Constraints Perceived by Students in School Vegetable Gardening

The study was conducted in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala to identify the constraints experienced by students in the course of engaging in school vegetable gardening programme. Ten schools were selected for data enumeration. A total of 130 respondents with 100 students comprising ten students each and 30 teachers comprising three each, from each school were selected for meeting the objectives of the study. The reaction to each constraint was obtained on a four-point continuum namely most important, important, less important and least important with the score 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively. Mean rank cumulative index for each constraint was worked out and the constraints were ranked and catalogued. The major constraints as perceived by students in school vegetable garden projects were, high input cost followed by lack of student’s participation, lack of teacher’s involvement, non-availability of implements, high labour cost, poor storage facilities and lack of knowledge about gardening

Experimental evaluation of hybrid cycloconverters

Power converters consisting of naturally commutated thyristors such as cycloconverters and current source inverters were the first used in driving electrical motors with variable speed but now due to their inferior performance compared to forced commutated converters, their use is restricted in the high voltage/high power range where the performance and cost of forced commutated switching devices is not competitive yet. Hybrid cycloconverters proposed recently improve the performance of cycloconverters by adding an auxiliary forced commutated inverter with reduced installed power that enhances the control over the circulating current and improves the quality of the output voltage. This paper evaluates the performance of a few standard and hybrid cycloconverter arrangements using simulation and experimental results

Control and grid integration of MW-range wind and solar energy conversion systems

Solar-based energy generation has increased by more than ten times over the same period. In total, worldwide electrical energy consumption increased by approximately 6340 TWh from 2003 to 2013. To meet the challenges created by intermittent energy generation sources, grid operators have increasingly demanded more stringent technical requirements for the connection and operation of grid-connected intermittent energy systems, for instance concerning fault ride through capability, voltage and frequency support, and inertia emulation. Ongoing developments include new or improved high-voltage converters, power converters with higher power density, control systems to provide ride-through capability, implementation of redundancy schemes to provide more reliable generation systems, and the use of high-voltage direct current (HVdc) links for the connection of large off-shore intermittent energy systems

Fast convergence delayed signal cancellation method for sequence component separation

Delayed Signal Cancellation (DSC) is one of the methods used to separate the negative and positive sequence components in unbalanced 34 systems. In this paper a DSC methodology with a fast convergence time is proposed and is shown that an improved separation of the positive and negative sequences is feasible. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed methodology

Repetitive control for high-performance resonant pulsed power supply in radio frequency applications

This paper presents a novel three phase series resonant parallel loaded (SRPL) resonant converter topology for radio frequency (RF) applications. The proposed converter is capable to produce as output voltage a series of “long pulses”, each one lasting 1ms in time. Three individual single phase resonant stages are able to operate independently in conjunction with three separate single phase output rectification stages. Due to this important feature, the converter has a strong ability of rejecting the influence of unbalance in the resonant tanks. A PI + Repetitive Control (RC) strategy has been used for the output pulsed voltage regulation, resulting in a fast rise time, reduced overshoot, and constant amplitude. The soft-switching of semiconductor devices is ensured at full power by a combined frequency and phase shift modulation (CFPS), even in the presence of large tank unbalances

Power conversion for a novel AC/DC aircraft electrical distribution system

This paper proposes a novel and compact AC/DC electrical distribution system for new generation aircraft. In these new aircraft power systems, all loads are fed by two dc bus systems: at 28V and at +/-270V. The electrical distribution system, whose design and implementation are described in this paper, has only one primary AC source (360-900Hz at 230V) with all the required dc voltage levels being derived from this source. This solution enables elimination of the complex mechanical coupling apparatus currently used, for fixed frequency AC systems, to maintain the generator speed at constant level while the engines operate at variable speed. Under the proposed solution, all conversion stages needed to generate the various output voltage levels are implemented using power converters assembled in one unit. Each converter has a current control loop in order to regulate the output current even during output line short circuits and also to limit the inrush current to the circuit at turn-on. To prove the concept a 5 kW prototype was designed and tested, and demonstrated to meet all the specifications within relevant standards regarding input and output power quality

An enhanced dq-based vector control system for modular multilevel converters feeding variable speed drives

Modular multilevel converters (M2C) are considered an attractive solution for high power drive applications. However, energy balancing within the converter is complex to achieve, particularly when the machine is operating at low rotational speeds. In this paper, a new control system, based on cascaded control loops and a vector-power-voltage (vPV) model of the M2C, is proposed. The control system is implemented in a dq-synchronous frame rotating at ωe rad/s with the external loop regulating the capacitor voltages using proportional-integral (PI) controllers. The internal loop controls the converter currents using PI and resonant controllers. In addition, the control systems required to operate the machine at other points, i.e., at medium and high rotational speeds, are also discussed in this paper. Experimental results obtained with an M2C-based drive laboratory prototype with 18 power cells are presented in this paper

Self-tuning resonant control of a 7-leg back-to-back converter for interfacing variable speed generators to 4-wire loads

This paper considers the control of a 7-leg back-to-back Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) arrangement feeding a 4-wire load from a 3-phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) operating at variable speed. The PMSG is controlled using a sensorless Model Reference Adaptive System (MRAS) to obtain the rotor position angle. The 7-leg converter is regulated using Resonant Controllers (RCs) at the load side and self-tuning resonant controllers at the generator side. The control system is augmented by a feed-forward compensation algorithm which improves the dynamic performance during transients. Experimental results, obtained from a prototype, are presented and discussed

Robustness analysis and experimental validation of a fault detection and isolation method for the modular multilevel converter

This paper presents a fault detection and isolation (FDI) method for open-circuit faults of power semiconductor devices in a modular multilevel converter (MMC). The proposed FDI method is simple with only one sliding mode observer (SMO) equation and requires no additional transducers. The method is based on an SMO for the circulating current in an MMC. An open-circuit fault of power semiconductor device is detected when the observed circulating current diverges from the measured one. A fault is located by employing an assumption-verification process. To improve the robustness of the proposed FDI method, a new technique based on the observer injection term is introduced to estimate the value of the uncertainties and disturbances, this estimated value can be used to compensate the uncertainties and disturbances. As a result, the proposed FDI scheme can detect and locate an open-circuit fault in a power semiconductor device while ignoring parameter uncertainties, measurement error and other bounded disturbances. The FDI scheme has been implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) using fixed point arithmetic and tested on a single phase MMC prototype. Experimental results under different load conditions show that an open-circuit faulty power semiconductor device in an MMC can be detected and located in less than 50ms

Fault detection for modular multilevel converters based on sliding mode observer

This letter presents a fault detection method for modular multilevel converters (MMC) which is capable of lo¬cating a faulty semiconductor switching device in the circuit. The proposed fault detection method is based on a sliding mode observer (SMO) and a switching model of a half-bridge, the approach taken is to conjecture the location of fault, modify the SMO accordingly and then compare the observed and measured states to verify, or otherwise, the assumption. This technique requires no additional measurement elements and can easily be implemented in a DSP or micro-controller. The operation and robustness of the fault detection technique are confirmed by simulation results for the fault condition of a semiconductor switching device appearing as an open-circuit