International Journal of Applied Power Engineering (IJAPE)
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An intelligent converter and controller for electric vehicle drives utilizing grid and stand-alone solar photovoltaic power generation systems
Get PDFIn this study, a battery energy management system for electric vehicle (EV) applications is proposed with a standalone photovoltaic (PV) source and controlled based on the availability of grid, PV source, load consumption, and energy stored in the battery. This paper proposes a single-ended primary-inductance converter (SEPIC) DC-DC converter for charging the battery through the utility and PV source that provides good load regulation. The bidirectional nature of the proposed DC-DC converter provides the charging and discharging of the EV battery in the succeeding modes of operation, i) grid-tied charging, ii) PV-tied charging, iii) discharging to the load in the absence of utility and PV source, and iv) regenerative braking. An improved perturb and observe-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is proposed to track the maximum power from the PV source. In addition, to handle the four modes of operation, a dedicated controller is also proposed. Firstly, the proposed system is validated using MATLAB/Simulink software by considering different operating conditions, and the performance is compared with the traditional MPPT algorithms. Finally, the effectiveness of the suggested system is validated through an experimental prototype. The result proved the superiority of the converter and controller over the traditional systems.
Development of real-time energy metering bypass and remote reporting system for registered consumers
Get PDFEvery economy is driven by energy supply, the quantity of energy produced, transmitted, and distributed needs to be paid for by consumers. This leads to a pay-as-you-go metering system. Paying for every energy unit used helps the energy company to improve its quality delivery. Most developing countries around the globe have not attended to their profit margin even with the introduction of the pay-as-you-go metering system. Given that some local energy users seem to bypass the metering system, thereby accessing energy without passing through the metering system, this usually hampers the productivity of the distribution companies and results in a huge revenue loss. To address this issue, this research presents a real-time energy bypass and remote reporting model to detect metering bypass from registered consumers. An inspectorate metering system was incorporated in the energy supply line to compare the amount of current-voltage supplied to consumers against the amount being utilized by the consumers to achieve the detection and reporting of the metering bypass incident by registered consumers. As a result, a signal is sent to the energy company through a remote server and the incident of the metering bypass would be displayed on a monitoring dashboard in case of disparity between the inspectorate and consumer metering system
A novel voltage lifting technique of switched-inductor cell based modified LUO converter topology for water pumping system
Get PDFThe persistent exhaustion of traditional energy sources with their impacts on the environment has been initiating a significant interest in a selection of renewable-energy sources (RES) based water-pumping system. Among several renewable sources, solar-PV is the most promising and practical source for water-pumping applications that can be easily installed on a building's roof. The available solar-PV energy is integrated to AC electric motor through front-end DC-DC boost converter topology. Among the various DC-DC converter topologies, a novel switched-inductor type modified LUO converter has been proposed for solar-PV powered water pumping system. The proposed switched-inductor type modified LUO (SI-MLUO) converter have simple structure which delivers high voltage gain with low leakage currents, low current ripples, reduced voltage spikes, low dv/dt stress and high efficiency over the several conventional DC-DC converters. The operating modes and performance of proposed SI-MLUO converter topology is verified by using MATLAB/Simulink tool, simulation results are validated with conventional topologies
Optimum-cost-based renewable energy chart considering micro-hydro, solar-PV, and hybrid systems using HOMER suitable for eastern Himalayan regions of India
Get PDFThe climatic change issues can only be addressed by adding more and more renewable energy into the energy chart for any region. However, the criteria for the composition of the chart shall be based on availability, cost-effectiveness, complementary nature, and optimally fit with the load curve. Based on the geographical diversity and availability of renewable energy in India, the energy chart is different for different regions. In this paper, an attempt has been made to prepare a renewable energy chart based on the equality constraint optimization technique for economical load sharing between the locally available renewable energy sources. The HOMER-based software platform has been utilized for cost analysis purposes. Based on locally available renewable energy sources, micro-hydro, and solar-PV are considered for analysis. In this paper, the electrical load of an educational institution situated in the eastern Himalayan region is considered for the case study. The data received from the case study has been utilized for the preparation of an appropriate and economically viable renewable energy chart for the mentioned region. Even though the analysis model applies to a particular region, it can be suitably modified for other regions also
Techno-economic assessment of solar technologies to meet hospitals energy needs
Get PDFHospitals present one of the highest energy consumptions per surface unit, meaning that on-site renewable energy generation and energy efficiency improvements are key to lower hospitals energy demand, external energy dependence and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. In this work, the feasibility from the techno-economical point of view of the installation of three solar-based energy generating technologies in hospitals in different climate locations in Europe is addressed. The potential of solar energy technologies to cover the energy needs of the hospitals under study is conducted proposing a novel design and sizing optimization methodology for on-roof installations. The profitability of the different solar-based installations will vary depending on the solar technology output (electrical, thermal or both) and on the type of energy needs of the hospital; but in all cases, profitability is mostly influenced by the price of the current energy source supplying the hospital energy needs. Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) values for on-roof photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal (ST), and photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) installations obtained are in the range of 0.028-0.056, 0.051-0.096, and 0.053-0.128 €/kWh, respectively; for locations in latitudes from 37 N (Seville) to 60 N (Oslo) in Europe. Results from this work aim to serve as reference for similar studies in a wide range of climates
