Development of Robust and Dynamic Control Solutions for Energy Storage Enabled Hybrid AC/DC Microgrids

Development of Robust and Dynamic Control Solutions for Energy Storage Enabled Hybrid AC/DC Microgrid

Development of a Supercapacitor based Surge Resistant Uninterruptible Power Supply

Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) provide short-term power back-up to sensitive electronic and electrical equipments, where an unexpected power loss could lead to undesirable outcomes. They usually bridge the connected equipment between the utility mains power and other long term back-up power systems like generators. A UPS also provides a “clean” source of power, meaning they filter the connected equipment from distortions in electrical parameters of the mains power like noise, harmonics, surges, sags and spikes. A surge resistant UPS or SRUPS is one that has the capability to withstand surges, which are momentary or sustained increases in the mains voltage, and react quickly enough to offer protection to the connected equipment from the same. Usually UPSs run off battery power when the utility mains power is absent. But the SRUPS developed in this design project uses super capacitors instead of battery packs. The reason for this is that the high energy-densities and medium power-densities offered by super capacitors allow for it to serve two purposes. One is to provide the DC power to operate the UPS in the absence of mains power, as an alternative to batteries. Secondly, super capacitors can withstand heavy momentary high current/voltage surges due to its high energy-density characteristics. Also as the life-time of super capacitors is much higher than that of conventional batteries and as they do not need regular topping-up or inspection, the end result is a truly maintenance-free UPS. Most commercial UPSs do not have inherent surge protection capabilities. The UPS is one entity while a discrete surge protection module is inserted between the utility mains and the UPS to provide for transient surge suppression. In the proposed SRUPS, the super capacitor, because of their inherent capability to absorb transient surges, forms a protective front end to the actual UPS rather than needing to have the involvement of discrete protection devices

Design, analysis, and control of switched supercapacitor banks for e-transportation electric energy storage systems

The hybridization of supercapacitors (SCs) with batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) improves the battery life, acceleration, and driving range. However, the efficiency of the power interface that unites the batteries and SCs are affected due to wide voltage variations at the SC bank terminals. Moreover, the SC bank offers low storage that restricts them from serving a continuous series of transient load demands on a single charge. A novel bank switching architecture for SCs is introduced to enhance the power delivery duration and energy utilization of SCs with controlled terminal voltage variations. A simple transition control strategy is proposed to effectively switch the SCs. The efficacy of the proposed work is validated using simulations and experimental studies on a laboratory-developed prototype. Furthermore, the suitability of the proposed SC bank in HESS for an EV is verified with four standard driving cycles, in terms of voltage variations, and depth of discharge

Analysis on Supercapacitor Assisted Low Dropout (SCALDO) Regulators

State-of-the-art electronic systems employ three fundamental techniques for DC-DC converters: (a) switch-mode power supplies (SMPS); (b) linear power supplies; (c) switched capacitor (charge pump) converters. In practical systems, these three techniques are mixed to provide a complex, but elegant, overall solution, with energy efficiency, effective PCB footprint, noise and transient performance to suit different electronic circuit blocks. Switching regulators have relatively high end-to-end efficiency, in the range of 70 to 93%, but can have issues with output noise and EMI/RFI emissions. Switched capacitor converters use a set of capacitors for energy storage and conversion. In general, linear regulators have low efficiencies in the range 30 to 60%. However, they have outstanding output characteristics such as low noise, excellent transient response to load current fluctuations, design simplicity and low cost design which are far superior to SMPS. Given the complex situation in switch-mode converters, low dropout (LDO) regulators were introduced to address the equirements of noise-sensitive and fast transient loads in portable devices. A typical commercial off-the-shelf LDO has its input voltage slightly higher than the desired regulated output for optimal efficiency. The approximate efficiency of a linear regulator, if the power consumed by the control circuits is negligible, can be expressed by the ratio of Vo/Vin. A very low frequency supercapacitor circulation technique can be combined with commercial low dropout regulator ICs to significantly increase the end-to-end efficiency by a multiplication factor in the range of 1.33 to 3, compared to the efficiency of a linear regulator circuit with the same input-output voltages. In this patented supercapacitor-assisted low dropout (SCALDO) regulator technique developed by a research team at the University of Waikato, supercapacitors are used as lossless voltage droppers, and the energy reuse occurs at very low frequencies in the range of less than ten hertz, eliminating RFI/EMI concerns. This SCALDO technique opens up a new approach to design step-down, DC-DC converters suitable for processor power supplies with very high end-to-end efficiency which is closer to the efficiencies of practical switching regulators, while maintaining the superior output specifications of a linear design. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that the SCALDO technique is not a variation of well-known switched capacitor DC-DC converters. In this thesis, the basic SCALDO concept is further developed to achieve generalised topologies, with the relevant theory that can be applied to a converter with any input-output step-down voltage combination. For these generalised topologies, some important design parameters, such as the number of supercapacitors, switching matrix details and efficiency improvement factors, are derived to form the basis of designing SCALDO regulators. With the availability of commercial LDO ICs with output current ratings up to 10 A, and thin-prole supercapacitors with DC voltage ratings from 2.3 to 5.5 V, several practically useful, medium-current SCALDO prototypes: 12V-to-5V, 5V-to-2V, 5.5V-to-3.3V have been developed. Experimental studies were carried out on these SCALDO prototypes to quantify performance in terms of line regulation, load regulation, efficiency and transient response. In order to accurately predict the performance and associated waveforms of the individual phases (charge, discharge and transition) of the SCALDO regulator, Laplace transform-based theory for supercapacitor circulation is developed, and analytical predictions are compared with experimental measurements for a 12V-to-5V prototype. The analytical results tallied well with the practical waveforms observed in a 12V-to-5V converter, indicating that the SCALDO technique can be generalized to other versatile configurations, and confirming that the simplified assumptions used to describe the circuit elements are reasonable and justifiable. After analysing the performance of several SCALDO prototypes, some practical issues in designing SCALDO regulators have been identified. These relate to power losses and implications for future development of the SCALDO design

