Power Electronics and Sustainable Energy (PEASE) Research Lab
Power Electronics and Sustainable Energy (PEASE) Research Lab is conducting research in the broad area of power electronics. Current research is focused on electric vehicles, wireless charging, multilevel converters for medium voltage applications, low and high power electric drives, HVDC transmission, grid integration of renewable energy sources, Wide band gap device based converter systems etc. The research lab is equipped with state of the art research facilities and brief information of this is given below.
- High Power Density, Compact SiC MOSFET converter systems
Wide band gap SiC MOSFET converters are the next generation high frequency, high power density converter systems. The lab is equipped with SiC MOSFET based high power three-phase bidirectional DC to AC voltage source converter with a rating of 1200V, 450kVA. Additionally this facility has several 1200V, 20A half bridge converters modules. These are complete unit with built in voltage and current sensors and gate drivers. Suitable for rapid prototyping where the PWM signals can be directly connected to the converters. Interface signals are compatible with modern digital controllers based on TEXAS DSP , dSPACE and FPGA based controllers and OPAL-RT, RTDS and Typhoon HIL systems. The half bridge modules have modular structure in pace with the current research trends in power electronics suitable for research in packaging, reusability, fault tolerant studies, reliability studies, etc.
- Multi-level converter systems
Several reconfigurable cascaded H-Bridge modules, three-level NPC converter modules and Half-bridge/Full bridge sub-modules for MMC are available under this facility . Modularity, which is the current trend in power electronics in packaging is maintained and these are reconfigurable type, based on research needs , converters of required topology with desired number of levels can be fabricated in a short time. All the modules are equipped with current and voltage sensors, gate drives with built in protection and interface is compatible with modern digital controllers and HIL systems. Synchronized Space vector PWM studies, Grid interface of converters, Auto Tuning of Grid connected converters, MMC based back to back connected HVDC systems, Multilevel inverter powered electric drives are some of the research works currently progress under this system. The facilities under this system are H-Bridge modules, Three –level NPC modules, Half Bridge module for MMC, Grid emulator , Digital controller s-dSPACE 1104, TMS 28335,2837, Typhoon 604 HIL and dSPACE , 8 channel high bandwidth digital storage oscilloscopes, and Electric Motor –generator set. MATLAB/SIMULINK, PSIM,PSCAD software. A Chroma 62100H-600S -10kW, 600V, 200Hz MPPT update rate Solar array simulation, MPPT Testing, shadowing, weather conditions simulation is also available.Additonal faciites are 5kW, 50V, 20A, 5kW, 80V, 380A DC programmable loads useful for testing DC/DC, AC/DC converters. Testing of both low voltage high current and high voltage low current converters is possible. These can be configured as programmable sources also. The lab is equipped with 400V , 20A three phase Ac programmable electronic load which can be configured as single phase AC load. These units are extensively used for research related to converters and drives.
- Electric Vehicle Drive Train Development System
This section of the Lab is equipped with high performance PMSM Motors, BLDC motors, reluctance motors, Open End Winding Induction Motors and Compact voltage source converters. The lab has recently developed a novel ultra-high gain DC to DC converter (Patent application under review) which will be used in Electric Vehicle as interface unit between Battery and drive. The Lab also has developed a novel Open End Winding Induction Motor drive based Dual Four Wheel Differential Drive for Electric Vehicles. Currently the studies are going on in integrating these systems, battery power management studies, fault tolerant studies in four wheel drives, power management during fault. Some of the artificial intelligence based battery power management and advanced drive control algorithms are under progress for efficient regeneration. The Lab is equipped with Chroma 17020 Regenerative Battery Pack Test System 10kW, 8ch x 60V , 10kW, 4ch x 500V with thermal data logger , Test high power battery chargers, battery packs with multiple cells and emulate battery energy storage system (BESS) for grid applications. This unit can be used for testing and certification of batteries as per international standards. This system is equipped with state of the art digital controllers, HIL systems, programmable loads, high bandwidth digital storage scopes, converter systems and all necessary software for the drive test and battery power management. The digital oscilloscopes are equipped with FET probes, high voltage (up to 2kV) active voltage probes and current probes (upto 150A) with DC to several MHz bandwidth, eight channel with facility to measure efficiency in a dual inverter systems, with power analysis and harmonic analysis software. This unit also has high bandwidth isolated four channel digital storage oscilloscopes for direct measurement of floating ground voltages in EV and drive systems.
