MS student Michael Wu with advisor A. Banerjee In locomotive applications, online monitoring of silicon component health in high-power inverters is crucial to preventing catastrophic failures during operation. Our proposed approach to online IGBT health monitoring involves creating a thermal model of the IGBT module that can estimate the silicon junction temperature. Accurately estimating the […]
Second Solar Decathlon China: Final Contest Results for Team SJT/UIUC
The Second Solar Decathlon China, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and China National Energy Administration, comprised twenty-two teams from forty-one schools in ten countries/regions competing in Dezhou, Shandong Province in 2018. Team SJT/UIUC is a joint Team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). SJT/UIUC’s entry, […]
A Distributed and Scalable Electromechanical Actuator for Bio-Inspired Robots
MS student Bonhyun Ku with advisor A. Banerjee Animal-like robots, such as snake robots, quadruped robots, and humanoid robots, require dynamic motion and simple mechanical design. However, most have complicated mechanical designs and low actuation speed due to conventional dc motors with gears. We propose a design and architecture for an alternative electromechanical actuation system. […]
Differential Power Processing for Voltage Regulation of Series-Stacked Processor Cores
PhD student Dipanjan Das with advisor P. Krein Power delivery to multi-core processors continues to be challenging as transistor sizes and their operating voltages decrease. While core numbers in each processor increase, power requirements remain the same with each new microprocessor generation, and handling transient performance requirements along with efficiency is especially difficult at lower […]
Hardware-in-Loop Implementation of Frequency Regulation Architectures for Islanded Inertia-Less AC Microgrids
PhD student Siddhartha Nigam with advisors A. Domínguez-García and P. Sauer Any collection of interconnected generators and loads capable of islanded operation is generally considered a microgrid. In a prototypical example, a neighborhood comprising homes with rooftop-mounted photovoltaic (PV) arrays, microgrids are typically envisaged to consist entirely of generators that are interfaced through power electronics. […]
Developing a Time-Resolution Based Hierarchy of Models for Distributed Energy Resources
Post-doc Olaoluwapo Ajala with advisor A. Domínguez-García As adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) has accelerated, so has the need for comprehensive mathematical tools to model such systems. These models are utilized to analyze and control tasks necessary to develop innovative control and coordination technologies. For example, to design and test frequency controllers, models are […]
Solar Variability Reduction Using Off-MPP Tracking and Energy Storage Systems
PhD student Jason Galtieri with advisor P. Krein Maximum power point (MPP) tracking is the standard control scheme for photovoltaic (PV) arrays of all sizes. Inverter tracking algorithms work on second to sub-second time scales and can track most naturally occurring irradiance changes, such as moving cloud coverage. Fast response tracking imposes large power swings […]
Motor Integrated as the Front Wheel of an Electric Motorcycle
MS student Leslie Cheng with advisor K. Haran This project involves sizing and packaging a motor designed to be integrated as the front wheel of an electric motorcycle, as shown in Figure 3. Benefits include enabling all-wheel drive and independent wheel control. The outer-rotor design, sized to minimize weight, uses a Halbach array for the […]
Development of Control Algorithms for an Integrated Generator-Rectifier System
Pd D student Phuc Huynh with advisor A. Banerjee Ac-to-dc power conversion is essential in many emerging applications, including electrified transportation and wind-power generation. For example, an intermediate dc bus is often necessary to connect a variable-speed wind-powered generator to the fixed-frequency ac grid. Similarly, future electric ships are envisioned to have a medium-voltage dc […]
PM-Assisted Synchronous Reluctance Motor as a Compressor Application
MS student Byung Hoon (BH) Min with advisor K. Haran The Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics at the University of Illinois has been collaborating with Prof. Jian-Xin Shen of Zhejiang University (ZJU) on high-speed compressor motor research. BH Min spent one summer month at ZJU to interact with the ZJU team. During this […]