Power and Energy Commons^™

Understanding Vehicular Traffic Behavior From Video: A Survey Of Unsupervised Approaches, Brendan Tran Morris, Mohan Manubhai Trivedi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

Recent emerging trends for automatic behavior analysis and understanding from infrastructure video are reviewed. Research has shifted from high-resolution estimation of vehicle state and instead, pushed machine learning approaches to extract meaningful patterns in aggregates in an unsupervised fashion. These patterns represent priors on observable motion, which can be utilized to describe a scene, answer behavior questions such as where is a vehicle going, how many vehicles are performing the same action, and to detect an abnormal event. The review focuses on two main methods for scene description, trajectory clustering and topic modeling. Example applications that utilize the behavioral modeling …

Grid-Tie Arrangements For Micro-Generation Under En50438; An Irish Evaluation, Liam Murphy

Conference papers

This paper explores the significance of EN50438 as the standard governing the grid-connection of micro-generation to the distribution network. In the context of micro-generation, EN50438 therefore governs the inverter requirement associated with the majority of micro-generation. Another consideration presented in this research is findings and analysis related to the manufacturers stated efficiency of a grid-tied inverter connected to a Photovoltaic (PV) array in Dublin City Centre, Ireland.

Assessing The Benefits Of Compressed Air Energy Storage On The 2020 Irish Power System, Brendan Cleary, Aidan Duffy, Alan O'Connor, Michael Conlon, Vasilis Fthenakis

Conference Papers

Power systems have evolved as countries implement energy policies focusing on energy efficiency and increased share of renewable energy sources (RES). At the forefront is non-dispatchable generation such as wind and solar. Traditionally power systems were designed for fully dispatchable generating plant. However, these powers systems are under additional pressure due to the variable operational characteristics of RES. Consequently, capital investments in grid reinforcement, interconnection, additional gas generators and smart grid initiatives have been proposed and implemented. Moreover, an increased interest in energy storage technologies has evolved due to their various economic and operational benefits to power systems. Current compressed …

Solar Photovoltaic Water Pumping For Multiple Use Systems (Mus) In Nepal, Fintan Mcloughlin, Aidan Duffy, Michael Conlon

Conference Papers

This paper investigates the performance of five solar photovoltaic (PV) Multiple Use Systems (MUS) used for water pumping. The solar MUS’s provide water for drinking, cleaning and micro-irrigation for some of the poorest communities in Nepal. In the absence of data logging, the performance of each system is investigated based on a series of rules of thumb to determine the predicted, expected and estimated demand and supply of water to small rural communities. The systems are compared based on their technical and economic performance and how this relates to local environmental, physical and socioeconomic characteristics at each location.

Maximising Value Of Electrical Networks For Wave Energy Converter Arrays, Fergus Sharkey, Elva Bannon, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan

Articles

Currently there are the beginnings of a commercial wave energy industry and the ultimate ambition will be to deploy Wave Energy Converters (WECs) in arrays, or wave farms, in a similar fashion to offshore wind. These arrays will require electrical networks to collect and export the generated electrical power to shore and onto the electrical grid. For large scale wind farms the inter-array and export electrical networks can represent more than 20% of the project’s capital expenditure. Submarine power cables account for a large proportion of this cost. The same is expected to be the same for WEC arrays.

This …

Urban Deployment Of Small Wind Turbines: Power, Performance And Turbulence, Keith Sunderland, Thomas Woolmington, Michael Conlon, Jonathan Blackledge

Conference papers

The urban terrain and the associated topographical complexities therein, present significant challenges to the deployment of small wind turbines. In particular, a considerable amount of uncertainty is attributable to the lack of understanding concerning how turbulence within urban environments affects turbine productivity. This paper considers how the industry standard metric, turbulence intensity (TI), in conjunction with the power characteristic of a 2.5kW wind turbine, can be employed to estimate turbine power performance. The research presented here considers the potential productivity of a wind turbine installation at two sites in (urban and suburban) Dublin, Ireland where the prevalent turbulence at both …

