In this paper, a modified design for a thermoelectric distiller is proposed, constructed, and tested. The design modifications include adding an inclined cover for the thermoelectric module and a cooling fan. The thermoelectric module and the fan were operated by an open loop or a feedback control to have the desired productivity. As the distiller productivity depends on the operating conditions, these operating conditions are investigated to find the best performance with the highest pure water productivity. Furthermore. a comparison between the closed and the open loop for driving the cooling fan with different operating conditions is conducted. In this work, the mathematical model of the proposed distiller is derived. Experimental results illustrate the robustness of the proposed approach and they show that the suggested thermoelectric distiller with feedback control, for both cases with MPC and PID controllers, can increase pure water productivity by up to 150% when compared with t... [more]

Differential protection normally detects short circuits and ground faults in the windings of a power transformer and its terminals. Inter-turn faults refer to flashovers among the electrodes that arise only in a similar type of physical winding. Inter-turn faults can be examined when the adequate sum of turns is served as short-circuited. In electrical protection, it is difficult to detect inter-turn faults. An inter-turn fault of small magnitude is based on the limited number of turns that resultantly provide a large quantity of current. Due to this reason, protection that comes from the differential scenario possesses a higher degree of sensitivity without causing unwanted operations during external faults. In this paper, a protection-based stability method is proposed whereby external voltages are applied at the low-voltage (LV) side of the transformer while keeping the high-voltage (HV) side short-circuited. This was conducted using a three-phase power transformer (rating: 100 MVA,... [more]

The topic of reducing exhaust gas emissions from internal combustion engines in the areas of port and coastal waters is in line with the assumptions of the climate policy. The publication presents a proposal to reduce the energy associated with the movement of port vessels through the use of a specific pattern (shape and size) of their movement. In addition to controlling the formation of tugboats, the authors propose the use of a multi-agent system offering elements of autonomous control of the vessels, which adjusts the parameters of the formation depending on the tasks performed. The results of tests for four tugboats with a hull length of 32 m and a maximum speed of 13 knots, moving in formations of eight different configurations, were analyzed. Studies conducted on the basis of a simulated exit and return to port scenario at a distance of 11.4 nm showed the possibility of reducing energy consumption required for movement by 5.8% to even 57.6% for tugboats moving one after another,... [more]

Generally, utilities regulate the voltage on the long power distribution line within a permissible range by using a step voltage regulator (SVR), which is located around the middle of the line and operates according to the condition of the line current. However, as large-scale distributed generations (DG’s) are interconnected into distribution lines, it is difficult to maintain the line voltage properly owing to bi-directional power flow or reverse power flow. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel SVR tap-changing algorithm to solve the problem, considering line load conditions and reverse power flow. Its validity is verified through the PSCAD/EMTDC software tool and simulations.

Discussed in this study is a bidirectional power control technique for a three-phase grid connected inverter under different unbalanced grid conditions. Prior researchers have focused on either solving the unbalanced problem or controlling the power. However, this paper addresses both issues: solving the unbalanced problems of the point-of-common-coupling (PCC) voltages and grid currents, and reducing the large ripple in the real and reactive power while also applying a bidirectional power control under weak grid conditions. A phase-locked loop (PLL) is not required because a simpler PR controller was employed. A symmetrical components extraction method was used. Compared to previous symmetrical component techniques that used complicated transformations, this approach requires less computations. Since the unbalanced load issue has been resolved, other loads connected to the grid will not be impacted. MATLAB Simulink was used in simulation experiments, and a real-time interface platform... [more]

Long-haul heavy-duty vehicles, including trucks and coaches, contribute to a substantial portion of the modern-day European carbon footprint and pose a major challenge in emissions reduction due to their energy-intensive usage. Depending on the hydrogen fuel source, the use of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) for long-haul applications has shown significant potential in reducing road freight CO2 emissions until the possible maturity of future long-distance battery-electric mobility. Fuel cell heavy-duty (HD) propulsion presents some specific characteristics, advantages and operating constraints, along with the notable possibility of gains in powertrain efficiency and usability through improved system design and intelligent onboard energy and thermal management. This paper provides an overview of the FCEV powertrain topology suited for long-haul HD applications, their operating limitations, cooling requirements, waste heat recovery techniques, state-of-the-art in powertrain control, e... [more]

Sensorless control based on high-frequency square-wave voltage injection (HFSVI) is one of the most common sensorless control methods for synchronous reluctance motors (SynRMs). However, the injection frequency for SynRMs cannot be too high due to various factors. As the injection frequency decreases, the dead-time harmonic current will greatly affect the separation of high frequency signals. This paper analyzes the effect of dead-time harmonic current on the HFSVI-based sensorless control performance of SynRMs and proposes a source of position estimation error. Then, a dead-time compensation method suitable for filter-free HFSVI is proposed. It can estimate current vector spatial orientation without any low-pass filters (LPFs) and effectively compensate the impact of dead-time setting. The correctness of the theoretical analysis and the feasibility of the proposed methods in this paper are verified by experiments.

