Increasing security of supply by the use of a local power controller during large system disturbances

This paper describes intelligent ways in which distributed generation and local loads can be controlled during large system disturbances, using Local Power Controllers. When distributed generation is available, and a system disturbance is detected early enough, the generation can be dispatched, and its output power can be matched as closely as possible to local microgrid demand levels. Priority-based load shedding can be implemented to aid this process. In this state, the local microgrid supports the wider network by relieving the wider network of the micro-grid load. Should grid performance degrade further, the local microgrid can separate itself from the network and maintain power to the most important local loads, re-synchronising to the grid only after more normal performance is regained. Such an intelligent system would be a suitable for hospitals, data centres, or any other industrial facility where there are critical loads. The paper demonstrates the actions of such Local Power Controllers using laboratory experiments at the 10kVA scale

Efficient compact micro DBD plasma reactor for ozone generation for industrial application in liquid and gas phase systems

Ozone is well known as a powerful, fast reacting oxidant. Ozone based processes produce no by-product residual as non-reacted ozone decomposes to molecular oxygen. Therefore an application of ozone is widely accepted as one of the main approaches for a Sustainable and Clean Technologies development. There are number of technologies which require ozone to be delivered to specific points of a production network or reactors construction. Due to space constraints, high reactivity and short life time of ozone the use of ozone generators even of a bench top scale is practically limited. This requires development of mini/micro scale ozone generator which can be directly incorporated into production units. Our report presents a feasibility study of a new micro scale rector for ozone generation (MROG). Data on MROG calibration and indigo decomposition at different operation conditions are presented. At selected operation conditions with residence time of 0.25 s the process of ozone generation is not limited by reaction rate and the amount of ozone produced is a function of power applied. It was shown that the MROG is capable to produce ozone at voltage level starting from 3.5kV with ozone concentration of 5.28*10⁻⁶ (mol/L) at 5kV. This is in line with data presented on numerical investigation for a MROG. It was shown that in compare to a conventional ozone generator, MROG has lower power consumption at low voltages and atmospheric pressure. The MROG construction makes it applicable for both submerged and dry systems. With a robust compact design MROG can be used as an integrated module for production lines of high complexity

Ion drag EHD micropump with single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) electrodes

This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.Ion drag electrohydrodynamic (EHD) micropumps are promising in a number of micro-scale applications due to its small form factor, low power consumption, ability to work with dielectric heat transfer fluids, good controllability and absence of any moving parts. Ion drag EHD micro-pumps have been studied widely and the pressure head has been reported to depend on electrode material (i.e., work function), geometric configuration, electrode surface topology and applied electric field. One drawback of such pumps is the relatively low pressure head generation and high threshold voltage required for the onset of charge injection for practical applications. The presence of micro/nano features with sharp asperities on the emitter electrodes is likely to enhance the local electric field and charge injection significantly and thus, the pressure generation. The objective of this work is to investigate the effect of surface topology on the charge injection and pressure generation in HFE 7100. Experiments were performed using micropumps with smooth and single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) deposited on smooth gold electrodes. A lower threshold voltage, higher charge injection and pressure head was found for the micropump with SWCNT deposited on smooth electrodes compared to the no deposition case

Cosmological Magnetogenesis driven by Radiation Pressure

The origin of large scale cosmological magnetic fields remains a mystery, despite the continuous efforts devoted to that problem. We present a new model of magnetic field generation, based on local charge separation provided by an anisotropic and inhomogeneous radiation pressure. In the cosmological context, the processes we explore take place at the epoch of the reionisation of the Universe. Under simple assumptions, we obtain results (i) in terms of the order of magnitude of the field generated at large scales and (ii) in terms of its power spectrum. The amplitudes obtained (B ~ 8.10^(-6) micro-Gauss) are considerably higher than those obtained in usual magnetogenesis models and provide suitable seeds for amplification by adiabatic collapse and/or dynamo during structure formation.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Power Generation through Hybrid Micro wind Turbine Generator & Solar Module using Tracking Mechanism

In advancement of solar & wind power sector there are different types of research has been done in both large & small scale for power generation. In this paper we have focused on power generation to charge the battery of capacity 26Ah 12V, so we need 10% (2.6A) rated current to the battery and we are charging the battery through hybrid solar-wind system at micro level using tracking mechanism to capture more power from solar and wind. This experiment consist of 24 micro windmill with 6 bladed fan which consist of 3-3 dynamos each connected in series firstly and then output of 24 groups of series connected dynamos i.e. output of 72 dynamos taken in parallel finally and there are 10 solar panel of 3 watt each connected in series-parallel combination which are mounted on the top of panel structure also at the slope angle of 280 and tracking of solar started from 10 am to 3 pm & after 3 pm solar panel kept at home position or wind panel kept in west direction, after power generation from hybrid micro solar-wind system we store the energy in battery of 26Ah 12V using MPPT charger and lastly we compared the average efficiencies of hybrid solar-wind system separately i.e. with & without tracking mechanism and battery charging time also and found that the average efficiency of hybrid micro solar-wind system is higher and less charging time of battery in tracking mechanism in compare to without tracking mechanism

Review on Power Quality Enhancement and its effects on Micro Grid

Power generation through the renewable energy sources has become more viable and economical than the fossil fuel based power plants. By integrating small scale distributed energy resources, microgrids are being introduced as an alternative approach in generating electrical power at distribution voltage level. The power electronic interface provides the necessary flexibility, security and reliability of operation between micro-sources and the distribution system. The presence of non-linear and the unbalanced loads in the distribution system causes power quality issues in the Microgrid system. This paper explores and reviews different control strategies developed in the literature for the power quality enhancement in microgrids