Impacts On The Electrical System Economics From Critical Design Factors Of Wave Energy Converters And Arrays, Fergus Sharkey, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan

Conference papers

It is expected that ultimately, like offshore wind farms, electrical systems will make up to a quarter of the overall Capex of wave farms. This is a significant element of cost and consideration must be taken in the design of both individual wave energy converters (WECs) and arrays of WECs to ensure that these costs can be minimised. In a worst case scenario design decisions could increase the cost of the electrical system by several orders and ultimately make the technology uncompetitive.

This paper outlines the impacts on the cost of the electrical system arising from design factors of WECs …

The Domestic And Export Market For Large Scale Wave Energy In Ireland And The Economics Of Export Transmission, Fergus Sharkey, Kevin Honer, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan, Emma Robinson

Conference papers

Ireland is on track to meet its 2020 renewable energy targets with over 2 GW of onshore wind installed in the all island market as of 2013, and a multiple of this capacity in various stages of planning and development. It is currently unclear how much of this potential capacity will ultimately be installed but it has become clear that the wind industry in Ireland will change focus to export opportunities post 2020. This presents some interesting challenges for wave energy in Ireland.

There is some early activity in the installation of wave farms off the west coast of Ireland …

Electrosynthesis Of Glycerol Carbonate From Co2 And Glycerol, Huan Wang, Mei-Xia Zhu, La-Xia Wu, Xiao-Ming Xu, Xue-Ru Zhao, Jia-Xing Lu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Glycerol carbonate was obtained from glycerol and carbon dioxide under room temperature and normal pressure by electrochemical method. The effects of synthesis conditions, such as cathode, charge, current density and temperature, on the reaction of glycerol and carbon dioxide have been investigated. The yields of 73% were produced by electrosynthesis of carbonate under the optimized condition, which is much higher than that by common catalysis method. The electrochemical behavior of the reaction system has been studied by cyclic voltammetry, through which the reaction process has been proposed.

Influence Of Pretreatment On Electrocatalytic Property For Methanol Oxidation Of Ptru/Wc, Xiao-Ling Lang, Mei-Qin Shi, Ye-Kun Jiang, Chun-An Ma

Journal of Electrochemistry

The surface of tungsten carbide (WC) was treated by potassium hydroxide (KOH) at different pH values for different time. The PtRu/WC composite was prepared by microwave-assisted polyol method. The phase structure of PtRu/WC composites were characterized by XRD. The electrocatalytic activity was tested by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The results indicated that with different pH treatments WC became more readily supported on PtRu. When treating WC in KOH at pH = 14, PtRu exhibited the best degree of crystallinity on WC surface, leading to the highest electrocatalytic activity of PtRu/WC. Moreover, the optimized activity of PtRu/WC towards methanol oxidation was …

Synthesis And Electrochemical Properties Of Li(Ni0.5Co0.2Mn0.3)1-2xTiXNbXO2, Yong Tang, Qin-Lin Liao, Xiang-An Guo

Journal of Electrochemistry

The cathode-active materials of layered Li(Ni_0.5Co_0.2Mn_0.3)_1-2xTi_xNb_xO₂（x=0, 0.002, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02）composites were synthesized by the thermal treatment of the coprecipitated precursor at 900 ^oC in air. The effects of Ti-Nb co-dopants on the structural and electrochemical properties of Li(Ni_0.5Co_0.2Mn_0.3)O₂ were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical experiments. The results show that the small amounts of Ti-Nb co-dopants in Li(Ni_0.5Co_0.2Mn_0.3)O₂significantly decreased the degree of cation mixing in …

Effects Of Fluoroethylene Carbonate Additive On Low Temperature Performance Of Li-Ion Batteries, Feng-Ju Bian, Zhong-Ru Zhang, Yong Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The effects of fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) on the low temperature performance of lithium ion phosphate full battery are evaluated by different techniques. By addition of 5 wt% FEC into a commercial electrolyte, effective solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film can be formed on the graphite electrodes, the discharge capacity retention at -40 ^oC was increased from 31.7% to 43.7%, and the discharge voltage plateau of the cell is raised. This is attributed to a reduced charge transfer resistance and a lowered polarization on the graphite electrode by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and reference electrode test.