The purpose of this article is to present a methodical approach to increasing the efficiency of a tug with an azimuth stern drive (ASD). The difficulties in the bow-to-bow (as a reverse tractor) operations of an azimuth stern-drive tug, while pulling at the assisted (towed) ship’s bow, are investigated through a parametric study. The authors’ original generic analytical model of a tug in a steady state is utilised. Various design and operation options are also compared, which cover the escort speed, hawser angle, and relative location of the towing point, among others. The latter also means a shift to stern-to-bow operation. The thruster power required and the remaining surplus for executing new alignment (steering) orders are assessed. The study is, thus, aimed at energy savings for the whole operation and, consequently, at long-term harbour-tug-fleet energy effectiveness. The basic output of the present research is the comparison of the behavioural and control patterns of various tug... [more]

The imbalance of data samples and fluctuating operating conditions are the two main challenges faced by vibration data-driven fault diagnosis for the iron core looseness of saturable reactors in UHVDC thyristor valves. This paper proposes a vibration data-driven saturable reactor iron core looseness fault diagnosis strategy named CVG-MFICNN based on CVAE-GAN and MFICNN to overcome the two challenges. This strategy uses a novel 1-D CVAE-GAN model to produce generated samples and expand the training set based on imbalanced training samples. An MFICNN model structure is designed to allow the simultaneous processing of multimodal features such as the SST time-frequency spectrum, time-domain vibration sequence, frequency-domain power spectrum sequence, and time-domain statistics. Using these multimodal features and the MFICNN model, the hidden fault information in vibration data can be effectively mined. An experiment is conducted to collect vibration data of saturable reactors with differe... [more]

A zero-voltage switching (ZVS) H-bridge phase-shifted low-voltage high-current converter with saturable inductors is proposed in this paper. The introduction of saturable inductors solves the short circuit problem caused by high-frequency on−off of the power tube, and effectively inhibits high-frequency voltage oscillation and voltage spikes of the rectifier tube. In addition, when the current flowing through the saturable inductor does not change rapidly, it exhibits a low impedance and consumes very little power. The detailed design process of main parameters in the converter is presented to provide design reference for power supply workers. To verify the effectiveness of design, a 3 kW(15 V/200 A) prototype converter is built. This low-voltage high-current prototype has around 90% efficiency, and can suppress high-frequency voltage oscillation and voltage spikes, avoiding the short circuit problem of power tube, all of which are verified by experimentation.

To improve the control of active power in wind power clusters, an active power hierarchical predictive control method with multiple temporal and spatial scales is proposed. First, the method from the spatial scale divides the wind power clusters into the cluster control layer, sub-cluster coordination layer and single wind farm power regulation layer. Simultaneously, from the temporal scale, the predicted data are divided layer by layer: the 15 min power prediction is deployed for the first layer; the 5 min power prediction is employed for the second layer; the 1 min power prediction is adopted for the third layer. Secondly, the prediction model was developed, and each hierarchical prediction was optimized using MPC. Thirdly, wind farms are dynamically clustered, and then the output power priority of wind farms is established. In addition, the active power of each wind farm is controlled according to the error between the dispatch value and the real-time power with feedback correction... [more]

This article proposes a model-based method for the detection and phase location of interturn short fault (ISF) in the permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The simplified mathematical model of PMSG with ISF on dq-axis is established to analyze the fault signature. The current residuals are accurately estimated through Luenberger observer based on the expanded mathematical model of PMSG. In current residuals, the second harmonics are extracted using negative sequence park transform and angular integral filtering to construct the fault detection index. In addition, the unbalance characteristics of three-phase current after ISF can reflect the location of the fault phase, based on which the location indexes are defined. Simulation results for various operating and fault severity conditions primarily validate the effectiveness and robustness of diagnosis method in this paper.

