Power and Energy Commons^™

Preparations And Photoelectrochemical Properties Of Phosphate Modified Rgo-Biobr Nanocomposites, Shuang-Ying Chen, Zhi-Jun Li, Xu-Liang Zhang, Kang Hu, Rui Yan, Li-Qiang Jing

Journal of Electrochemistry

The RGO-BiOBr nanocomposites have been successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal process, and then modified with phosphorous acids. The photoelectrochemical properties of the fabricated RGO-BiOBr nanocomposite films were studied. The results indicate that the photocurrent densities of RGO-BiOBr were much larger compared with those of the bare BiOBr, and interestingly, the photocurrent densities were further improved after phosphate modification. Based on the analyses of the produced hydroxyl radical amounts, the enhanced photocurrent densities could be attributed to the introduction of RGO and to the formed negative fields of modified phosphate groups, which are favorable for electrons to be transferred and for …

Large Scale Monolithic Solar Panel Simulation - A Study On Partial Shading Degradation, Suhas V. Baddela, Xingshu Sun, Muhammad A. Alam

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Shadow-induced degradation is a major concern for both power output and long-term reliability in solar cells. Apart from the obvious fact that shading reduces the amount of solar irradiance available to solar panels, it may lead to formation of hot spots, where solar cells are forced to reverse breakdown with localized heating, and potentially, permanent damage. To get a better understanding of shadow-induced degradation, we develop an electro-thermal coupled simulator that can self-consistently solve the electrical and thermal distributions of solar panel under arbitrary shading conditions. The simulation framework consists of two part: a) compact models that can describe the …

Advanced Microwave Remote Sensing, David Long

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

New Techniques for reconstruction SIR/AVE optimized for ASCAR. Bayes estimator selection to optimally select between wind-only, and rain-only correction

The Influence Of The Electric Supply Industry On Economic Growth In Less Developed Countries, Edward Richard Bee

Dissertations

This study measures the impact that electrical outages have on manufacturing production in 135 less developed countries using stochastic frontier analysis and data from World Bank’s Investment Climate surveys. Outages of electricity, for firms with and without backup power sources, are the most frequently cited constraint on manufacturing growth in these surveys.

Outages are shown to reduce output below the production frontier by almost five percent in Africa and by a lower percentage in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. Production response to outages is quadratic in form. Outages also increase labor cost, reduce exports …

Determining The Power And Energy Capacity Of A Battery Energy Storage System Utilizing A Smoothing Feeder Profile To Accommodate High Photovoltaic Penetration On A Distribution Feeder, Osama Mohammed Abbas Aly Mansour

Dissertations and Theses

Electricity is a perishable commodity; once it is generated it needs to be consumed or stored. Electric energy storage provides both power and energy capacity. Power capacity applications reduce the need for generation, while energy capacity allows for energy consumption to be decoupled from generation. Previous research was done to develop an algorithm for determining the power (MW) and energy (MWh) capacities of a battery energy storage system (BESS) to mitigate the adverse impacts of high levels of photovoltaic (PV) generation. The algorithm used a flat feeder profile, and its performance was demonstrated on the equinoxes and solstices.

Managing feeder …

Loss Model For Gallium Nitride Dc-Dc Buck Converter, Rushi Patel, Daniel Costinett

BCoE Publications

In recent years, more research has been done on Enhancement Mode Gallium Nitride (eGaN) converters as the world is moving towards more power efficient converters. The process to make converters more efficient was complicated and slow in the twentieth century. With help of simulation tools such as MATLAB and LTspice, this process has become much faster and reliable in the modern era. In order to make this process even faster, one of the important aspects in power electronics is to evaluate different losses in the converter. A model for estimating power losses for eGaN DC-DC buck converter (12V/1.2V) is illustrated …

Large-Scale Optimization Of Synchronous Reluctance Machines Using Ce-Fea And Differential Evolution, Yi Wang, Dan M. Ionel, Vandana Rallabandi, Minjie Jiang, Steven Stretz

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

A novel automated design optimization procedure based on the application of an ultrafast computationally efficient finite-element analysis (CE-FEA) for current-regulated synchronous reluctance machines supplied from power electronic converters is proposed. The CE-FEA uses only a minimum number of magnetostatic solutions in order to comprehensively evaluate performance, including ripple torque and core losses. The optimization algorithm is based on differential evolution, and uses as independent variables the torque angle and ratios for a generic rotor topology with four flux barriers. Two problems, one with two and the other with three objectives, are studied and results are compared. Global performance indices and …

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.