Research Progress Of Intermediate Layers In Ti-Based Oxide Anodes, Xiu-Li Song, Hui-Min Yang, Zhen-Hai Liang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Titanium (Ti)-based oxide anodes are excellent anode materials which have been applied widely in electrochemical fields all over the world. Adding intermediate layers in Ti-based oxide anodes can improve the conductivity, lengthen the lifetime and strengthen the stability between Ti base and metal oxides active layers of electrodes. This article reviews the research progress of intermediate layers in Ti-based oxide anodes. At the same time, current problems existed in the field of Ti-based oxide anodes are pointed out and future development trend in oxide electrode with intermediate layers is prospected.

Advanced Treatment Of Dyeing Wastewater For Reuse By Electrochemical Oxidation, Fei-Xiang Chen, Chu-Yin Yang, Ming-Ming Zhou, Jia-De Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

In response to the characteristics of dye wastewater, the electrochemical oxidation of effluents from the biochemical process of dyeing wastewater was studied in the electrochemical reactor using PbO₂/Ti electrode as the anode and stainless steel plate as the cathode. The results revealed that the electrochemical oxidation could simultaneously remove the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), ammonia and chromaticity. At the residence time of 60 min and current density of 10 mA·cm^-2, the COD, ammonia, chromaticity, concentration of chloride ion and pH values could meet the water standards for “the reuse of urban recycling water-water quality standard for …

Voltage Reversal Behavior In Microbial-Anode Fuel Cells, En-Ren Zhang, Jun-Le Niu, Lei Liu, Guo-Wang Diao

Journal of Electrochemistry

Voltage reversal behavior was investigated in microbial-anode fuel cells (MFCs). Electricity-producing biofilms were developed on the surface of anodes in MFCs inoculated with mixed inoculum from activated sludge. MFC duplicates generally exhibited different performances with respect to the internal resistance, the voltage output and the discharging duration when operating in batch mode. Voltage reversal was observed to occur first in the MFC with lower performance when connecting MFCs in series. Analysis of electrode potentials indicated that the potentials of microbial anodes quickly shifted to more positive values when enhancing discharge current, resulting in voltage reversal in MFCs. Increasing temperature would …

Using Hydrolyzed Sludge Liquor As The Substrate Of Microbial Fuel Cell, Peng Liang, Chao Guo, Xia Huang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Hydrolyzed sludge liquor was used as the substrate of microbial fuel cell. When the thermal treatment time increased from 2 h to 96 h, pH varied little between 7.4 and 8.0. When the treatment time increased, the conductivity, COD and alkaline condition increased to 2.53 mS·cm^-1, 2520 mg·L^-1 and 800 mg·L^-1, respectively. Meanwhile, the power density increased to 25 W·m^-3. The COD removal increased firstly, then decreased, and finally reached the maximum of 47% at the hydrolyzed time of 6 h. The maximal coulombic efficiency was 71% when the treatment time was 4 …

Graphene Quantum Dots Enhanced Electrochemical Performance Of Polypyrrole As Supercapacitor Electrode, Kun Wu, Si-Zhe Xu, Xue-Jiao Zhou, Hai-Xia Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

With an objective to develop electrode materials with high specific capacitance and good stability, a completely new nanocomposite of Polypyrrole (PPY) and graphene quantum dots (GQD) was successfully obtained through in-situ polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of GQD suspension. The obtained composites with different mass ratios were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). GQD enhanced electrochemical performance of PPY and, as supercapacitor electrodes, the PPY/GQD composites with the mass ratio of PPY to GQD at 50:1 showed a competitive specific capacitance of 485 F·g^-1 at a scan rate of …

