Inverting Nx and 2Nx non-isolated multilevel boost converter (Inverting Nx and 2Nx MBC) configurations for renewable energy applications is proposed in this work. Proposed converters are suitable for DC Link renewable energy applications where several negative voltage levels are required with self-balancing such as photovoltaic (PV) multilevel inverters systems, hybrid electric vehicles. Voltage generated through such sources is very small in magnitude and needs to be boost with high conversion ratio for practical use. The striking features of the proposed converter configurations are i) Single control switch ii) Continuous input current iii) High output voltage with moderate duty cycle iii) Non-isolated topologies iv) low rating component v) For increasing the voltage levels according to the essential gain, number of diodes and capacitor circuitry is needed to add without disturbing the main circuit vi) self balanced voltage levels. The mode of operation and effect of inductor Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) on voltage conversion ratio and effect of diode is also discussed in detail. Proposed topology is superior to multilevel buck boost converter (Nx MBBC) because of the continuous input current and higher gain. MATLAB software results are presented with discussion and the results always showed good conformity with theoretical analysis.

This paper discusses the design estimation of an inductor in the 2-level and 4-level DC-DC boost converter for the inductance and volume reductions based on maximum product of the inductor voltage and inductor charging time. Two multilevel DC-DC boost converters were compared in term of inductors design, i.e., 2-level and 4-level DC-DC boost converter. The finding shows that the required inductance and inductor volume of the 4-level DC-DC boost converter are approximately 11.11% and 19.25%, respectively compared to the 2-level DC-DC boost converter. The simulation results show that the inductor current ripple was 0.55 A when the inductors 200 uH and 1800 uH were used in the 2-level and 4-level DC-DC boost converters, respectively. Thus reductions of the inductance and the inductor volume were achieved in the 4-level DC-DC converter.

Multilevel inverters, an approach for harmonic cancellation, have gained worldwide interest. They provide an output desired waveform that exhibits multiple-steps voltage-levels with minimum distortion. This paper discusses about optimization of a cascaded H-bridge (CHB) single phase seven and nine levels multilevel inverter for harmonic reduction. In order to minimising the harmonic content of the waveform output, accurate switching angle is calculated based on Newton Raphson. The output waveform of the multilevel inverter can be improved using Optimization Harmonic Stepped Waveform of Selective Harmonic Elimination (OHSW-SHE) technique. The switching angle for optimization has been simulated using MATLAB/Simulink.

New LY converter topologies of DC-DC XY family for renewable energy applications are articulated in this paper. Four LY topologies are presented in this paper and proposed topologies provide an operative solution for renewable energy applications which requires a high inverting voltage gin and minimum internal resistance; such as a photovoltaic MLI system, high voltage applications and electrical drives. The conspicuous features of proposed LY converter topologies are i) Single power control switch ii) Single Input source iii) Inverting output voltage iv) Transformer-less converter topologies v) High inverting voltage gain with moderate duty ratio v) Less number of power devices and components. The proposed topologies have minimum internal resistance and its effect on voltage gain of LY converter is discussed in detail. The MATLAB simulation results are presented and the results always showed good conformity with theoretical analysis and also validates the functionality the proposed LY converter topologies of the XY converter family.

In this study, a microcontroller based controller for Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) integrated with Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system was designed and developed. Microcontroller is chosen because of its features suit perfectly for the complexity and flexibility of the developed controller. The BESS uses a valve-regulated lead acid battery and the controller working principle is based on peak shaving application. Thus, the main function of the controller is to control the battery charging and discharging process to fulfill the peak demand, hence prolong battery lifetime. This work is divided into two main parts, the hardware and software development. The hardware development includes solar PV, battery and load connection, charging, discharging, and control circuits. The software consists of microcontroller programming and controller algorithms. In addition, LCD module and LED are also included for display and status indicator purpose. Based on the testing result, the developed battery controller is suitable to perform the peak shaving application. Moreover, the controller performance is also fast and efficient with its simultaneous operation based on the changes of load demand. Overall, cost saving, reduction in utility bills and a user friendly system were achieved with the developed battery controller.

The main goal of Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) problem is to find an optimal operating condition for the committed generating units in order to minimize the total operating cost while meet the system demand and constraints. The practical ELD problem consists non-convex cost function that challenges the traditional algorithm to obtain the global optimum solution. The input-output characteristics of modern generator are non-linear due to the valve-point effect. This paper presents a new approach for determining the optimal solution for ELD problem based on Firefly Algorithm (FA). To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method, three standard test systems are considered based on different sizes of the system. Test system 1 consists of 6 unit generators with non-convex cost function considering the transmission losses while test system 2 and 3 consists of 13 and 40 unit generators respectively without transmission losses. The results of the proposed method have been compared with other methods in term optimal cost, convergence characteristics and robustness. It found that the FA can provide batter solution compared to GA-PS-SQP, MPSO and NIPSO.

This study deals with estimation of the electricity demand of Iran on the basis of economic criteria using a genetic-based approach called Gene Expression Programming (GEP) as an expression-driven approach. The GEP-based mathematical model is provided based on population, gross domestic product, exports, and imports. The proposed model is derived based on available real data of 21 years (1992-2006). To validate the model in prediction, the electricity demand between 2007 and 2012 was calculated by the GEP model. The result was compared with the real demand during this period. To show the accuracy of the model, the result obtained by GEP model is compared with the results obtained from Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) as the two conventional methods. In addition, a five-fold cross-validation and future year prediction (the data related to the year 2013 as the blind or unseen dataset) were used to show the robustness of the model in predicting the electricity demand. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the important independent variables affecting electricity demand.

This article aims to determine technical-economic viability of on-grid PV market for residential houses in Mangystau region, located in southwest of Kazakhstan. This region of the country was chosen for its favourable location and generous annual insolation. The study considered PV system modules made of local high quality silicon manufactured by «Astana Solar» LLP. A 4.6 kWp-29m2 PV system installed on the roof of a typical cottage house in Aktau city (capital of Mangystau region) was the proposed scenario. Results demonstrate that proposed system may export 6 MWh of electricity to the grid per year. Feed-in-tariff (FIT) of 34.61 KZT/kWh was considered in the analysis as a recently approved policy in the country. An estimated CAPEX of 1 815 665 KZT subject to a 50% subsidy by DAMU Government fund in place, with the remainder 50% taken as a loan with interest rate of 7% were assumed. Results of the Life Cycle Cost Assessment of the project led to an IRR of 21%, NPV of 513014 KZT, and B-C ratio of 1.57. The simple payback for the proposed 4.6 kWp system would be 5.8 years. The effect of using a second-tier bank and a FIT increased in 10 KZT/kWh are also assessed.

Kazakhstan's economy is very energy intensive: its GDP energy intensity in 2014 was 53% times higher than the world average and 130% higher than in Germany. It is a country with large territory and varying economic structure, climatic conditions, infrastructure and resources from region to region. Decomposition of energy use by its regions and sectors allows to better understand the drivers of energy. This paper analyses the effect of sectoral structure on energy use and energy efficiency of economy by regions. There are large disparities in energy intensities of regions with 11 times difference from the lowest to highest. The main findings are that energy intensity of regional economies declines with increasing GRP per capita. This is due to the low share of energy-intensive industry (energy and metallurgical) and high share of services and lower energy-intensive enterprises (oil and gas) in wealthier regions. Regional indicators should serve as a basis for national purposes or, conversely, of the national goals should be developed regional indicators. Regional indicators should take into account local conditions and needs, and in the amount required to meet national targets, and load distribution by region should be carried out without neglecting the initial conditions.

The performance of energy management strategy is extremely relied on control of power flow in both mechanical and electrical system of the vehicle [1]. However, it is very difficult to acquire the suitable method in controlling the power flow due to nonlinear system nature and multiple power sources available in series HEV. In this research, fuzzy logic control was designed for discharge and charge of the batteries using three different shape and distribution of membership function. Membership function shape and distribution slightly affect the performance of power flow between ICE-generator and batteries. Based on simulation, the Triangular MF is decided for the system since it can compensate the power flow performance and lower the fuel consumption. The simulation results show the effectiveness of fuzzy logic control in distributing power flow between ICE-generator and batteries to drive the electric motor.