In distributed power generation systems, grid-connected inverters are becoming an attractive means of delivering the energy generated from renewable sources into the grid. However, the performance of the current controller drastically decreases in the presence of model uncertainty, grid harmonics, filter parametric, and grid impedance variations, which can jeopardize the entire system’s stability. This paper presents a novel design of a super-twisting integral sliding mode control (ST-ISMC) strategy for the first time in the application of a three-phase voltage source grid-connected inverter. The designed controller has shown robustness and maintains a low total harmonic distortion (THD) in the presence of filter parameters drift, grid impedance variation, and grid harmonics distortion. The super-twisting action is added to remove the chattering problem associated with the conventional SMC strategy, and integral action is adopted to improve the grid’s current steady-state error. The mo... [more]

A small-scale grid-connected PV system that is easy to install and is inexpensive as a remote monitoring system may cause economic losses if its failure is not found and it is left unattended for a long time. Thus, in this study, we developed a low-cost fault detection remote monitoring system for small-scale grid-connected PV systems. This active monitoring system equipped with a simulation-based fault detection algorithm accurately predicts AC power under normal operating conditions and notifies its failure when the measured power is abnormally low. In order to lower the cost, we used a single board computer (SBC) with edge computing as a data server and designed a monitoring system using openHAB, an open-source software. Additionally, we used the Shewhart control chart as a fault detection criterion and the ratio between the measured and predicted ac power for the normal operation data as an observation. As a result of the verification test for the actual grid-connected PV system, i... [more]

This article reviews the principles and applications of passive spontaneous emission spectroscopy (SES) for the quantitative determination of alkali metal concentrations emitted from combustion processes. The combustion of fuels that contain a high alkali metal content (Na and/or K) is challenging, as alkali metals reduce the slag formation temperature and induce fouling, causing combustion facilities to shutdown prematurely. The in situ on-line quantification of alkali metals is, thus, a critical measure to control combustion processes, preventing slagging and fouling from occurring. This review shows that several SES systems, developed by the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), are inexpensive, portable, and useful for measuring the alkali metal content, and have been applied for biomass combustion as well as coal and municipal solid waste combustion, from laboratory-scale settings (20 kW) to industrial facilities (300 MW). Compared with other research, the SES syst... [more]

This paper proposes a comprehensive procedure to assess the condition of gas insulated switchgear (GIS) equipment by using the conventional weight and score method and introducing a conditional factor to improve the accuracy of the health index evaluation. Generally, the inspection and testing of GIS components are conducted according to manufacturer recommendations and guidelines in the international standards. However, this raw data has not been simplified and systematically processed for condition assessment. The score and weight technique are applied to transform the physical condition according to visible and measurable aging to numerical values in terms of component and bay health index values. The accuracy of the obtained health index has been improved by a conditional factor, which considers invisible aging factors, such as age, number of switching operations, degree of satisfactory operation, obsolescence, and adequacy of the interrupting rating. Here, a condition evaluation p... [more]

Demand response (DR) has a great potential for stabilizing the frequency of power systems. However, the performance is limited by the accuracy of the frequency detection, which is affected by measurement disturbances. To overcome this problem, this paper proposes a disturbance estimation-based Kalman filtering method, which is utilized for the frequency control. By using the rate of change of frequency (RoCoF), the Kalman filtering method can estimate the state of the ON/OFF loads well. In this way, the influence of detection error can be reduced, and the DR performance can be improved. Test results show that the proposed disturbance estimation-based Kalman filtering method has a higher accuracy of frequency detection than existing methods (such as the low-pass filter method) and therefore improves the frequency control performance of DR.

Nowadays, power systems’ Protection, Automation, and Control (PAC) functionalities are often deployed in different constrained devices (Intelligent Electronic Devices) following a coupled hardware/software design. However, with the increase in distributed energy resources, more customized controllers will be required. These devices have high operational and deployment costs with long development, testing, and complex upgrade cycles. Addressing these challenges requires that a ’revolution’ in power system PAC design takes place. Decoupling from hardware-dependent implementations by virtualizing the functionalities facilitates the transition from a traditional power grid into a software-defined smart grid. This article presents a survey of recent literature on software-defined PAC for power systems, covering the concepts, main academic works, industrial proof of concepts, and the latest standardization efforts in this rising area. Finally, we summarize the expected future technical, indu... [more]

ZnMn2O4 spinels are prepared by a simple hydrothermal route with control of the reaction time, ranging from 6 h to 18 h. The evolution of the structural and morphological parameters under the effect of time was analyzed by XRD, ATR-FTIR, XPS, and SEM-EDS. The XRD results show that for longer reaction times (18 h), the ZnMn2O4 spinel samples present a tetragonal structure with high crystallinity and an average crystallite size of 32.3 ± 1.7 nm, larger than those obtained for 6 h and 12 h. The ATR-FTIR spectra confirm the structural results, with well-defined peaks related to stretching vibrations of M-O (M = Zn, Mn) functional groups. XPS reveals the co-existence of several metal oxides and hydroxides at the outermost surface. SEM analysis shows that the samples present a pyramid morphology, better defined at 18 h, with an average particle size of 6.2 ± 1.5 µm. EDS analysis of ZnMn2O4 (18 h) reveals atomic ratios of 0.45, 0.22, and 0.50 for Zn/Mn, Zn/O, and Mn/O, respectively, in good a... [more]