Electrocatalytic Oxidation Degradation Kinetics Of Oxalic Acid In A Cylindrical Electrochemical Reactor With Ti/Iro2-Ta2O5 Anode, Jing Su, Hai-Bo Lin, Hong Xu, Wei-Min Huang, Ya-Peng He

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrocatalytic oxidation degradation kinetics of oxalic acid in a cylindrical electrochemical reactor with Ti/IrO₂-Ta₂O₅  as an anode was studied. The relation between instantaneous current efficiency and organic concentration in bulk was established based on the two paths for direct electrochemical oxidations, and the theoretical model was verified by experiments. The experimental resultswere reasonably consistent with the established kinetic model. Furthermore, the competition between the two paths was explored with the modelparameter analysis.

Performance Of The Electro-Oxidation And Electro-Fenton Processes With A Bdd Anode For The Treatment Of Low Contents Of Pharmaceuticals In A Real Water Matrix, Sirs Ignasi, Antonio Garrido Jos, Brillas Enric

Journal of Electrochemistry

Here, we report the performance of electro-oxidation and electro-Fenton with a boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode for the treatment of single and multicomponent solutions containing small amounts of pharmaceutical residues (i.e., 1 mg·L^-1 paracetamol and/or 1 mg·L^-1 salicylic acid) spiked into a real water matrix at pH 3.0. Electro-oxidation was performed in a BDD/Pt cell, whereas electro-Fenton was carried out in a BDD/air-diffusion cell to electrogenerate H₂O₂ at the cathode, always operating at constant current density. It was found that the decay of both pharmaceuticals by electro-oxidation was more rapid in the real water matrix than …

Rooftop Pv Impacts On Fossil Fuel Electricity Generation And Co2 Emissions In The Pacific Northwest, Daniel Albert Weiland

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis estimates the impacts of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) capacity on electricity generation and CO2 emissions in America's Pacific Northwest. The region's demand for electricity is increasing at the same time that it is attempting to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The electricity generated by rooftop PV capacity is expected to displace electricity from fossil fueled electricity generators and reduce CO2 emissions, but when and how much? And how can this region maximize and focus the impacts of additional rooftop PV capacity on CO2 emissions? To answer these questions, an hourly urban rooftop PV generation profile for 2009 was created …

Solar Energy Used On Board The Ship And Responding Administration Countermeasures, Xiaoping Zhu

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Identification Of Markov Processes Within A Wind Turbine Array Boundary Layer, Matthew Scott Melius

Dissertations and Theses

The Markovianity within a wind turbine array boundary layer is explored for data taken in a wind tunnel containing a model wind turbine array. A stochastic analysis of the data is carried out using Markov chain theory. The data were obtained via hot-wire anemometry thus providing point velocity statistics. The theory of Markovian processes is applied to obtain a statistical description of longitudinal velocity increments inside the turbine wake using conditional probability density functions. It is found that two and three point conditional probability density functions are similar for scale differences larger than the Taylor micro-scale. This result is quantified …

Biofuel From Microalgae – A Review On The Current Status And Future Trends, Rajee Olaganathan, May Zaw Htet, Lim Yan Ling, Sek Hui Yun

Publications

The constant reliance on fossil fuel energy resources is unsustainable, due to both depleting world reserves and increasing green house gas emissions associated with their use and thus there are dynamic research at the global level envisioned at developing alternative renewable and potentially carbon neutral solid, liquid and gaseous biofuels as alternative energy resources. The contemporary knowledge and technology predictions have proved that among the third generation biofuels especially those derived from microalgae are considered the best reasonable alternative energy resource compared to undeniable drawbacks of first and second generation biofuels. Moreover, its efficiency to sequester carbon from the atmosphere …