There are still many off-grid areas in Malaysia and they mainly depend on standalone diesel generators for electricity. Situated in a tropical region, Malaysia receives an abundance of solar irradiance throughout the year and photovoltaic (PV) systems can be one of the possible energy sources to complement the diesel generators in the remote areas, to reduce the reliance on diesel generators. This translates into the reduced fossil fuel consumption, hence bringing an economic benefit to residents in the remote areas. However, one issue associated with photovoltaics is the intermittency its power generation. Energy storage system offers a solution which can be used in conjunction with the PV-diesel generator system. The energy storage system ensures energy supply security and reliability by storing up excess solar energy for later use in the energy deficit situation. In this study, a PV-Battery-Diesel Generator system is modelled in Matlab Simulink. The main purpose of the study is to obtain the optimal system size and control strategy which yields the minimum cost of energy. Load following and cycle charging control strategies are devised for the model developed. The simulation results show that the COE reduction using the PV-battery-diesel generator is as high as 10.5%.

This paper evaluates the probability of piezoelectric approach as energy scavenging devices for roadway applications using Two-Degree-of-Freedom (2DOF) electromechanical model. The main energy source of the scavenging device is generated from the moving vehicles that passing through the road surface. As per linear theory of piezoelasticity, a Two-Degree-of-Freedom (2DOF) electromechanical model for the piezoelectric harvesting unit is used in describing the harvester performance in single-lane and two-lane road. In this paper, the APC piezoelectric ceramic (APC 855) has been choosen as the favoured piezoelectric material as it had a high piezoelectric charge constant and high piezoelectric constant values. Also, a Cellular Automata (CA) model has been utilised in traffic model. Single circle-shaped Piezoelectric Cymbal Transducer (PCT) has been applied in a single-lane and two-lane traffic models in which the generated power in both cases are 35 mW and 51 mW, respectively. With respect to these outcomes, a total of 170 kW/ km of power could be generated if a multiple PCT arrays are laid along the highway road. Hence, it has been shown that the proposed electromechanical-traffic model possess a great potential to be used in the applications of the macro-scale roadway electric power generation systems.

This paper presents the design and implementation of low power stand-alone inverter for single PV module and 24 V batteries input. The stand-alone micro-inverter consists of push-pull DC/DC converter, full bridge single-phase inverter and LC filter. The regulating pulse-width-modulators (PWM) chip (SG3524) is used to drive MOSFET for switching the push-pull DC/DC converter. Sinewave pulse-width-modulation (SPWM) signals are generated using dsPIC33F64MC802 microcontroller. The SPWM signals drive the full bridge single-phase inverter through an optocoupler gate drive. The complete design was simulated using Psim software environment and the prototype was verified experimentally.

The usage of power electronic devices has been widely used in domestic appliances and industrial applications. Consequently, it will create such a huge problem in terms of the power quality in distribution system. This is because non-linear loads generate a non-sinusoidal waveform passes through the distribution system which leads to voltage and current harmonics. Although the implementation of MLI with PWM control scheme produces less harmonic output, yet by installing non-linear loads into the system still indicate high harmonics effect. This paper demonstrates a method of mitigation harmonic using single phase shunt active power filter APF based on Fast Fourier Transform method for cascaded multilevel inverter. The results successfully mitigate current harmonics by having the THD value is lower than 5% which comply with the IEEE Standard 519-1992. The model is designed in MATLAB/Simulink in order to carry out the simulation and it is proven that the single phase shunt APF based on FFT technique is capable to reduce harmonic that are generated by nonlinear loads.

Frequency regulation by a fast-response energy storage system (ESS) is required, especially with the anticipated higher penetration of renewable energy in near future. In this paper, ESS is proposed to be the main frequency regulation provision in the power grid. The feasibility of utilizing ESS continuously is modeled in MATLAB/Simulink where offset heuristics is proposed to conserve its capacity. The proposal showcases the potential of ESS to largely replace spinning reserves in the power grid.

This paper proposes an application of a recent nature inspired optimization technique namely Moth-Flame Optimization (MFO) algorithm in solving the Optimal Reactive Power Dispatch (ORPD) problem. In this paper, loss minimization is used as objective function of ORPD problem where the best combination of control variables such as voltage magnitude, transformer setting and injected MVAR will be obtained by MFO. To show the effectiveness of proposed algorithm, an IEEE 30 bus system is utilized and compared with other algorithms available in literature. The results show that MFO is able to obtain less total system loss than those other algorithms

Optimal power dispatch is an optimization procedure to determine the schedule of generating units to serve the power demand while meeting the system constraints. It usually aims to minimize the generation cost or emission amount of generating units. This paper presents the attempts to get the optimal schedule of generators. The optimal power dispatch is discussed either as a single objective or as a multi-objective problem. In each case, the methods of optimization and the solution methodologies are presented.

This paper presents the behaviors and properties of Kraft paper used for transformer insulation with effect of palm oil and coconut oil. Palm oil and coconut oil are chosen as a transformer oil because it has the potential to be used as transformer oil which is more environmentally friendly. Three types of Kraft paper which have the same thickness and width have been used in this research. The test con-ducted in this experiment comprises on analyzing obser-vation of the Kraft paper ageing process, the breakdown High Voltage Direct Current test, Impulse Voltage test, carbon track and erosion analysis. Three samples of Kraft paper have been immersed in palm oil and coconut oil up to 90 days to observe the absorption rate. All samples reach saturation level start at 70 days of immersion. Breakdown test which consist of High Voltage Direct Cur-rent test and Impulse Voltage test have been done based on normal, Kraft paper immersed in palm oil and coconut oil condition. Based on the result from breakdown test and analysis of erosion, it was found that Billerud Kraft paper has become the best sample among the Kraft pa-pers in terms of level of damage when immersed in palm oil and coconut oil.

The integration of distributed generation (DG) into the distribution grid is increasing with the purpose to improve the power quality and to ensure supply reliability. However, the integration of DG into the grid may significantly influence the resultant fault current in the network. As such, the question arises as to whether the conventional protection settings remain valid with the integration of DG. In addition, the DG can be either a synchronous generator type or the inverter-based type. The different types of DG will further alter the resultant fault current. Consequently, this paper will also conduct a comparative study of the impact to the conventional protection scheme when different types of DG is integrated into the distribution system.

Synchronous generator is one of the harmonic sources despite the non-linear load. Zig-zag transformer can be used to filter third harmonic originating from synchronous generator from entering the power system network. During ground fault, the fundamental and third harmonic fault currents share the same path when returning to generator neutral. This will result in higher fault current flowing in neutral cable. The aim of this paper is to study the contribution of third harmonic fault current from synchronous generator with zig-zag transformer filtering method during three-phase to ground (TFG) fault. Laboratory scale experiments were conducted to determine the degree of contribution of the third harmonic current. The presence of neutral earthing resistor (NER) and fault impedance (ZF) are the scenarios in the experiments during normal and filter (using zig-zag transformer) modes. The contribution of third harmonic current to the overall fault level during TFG fault is analyzed for each case. The results show that the NER presence has increased the zero sequence impedance. Thus, NER will lower third harmonic current regardless of with or without ZF and under normal or filter mode. In contrast, the third harmonic contribution to fault current is at the highest when NER and ZF are absent under normal and filter modes. When ZF is present, the third harmonic contribution depends on the effective zero sequence impedance of the network.

Ability of overhead insulators to insulate the power lines and carrying the weight of the line conductor are considered to be of basic importance to the transmission system. However, these insulators can be broken for various reasons during their service life. Although research studies shows that the existence of broken glass insulator or stub as part of complete string may alter the local voltage distribution, the knowledge on the stub insulator is still insufficient. The insufficiency is particularly on the charge distribution on the stub insulator. Therefore, this paper investigates the charge distribution pattern on the stub insulator in a string insulator. The results reveal that the distribution of charge is positively distributed for the stub insulator located at any locations in a string except near to HV electrode; while perfect insulator still possess negative charge distribution. This outcomes can be used to detect the presence of stub in the string so that immediate action can be taken

The present communication details a transient simulation for a buried pipes residential heating system using TRNSYS software. The system is simulated for the climatic conditions of the New Delhi (India) to evaluate the feasibility of such system for residential buildings using solar energy. The solar collector module of 2 m2 area has been tested for the flow rate of 40kg/hr. The heat thus transferred is computed with respect to the temperature of the fluid in colder and hotter sides and the minimum rate of fluid. Both the primary as well as secondary circuits use forced circulation with the help of pumps having same characteristics/specifications. Further, the buried pipes of aluminium were analysed with varying depths of their installations under the ground and using ethyl alcohol, glycol and water as primary circuit fluids. From the results, it is concluded that the water has the maximum thermal losses in all the cases as it has high thermal energy storage capacity as compared to other two fluids. Results also quantify that the heat transfer rate is not substantially influenced by the pipe material but the weather conditions and the heat exchanger specifications has a larger impact on the system.