Configuration And Optimization Of A Novel Compressed-Air-Assisted Wind Energy Conversion System, Jie Cheng

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The increasing concerns over the environmental impact of carbon emissions and the unsustainability of conventional fossil fuel power plants are stimulating interest in the implementation of renewable energy in current power systems. Among all of the renewable energies, wind energy holds a prominent place because of its high output and the maturity of the technology. However, like all of the other renewable energies, integration of wind energy into the power grid causes some quality and control issues, such as overvoltage or undervoltage and frequency excursion.

To mitigate these issues and build a robust wind power system, a novel structure referred …

Simulation, Measurement, And Emulation Of Photovoltaic Modules Using High Frequency And High Power Density Power Electronic Circuits, Yunas Erkaya

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The number of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations is growing exponentially, and to improve the energy yield and the efficiency of PV systems, it is necessary to have correct methods for simulation, measurement, and emulation. PV systems can be simulated using PV models for different configurations and technologies of PV modules. Additionally, different environmental conditions of solar irradiance, temperature, and partial shading can be incorporated in the model to accurately simulate PV systems for any given condition.

The electrical measurement of PV systems both prior to and after making electrical connections is important for attaining high efficiency and reliability. Measuring PV …

Synthesis, Structural Diversity, And Redox Control Of Cyclometalated Monoruthenium Complexes, Zhong-Liang Gong, Jiang-Yang Shao, Yu-Wu Zhong

Journal of Electrochemistry

Cyclometalated ruthenium complexes have received increasing attractions recently due to their excellent redox and photophysical properties. One structural feature of these complexes is that there is a ruthenium-carbon (Ru-C) σ bond presented in the molecule. Three common methods, namely, the “late metalation”, “early metalation”, and “transmetalation” methods, for the synthesis of cyclometalated ruthenium complexes are discussed and summarized. General strategies for the design of cyclometalating ligand and cyclometalated ruthenium complexes are introduced. By using different ancillary ligands, such as pyridine, imidazole, triazole, and pyrimidine, a great number of ruthenium complexes can be prepared. The presence of the Ru-C bond significantly …

Recent Progress In Solid-State Nmr Study Of Electrode/Electrolyte Materials For Lithium/Sodium Ion Batteries, Gui-Ming Zhong, Zi-Geng Liu, Da-Wei Wang, Qi Li, Ri-Qiang Fu, Yong Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Solid state NMR technique is a powerful tool for characterizing the local structure and compositions of solid materials quantitatively. A comprehensive understanding of the structure evolution during the electrochemical reactions of the materials for lithium/sodium ion batteries will be obtained with the combination of solid state NMR, XRD, and XAS methods. Through analyzing solid state NMR spectra, we can obtain the compositions, local structures and ion diffusion dynamics of electrodes, electrolytes and surface layers for lithium/sodium ion batteries, providing an important theoretical support for the design and development of high-performance materials for batteries. In this paper, we review the recent …

3, 4-Ethylenedioxythiophene Monomer As Safety-Enhancing Additive For Lithium Ion Batteries, Wei-Xiao Ji, Feng Wang, Jiang-Feng Qian, Yu-Liang Cao, Xin-Ping Ai, Han-Xi Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Safety concern is a major obstacle hindering the wide applications of large-capacity lithium ion batteries (LIBs) in electric vehicles. In this paper, a polymerizable monomer of 3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) was proposed and tested as an electrolyte additive for enhancing the safety of LIBs. The electro-oxidative polymerization behaviors and influence of PEDOT additive on the thermal behavior of LiCoO₂ cathode, as well as the safety performance and electrochemical properties of LiCoO₂-based LIBs were investigated. The results from cyclic voltammetry (CV) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) characterizations indicated that the monomer additive can be electro-oxidatively polymerized to form a …

Reduced Graphene Oxide (Rgo) Hollow Network Cages For High-Performance Electrochemical Energy Storage, Chi Zhang, Xu-Jun He, Gao-Ren Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

The reduced graphese oxide (RGO) hollow network cages were synthesized via zinc oxide (ZnO) template-assisted electrodeposition. The as-prepared RGO hollow network cages exhibited the multi-level architectures, from nano sheets, porous structures, networks, to 3D microscaled hollow cages, which can simultaneously optimize transport of electroactive species, utilization rate of electrode material, and super capacitive performance. Electrochemical measurements confirmed the superior performance of RGO hollow network cages for supercapacitors (SCs), such as high Csp (393 F⋅g^-1 at 1.0 A⋅g^-1), excellent rate capability (21.2% Csp loss from 1.0 to 20 A⋅g^-1), and superior cycling stability (< 1% Csp loss after 10000 cycles).