Reliability improvement of power systems using shunt reactive compensation and distributed generation
Get PDFDue to the increased demand on electric power, power systems have become highly stressed. This has caused the frequent occurrence of cascading failures, where the failure of one line leads to a series of failures causing a system blackout. Adding high speed control of different electrical parameters of the power system can help improve the reliability of the power system and relieve some of that stress. In this research, the effects of adding static VAR compensators (SVCs) and distributed generation units has been studied from a reliability perspective. Since installing this equipment can be expensive, an algorithm has been developed to obtain the optimal bus location to install such devices, such that reliability is improved. Furthermore, Monte Carlo simulation is used to provide a measure for the improvement in system reliability in the presence of transmission line failures. Results show that injecting real and reactive power generally improves system reliability. However, increasing the amount of injection and increasing the number of buses injected to indefinitely does not necessarily enhance the reliability of the system any further. As such, caution must be exercised when deploying SVCs or distributed generation sources when the goal is to improve system reliability
Dual axis solar tracking system
Get PDFNow a days, many people use solar photovoltaic systems since they generate efficient and clean energy. Polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon modules are currently the most widely used products in the solar industry. Aside from possessing a flawless lattice structure, a high level of material purity, a low grain boundary energy, a weak internal resistance, and a high level of efficiency, monocrystalline silicon cells also have a uniform colour and a lack of spots, which contribute to its good aesthetic appeal. By placing the solar panels at the precise angle and direction specified by the motion of the sun, the system's efficiency can be increased. The solar tracking system for this research project uses LDR sensors that are connected to a microcontroller to track the sun's horizontal and vertical axes, while DHT11 and rain sensors are used to track the weather. This study offers a method for repositioning a solar array so that it faces the sun at all times. Since solar modules effectively convert sunlight into electricity, they are helpful solutions to the problem of power generation in remote areas. A microprocessor is used in the construction of such a system to operate a motor and sensor
Development of microfluidic device and electronic infusion system to fabricate microfiber of alginate and carbon nanotube
Get PDFA novel microfluidic device and electronic infusion system for carbon nanotube-calcium chloride alginate microfibers are presented in this study. The microfluidic device was designed using Google SketchUp and 3D printing, and the electronic infusion system-controlled alginate solution flow to the calcium chloride jar—the silicon-PDMS microfluidic device produced calcium alginate microfibers with carbon nanotubes. The device to emulsify the two fluids was modeled in COMSOL Multiphysics. The microfluidic device and calcium chloride jar received juice from the syringe pump via a high-flow infusion pump (100, 150, and 200 rpms). Field emission scanning electron microscopes (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) detected highly concentrated microfibers with sizes from 10 to 100 um. I-V characterization showed that sodium alginate's carbon nanotubes at 5%, 6%, and 7% produced fiber sizes between 16.6 and 30 ums. Compared to pure alginate microfibers, those with carbon nanotubes and calcium chloride had higher mechanical strength and electrical conductivity. This study shows that the developed system can produce advanced microfibers with improved properties for various applications
Analysis of the effect of a microcontroller-based solar panel cooling system on temperature and power output
Get PDFThis research addresses the problem of temperature fluctuations affecting the efficiency of solar panels. A cooling system has been developed using a Peltier and a combination of air- and water-cooling methods. The air-cooling system involves placing a Peltier coated with a heatsink under the solar panel, while the water-cooling system uses pumped water on the panel's surface. The study aims to design a solar panel cooling system to reduce temperature and power losses and compare its output to standard solar panels. The system includes a Peltier, DC fan, and heatsink. Results indicate that the air-cooling system reduced temperature losses on the bottom milk of solar panels by 14.5%. However, the surface of solar panels showed no reduction in temperature losses. Additionally, solar panels with cooling systems were able to reduce power losses by 4% compared to standard solar panels. This research suggests that the use of an air-cooling system utilizing Peltier as the cooling medium could be a potential solution to reduce temperature losses and power losses on solar panels
Optimal power dispatch for day-ahead power system operation considering demand elasticity
Get PDFThis paper proposes the optimal power dispatch (OPD) considering price-based demand response (PDR). In the proposed framework, the nodal spot price (NSP) is use as a price signal to the consumers. In the proposed method, the optimal real power dispatch is solved by quadratic programming (QP) to minimize the total operating cost and obtain the NSP components. Consequently, demand elasticity (DE) is applied to estimate the system demand for more accurate day-ahead operations. In the DE matrix, the self-DEs represent the consumer consumption of hour h in response to the NSP of that hour. Meanwhile, the cross-DEs represent the response of consumer consumption of hour h to the NSP of other hours. The algorithm was tested with the IEEE 30-bus system with several cases of demand elasticity. The results show that the proposed algorithm can incorporate price elasticity of demand into day-ahead scheduling and effectively minimize total operating costs. The simulation study shown that, the operating cost can be reduced by 0.33-0.695% with self-DE of -0.1~-0.2, by reducing the consumption respected to the NSP. Meanwhile, when applying cross-DE, the operating cost can be reduced by 0.015% under the same daily consumption with the consumer’s load shifting respected to NSP