Ali Davoudi with advisor P. L. Chapman Interleaved multi-phase dc-dc converters are widely used in microprocessor power supplies that require tight voltage regulation in the presence of extreme load transients. The voltage regulator modules are conventionally facilitated as multi-phase dc-dc buck converters. Analog controllers have been successfully implemented in the multi-phase buck converters, however, digital […]
Low-Inertia Stand-Alone Grid with Droop Control
Andrew M. Bollman with Adviser P. T. Krein Small-scale electric grids containing their own energy sources, distribution networks and loads, sometimes called microgrids, are being explored for use in military installations, disaster relief efforts, and critical industries that require reliable power. Through the Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Lab (CERL), a droop-control scheme […]
Investigation of accelerating numerical-field analysis methods for electric machines with the incorporation of graphic-processor based parallel processing techniques
Alan Adzima with adviser P. T. Krein New motor designs are tested with analysis and simulation of their electric fields. Analytic systems used include the finite element method, magnetic equivalent circuits, and boundary element method (BEM). These all require computationally intensive matrix system generation and solving to analyze physical systems. Serial-solver based commercial packages also […]
Solar Decathlon Pre-Competition Update
Sairaj Dhople with adviser Patrick L. Chapman The University of Illinois’s entry for the 2009 Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C., is the Gable Home, with a distinctive roofline characteristic of rustic barns in mid-west America. It captures the essence of the Midwest in more ways than meet the eye; the siding is […]
AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors for High Power Applications Using Selective-Area Growth by Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy
Liang Pang and Huichan Seo with adviser K. Kim of the University of Illinois Thin Film and Charged Particle Research Laboratory Contact resistance of GaN metal semiconductor transistors and AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) using a selective area growth (SAG) technique facilitated by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) has been carried out. A […]
Real-Time Low-Level Simulation of Hybrid Vehicle Systems for Hardware-in-the-Loop Applications
Marco J. Tavernini and Benjamin Niemoeller with adviser P. T. Krein Choices of battery pack, motor drive, drive train control strategy, and the effects of these choices must be considered for any electric or hybrid vehicle (HV) design. Factors to be considered include range of the vehicle on a single charge, battery life, engine operating […]
Comparative Performance Analysis of Drives for Induction Motors
Andrew P. Friedl with adviser P. T. Krein A modular inverter designed by Professor Krein’s graduate students a few years ago provided the design for two more modular inverters built recently. One is being used to implement induction motor control via direct torque control (DTC), indirect field-oriented control (IFOC), vectorized volts-per-hertz control, and feedback linearization. […]
System-Level Online Optimization of Induction Machines
Ali M. Bazzi with Adviser P. T. Krein This research is divided into four main projects, shown in Figure 8, that result in an overall optimized field-oriented control (FOC) induction motor drive for different applications, including propulsion, electric and hybrid vehicles. Three optimization considerations are motor losses, drive reliability, and load support. The fourth is […]
Doubly Excited Brushless Reluctance Machine for Advanced Wind Power Generation
Longya Xu, The Ohio State University A doubly excited brushless reluctance machine (DEBRM) consists of two major parts: the dual winding stator and segmental rotor. Two sets of stator windings, one acting as the main winding and the other, the power control winding, are placed in the stator core sinusoidally. The rotor consists of several […]
Direct-Drive Rotary Generator for Ocean Wave Energy Application
Christopher Haller and Hai Yue Han with advisers Ted Brekken and Annette von Jouanne, Oregon State University The world’s oceans are emerging as a dense new source of renewable energy through the use of wave generators. Ocean-wave driven generators pose design challenges which are caused by long wave periods and varying wave profi les. The […]