Developments Of Photo-Assisted Fuel Cells, Ling-Ling Zhang, Shao-Jun Dong

Journal of Electrochemistry

The exploitation and utilization of fossil fuels have led to serious energy crisis and environmental pollution. In this case, the development of renewable energy is an alternative to traditional energy consumption. Fuel cells (FCs) can convert chemical energy into electricity via the electrochemical reaction, which is green and environment-friendly. Photo-assisted FCs integrate photo-responsive components into FCs, leading to the dual routes of energy conversion including light energy to electricity and chemical energy to electricity, and thus, improving the energy utilization efficiency. The development of photo-assisted FCs is significant for practical application and promising to solve the coming energy crisis. In …

Energy Consumption Prediction With Big Data: Balancing Prediction Accuracy And Computational Resources, Katarina Grolinger, Miriam Am Capretz, Luke Seewald

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

In recent years, advances in sensor technologies and expansion of smart meters have resulted in massive growth of energy data sets. These Big Data have created new opportunities for energy prediction, but at the same time, they impose new challenges for traditional technologies. On the other hand, new approaches for handling and processing these Big Data have emerged, such as MapReduce, Spark, Storm, and Oxdata H2O. This paper explores how findings from machine learning with Big Data can benefit energy consumption prediction. An approach based on local learning with support vector regression (SVR) is presented. Although local learning itself is …

Bringing Electricity To Alafiarou: The Solar Microgrid Project, Nicolas Metais, Jacob Leatherberry

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Despite the great technological advancements and discoveries that have been made throughout the last century, 1.2 billion people still live without access to electricity, 95% of which live in Sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia.1 In this paper, we discuss how we designed and implemented a self-sustaining, affordable and highly replicable solar microgrid in order to accelerate the electrification of rural communities in the most environmentally conscious way possible. Our project focused on developing a microgrid for a small community of 10 households in rural Benin that previously had no access to electricity. We travelled to this village in December of …

A Utility-Scale Deployment Project Of Behind-The-Meter Energy Storage For Use In Ancillary Services, Energy Resiliency, Grid Infrastructure Investment Deferment, And Demand-Response Integration, Joseph Nathanael Wilson

Dissertations and Theses

Electric utilities are increasingly incentivized to integrate new renewable energy generation resources to their systems; however, operations-related issues arise due to the non-dispatchable and stochastic nature of these renewable energy sources. These characteristics lead to a variety of issues for utilities, among which are voltage fluctuations, balancing dispatch against ramping events, short-duration power fluctuations, and the need to invest in peaking generation facilities just to accommodate the renewable energy. A traditional solution to these issues is to employ renewable generation-following techniques using either newly constructed gas peaking plants, or by shifting existing generation resources to this following responsibility. Unfortunately, use …

The Investigation And Optimization Of A Two-Heat-Pump System Incorporating Thermal Storage For Shaping Residential Heating Load, Emily Lord Barrett

Dissertations and Theses

Portland General Electric has proposed coupling one or more water tanks with two heat pumps in order to perform load-shifting in residential customer heating and cooling applications. By using the water tanks as a thermal storage unit, this project attempts to partially decouple energy consumption from generation to provide peak demand reduction and to better facilitate the integration of variable renewable energy resources. A scoping study was performed to evaluate the potential impact of this project if implemented in single family homes in Portland, Oregon. This study revealed that the system could provide meaningful savings in the cost of electricity …

Wireless Mesh Networks For Scada Systems, Zachary Weisman

Computer Engineering

No abstract provided.

Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter Development For Residential Dc Electricity, Cassidy Alan Aarstad

Master's Theses

The following technical report describes the development and testing of an arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) for DC circuits operating primarily at 48 volts. We have identified an effective method for determining when arcing is occurring. Our method is primarily based on comparing the frequency spectrum of current flowing through the circuit during an arcing event to a known characteristic spectrum. Once an arc has been identified, our interrupter is capable of responding adequately to eliminate the arc. Hardware tests show the AFCI developed in this thesis responded, in all test cases, within 2 seconds of an arc fault occurrence. …

Modelling And Energy Management Optimisation Of Battery Energy Storage System Based Photovoltaic Charging Station (Pv-Cs) For University Campus, Ayda Esfandyari, Brian Norton, Michael Conlon

Conference Papers

As utilization of Photovoltaic Charging Stations (PV-CS) that generate clean electricity from the sun increase, Technological University Dublin (DIT) adopts this application for accommodating the required charge of small campus Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). This paper presents the virtual simulation of the 10.5 kW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) based PV-CS model. Transient System Simulation (TRNSYS) built-in climatic data and modular structure properties were adopted to replicate the experimentally proposed PV-CS, where special attention was paid to the electrical measurments and energy flow signals. The objective was set to model the PV-CS system, formulate an energy managment optimisation and justify …

Automatic Water Pump Controller, Alam D. Salguero, Kyle Russell Marquez Weeks

Electrical Engineering

In countries including Indonesia, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, a city water authority supplies the clean water and pumps it into large ground-level storage tanks. A resident’s water pump then pumps the water to a water tank on top of his/her house. When the water level in the ground-level storage tank becomes too low, the pump siphons air and shuts down, requiring a resident to manually prime the water pump to get it running again. Residents struggle to monitor the water level of the tanks effectively and keep the pump running properly. To remedy the issue, the Automatic Water Pump …

Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines Buck-Boost Dc Dc Converter With The Lt8705 Controller, Ryan Matteo

Electrical Engineering

In order to increase sustainability and save money, the Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines (EHFEM) system uses human supplied energy to self-power exercise equipment such as spin bikes, elliptical trainers, ergometers, etc. This document covers the design and implementation of a Buck-Boost DC-DC converter using the LT8705 controller into the EHFEM system. This project improves upon the overall efficiency of the Buck-Boost Converter designed by past groups working on the EHFEM system.

Transformer And Motor Protection Scheme, Bijan Vakilifathi

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Solar Generation's Impact On Fault Current, Kody Heppner

Electrical Engineering

California is paving the road for other states with the capacity of solar installations for residential and commercial entities. The added capacity of solar generation to the state's electric grid has an impact on power flow and fault currents. This project looks at the impact of solar installations on fault currents. Feeders with added residential rooftop solar and larger commercial solar installations may impact the system differently than a large, utility-sized solar installation. This project looks at the impact of both cases on the magnitude of fault current during many different fault types and locations that can occur within a …

Integration Of Sel Relays To Provide Motor, Transmission Line, And Transformer Protection, Christopher Ewing, Bryce Keefer

Electrical Engineering

The objective of this project is to familiarize the performers with the principles of operation of the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) protective relays in both normal and fault conditions. The SEL-587, SEL-311L and SEL-710 microprocessor-based relays are used to provide protection for a system composed of transformers, simulated transmission lines and a 3-phase induction motor. Each of these relays provides protection by sending a trip signal to local breakers upon sensing a fault condition. The SEL-587 provides overcurrent and differential protection for a 3-phase transformer, while the SEL-311L provides differential and distance protection for a transmission line, and negative sequence. …

Micro-Inverter Improvement For The Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machine Project, James Ralston

Electrical Engineering

The Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines (EHFEM) project at California Polytechnic State University consists of several different projects coming together to add human generated power to the grid. This project focuses on implementing a more efficient micro-inverter. The micro-inverter used to convert DC to AC voltage requires up to 5 minutes before the conversion process begins. This time lag significantly diminishes the power produced from an exercising individual. Research of micro-inverters approved by the CEC introduces desirable micro-inverters, available for use in California, to the EHFEM project. Testing the two most desirable micro-inverters found from research allows for quantifying of …

Rf Power Harvesting Rectenna, Jimmy Tang, Raymond Phu, Tom Geranios, Benjamin Muñoz

Electrical Engineering

Sustainability is one of today's primary engineering objectives. This principle involves system design that minimizes environmentally harmful energy emissions and resource consumption, and maximizes renewable energy practices [1]. Communication antennas transmit wireless signals that can be converted into usable energy. The Rectenna system described in this report, shown in Figure 1, was designed to accomplish this energy conversion, with -5dBm (316µW) minimum power at the rectifier input. Since typical ambient signal power is in the -70dBm (0.1nW) range, the proposed system could only convert passive, relatively high-power microwave band AC signals to DC. The Rectenna system was designed for 1.9GHz …