion fuel combines with oxygen to release energy (such as heat, light, sound) along with another product that is often considered waste. Most of the energy produced is not used to power the automobile, but is released as heat. 19.3 pounds of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is produced from the combustion of 1 gallon of U.S. gasoline according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Solvent Degradation And Emissions From A 0.7mwe Pilot Co2 Capture System With Two-Stage Stripping, Jesse Thompson, Heather Nikolic, Megan Combs, Saloni Bhatnagar, Jonathan Pelgen, Keemia Abad, Kunlei Liu

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty and Staff Publications

The UKy-CAER team successfully tested an advanced 0.7 MWe post-combustion CO₂ capture system on a coal-fired power plant using a heat integration process combined with two-stage stripping to enhance the CO₂ absorber performance. One of the unique feature of the UKy-CAER integrated process is a two-stage stripping unit for solvent regeneration. The secondary stripper is empowered by the heat rejection from a conventional steam-heated (primary) stripper. The secondary stripper outlet stream at the commercial scale can be used as boiler secondary combustion air, consequently enriching the flue gas with CO₂, resulting in less energy penalty required …

Kinetic Energy Investigation, Mike Jackson

High School Lesson Plans

Students will build a mouse trap powered car that converts elastic potential energy contained in the trap’s spring to linear kinetic energy of the car. The release of this energy results in a net force which leads to linear acceleration. This acceleration can be measured with Vernier Logger Pro®, and using Newton’s Second Law of Motion, the net force can be calculated. Finally, using the concept of work, the final kinetic energy of the car can be calculated. Once students become familiar with the calculation of work and energy, the teacher will challenge the students to modify their cars to …

Design And Manufacture Of A Waste Compactor Prototype: A Step Towards Implementing A Non-Burn Health Care Waste Disposal In Developing Countries, Tito Mwinuka

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Non-burn technology is the only safe way of handling and disposing infectious healthcare waste. It involves steam treatment of infectious waste at temperatures higher than 121 o C for a minimum of 30 minutes before disposing them just like other municipal waste. Infectious healthcare waste is normally only about 10 25% of all healthcare waste. In this paper, design, manufacturing and testing of a waste compactor for reducing waste volume to facilitate its handling is discussed. Preliminary tests show that the waste volume can be reduced to less than 10% of its original volume using the developed compactor. Waste compactors …

Mini High Temperature Test Unit Final Design Report, Kevin Liu, Juan P. Castillo

Mechanical Engineering

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has invested considerable effort to develop new standard for nuclear grade HEPA filters that can withstand high temperatures along with methods to optimally test not only the experimental filter media, but also new frame seals and media binders. Therefore, LLNL in collaboration with Cal Poly has designed and built a Mini High Temperature Testing Unit (MHTTU) to recreate conditions observed during a fire and to test different materials in an effective, inexpensive, regulated and reliable method. The existing prototype was unable to achieve the ideal testing conditions of 1000°F air at the low flow rates of …

Marine Gastrobot Final Design Report, Wesley B. Williams, Eric Kane Dreischerf, Tommy Nicholas Yath

Mechanical Engineering

The Marine Gastrobot sponsored by Dr. Christopher Kitts of the Cal Poly Center for Applications in Biotechnology was a research and development effort intended to explore the use of microbial fuel cell technology as a power source for underwater robots. Our team Ocean Locomotion succeeded in developing a first iteration of an underwater robotic platform suitable for microbial fuel cell integration. The primary feature of the design is its sinusoidal fin propulsion intended for benthic exploration with limited risk of entanglement. During the course of development, Ocean Locomotion explored the use of low power actuation methods and determined their limited …

Are Solar Panels A Viable Power Source For A Green Energy Vehicle?, Mason C. Adams

Senior Theses

A solar cell powered go-kart has been built and tested. The result shows using solar energy alone cannot meet the requirement of running a regular passenger car. This is due to the limited surface area of the passenger car. This thesis also discusses the operating principles of solar panels, the physics of P type and N type semiconductors, and the formation of the PN junction, as well as the solar current. Modifications of an existing go-kart are described in detail in this thesis. Suggestions for making green vehicles are discussed as well.