Electrochemical Double Layered Capacitor Development and Implementation System

Electrochemical Double Layered Capacitors (EDLC's) are becoming a more popular topic of research for hybrid power systems, especially vehicles. They are known for their high power density, high cycle life, low internal resistance, and wider operating temperature compared to batteries. They are rarely used as a standalone power source; however, because of their lack of energy density compared to batteries and fuel cells. Researchers are now discovering the benefits of using them in hybrid systems. The increased complexity of a hybrid power source presents many challenges. A major drawback of this complexity is the lack of design tools to assist a designer in translating a simulation all the way to a full scale implementation. A full spectrum of tools was designed to assist designers at all stages of implementation including: single cell testing, a multi-cell management system, and a full scale vehicle data acquisition system to monitor performance. First, the full scale vehicle data acquisition is described. The system is isolated from the electric shuttle bus it was tested on to allow the system to be ported to other vehicles and applications. This was done to modularize the system to characterize a wide variety of full scale applications. Next, a single cell test system was designed that allows the designer to characterize cell specifications, as well as, test control and safety systems in a controlled environment. The goal is to ensure safety systems can be thoroughly tested to ensure robustness as the bank is scaled up. This system also includes simulation models that provide examples of using the simulation to predict the behavior of a cell and the test system to validate the results of the simulation. This information is then used by the designer to more effectively design sensor ranges for the bank. Finally, a multi-cell EDLC management system was designed to implement a bank. It incorporates 12 series EDLC cells per control module, and the modular design allows expandability in parallel and series to fit any application and number of cells required. Lastly, test procedures were run to validate the proper operation of the systems

Pem fuel cell stack modeling and design of DC/DC converter for fuel cell energy system

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Development of an image converter of radical design

A long term investigation of thin film sensors, monolithic photo-field effect transistors, and epitaxially diffused phototransistors and photodiodes to meet requirements to produce acceptable all solid state, electronically scanned imaging system, led to the production of an advanced engineering model camera which employs a 200,000 element phototransistor array (organized in a matrix of 400 rows by 500 columns) to secure resolution comparable to commercial television. The full investigation is described for the period July 1962 through July 1972, and covers the following broad topics in detail: (1) sensor monoliths; (2) fabrication technology; (3) functional theory; (4) system methodology; and (5) deployment profile. A summary of the work and conclusions are given, along with extensive schematic diagrams of the final solid state imaging system product

NiMH battery forensics: Instrumentation, modelling and prognostics for identifying failure

Battery forensics is a growing research field that is becoming increasingly important with the introduction of hybrid-electric and electric vehicles. The need to correctly diagnose battery condition and predict signs of early failure is well recognised. Many presently used techniques are only applicable to laboratory situations where sensitive measurement is required or where complicated mathematical approaches are needed to assess battery condition. Advanced techniques are explored, such as extended Kalman filtering, to identify the challenges associated with analysis of multi-cell battery modules. Energy-recycling hardware is developed that is capable of efficiently cycling energy to and from cells connected in a series configuration. Switching a supercapacitor-bank-based energy store between series and parallel configurations, coupled with a bidirectional switch-mode power-supply, ensures that maximum energy is retained during the analysis cycle. Extended Kalman filtering (EKF) applied to three different battery models was used to quantify the internal component values of the battery equivalent circuits. The bulk-surface model was determined to be the most appropriate for the Toyota Prius battery modules as the EKF predicted component values converge to stable values, and the recovered voltage trace has a low error. However, the computational complexity when considering 12 series-connected NiMH cells, with their individual component variation with state-of-charge and state-of-health, make the EKF approach unviable. The data harvested during the energy recycling is used to calculate a new effective capacitance measure which relates directly to battery state-of-health. Not only is there a direct relationship between effective capacitance and state-of-health, but the (Q,V) coordinate of maximum effective capacitance on the charge-voltage plane, captured during battery discharge, is able to distinguish clearly between ordinary ageing and catastrophic cell failures