Improvement of Reliability Indices in a Micro-grid System involving Renewable Generation and Energy Storage

Engineering (The Ohio State University Denman Undergraduate Research Forum)Integrating renewable energy sources is important to policy-makers worldwide, especially as the depletion of traditional energy sources and the declining health of the environment continue to be of critical concern. As the installation costs of renewable generation decrease, the incorporation of these sources into the grid is becoming more attractive and feasible. However, in order for renewable generation to be incorporated on a large scale, utilities must be able to guarantee that customers receive adequate and quality power, constituting a reliable system. Thus, ensuring the reliability of a grid system that includes sources of generation with low predictability and high variability, such as wind and solar, is investigated. Energy storage is shown to help eliminate or reduce the load demand that must be met by renewable generation and supply power when renewable generation is unavailable or insufficient, thereby increasing the reliability of the system. With increased research focusing on implementing a smart grid, this study implements a small-scale system called a micro-grid, which has the capability to disconnect from the main grid. This study focuses on a micro-grid in the islanding mode. A mixed integer optimization model of the problem is developed that maximizes the reliability of the micro-grid system by determining the number of critical and non-critical loads that can be satisfied at each time step. The maximization of the number of loads is constrained by the available renewable and stored generation in the system at each specific time step. The generation from wind and solar is estimated using a Weibull and Beta distribution respectively. The software Gurobi with CVX using MATLAB and the IEEE-9 bus system is used to solve the optimization problem and analyze the results. It is shown in this study that the System Average Interruption Frequency Index of the system improves with the incorporation of energy storage into the micro-grid. A specific case study showing the results from this research is demonstrated on a small-scale system in Honduras that includes wind and solar generation. This study shows the potential to improve the feasibility of renewable energy sources in the grid system by using energy storage, thereby lowering emissions in electricity generation.No embargoAcademic Major: Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Scalable production of graphene inks via wet-jet milling exfoliation for screen-printed micro-supercapacitors

The miniaturization of energy storage units is pivotal for the development of next-generation portable electronic devices. Micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) hold a great potential to work as on-chip micro-power sources and energy storage units complementing batteries and energy harvester systems. The scalable production of supercapacitor materials with cost-effective and high-throughput processing methods is crucial for the widespread application of MSCs. Here, we report wet-jet milling exfoliation of graphite to scale-up the production of graphene as supercapacitor material. The formulation of aqueous/alcohol-based graphene inks allows metal-free, flexible MSCs to be screen-printed. These MSCs exhibit areal capacitance (Careal) values up to 1.324 mF cm-2 (5.296 mF cm-2 for a single electrode), corresponding to an outstanding volumetric capacitance (Cvol) of 0.490 F cm-3 (1.961 F cm-3 for a single electrode). The screen-printed MSCs can operate up to power density above 20 mW cm-2 at energy density of 0.064 uWh cm-2. The devices exhibit excellent cycling stability over charge-discharge cycling (10000 cycles), bending cycling (100 cycles at bending radius of 1 cm) and folding (up to angles of 180{\deg}). Moreover, ethylene vinyl acetate-encapsulated MSCs retain their electrochemical properties after a home-laundry cycle, providing waterproof and washable properties for prospective application in wearable electronics

Effect of the CO2 enhancement on the performance of a micro gas turbine with a pilot-scale CO2 capture plant

Gas turbines are a viable and secure option both economically and environmentally for combined heat and power generation. Process modelling of a micro gas turbine for CO2 injection and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is performed. Further, this study is extended to assess the effect of the CO2 injection on the pilot-scale CO2 capture plant integrated with a micro gas turbine. In addition, the impact of the EGR on the thermodynamic properties of the fluid at different locations of the micro gas turbine is also evaluated. The micro gas turbine and CO2 injection models are validated against the set of experimental data and the performance analysis of the EGR cycle results in CO2 enhancement to 5.04 mol% and 3.5 mol%, respectively. The increased CO2 concentration in the flue gas, results in the specific reboiler duty decrease by 20.5 % for pilot-scale CO2 capture plant at 90 % CO2 capture rate for 30 wt. % MEA aqueous solution. The process system analysis for the validated models results in a much better comprehension of the impact of the CO2 enhancement on the process behaviour

ANALYSIS OF A MICRO GRID CONNECTED LOW VOLTAGE DISTRIBUTED GENERATION SYSTEM

With the continuous development of economy and social progress, the social requirement of power network is more and more high. This paper, as a basis research of distributed generation, proceed mainly from the impact of distributed generation on power grid, detailed fine analysis of the influence of all kinds of distributed generation on power network adverse, including power system stability, power quality, power supply reliability effect. In order to avoid these adverse effects, we combining the distributed grid technology and smart micro grid, put distributed generation as a branch of the micro grid that can be ideal to connect grid and can avoid most of the problems mentioned above. Distributed intelligent micro grid system uses variety of new energy supply, it is a comprehensive model of power electronic technology, distributed generation, renewable energy power technology and energy storage technology .The paper provides a reference for the use of future distributed power generation. Technological advancements in the field of renewable energy power generation are made it possible to think of micro grids. This technology is providing to be beneficial in making localized areas self-sufficient in power management. Being at low voltage (440 V Line-to-Line (L-L)-11kv) for Three Phase and 230 V for single phase networks, the micro grid can deliver needs of domestic as well as small scale industries (SSI) which together consume a few kilo watts (KW) of power. This paper focuses on single phase grid connected system catering the needs of few domestic as well as small scale industries. Solar energy coupled with a storage system is considered here so that the reliability of the system is improved. MATLAB R2015 a Simulink is used to simulate the model