Electrical Design Considerations And Packaging Of Power Electronic Modules, Shijie Wang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A modern power electronic module can save significant energy usage in the power electronic systems by improving their switching efficiencies. One way to improve the efficiency of the power electronic module is to reduce its parasitic circuit elements. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the mitigation of parasitic circuit elements in power electronic modules. General methods of mitigating parasitic inductances were analyzed by the Q3D Extractor and verified by the time-domain reflectometry (TDR) measurements. In most cases, the TDR measurement results closely matched those predicted by the Q3D Extractor. These methods were applied to design and analyze a …

Resource-Induced Voltage Flicker For Wave Energy Converters – Assessment Tools, Fergus Sharkey, Joe Macenri, Elva Bannon, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan

Articles

For wave energy converters, the input resource has a typical period of 5–20 s depending on the site location and dominant seastates. Wave energy converters generally produce mechanical power twice per wave cycle and therefore depending on the storage available, the electrical power output has half the period of the input resource. These regular power changes induce a voltage change at the point of connection (POC) which is proportional to the amplitude of the power change and at the same frequency. Therefore the coupling of the input resource to the output power of a wave energy converter will cause voltage …

System Design Considerations And The Feasibility Of Passively Compensated, Permanent Magnet, Iron-Core Compulsators To Power Small Railgun Platforms, Collin Taylor Macgregor

Master's Theses

This thesis provides insight into the different aspects of compulsator design for use with railgun systems. Specifically, the design space is explored for passively compensated, permanent magnet iron-core compulsators. Seven design parameters are varied within a compulsator model developed for the Cal Poly Compulsator (CPCPA). The Matlab code for this model is included within the appendix. Efforts were made to compare and validate this compulsator model to published data from existing systems. The compulsator model was found to match closely with discharge pulse length, but resulted in lower values for peak current and projectile velocity by 50% and 30% respectively …

2-Dimensional Personal Motion Energy Harvester For Low Power Electronics, Manuel Gutierrez, Sean Scott, Dimitrios Peroulis

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In a lab, it becomes crucial to have a way to monitor that lab workers aren’t exposed to too much radiation. Such a device that detects this should have an energy harvester so that batteries aren’t required. The need for an energy harvester that generates power from a user’s movements in 2 dimensions is needed. This energy harvester is needed to power a radiation monitor. An energy harvester that generates power based off movements in 2 dimensions was developed. The energy harvester was created through a series of prototypes. Each prototype was built from a CAD drawing and a stereolithography …

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 …

Quantum Circuit Synthesis Using Group Decomposition And Hilbert Spaces, Michael S. Saraivanov

Dissertations and Theses

The exponential nature of Moore's law has inadvertently created huge data storage complexes that are scattered around the world. Data elements are continuously being searched, processed, erased, combined and transferred to other storage units without much regard to power consumption. The need for faster searches and power efficient data processing is becoming a fundamental requirement. Quantum computing may offer an elegant solution to speed and power through the utilization of the natural laws of quantum mechanics. Therefore, minimal cost quantum circuit implementation methodologies are greatly desired.

This thesis explores the decomposition of group functions and the Walsh spectrum for implementing …

Improving The Efficiency Of P3ht:Icba Organic Solar Cells By Modifying The Photoactive Solution Preparation Step, Matthew Blaine Samson

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are a promising alternative to conventional silicon solar cells. These organic devices offer the promise of facile low cost large scale solution based processing on lightweight, flexible, plastic substrates. At the present state of the technology, however, OSCs exhibit relatively low power conversion efficiencies. To improve these efficiencies, new materials are constantly being developed.

One such material is the fullerene indene-C₆₀ bisadduct (ICBA). When implemented in a poly(3-hexylthiophene-2, 5-diyl) (P3HT) : ICBA bulk heterojunction solar cell, these devices exhibit open circuit voltages exceeding 0.8 V, a value much higher than the devices made implementing phenyl-C …