A review of microgrid development in the United States – A decade of progress on policies, demonstrations, controls, and software tools

Microgrids have become increasingly popular in the United States. Supported by favorable federal and local policies, microgrid projects can provide greater energy stability and resilience within a project site or community. This paper reviews major federal, state, and utility-level policies driving microgrid development in the United States. Representative U.S. demonstration projects are selected and their technical characteristics and non-technical features are introduced. The paper discusses trends in the technology development of microgrid systems as well as microgrid control methods and interactions within the electricity market. Software tools for microgrid design, planning, and performance analysis are illustrated with each tool's core capability. Finally, the paper summarizes the successes and lessons learned during the recent expansion of the U.S. microgrid industry that may serve as a reference for other countries developing their own microgrid industries

Risk based bridge data collection and asset management and the role of structural health monitoring

Peer reviewedPostprin

Meter Scoping Study

This report presents a summary of metering technology and cost information from past studies in an attempt to identify key barriers to more widespread implementation

Future directions in aeropropulsion technology

Future directions in aeropropulsion technology that have been identified in a series of studies recently sponsored by the U.S. Government are discussed. Advanced vehicle concepts that could become possible by the turn of the century are presented along with some of their projected capabilities. Key building-block propulsion technologies that will contribute to making these vehicle concepts a reality are discussed along with projections of their status by the year 2000. Some pertinent highlights of the NASA aeropropulsion program are included in the discussion

Design of an integrated airframe/propulsion control system architecture

The design of an integrated airframe/propulsion control system architecture is described. The design is based on a prevalidation methodology that uses both reliability and performance. A detailed account is given for the testing associated with a subset of the architecture and concludes with general observations of applying the methodology to the architecture

The State of the Art in Fuel Cell Condition Monitoring and Maintenance

Fuel cell vehicles are considered to be a viable solution to problems such as carbon emissions and fuel shortages for road transport. Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells are mainly used in this purpose because they can run at low temperatures and have a simple structure. Yet to make this technology commercially viable, there are still many hurdles to overcome. Apart from the high cost of fuel cell systems, high maintenance costs and short lifecycle are two main issues need to be addressed. The main purpose of this paper is to review the issues affecting the reliability and lifespan of fuel cells and present the state of the art in fuel cell condition monitoring and maintenance. The Structure of PEM fuel cell is introduced and examples of its application in a variety of applications are presented. The fault modes including membrane flooding/drying, fuel/gas starvation, physical defects of membrane, and catalyst poisoning are listed and assessed for their impact. Then the relationship between causes, faults, symptoms and long term implications of fault conditions are summarized. Finally the state of the art in PEM fuel cell condition monitoring and maintenance is reviewed and conclusions are drawn regarding suggested maintenance strategies and the optimal structure for an integrated, cost effective condition monitoring and maintenance management system

Testing Embedded Memories in Telecommunication Systems

Extensive system testing is mandatory nowadays to achieve high product quality. Telecommunication systems are particularly sensitive to such a requirement; to maintain market competitiveness, manufacturers need to combine reduced costs, shorter life cycles, advanced technologies, and high quality. Moreover, strict reliability constraints usually impose very low fault latencies and a high degree of fault detection for both permanent and transient faults. This article analyzes major problems related to testing complex telecommunication systems, with particular emphasis on their memory modules, often so critical from the reliability point of view. In particular, advanced BIST-based solutions are analyzed, and two significant industrial case studies presente