System-Layout-Dependent Thermally Induced Solder Stress & Reliability Implications, Ange C. Iradukunda

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Electronic flip chip assemblies consist of dissimilar component materials, which exhibit different CTE. Under thermal cyclic operating conditions, this CTE mismatch produces interfacial and interconnect stresses, which are highly dependent on system layout. In this paper, sensitivity analyses are performed using ANSYS FEA to establish how the proximity and arrangement of neighboring devices affect interconnect stress. Flip chip alignment modes ranging from edge-to-edge to corner-to-corner are studied. Results of these FEA studies, demonstrated that closely packing devices together has the effect of making them act as one. This results in a significant increase in the thermomechanical stresses induced on peripheral …

Solar Irradiance Forecasting And Implications For Domestic Electric Water Heating, Christopher Nutter

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

As the effects of burning fossil fuels continues to present its prevalence, the interests in alternative forms of energy is expanding. Within the home, the domestic electrical water heater accounts for approximately 17% of its energy consumption. Reducing the amount of energy required to produce hot water from this thermal system alone can have a significant effect on reducing its carbon footprint. In this presented work, a modeled domestic electrical water heater was supplied photovoltaic and on-grid electrical power to increase its energy efficiency. As photovoltaic (PV) energy is directly related to solar irradiation, it is important to receive accurate …

Design Of Electrical Layout Of Offshore Wind Farms, Shirshak K. Dhali, Mahidhar Nandigam

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The cost and efficiency of offshore wind farms are determined by a variety of factors which include the type of electrical system (AC or DC), transmission length, transmission voltage, rated power, wind turbine type, farm topology, and wind speed. Since the design variable space is large for such problems, computational optimization is necessary to find an optimal solution. This paper discusses a design methodology to determine the optimal values of components to minimize the cost of an offshore wind farm. The cost, loss, reliability models, and the application of geometric programing for optimization of the layout and configuration of an …

Model-Based Control Of Hybrid Electric Powertrains Integrated With Low Temperature Combustion Engines, Ali Soloukmofrad

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Powertrain electrification including hybridizing advanced combustion engines is a viable cost-effective solution to improve fuel economy of vehicles. This will provide opportunity for narrow-range high-efficiency combustion regimes to be able to operate and consequently improve vehicle’s fuel conversion efficiency, compared to conventional hybrid electric vehicles (HEV)s. Low temperature combustion (LTC) engines offer the highest peak brake thermal efficiency reported in literature, but these engines have narrow operating range. In addition, LTC engines have ultra-low soot and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions, compared to conventional compression ignition and spark ignition (SI) engines. This dissertation concentrates on integrating the LTC engines (i) in …

Selective Resistive Sintering: A Novel Additive Manufacturing Process, Austin Bryan Van Horn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is one of the most popular 3D printing methods that uses a laser to pattern energy and selectively sinter powder particles to build 3D geometries. However, this printing method is plagued by slow printing speeds, high power consumption, difficulty to scale, and high overhead expense. In this research, a new 3D printing method is proposed to overcome these limitations of SLS. Instead of using a laser to pattern energy, this new method, termed selective resistive sintering (SRS), uses an array of microheaters to pattern heat for selectively sintering materials. Using microheaters offers significant power savings, significantly …

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.

Development, Characterization, & Implementation Of Phase-Change Material Cold Plates For Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Battery Systems, Kevin Cwiok

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Due to the regulations on internal combustion engine vehicles, there is a large demand of hybrid and electric vehicles with large battery packs as Energy Storage Systems (ESS) capable of long ranges and decreased emissions. These battery packs output large heat loads during charge-depletion mode and currently require active cooling to keep the batteries within operating conditions. The current systems relied onto achieve this are the air and liquid cooled thermal managements systems. A recent alternative approach to current cooling for ESS thermal management is the use of phase-change materials (PCMs). PCMs regulate the temperature of the ESS by leveraging …

Wake Character In The Wind Turbine Array: (Dis-)Organization, Spatial And Dynamic Evolution And Low-Dimensional Modeling, Nicholas Michael Hamilton

Dissertations and Theses

To maximize the effectiveness of the rapidly increasing capacity of installed wind energy resources, new models must be developed that are capable of more nuanced control of each wind turbine so that each device is more responsive to inflow events. Models used to plan wind turbine arrays and control behavior of devices within the farm currently make questionable estimates of the incoming atmospheric flow and update turbine configurations infrequently. As a result, wind turbines often operate at diminished capacities, especially in arrays where wind turbine wakes interact and inflow conditions are far from ideal. New turbine control and wake prediction …

Go With The Flow –Thermoelectric Energy, Shawn Bell

Middle School Lesson Plans

In this unit, students will learn how thermal energy be transferred and transformed. They will carry out investigations to gather evidence to support an explanation about direct conversion of heat into electrical energy. They will develop a model that shows the components of the system and changes in the system being investigated, and they will use evidence from the investigation to construct an explanation for how the energy flows.