There is a significant potential for energy efficiency improvements in the residential buildings in Kazakhstan. The analysis of energy audits confirmed this statement: heat transfer coefficient of walls is much higher than in European countries with similar climates. In consequence, households consumption of energy in Kazakhstan per square meter of area is nearly three times higher than in Europe. Energy efficiency options with payback period of less than 10 years may contribute in average to the 10% reduction of energy consumption. While all energy efficiency options may contribute in average to 27% reduction of total energy consumption by building. Energy efficiency options with low investment costs and relatively high economic savings are pipe insulation and energy efficient lighting. Whereas recovery of insulation of external walls and basement, energy monitoring as well as replacement of windows and doors in communal entrance hallways are measures with low investment costs and relatively moderate economic savings. There are energy efficiency options with very high payback period - more than 48 years - such as insulation of walls, automated heat supply station, insulation of roofs as well as replacement of windows. These measures are unlikely to be implemented by homeowners themselves, without supporting mechanisms from the Government.

Rain water harvesting system became viable option in reducing potable water consumption during dry season and possibly reducing the adverse effect of floods during heavy rain fall. This study aims to identify the optimum size of rainwater storage tanks for different roof materials which results in high water and energy savings and carbon dioxide emissions reduction with a reasonable payback period in hospital and hotel buildings. Analysis conducted showed that metal roof with a 0.95 run-off coefficient grossed the highest water and energy savings as well as carbon dioxide reduction when paired with a 30m3 tank in all three commercial buildings. Gravel in contrast yielded the least amount of water savings resulting in a low amount of energy savings and carbon dioxide reduction due to a small run-off coefficient of 0.25. The metal roof portrayed significant difference at an average of 11.6 percent rise in water savings as the tank size is increased, whereas gravel could barely show noticeable difference. Consecutively, a 25 years payback period analysis of the rainwater tanks revealed that larger tanks are apparently more expensive hence giving a higher payback period.

This paper addresses the viability analysis of using a ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system to supply part of the cooling requirements in an office building located in a city with temperate climate.The analysis includes the technical and economic feasibility, as well as the greenhouse gases emission reduction achieved by implementing this technology. The building used in this study has an annual electricity consumption of 2.7 GWh and a cooling space of 18000 m2. The proposed system consists on the installation of a GSHP to complement the existent HVAC system. Total initial cost for this particular project implementation is around 1,193,000 MXN with an IRR on equity of 20%, a payback period of less than 8 years and a NPV of almost 4 million MXN. Moreover, annual savings were calculated to be over 2 million MXN with a Benefit-Cost ratio of 6.11. The cost of electricity has the greatest impact on the estimation of the NPV according to the risk analysis. Other benefits of implementing this system also include an annual greenhouse gas emission reduction of almost 61 tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to savings of more than 26,000 litres of gasoline that would not be consumed.

This paper discussed on the implementation of wireless passive infra-red (PIR) sensor based versus thermal sensor based lighting and air-conditioning control device for application in lecture hall. Two systems are discussed. In the first system, the passive infra-red (PIR) sensors are used to detect the human presence in the building area. Lighting systems are automatically turned on/off if any movement detected by the PIR sensors. The air-conditioning systems are automatically turn off with certain time setting delayed. In the second system, the thermal sensor based (Omron D6T) is used for human body temperature detection in the building area. The Zigbee wireless sensor network has been used to transmit and receive data from the control circuit for lighting and air-conditioning driver circuit. Overall analysis about the control device including software and hardware development, the performance and comparison of D6T thermal sensor and PIR sensor, and the performance of the controller have been discussed in this paper.

This paper presents the assessment of four energy efficiency measures in a touristic building located in Mazatlan, State of Sinaloa, Mexico. The viability study is conducted through technical and life cycle cost analysis, complemented with greenhouse emission reduction impact when energy efficiency measures are implemented on: chiller, pumps, lighting and building envelope of a current hotel located in the resort. Results of the analysis demonstrate that overall, the proposed energy efficiency measures may provide significant savings, but the lighting and use of more efficient chiller (higher COP) are the most effective for generating energy and emissions savings. The Energy savings for lighting and chiller replacement are of the order of 35% and 45% respectively. The Emissions savings for lighting and chiller replacement are of the order of 34% and 45% respectively. A sensitivity analysis demonstrated the importance of the cost of fuel in the base and proposed case. The equity IRR varied between 0 and +0.8 for variation in fuel costs of base case, while the equity IRR varied between 0 and -0.5, for variation in fuel costs of proposed case.

Due to the fast development, demands of comfort, higher mobility and growing world population, the annual energy consumption is rising leaps and bounds. In the present scenario, fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, are playing lead role to meet the ever increasing energy demand. The associated issues with fossil fuel usage, is making the nations to evolve a combined strategy to address the serious environmental problems. To decrease the pollution and save the environment, renewable energy technologies have good potential to meet the global energy demand. In this paper, the concept of Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is explored. It is based on distributed generation where renewable energy sources are connected, controlled and visualized as a power plant. Resource assessment is done to see the potential and viability of VPP before its implementation at Kayathar, Toothukudi, Tamil Nadu India. The simulation is performed using MATLAB for different merit order and outputs are analyzed. Control strategies of renewable energy sources show how the proposed VPP can be implemented at Kayathar.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the summarization of work on experimental characterisation of vanadium redox flow battery (V-RFB). The aim of the study is to design a functional prototype of V-RFB and investigate the performance of characterisation of V-RFB at specific current density. Experiment was carried on 110.25cm2 prototype of unit cell. The results from the performance test of the developed V-RFB including few obstacles faced have been presented and analysed. Further works is discussed.

Different battery chemistries fit different applications, and certain battery types stand out as preferable for stationary storage in off-grid applications. Rechargeable batteries have widely varying efficiencies, charging characteristics, life cycles, and costs. This paper compares these aspects between the lead-acid and lithium ion battery, the two primary options for stationary energy storage. The various properties and characteristics are summarized specifically for the valve regulated lead-acid battery (VRLA) and LiFePO4 (LFP) lithium ion battery. The charging process and life cycle are discussed for each battery type. Through cost analysis specifically, lithium ion batteries are shown to be an affordable alternative to lead-acid batteries when the length of operational life - total number of charge-discharge cycles - is considered. Finally, applications for off-grid applications and specifically developing world microgrids are discussed.

Standalone photovoltaic (PV) system is usually supported by intermediate energy storage devices to balance the intermittency in PV generation and variation in residential loads. Lead Acid (LA) batteries have been the mainstream energy storage solution in residential energy systems. To mitigate the impact of fluctuating power exchange on battery lifetime, battery-supercapacitor hybrid energy storage systems (HESSs) of different topologies have been proposed to address the short life expectancy issue of LA battery. This paper presents a comprehensive cost analysis and performance evaluation of different HESS configurations in standalone PV based residential energy systems. A standalone PV-based microgrid model with HESS is developed in MATLAB Simulink to evaluate the effectiveness of different HESS configurations in mitigating battery's stress. A battery health cost function is formulated to analyze the impact of dynamic power exchange on battery's health. The results show that the actively controlled HESS significantly mitigates the battery's stress and reduces the health cost, thus improves the life expectancy of LA battery.

Redox flow battery is one of the energy storage systems that has a benefit electrically in electrochemical reaction and suitable for a wide range application. Nowadays this Vanadium Redox Flow Battery, VRFB as one of the flow battery technologies that are so relevant and more significant in era technologies. VRFB as an alternative energy for supply energy demands towards utilities and consumers. This project has been proposed the method approaches to solve of leakage problem in several main component part and depicted the weakness issues that causes leakage of VRFB to improve the cell performance. Throughout the VRFB experiment, leakage analysis is conducted. The analysis was expected to be ascertained when different size of rubber seal, membrane, type of fitting and layer of carbon felt was used to elucidate the leakage problem. Result demonstrated that the usage of 3.0mm rubber seal, 12cmx12cm Nafion 117 membrane, polypropylene type fitting and double layer of carbon felt showed positive feedback on solving the vanadium leakage.

Wireless electricity transmission is the transmission of electrical energy from a power source to an electrical load without using any wires. Nowadays, the wireless power transmission technology is widely used in the mobile, in-dustrial and medical area. The technology of the wireless power transmission can eliminate the use of the wires and batteries. Thus it is so convenient and safe for all users. Wireless power transmission can be carried out by many methods, but the most common way seen was inductive coupling and resonant coupling which was recently devel-oped. This paper involves the design and development of wireless power transmission hardware. A wireless power system consists of a transmitter (primary coil) and a re-ceiver (secondary coil). An alternating current is passed through the primary coil and a magnetic field was gener-ated. The secondary coil is then placed near to the prima-ry coil. The primary coil and secondary coil are magneti-cally coupled when the two devices make contact and therefore the power transfer from the transmitter to the receiver. Test and analysis are done on how to develop the wireless electricity transmission through resonant cou-pling by varying the different wire diameters, number of coils and coil diameters of the primary and secondary of the coils. The output power and maximum distance are then analyzed based on the varying characteristics. As a conclusion, the best result to obtain the maximum output power is 0.55 mm wire with diameter 6.5 cm coil.