Secure data aggregation is an important process that enables a smart meter to perform efficiently and accurately. However, the fault tolerance and privacy of the user data are the most serious concerns in this process. While the security issues of Smart Grids are extensively studied, these two issues have been ignored so far. Therefore, in this paper, we present a comprehensive survey of fault-tolerant and differential privacy schemes for the Smart Gird. We selected papers from 2010 to 2021 and studied the schemes that are specifically related to fault tolerance and differential privacy. We divided all existing schemes based on the security properties, performance evaluation, and security attacks. We provide a comparative analysis for each scheme based on the cryptographic approach used. One of the drawbacks of existing surveys on the Smart Grid is that they have not discussed fault tolerance and differential privacy as a major area and consider them only as a part of privacy preservat... [more]

ORC power units represent a promising technology for the recovery of waste heat in Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs), allowing to reduce emissions while keeping ICE performance close to expectations. However, the intrinsic transient nature of exhaust gases represents a challenge since it leads ORCs to often work in off-design conditions. It then becomes relevant to study their transient response to optimize performance and prevent main components from operating at inadequate conditions. To assess this aspect, an experimental dynamic analysis was carried out on an ORC-based power unit bottomed to a 3 L Diesel ICE. The adoption of a scroll expander and the control of the pump revolution speed allow a wide operability of the ORC. Indeed, the refrigerant mass flow rate can be adapted according to the exhaust gas thermal power availability in order to increase thermal power recovery from exhaust gases. The experimental data confirmed that when the expander speed is not regulated, it is pos... [more]

In this paper, a deep neural network (DNN)-based nonlinear model predictive controller (NMPC) is demonstrated using real-time experimental implementation. First, the emissions and performance of a 4.5-liter 4-cylinder Cummins diesel engine are modeled using a DNN model with seven hidden layers and 24,148 learnable parameters created by stacking six Fully Connected layers with one long-short term memory (LSTM) layer. This model is then implemented as the plant model in an NMPC. For real-time implementation of the LSTM-NMPC, an open-source package acados with the quadratic programming solver HPIPM (High-Performance Interior-Point Method) is employed. This helps LSTM-NMPC run in real time with an average turnaround time of 62.3 milliseconds. For real-time controller prototyping, a dSPACE MicroAutoBox II rapid prototyping system is used. A Field-Programmable Gate Array is employed to calculate the in-cylinder pressure-based combustion metrics online in real time. The developed controller w... [more]

Improving air quality, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and achieving independence from fossil fuels have led most countries towards deploying solar photovoltaics (PV) in the power distribution grid and electrifying the transportation fleet. Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are, in particular, one of the main culprits of injecting greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, making electric vehicles (EVs) an important tool in combating climate change. Despite their considerable environmental and economic benefits, the integration of PVs and EVs can introduce unique operational challenges for the power distribution grid. If not coordinated, high penetration of PVs and EVs can result in variety of power quality issues, such as instances of overvoltage and undervoltage, frequency fluctuations, and/or increased losses. This paper proposes a mixed-integer multi-objective nonlinear optimization model for optimal energy dispatch in a power distribution grid with high penetration o... [more]

This work presents a flexible strategy for RMS current reduction of healthy phases for brushless DC synchronous motors (BLDC) operating in phase opening failure, avoiding motor degradation without reducing its performance and allowing safe shutdown when a phase failure is detected. After the diagnosis of an open-phase failure, a corrective action divided into three steps is proposed. First, the traditional Six-Step operating mode with 120° electric degrees is changed to a new operating mode that uses the two healthy phases at 180° electric degrees to reduce torque loss due to phase failure. Second, a trapezoidal shape (with adjustable angles according to the RMS current level) is imposed as a current reference for the controller to reduce the current level and, consequently, improve the efficiency of the motor. Third, the passband of the speed control loop is reduced to minimize the influence of speed oscillations in controller failure. The experimental results presented show that the... [more]

Multilevel inverters (MLIs) are used in a variety of industrial applications in high- and medium-voltage systems. The modularity, high-power output from medium voltages, and low harmonic content are some of the advantages of MLIs. The reliability of MLIs is quite important. The reliability is affected by different kinds of faults occurring in the MLIs. In MLI circuits, switching devices are the most vulnerable components and have a major involvement in all types of faults. As an outcome, it is necessary to take proper corrective action in the event of a fault. This work provides a comprehensive review of different fault tolerant (FT) solutions for MLIs in the event of switch fault. Moreover, various single-phase FT MLI topologies are reviewed, along with their constructional features, merits, and demerits. This work also proposes a comparison approach that integrates novel factors to account for fault tolerance quantitatively. A comparison investigation verifies the effectiveness of th... [more]