Mixed Mesh/Nodal Magnetic Equivalent Circuit Modeling Of A Six-Phase Claw-Pole Automotive Alternator, Daniel C. Horvath

Open Access Theses

Magnetic equivalent circuits (MECs) have been employed by many researchers to model the relationship between magnetic flux and current in electromagnetic systems such as electric machines, transformers and inductors [1] ,[2]. Magnetic circuits are analogous to electric circuits where voltage, current, resistance and conductance are the respective counterparts of magneto-motive force (MMF), magnetic flux, reluctance and permeance. The solution of MECs can be accomplished with the plethora of techniques developed for electrical circuit analysis. Specifically, mesh analysis, based on Kirchoff’s Voltage Law (KVL), and nodal analysis, based on Kirchoffs Current Law (KCL), are two very common solution techniques. Once an …

Capacity Optimization Of Battery-Generator Hybrid Power System: Toward Minimizing Maintenance Cost In Expeditionary Basecamp/Operational Energy Applications, Jude C. Onwuanumkpe

Open Access Theses

Low and transient load condition are known to have deleterious impact on the efficiency and health of diesel generators (DGs). Extensive operation under such loads reduces fuel consumption and energy conversion efficiency, and contribute to diesel engine degradation, damage, or catastrophic failure. Non-ideal loads are prevalent in expeditionary base camps that support contingency operations in austere environments or remote locations where grid electricity is either non-existent or inaccessible. The impact of such loads on DGs exacerbates already overburdened basecamp energy logistics requirements. There is a need, therefore, to eliminate or prevent the occurrence of non-ideal loads. Although advances in diesel …

Thin Film Studies Toward Improving The Performance Of Accelerator Electron Sources, Md Abdullah Al Mamun

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Future electron accelerators require DC high voltage photoguns to operate beyond the present state of the art to conduct new experiments that require ultra-bright electron beams with high average current and higher bunch charge. To meet these demands, the accelerators must demonstrate improvements in a number of photogun areas including vacuum, field emission elimination in high voltage electrodes, and photocathodes. This dissertation illustrates how these improvements can be achieved by the application of suitable thin-films to the photogun structure for producing ultra-bright electron beams.

This work is composed of three complementary studies. First, the outgassing rates of three nominally identical …

Predictive Control Of Power Grid-Connected Energy Systems Based On Energy And Exergy Metrics, Meysam Razmara

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Building and transportation sectors account for 41% and 27% of total energy consumption in the US, respectively. Designing smart controllers for Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems and Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) can play a key role in reducing energy consumption. Exergy or availability is based on the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics and is a more precise metric to evaluate energy systems including HVAC and ICE systems. This dissertation centers on development of exergy models and design of model-based controllers based on exergy and energy metrics for grid-connected energy systems including HVAC and ICEs.

In this PhD dissertation, …

Hybrid Diesel-Electric Drivetrain For Small Agricultural Field Machines, Joseph Jackson, Joseph S. Dvorak

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

In this project, a series electric drivetrain sized for small agricultural machinery was developed and tested. Electric drives have noted benefits in simplicity, controllability, integration with other electronics such as those that provide autonomous action, and in efficiency over a wide operating range. Their biggest drawback for agricultural use is the limited capacity of electrical energy storage. A series hybrid drivetrain provides a method to overcome these capacity constraints through the use of chemical energy storage. The series hybrid drivetrain in this research was designed using well-established components. It consisted of a diesel-electric generator, a lead acid battery pack, a …

Electromechanics Of An Ocean Current Turbine, Vasileios Tzelepis

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The development of a numeric simulation for predicting the performance of an Ocean Current Energy Conversion System is presented in this thesis along with a control system development using a PID controller for the achievement of specified rotational velocity set-points. In the beginning, this numeric model is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink® and it is used to predict the performance of a three phase squirrel single-cage type induction motor/generator in two different cases. The first case is a small 3 meter rotor diameter, 20 kW ocean current turbine with fixed pitch blades, and the second case a 20 …