Power system engineer are currently facing Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) technology comes into effect challenges to enhance the power transfer capabilities of existing transmission system. Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor (TCSC) is one of the FACTS device is an impedance compensation which is used in series reactance on an AC transmission system to provide smooth control of series reactance by controlling thyristor firing angle (α) and increase the capability of the reactive power compensation of the transmission line. The voltage of the system must always in the permissible range to ensure stability, and this can be done by control the voltage. There are two types of circuits used are uncompensated circuit and compensated circuit. Two types controller used to control the voltage in compensated circuit, there are open loop control and closed loop control. These circuits are simulated by PSCAD software. The results from two type of circuit are compared and discussed. From the result, the voltage is increased in compensated circuit close loop control circuit. The range of receiving end voltage in open loop control is 10.94kV to 11.36kV. The value of receiving and voltage in close loop control is 11.39kV. The increase of voltage in compensated circuit close loop control shows the TCSC give effect in the control the voltage of transmission line.

This paper presents the study of voltage and power stability margins of an electrical power system with the use of artificial neural network (ANN). Both voltage and power stability margins are obtained from the real power-voltage (PV) and reactive power-voltage (QV) curve. PV and QV curve are generated by a series of power flow with an incremental of loads for each power flow series. Then, an ANN based model will be used to predict the values of voltage and power stability margins. IEEE 30-bus system has been chosen as the electrical power system. The load flow analysis are simulated by using Power World Simulator software version 16. The ANN based model is developed using MATLAB.

Smart Grid is gradually adopted by most of the countries. AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) is one of the key enabler technologies which consists of smart meters, communication network and MDMS (Meter Data Management System). The timely information, for example consumption data and event logs are important for detection of NTL (non-technical loss) such as electricity theft and other customer malfeasance. It contributes up to 40% of revenue loss of utility companies in some countries throughout the world. The proposed detection mechanisms include energy balance method, smart meters in AMI, physical detection sensors and the AI (artificial intelligence) methods namely fuzzy logic and SVM (support vector machine). The problematic issue is that those mechanisms are merely implemented separately with dissatisfaction outcomes due to inherent limitations and weaknesses. In this paper, a novel design of smart metering system is developed as GUI-based NTL detection platform. A 3-tier design of detection algorithm is proposed to combine three mechanisms to complement each other for enhanced performance. The triangulation technique facilitates validation of detection result through cross verification from three sources of measurement data. Furthermore, the system also support better flexibility with built-in or external developed AI methods and user-friendly GUI-based platform to monitor and analyse NTL status in real time of power grid for revenue recovery.

This paper presents performance analysis of decision tree (DT) algorithms for real-time dynamic security assessment (DSA) application for power system. The scope of this study is limited to three widely implemented DT algorithms in practice namely: random forest, reduced error pruning (REP), and J48. The performance of three decision tree (DT) algorithms are evaluated in assessing the dynamic security assessment (DSA) of the power system network. The algorithms are evaluated in terms of its accuracy, error, and computational time. The performance of these algorithms are demonstrated on a modified IEEE 30-bus test system model using PowerWorld software. From this study, the results show that random forest algorithm outperform other min method in terms of accuracy and error. On the other hand, REP outpace other algorithms in terms of computational speed in assessing the dynamic security of the system.

Due to the increasing load requisition and the productiveness of the accessible transmission size, therefore the present power systems are abundantly loaded as differ in the olden days. Hence, these situations are leading the power system to be operated proximately towards the steady-state stability limit (SSSL). Thus, this paper is intended to contribute the evaluation on SSSL in IEEE 9-bus test system based on REI-Dimo technique. REI network will be resulted from the REI-Dimo technique and the results manifested that the test system is applicable with the REI-Dimo technique to reduce the network size and to evaluate the SSSL index.

The integration of large scale solar PV (LSPV) is becoming popular in time. Though it provides many opportunity in terms of energy security, yet it also plays a vital role in overall system stability. This paper presents an impact study on the rotor angle stability of other synchronous machine in the presence of synchronous machine versus LSPV of the same generation capacity.

Monitoring the condition of power transformer is very important since it is a vital component in power system network. To evaluate a transformer's status, frequency response analysis (FRA) has been used due to its sensitivity to detect physical deformation of the winding. However in FRA, interpreting the measured result is quite difficult. Knowing the severity or percentage of the damage will tremendously help the engineers to estimate when is the suitable time to replace a new transformer if required. In this paper, a methodology is proposed for estimating the percentage of transformer winding damage. The method analyses winding's frequency response to generate another plot which is the percentage of change of magnitude plot. The plot shows that as the winding damage increases, the oscillation in the plot reduces. This relationship can be used as an interpretation scheme for approximating the severity of the damage.

This paper describes the detailed procedures on the simulation techniques of air breakdown in order to determine the associated electric field values. Using COMSOL Multiphysics, the value of maximum electric field and its most likely location which appears just before a breakdown occurs can be determined. A non-uniform field configuration in rod-plane gap provides very high electric field upon breakdown.

Concentrator photovoltaic and thermal (CPVT) system has been used for generating electricity and heat from direct concentrated sunlight. This system is more complex than concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) or PV stationary modules that only generate electricity. Despite high power conversion efficiency, the CPVT system has drawbacks such as the bulk of the system, dependency to direct sunlight and high initial cost. On the other hand, there is an increasing demand for direct transmission of sunlight to light up buildings. It is an opportunity to integrate the function of lighting by solar energy with the CPVT system for residential buildings. The additional function of lighting increases the complexity of system and bulk of system. In this study, we applied conventional and enhanced models of substance-field (Su-Field) and functional analysis of TRIZ (a systematic creative thinking for solving problems). A comprehensive model of problem is built and developed for a multi-energy generation system. We have designed a CAD model as a compact energy conversion system for generating the three types of energy in photovoltaic, thermal and photonics fields. The bulk of the system is reduced and the general arrangement of a developed concentrator photovoltaic-thermal and light (CPVTL) system is presented.

Photovoltaic (PV) system has been widely used as one of the renewable energy resources. Due to the non-linear I-V characteristic and changes of the external environment and load, the output power of the PV array varies according to different situation. Hence, the maximum power point (MPP) tracking technology is necessary to be implemented in order to track for the only MPP on the P-V curve to increase the energy harness from the PV array. In this study, two commonly used MPPT algorithm, perturb and observe and incremental conductance were developed in Matlab Simulink with a boost DC-DC converter to study the accuracy, speed and tracking efficiency under different conditions of irradiance changing. Comparative studies shows that modified incremental conductance is able to track MPP faster and more efficiently under fast changing of irradiance.

This is paper presents a comprehensive modelling, simulation and its implementation of photovoltaic module in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Three modelling approaches including mathematical, circuitry and functional blocks are presented. Graphical and text based implementation are outlined in this paper. The modelling and simulation results for all three approaches are presented, and the accuracy, pros and cons of each approach are discussed. The presented modelling approach contributes to renewable energy curriculum delivery that help students to gain complete view of modelling and simulation implementation of photovoltaic at the perspective of mathematical, numerical method and circuit theory. The presented models also contribute to the development of photovoltaic module design, simulation, analysis and interactive education tool.

Cracks in solar cells are one of the problems responsible for low efficiency among photovoltaic (PV) modules and these cracks are hard to avoid. Cracks usually can occurs during transportation, handling or manufacturing process. Micro cracks degrade the power output in photovoltaic modules due to the inactive cell area. Micro crack are invisible to detect by naked eye and hence the Electroluminescence (EL) imaging were introduced to analyse the cracks in PV module. The electroluminescence is the most useful method to detect the cracks in the solar cell. A si-CCD camera was used in the dark condition to capture the EL image under forward bias conditions. In this study, mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline were taken from the outdoor condition which were exposed from almost 5 years and were analysed using electroluminescence imaging. From the electroluminescence imaging, the cracks were measured. The cracks were analyzed by pattern and both panel were compared. From the study it was found that multicrystalline photovoltaic module shows the more crack compared with monocrystalline photovoltaic module. The output power reduced depending on the grade of cell breakage. The crack in the individual solar cell and their relative efficiency in the two different types of crystalline modules have been also been presented.