- Electric Power Quality Research System
The lab has set up this facility with an industry sponsored research project where the power quality problems such as low power factor and harmonic problems in the oil rig power system are studied. Both active filter and passive filter solutions are developed and their performance are compared. Different industry solutions are developed and transferred to industry. This unit is equipped with high end power quality measuring tools such as Flue 340 Power Quality Analyzer, Yokogawa WT3000 Power quality Analyzer and high bandwidth 8 channel digital storage oscilloscope ,with high voltage (up to 2kV) active voltage probes and current probes (upto 150A) with DC to several MHz bandwidth and harmonic analysis software. An experimental prototype representing the oil rig drive power system is designed and developed in the lab. The Chroma 61830, 30kVA, 600V, DC to 300Hz, regenerative gird emulator, which can be configured as power amplifier compatible with RTDS and OPAL RT HIL systems is used to program the different grid conditions of the Rig power system . This grid emulator can create different types grid condition in the lab environment. 50Hz/60Hz grid, weak bus characteristics with programmable gird resistance , harmonic distortions, voltage fluctuations, voltage dips , harmonics up to 50th order, different types of grid faults, unbalance, distortion etc.
- Hardware in Loop (HIL) Systems and Digital controllers
Thyphoon HIL 602 and 604 FPGA based powerful HIL simulators with Power electronics toolbox, signal conditioning toolbox , dSPACE ds1007 Single core FPGA, with Matlab interface, Electronics HIL library. State of the art hardware in loop simulators specifically designed for power electronics applications. Simulates virtual hardware to help researchers design and test controllers before going to real hardware implementation. dSPACE allows Hardware-in-loop simulation and controller prototyping with MATLAB/ Simulink environment. Greatly helpful for researchers in hardware implementation for even the most complex systems. The Lab is equipped with Texas DSP TMS F28335,28337,28069 28379 , dSPCE 1104 and FPGA based controllers and these controllers are compatible with MATLAB/SIMULINK and above HIL systems.
- Modular Multilevel Converter based HVDC System
Five level modular multi level converter test set up with modular submodules fitted with power switches, gate drivers, voltage and current sensors is designed and fabricated in the lab. The unit can be configured as fifteen level single phase converter. This unit can be used to conduct research on HVDC systems, Grid connected converter studies and MMC powered drives related research. Auto tuning of the Grid connected aC to DC MMC converter and DC to AC MMC converter, Fault tolerant studies in MMC bipolar HVDC system are some of the research works currently in progress. The complete development and research unit consisting of necessary software such as Matlab/ Simulink : All tool boxes including, Power electronics, Power systems simulations , PSIM , PSCAD, ETAP with Electrical Power System Analysis, harmonics, load flow studies, electromagnetic studies with research licenses are available in this system.
- PCB Assembly and Prototype Development Facility
The lab is equipped with PCB design software like Ultium PCB design software with simulation, thermal analysis libraries, Surface mount soldering and de-soldering station. This facility is sued by researchers to develop the necessary PCBs for the above systems. Current sensor boards, voltage sensor boards, interface circuit between the converters, sensors, digital controllers, signal condition boards and protection circuits are some of the PCBs developed in the lab using this facility. These PCBs are standard building blocks for the above experimental set ups. Following are some of the PCBs developed in the lab using this facility
- Machine Design , Analysis and machines condition monitoring facility
The facility is equipped with MATLAB and ANSYS : Numerical Analysis and Simulation, Finite Element Analysis tools for electrical machine design, electromagnetic simulations. Design of fractional slot machines, in wheel motors for EVs, Less permanent magnet machines, Power Electronic transformers, condition monitoring of Machines are the research activities in this facility. The lab is taking the help of local industry for the fabrication of machines as per the design.