Industrial Energy Consumption, Benchmarking, And Analysis In The United States, Daniel Maldonado

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the energy consumption of the industrial sector in the United States, and to identify the tools that can be used to minimize the consumption and improve the energy efficiency of all facilities in the country. The first part of the paper is a historical analysis of the industrial sector energy consumption, where the different energy sources are identified. The second part details different electronic tools that will provide facilities the ability of performing benchmarking, in order to understand their energy performance. Finally, the third part of this paper provides information about the …

Modeling And Test Of The Efficiency Of Electronic Speed Controllers For Brushless Dc Motors, Clayton R. Green

Master's Theses

Small electric uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAV) represent a rapidly expanding market requiring optimization in both efficiency and weight; efficiency is critical during cruise or loiter where the vehicle operates at part power for up to 99% of the mission time. Of the four components (battery, motor, propeller, and electronic speed controller (ESC)) of the electric propulsion system used in small UAVs, the ESC has no accepted performance model and almost no published performance data. To collect performance data, instrumentation was developed to measure electrical power in and out of the ESC using the two wattmeter method and current sense resistors; …

The Future Of Rural Communities, Alondra B. Perez, Yanliang Zhang (Mentor)

Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research

There is a problem in how modern energy is being distributed throughout the world; less than a quarter of the population have access to energy. Limited energy access is seen in rural areas because of the costs that comes from transporting material and making modern energy resources (solar panels, wind turbines, etc..). Through research on thermoelectric devices, there have been many theories tested in order to improve energy efficiency focusing on easy maneuverable resources. At Boise State’s Advanced Energy Lab, thermoelectric generators are being created and modified which can be used to help communities from rural areas power utilities needed …

Veloelectric: Creating A Device That Harvests Energy From Bicycles, Austin Hall, Daniel Stohr, Tj Fox

Mechanical Engineering

Long distance mountain bikers, bike-packers, and many bikers in developing countries rely on electrical devices for safety and communication. These specific groups of people operate in areas with little to no electricity, and often times have no power to sustain their devices. The purpose of this Cal Poly senior project, VeloElectric, was to design, build, and test a kinetic energy harvester for bicycles that can be used to charge common mobile devices via USB. This senior project team created a device that attaches directly to a bicycle and uses vibrations to generate energy, which in turn powers a variety of …

Experimental Verification And Integration Of A Next Generation Smart Power Management System, Tavis Clemmer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the increase in energy demand by the residential community in this country and the diminishing fossil fuel resources being used for electric energy production there is a need for a system to efficiently manage power within a residence. The Smart Green Power Node (SGPN) is a next generation energy management system that automates on-site energy production, storage, consumption, and grid usage to yield the most savings for both the utility and the consumer. Such a system automatically manages on-site distributed generation sources such as a PhotoVoltaic (PV) input and battery storage to curtail grid energy usage when the price …

Vortex Identification In The Wake Of A Wind Turbine Array, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Aseyev

Dissertations and Theses

Vortex identification techniques are used to analyze the flow structure in a 4 x 3 array of scale model wind turbines. Q-criterion, Δ-criterion, and λ₂-criterion are applied to Particle Image Velocimetry data gathered fore and aft of the last row centerline turbine. Q-criterion and λ₂-criterion provide a clear indication of regions where vortical activity exists while the Δ-criterion does not. Galilean decomposition, Reynolds decomposition, vorticity, and swirling strength are used to further understand the location and behavior of the vortices. The techniques identify and display the high magnitude vortices in high shear zones resulting from the …

Global Time-Independent Agent-Based Simulation For Transactive Energy System Dispatch And Schedule Forecasting, Shawn Aaron Chandler

Dissertations and Theses

Electricity service providers (ESP) worldwide have increased their interest in the use of electrical distribution, transmission, generation, storage, and responsive load resources as integrated systems. Referred to commonly as "smart grid," their interest is driven by widespread goals to improve the operations, management and control of large-scale power systems. In this thesis I provide research into a novel agent-based simulation (ABS) approach for exploring smart grid system (SGS) dispatch, schedule forecasting and resource coordination. I model an electrical grid and its assets as an adaptive ABS, assigning an agent construct to every SGS resource including demand response, energy storage, and …