Modified Incremental Conductance (IncCond) algorithm utilizing adaptive variable step-size is extensively employed in PV systems. As, it offers merits of fast convergence and accurate MPP detection. The computational complexities of the IncCond method have been minimized by modifying the method for a division-free algorithm. However, improper scaling of the variable step-size - change of power - restricts the performance of the method. As, a constant scaling factor offers either a slow voltage response or an overshoot. Therefore, to address these shortcomings this paper offers a modified IncCond MPPT with direct control and dual scaled adaptive step-size method. The proposed MPPT scheme improves the performance of the conventional IncCond method by dual scaling the change of power for an adaptive step. This dual scaling prevents any overshoot and responds sudden changes in the atmospheric conditions. The enhanced performance offers a faster-tracking speed, accurate MPP detection and reduced steady-state oscillation. Boost converter is utilized to prove validity of the MPP scheme. Simulation results attained under static and dynamic conditions display the improved functionality and feasibility of the system.

The world demand for energy is increasing every year while the fossil fuels reservoirs are limited and expected to be exhausted in few decays. Therefore, utilization of renewable energy resources is inevitable. However, to develop the infrastructures for a renewable energy system for power generation, both technical and economical evaluation are a necessity. In this paper, the feasibility of a hybrid renewable power generation, including two types of solar system, a biogas generator, and a biodiesel generator along with required battery and converter for production of 5kW electrical power is studied. The system is designed for a 20-year project and the HOMER Pro program is used for system evaluation. The analysis showed that the price of biodiesel and biogas are the main controlling parameters for this project.

Photovoltaic power interfaced to the grid has been become most popular renewable energy sources nowadays because of its effective long-duration outcomes. To enhance the use of high power arrays of PV modules, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique is usually utilized in conjunction with the power converter (DC-DC converter and/or DC/AC inverter). Because of the changing ecological conditions, as temperature and solar irradiation, power-voltage characteristic curve displays Maximum Power Point (MPP), which fluctuates nonlinearly with these factors, in this way presenting a challenge for the tracking principles. A comparative performance study of different MPPT algorithms for a large PV array is presented in this paper. The popular Perturb and Observe (P&O) and Incremental Conductance (InCond) MPPT techniques are considered here for their simplicity and lower computational steps requirements. The PV array output characteristics as power, voltage, current, etc., are observed by varying the irradiance of the PV modules. Boost converter is utilized to boost-up the PV voltage, whose gate pulse is controlled by these MPPT algorithms individually and compared with other. All these studies have done by the MATLAB/Simulink environment. These will provide useful framework and point of references for the future PV power research and implementation.

The DC capacitor voltage unbalancing is known as the key problem in all multilevel inverters. In this paper, voltage-balancing circuit based on buck-boost chopper is used to balance the DC-link capacitor voltage of the five-level switch-sharing-based inverter. Hysteresis voltage control method is suggested for controlling the IGBT switches. Matlab/Simulink software is used to perform simulation of the buck-boost chopper and the inverter. Simulation result shows that the buck-boost chopper can balance the capacitor voltage of the five-level switch-sharing-based inverter, satisfactorily.

This paper presents the analysis and the design of a three-phase cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel inverter (CHB-MLI) based on Newton-Raphson technique controller for both optimization techniques in harmonic reduction of the inverter output. The proposed system was comprised of two separated DC sources, three-phase five-level CHB-MLI, and its controller based on Newton-Raphson. The main aim of this paper had been to design, model, construct, CHB-MLI for a three-phase system. The proposed controller was applied to CHB-MLI. The optimization of this system had managed to reduce the harmonic contents of the inverter output. Besides, the results of the developed are discussed. In addition, the performance of the proposed system was compared between simulation results for both Optimization techniques. The Optimization of this system had been capable in reducing the harmonic contents of the inverter output. Thus, optimization of the CHB-MLI system had been successfully demonstrated in this study.

This paper presents a three-level hybrid boost converter based on T-type neutral point clamped inverter. The main advantage of the proposed converter is a capability of high voltage conversion ratio without using extreme duty cycle, high-frequency transformer, and coupled inductor. The performance of the proposed three level hybrid boost converter has been simulated for 300W power rated with 360V output voltage by using PLECs.

This paper presents a full bridge dc-dc converter that will produce a high current output in which will be applied in fuel cell vehicle (FCV) system. To simulate the application of FCV system, a fuel cell stack is used as source for half-bridge and the full-bridge DC-DC converters. Simulation of the two converters is done in MATLAB/Simulink. Based on the simulations, the full-bridge dc-dc converter shows a significantly higher output current compared with the output current of half bridge topology.

This paper presents the analysis and design of a three phase series active power filter based on hysteresis controller for power quality improvement. The proposed system comprises of a filtering scheme, injection transformer, Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) and its controller. The main aim of this dissertation covers design, analysis and modeling using MATLAB/SIMULINK for a three phase series active power filter. The system is capable of mitigating voltage sags and swells at low voltage distribution system. The proposed controller based on hysteresis controller was applied to the series active power filter throughout injected transformer. The implementation of hysteresis controller is capable to detect voltage disturbances in supply voltage and injects an appropriate voltage in order to recover decrease or an increase of supply voltage back to its nominal value, and then the load can be protected from any voltage disturbances. The connected load in the system consists of linear or nonlinear loads. The various performances of simulation results of the proposed modeling has been investigated. Finally, the proposed system has successfully implemented in this research for mitigating voltage sags and swells. In addition, the voltage disturbance compensating performance of the SAPF has improved using the hysteresis-control method.

The performance analysis of a proportional-resonant (PR) controller for single-phase inverter is presented in this paper. One of the most important issues in inverter control is the load current regulation. In literature, proportional-integral (PI) controller has been used in current-controlled of voltage source inverter (VSI) in various applications such as grid-connected and stand-alone systems. The PI current control of a single-phase inverter has well-known drawbacks which are steady-state magnitude error, phase error and also it has a very limited disturbance rejection capability. Proportional-resonant (PR) controller has been introduced to overcome these problems. As compared with the conventional PI controller, the PR controller can introduce an infinite gain at the fundamental frequency hence, it can achieve zero steady-state error without requiring a complex transformation and a dc-coupling technique. Performance analysis of PR controller in both steady-state and transient conditions has been carried out in this study by simulation and experiment and compared with the conventional PI controller. Both controllers were implemented on a floating-point TMS320F28335 digital signal controller and tested at 250W output power using a resistive load. Simulation and experimental results verified the controller performances.

This paper presents the theoretical analysis, operating principles, and comparison between basic boost and 2-stage switched capacitor (SC) based boost converter. Using volt-second balance and current charge principle, voltage gain and efficiency are theoretically derived for the basic boost and 2-stage SC based boost converter. MATLAB software has been utilized to simulate the predicted results. Simulation results, which are in complete agreement with the predicted results, have been analysed and compared with the results of the basic boost converter. Largely increased voltage gain with a commendable efficiency for the 2-stage SC based boost converter, validate the authenticity of the proposed system.

The performance of several multicarrier PWM methods which have been used for solar powered multilevel inverters are evaluated in this paper. The nine commonly use multi carrier PWM methods are described to purpose of better understanding about the role of PWM methods in multilevel inverter and finally Variable Frequency Carrier Bands PWM (VFCB PWM) is simulated and applied in 9 level cascade topology. According to hinted description and analyses, the variety of the modulation can be applied to control of multilevel inverter topologies,while the PWM method can affect on the all aspects of output wave and switching devices therefore each PWM method provide the suitability for certain multilevel topology to reduce the Switching losses, THD and EMI.

With the elimination of the isolation transformer, such inverters are susceptible to high leakage current, so suppression techniques have been a popular research topic. Various topologies and modulation techniques for transformerless PV inverters have hence been introduced and published. Since transformerless PV inverters are mainly meant for grid-tied operation, their performance should only be validated via grid-connected tests. Nevertheless, there is much research that is only verified via simple RL-load tests. Moreover, due to laboratory equipment limitations, such validation is done at less stringent operating conditions, such as with reduced DC-link voltage and reduced power rating. While such validation gives an estimation of the converter's performance, it often raises doubts regarding the merits of the test inverter when connected to the actual grid. In this paper, the influence of test conditions on a transformerless PV inverter is investigated. Based on the analysis, a systematic approach for implementing lab-scale grid-connection is also explained, to allow a valid evaluation of the inverter's true characteristics.

In grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) systems transformerless inverters are attractive due to reduced size, weight and cost. However, the absence of galvanic isolation forms a direct path between PV to grid. To meet the safety requirement in transformerless systems, it needs to be designed carefully. A lot of research has been done based on the reduction of the common mode current (CMC) with constant common mode voltage (CMV). Neutral point clamped (NPC) topology is an effective way to eliminate the leakage current. Recently, PN-NPC topology has been proposed which is able to eliminate CMC with high-efficiency. Based on the analysis, a modified NPC inverter is proposed in this paper. The proposed topology is sharing the similar CMC elimination capability but with simpler design and higher efficiency. The principle operation and the common-mode behaviour of the proposed topology are discussed and investigated. Theoretical finding of the proposed topology is validated through Matlab/Simulink.

This paper presents the use of selective harmonic elimination (SHE) technique to control three-phase inverters for photovoltaic application. Despite the requirement of an offline look-up table and poor dc-voltage utilization, the paper attempt to suppress switching losses and improve dc-voltage utilization by proposing an improved implementation with adjustment of the 3rd harmonic magnitude in the phase reference voltage. The adjustment of 3rd harmonic results in wider switching angles over the quarter of fundamental cycle. This feature is useful in simplification practical realization of SHE when a large number of harmonic are eliminated at high modulation indices. In addition, the dc-voltage utilization is improved and comparable to third harmonic PWM and space vector modulation (SVM) techniques. The proposed SHE is compared with the PWM techniques in several operational features with aiming to illustrate the superiority of the proposed technique using MATLAB/SIMULINK software.

This paper focused in studies and analysis of a Modified Alternatively on Opposition Disposition Pulse Width Modulation implemented with multilevel inverter topology for solar energy conversion. The multilevel inverter topology focused with reduction of component utilization factor, which has (n-1) switching devices, (n-3) clamping diodes, (n-1)/2 dc-link sources for achieving the same voltage level of traditional topologies. The proposed pulse width modulation technique is enhanced the voltage rating and reduce the switching losses and total harmonic distortion. The components utilization of proposed multilevel inverter is 45% for achieving the same level of voltage. The multilevel output voltages have been regulated by using the control strategy of the p-q theory. The modified new diode clamp multilevel inverter topology with solar energy conversion is validated through prototype experimental setup.

A multiphase converter can be used for high-current applications using smaller rated devices. Due to the parallel connected structure of a multiphase converter, the required output current is produced by coupled inductors reducing the current stress when compared to a conventional DC-DC converter which possesses only a single inductor. This makes the multiphase converter a lot cheaper and compact in size. However, to ensure equal current distribution across the coupled inductors, a balancing current controller with additional current sensors is required. This will greatly impact the efficiency of the multiphase converter. Due to this, researchers have proposed numerous current sensing techniques for the multiphase converter. The proposed techniques are immune to I2R loss, increasing the efficiency of the multiphase converter. For this reason, a parallel voltage sensing technique is presented for a four-phase multiphase converter using digital RC network. This method is base on modifying the conventional RC sensing technique without using any external circuit.

To reach required power and voltage level for grid connected photo-voltaic (PV) power generation system (PGS), PV modules are arranged in series and parallel. This configuration is called a string connection. By-pass diode is used to prevent hotspot build-up in the PV module when the PV string is under partial shading condition (PSC). This bypass-diode caused the P-V curve of PV string to have multiple peak, of which only one is the maximum point. The I-V curve also will have multiple stair where at lower voltage operation, the PV string will be able to source a bigger current to the PGS system. In this paper, a two stage method called Fast Peak Power Estimate(FPPE-GMPPT) has been proposed. The method is developed based on critical analysis of both I-V and P-V curve under PSC for a PV string. In the first stage, the vicinity where the global maximum power point (MPP) is determined by estimating the power at peak power point (PPP). Then, any perturbation based MPPT can be used for the second stage to locate the exact MPP location. The method is fast, easy to implement without any extra sensor or additional equipment needed. Simulations in PLECS validate the performance of the proposed method.

Photovoltaic distributed generation (PVDG) can negatively influence the operation of power grid which is connected to. This happens because of the intermittent nature of sunlight. Battery storage system can be a proper solution to resolve this problem if it is exploited by a reliable power management system (PMS). This work proposes a PMS which controls a microgrid (MG) including both rotary and electronically interfaced (EI) units. MG is subject to supply local load in a centralized fashion and hence to limit power oscillations caused by the load and generation. To assess the operational effectiveness of MG and PMS, PSCAD is chosen as the simulating platform. Different test cases are arranged reflecting realistic data in Peninsular Malaysia. All the results confirm the successful operation of MG and its PMS in satisfying the load demand and generation.

Energy monitoring system has long been utilized for basic functionalities such as process scheduling and billing purposes in the industrial scenario. However the monitoring of degradation in power quality parameters that provides important insights into process degradation and fault diagnosis as long been ignored due to lack of ability of the current energy monitoring systems to acquire and process both energy and power quality data. The advent of technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud computing and Big Data has made real time acquisition and analysis of data possible. This paper discusses on use of these technologies for developing an integrated real-time power monitoring system and its possible application in fault cause-effect diagnosis. This paper discusses the existing energy monitoring system's drawback, the technologies that would enable the development of the an realtime energy monitoring system and its implementation

Energy Management Systems (EMS) are modules introduced to optimally control and interact with the generation and consumption entities of a power network. With the incorporation of the information and communication technology (ICT) into the electricity grids, they are becoming more and more intelligent and efficient. Recently, much attention has been drawn toward managing the loads in response to varying electricity price and availability while also considering user preferences. Such management systems are usually referred to as Demand Side Management (DSM) systems. DSM systems are capable of considering both the satisfaction of consumers and the cost of electricity provision, and make a balance between these typically conflicting objectives. In this paper, we analyse and compare two market based decentralized approaches proposed for such DSM systems based on dynamic pricing. We study these approaches to examine the role of consumer satisfaction on the consumption schedules of residential consumers. We also investigate the interaction between consumers and mutual influences they have on each others when consumers' satisfaction are taken into account. Through the comparative experimentation we show how the satisfaction, costs, payment and social benefits of consumers are affected when they indirectly cooperate with each other to optimize the aggregated consumption in the microgrid.

This paper reports an algorithm of power system controlled separation using a new two-stage hybrid optimization technique. The proposed method combines merits from graph theory and particle swarm optimization technique. Graph theory method is used to reduce the search space exists for power system controlled separation of the network. Consequently, particle swarm optimization is applied to determine the optimal splitting point of the network that minimized the impact of a severe disturbance occurred in the network. The algorithm is developed to provide solutions according to a fitness function considering the real power balance between generations and loads in the islands. The proposed technique is applied on WSCC 9-bus test system model to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed technique.

The next generation of photovoltaic (PV) system is expected to provide ancillary service function during grid voltage drop such as low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability. During such voltage drop, the distributed generation (DG) should remain connected to the grid and at the same time injecting a reactive power to provide a voltage support. The LVRT function in wind-based electricity generation is already established due to its maturity. However, the LVRT implementation in PV system is just at the beginning where there are still many rooms to be investigated and improved. Thus, this paper proposed an enhanced LVRT control strategy which is based on simple PI-scanning to improve the LVRT capabilities. Simulation done in MATLAB environment has confirmed the effectiveness of the system in providing continuous voltage support to the grid.

Grounding system is one of fundamental component for any electrical system to ensure the safety for device as well as human. This paper presents some initial works on portable grounding system, known Enhance Ground Electrode (E.G.E) to be used for portable electrical devices as well as distributed generation technologies. A prototype of E.G.E were developed based on two selected materials i.e. kaolin and bauxite for experimental testing and measurements. Lightning impulse test up to 50 kV has been conducted and the measurements of breakdown voltage were recorded. The experimental results show that the prototype of E.G.E functioning well at comparable performance to the conventional grounding system. It is also found that kaolin composite exhibits better performance compared to the bauxite.

This paper presents the application of backtracking search algorithm (BSA) for economic generation scheduling in Microgrids. In this case, the economic dispatch (ED) problem in microgrids is modeled and is solved by BSA as the proposed method. BSA is an evolutionary algorithm for solving optimization problems which utilizes crossover and mutation operators to reach the optimal of an objective. A microgrid with several renewable and conventional generating units including wind power generators, fuel cell plants, and diesels has been used as the case study and the objective of the power dispatch is set to minimize the generation cost of local generators in the microgrid. The results of the proposed method are compared with those of several well-known techniques confirming the high performance of the proposed method for optimizing the microgrid operation. The results validate the robustness of the proposed method as it converges to almost the same optimal in different runs. Sensitivity analysis is also carried out to tune the optimization parameters to achieve the high quality solutions.

