Curriculum and Laboratory Development

Grid Interactive Power Electronics

Grant Pitel with adviser P.T. Krein

Figure 24: New version of CEME’s modular interver platform.

Bidirectional ac-dc switch mode rectifiers can act as regenerative loads that more efficiently test electromechanical machines, switch-mode power supplies, and batteries; recover braking energy in electric vehicles; and stabilize the power grid. The Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanic’s
modular inverter platform, developed at the University, has a bidirectional-capable power-circuit topology and a flexible digital interface that can be reprogrammed to send and receive power from the utility grid.

In the last report experimental results showed the modular inverter sending 50 W into the grid using phase control. Since then, the firmware was rewritten to control current and frequency using a graphical user interface (GUI). This new version is shown in Figure 24. The GUI and the wave forms demonstrate that 500 W are being sent into the grid at unity power factor.

This work is supported in part by National Science Foundation grant NSF ECS 06-2143.