This research is aimed to identify the VOCs formation from food waste and to study the effect of temperature and retention time on gases formation from the food waste. The food waste samples were collected from the cafeterias in UiTM but the food waste can only be collected on weekdays as cafeteria was closed on weekends. The experiment was conducted for 15 days with variable temperatures from 20 ̊C, at room temperature and at 40 ̊C. The characterization test was done for fresh and old food waste sample using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The results showed alcohol, amide I, carboxylates, aromatic rings and alkenes were compound groups that did not broke down during the food decaying process while methylene and carbonate compound groups almost disappeared after 15 days of food waste decomposition took place. Moreover, there were several compound groups that completely broke down after 15 days food decomposition process which were aldehyde, ketone, carboxylic acid, esters, aliphatic, aryl esters, phenol, secondary alcohols and polysaccharides. The analysis of VOCs formation was carried out once every 2 or 4 days by using gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GCMS). However, the availability of GCMS was limited thus, preventing analysis to be done at certain times. There were 66 in total of VOCs discovered at various retention time and temperatures throughout the experiment duration time. The majority of the VOCs detected evolved from the decomposition of food waste were benzene derivatives.

This study describes the effect of torrefaction on the basic characteristics of palm kernel shell (PKS) as a potential source of solid fuel for co-gasification. The effects of Torrefaction on PKS was carried using fixed bed reactor in nitrogen atmosphere. The samples were torrefied at temperature of 210, 250 and 290 °C for 30 min of holding time with nitrogen flow rate of 0.5 L/min and 1 L/min respectively. The conversion of the raw biomass, mass and energy yield of torrefied PKS were investigated. The studied materials were characterised in terms of their ultimate analysis, calorific value and the changes in the chemical structure. The conversion of raw biomass increased with increasing torrefaction temperature. The effect of nitrogen flow rate was insignificant on the conversion, mass and energy yield of torrefied PKS. The characterization of torrefied PKS showed more carbon content which close to coal properties. The heating values of torrefied PKS were comparable to those of coals and increased compared to raw biomass. Moreover, the study shows that the O/C ratio, hydrogen and oxygen content decrease for torrefied PKS with the increase of torrefaction temperature. The functional groups of oxygenated component were also reduced in torrefied PKS. The -OH peaks were remarkably reduced with the increasing of the torrefaction temperature. The study concludes that the change in physical and chemical properties of torrefied PKS provide possibility to the application with coal in co-gasification. The pretreatment of PKS via torrefaction is suitable prior co-gasification for high quality syngas production.

Renewable energies are the most sustainable forms of energy where the world has witnessed tremendous growth in renewable energy technologies to replace fossil fuels. Biomass is one of the renewable resources and different conversions processes are used to produce second generation biofuel from lignocellulosic biomass. Pretreatment is required to extract biofuel from lignocellulosic biomass to improve hydrolysis processes for fermentable sugars. In the conventional heating process heat is transferred into the reactant by convection, conduction and radiation from the beginning to the end. Thereby, conventional heating processes for pretreatment require more energy and consume more time that reduces overall efficiency. However, in the microwave heating for pretreatment is unlike the conventional heating because the heat produced inside the materials. To improve the synthesis process of lignocellulosic biomass in to biofuel, microwave heating methods is used. However, this technology is not industrialized because it's still in the research stage. In this study, several publications are reviewed and summarized to demonstrate microwave heating application for second generation biofuel production.

Application of microwave absorber during microwave pyrolysis process has been proven can improve the properties of desired product. In this study, activated carbon (AC) has been used as microwave absorber in the microwave pyrolysis of automotive paint sludge (APS) in order to study the effect of AC towards solid char yield. Besides that, four different sample weight loading (200 g, 300 g, 400 g and 500 g) with 300W microwave power and 30-minute radiation time also applied to the process in order to study the effect of sample weight loading towards the solid char yield. The solid char was tested for energy content, proximate and ultimate analyses. Solid char produced from the sample weight loading of 200 g with and without activated carbon (AC) seems to be a good potential to be future alternative solid fuel since it gives almost similar properties with natural solid fuel such as coal.

The objective of the study is to observe the characteristics of hydrogel biochar derived from biomass which are fly ash and sugar cane bagasse potentially for heavy metal and hazardous gas removal.Hydrogel biochar is an alternative cheap and efficient adsorbent produced from biomass while blending hydrogel biochar is an adsorbent produced by blending two different biomass as its raw materials. The preparation of the blending hydrogel biochar is done by pyrolysis process of sugarcane bagasse to produce sugarcane bagasse biochar. The biochar is then washed with 1.0M of HCl and then mixed with polymers; Acrylamide, N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide and ammonium persulfate; and mix together with fly ash, producing blending hydrogel biochar. The characteristics of blending hydrogel biochar is analyse using Brunauer Emmet Teller, Thermogravimetric Analysis and Field Emission Electron Microscopy. Proximate analysis shows that blending hydrogel with ratio of 0.7 to 0.3 of fly ash to sugarcane bagasse has the highest fixed carbon content compared to the other ratio with 21.80 wt%. Pore volume for sugarcane bagasse biochar and fly ash has the highest pore volume distribution with 0.005528 and 0.005459 cm3/g, respectively. However after the biochar is mixed with hydrogel, pore volume distribution reduced. For blending hydrogel biochar, the ratio of 0.2 of sugarcane bagasse to 0.8 of fly ash has the highest pore volume distribution compared to the other ratio with 0.00063 cm3/g. FESEM images show that Both hydrogel is suitable source of blending since the pore size is vary and can be function as a good adsorbent.

Disrupted supply of biomass due to seasonal harvesting, climate change, and transportation cost is a challenge for continuous gasification operation. Co-gasification is a potential solution for this problem; however, little information is available about co-gasification of different biomass materials. In this study, two tropical plant-based biomass, oil palm fronds (OPF) and coconut shells (CS) were co-gasified in fixed-bed downdraft gasifier at constant airflow rate. The blends of OPF/CS at the ratios of 80:20, 60:40, 40:60, and 20:80 were considered for co-gasification experiments with the maximum particle size of 10-25 mm. The effect of blending ratio on syngas quality and performance of co-gasification was investigated. Furthermore, the resulting H2, CO, and syngas higher heating value increased by up to 16, 18, and 14%, respectively, as compared to gasification of single biomass. The carbon conversion efficiency and cold gas efficiency were also observed to be higher than 95% and 60%, respectively. In many co-gasification cases, quality of syngas and performance of co-gasification were better than 100% gasification of OPF and CS, which is the most important finding of this work. Therefore, co-gasification of the blended feedstock has a significant potential to overcoming the problem of disrupted feedstock supply in gasification.

Domestic supply disruption particularly associated with nuclear energy utilization has been considered as a new risk after Fukushima disaster. Future energy mix should be discussed from the perspective of the interaction between quantitative analysis on vulnerabilities of nuclear systems and policy narratives. This paper proposes a new approach for the analysis on energy mix including the impact of vulnerability of nuclear power utilization based on the basic energy plan in Japan. The model is established using system dynamics for the quantitative analysis on 4 indicators: CO2 emissions, cost, diversification, and nuclear trouble vulnerability. Finally the best mix is derived and discussed through the multiple combination of thermal and nuclear installed capacity. This paper may aid policymakers with an adequately designed energy policy in the country where nuclear power is to be installed.

This paper presents a fault-tolerant investigation of symmetrical multi-phase induction machines (five-phase, six-phase, seven-phase and nine-phase) in terms of minimum loss and maximum torque with single isolated neutral point under open-circuit fault at one of the phases. Minimum reconfiguration of the controller attainable for the post-fault control by using normal decoupling transformation. The post-fault performance is carried out based on derating factor, minimum stator copper loss and minimum peak current. The simulation results confirm the validity of the theoretical post-fault current limits for symmetrical multi-phase induction machines under one open-phase fault.

A simple PWM scheme for a four-level dual-inverter fed open-end winding (OeW) five-phase motor drive is discussed in this paper. The proposed PWM scheme adapts the decomposition PWM scheme of dual-inverter fed five-phase drive with equal DC-link voltage. The modulation strategy works at three different mode operations according to the value of modulation index (M). When modulation index, 0.7 < M ≤ 1.05, inverter 1 operates at fundamental frequency with modified 180° conduction mode while inverter 2 operates in PWM mode. When 0.35 < M ≤ 0.7, inverter 1 operates with 180° conduction mode while inverter 2 operates in PWM mode. When 0 < M ≤ 0.35 only inverter 2 operates in PWM mode while inverter 1 is locked at zero switching state (11111 or 00000). The proposed PWM schemes is verified using Matlab/simulink. The results show excellent performance of the output voltages in comparison with the three-level inverter, and the previous four-level PWM schemes of a dual-inverter fed OeW motor drive. One drawback of the proposed PWM scheme is that an additional circuit is required to reduce the DC-link voltage of inverter 1 at the particular speed ranges of 0.35 < M ≤ 0.7.

Multiphase machine is used where safety and better fault tolerance are desired. Among the various types of multiphase machine, six-phase machine is more attractive to the researchers as it can be easily obtained by rewinding conventional three-phase machine. For six-phase machine with two isolated neutrals, three-phase carrier based PWM (CBPWM) methods can be directly applied onto each of the three-phase windings. Furthermore, zero-sequence signals can be injected to provide additional benefits such as better dc-bus utilisation, better THD, lower switching losses etc., similar to three-phase scenario. However, there is another possibility of operation for six-phase machine, where different combination of zero-sequence signals injection can be applied onto the two three-phase windings. In this paper, the performances of such CBPWM using similar and dissimilar zero-sequence signals injection are investigated. It is found that though different combinations of zero-sequence injection are possible, the best current THD is still obtained when SVPWM (Min-Max) zero-sequence signals are used for both three-phase windings.

Increasing transportation efficiency is the best place to start efforts to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a primary culprit in global warming. As the peak of world oil extraction is approaching that witness the consequences of climate change, it is important to reflect on how the world's most technologically advanced nation came to base its economy on the use of polluting, finite resources. This is how the idea of producing an electric vehicle (EV) is emerging from. Since electric motor plays an important role and become the key of in-wheel EV propulsion, this paper concerns about the primary study of outer rotor permanent magnet flux switching machine (ORPMFSM) particularly the impact of rotor pole number analysis on the machine performances. Under some design specifications and limitation, design methodology and initial outcomes of the machine at various rotor pole number and 12 stator slots are demonstrated. Initially, the coil test arrangement is inspected to validate the operating principle and polarity of each armature coil phase. Then, the profile of flux linkage, induced voltage, cogging torque, output torque, and power characteristics at assorted armature current density condition are analyzed based on 2D-FEA. Finally, the corresponding results show that the 12S-14P is a significant combination which initially provides highest flux linkage, lowest cogging torque, highest average torque as well as high output power.

The latest demands for electrical machine are that they must be compact and light and have torque density required to tolerate environmental and load conditions. Reduce the usage of permanent magnets has also become the main focus in designing a new electrical machines, especially for electrical vehicle applications. Research has been conducted on four different sizes of machines, from the original size to progressively smaller ones: machines A, B, C and D. At the beginning of machine design, the assessment of the electromagnetic performance of the machines and magnetization analysis have been conducted using Infolytica Magnet software. Then, Infolytica ThermNet is applied to perform thermal static or transient analysis, either as stand-alone or coupled to static or time-harmonic since temperature is a major factor threatening the magnetism of magnets, and the life and stability of machines. Finally, two prototype machines are developed and tested in order to validate the simulation results.

The development of solar technologies in Middle East and North Africa regions is restricted by their regional surrounding high temperature and density of dusts. High temperatures and sandstorms always occur at these regions which reduce light transmission on solar photovoltaic panels. Light transmission refers to the percentage of radiation that can pass through the glazing glass. As the density of dust on the glass surface is higher, some of light i.e. visible light and UV-light is blocked by the dust thickness, thus reduce the light transmission. Hence, no enough light energy can be converted to electrical energy therefore, reduce the photovoltaic efficiency. In this paper, the attempt has been made to discuss about the dust factors that influence the photovoltaic performances which have been observed by the researchers including human activities, climate change, built environment characteristics and etc. Thus, there must be the alternative to cleaning photovoltaic glass to reduce dust deposition and enhance photovoltaic efficiency. The cleaning method of photovoltaic panels such as natural method, electrostatic method, mechanical method and self-cleaning nanofilm method has been discussed in detail to provide an insight of the dust effect and its prevention's.

This paper assesses the technical, economic and environmental impact for the implementation of a small-scale anaerobic digestion system in an animal farm located in the Republic of Kazakhstan. All data for manure availability and local energy consumption was obtained from the model farm "Buranbayev Company" which is located in Uralsk, Kazakhstan. A Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system based on a reciprocating engine and heat recovery system was considered as the technology to operate with the biogas generated through a mesophilic anaerobic biodigester exporting power to the grid, which is currently the source of power and heating in the farm. The techno-economic study includes Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) and Entrepreneurship Development Fund "DAMU" loan subsidy, which are current governmental incentives in Kazakhstan. The small size farm biodigester is fed with manure from around 600 heads of cattle and runs a 100 kW genset unit. Results of the analysis demonstrate that DAMU subsidy positively influences the financial outcome of the project leading to an IRR of 38.3% on the equity investment. The model developed here may be easily used in the future by other local farmers in order to assess the economic and technical advantages of own power generation and its sales to the grid.

New alternatives and inventive renewable energy techniques which includes both power generation and power management is important in order to meet today energy supply and demand in today world. Thermoelectric generator (TEG) is one of the effective solutions to produce energy from waste heat which produce pure DC power. TEG is based on solid state technology with no moving parts and works on the principle of Seebeck effect. In this work, TEG was combined with a solar concentrator to produce a device that able to convert solar energy to electrical energy. Concentrator was used to get a high amount of thermal energy from the sun and concentrated it into one side of the thermoelectric module which act as the hot side and the heat sink will be on the cold side. In this study, maximum power output of 0.728W is achieved with two thermoelectric modules (TEM) connected in series and output from both TEM connected to a DC-DC converter.

This study is carried out to present a concept of a Grid Connected Solar Home System (GCSHS) to supply clean electrical energy in Malaysia. Utilization of electric energy is the key fact of economic growth and improvement in people's living standards, especial in developing countries like Malaysia. That is why, Electricity demand is increasing day by day. The growing demand for electrical energy and the environmental effect of fossil fuel usage are the main topics driving us towards renewable technology. This paper presents the feasibility study of GCSHS and explores opportunities to move forward to environment friendly energy production in Malaysia by reducing Green House Gasses (GHG). The proposed GCSHS simulated in HOMER and the detail analysis, system description and results are presented in this study.

Energy is primary requirement for improvement of quality of life and socio-economic condition of any nation. The Government is primarily responsible for development of energy sources to meet the energy demand of the society at an affordable cost. The limited fossil fuel reserves with increasing cost and associated environmental problems have shifted the interest of government and private stakeholders for renewable energy options to meet the electricity demand in urban and rural areas. Development and promotion of alternative renewable sources of energy such as solar based generation, wind energy, hydro power, bioenergy and geothermal energy etc. have attracted the attention of the government and private players to meet the growing energy demand and technology development for future. India is blessed with huge solar radiation, variety of crops and climatic conditions, large coastal areas and potential river systems which provide suitable conditions for renewable energy development. In this paper, Indian government initiatives, policies for renewable energy development and state wise potential of renewable energy generation and achievements are reviewed.

In order for carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration by microalgae growing in Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) medium to be a viable process, a solution has to be found for the potential problem of fluctuation in process performance caused by variations in the composition of POME, with changes in rainfall pattern, and with changing operation patterns of the mill, which in turn is dictated by the variability of feedstock Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) supply from the plantations. In this work, POME from the aeration pond and POME from the polishing pond were each subjected to supplements of POME from the upstream facultative pond 4 (x3), and subjected to dilution with tap water (x4), in 24 Factorial Experiments to quantify the main effects of these variables and that of the variables CO2 concentration in the sparging gas mixture (x1), and the gas mixture sparging rate (x2), and to quantify their interactive effects, on the biomass concentration (ym) and on the biomass specific growth rate (μm) of microalgae in batch growth. It was found that besides x1 and x2, both supplements (x3) and dilution (x4) have effects on ym and μm, raising the possibility of optimising the level of each of these variable to maximise ym and μm, each time the value of ym or μm is adversely affected by variations in the POME. That such an optimisation is possible is exemplified by the response surface of ym which has a maximum response at a defined coordinate in x1 and x2.

Microalgae are termed as third generation feedstock due to their enormous capacity to synthesize oil, which is a precursor of bio-diesel production. The present study aims to analyze the effect of solvents in solvent extraction method to recover algal oil from Chlorella pyrenoidosa biomass grown on dairy industry wastewater. Bligh and Dyer (BD), Modified Bligh and Dyer (MBD), Mixture of n-Hexane and Diethyl ether (M n HDE) and n-Hexane were used to extract algal oil, in which modified Bligh and Dyer (approx 36%) found to be the best. The quality of algal oil was also found to be significant to be used for bio-diesel production with specific parameters such as acid value (9.5 mg KOH/g), iodine value (136.24 g I2 /100 ml oil), saponification number (192.34 mg KOH/g) and free fatty acid content (0.62%). The FT-IR spectrum also shows the presence of larger peaks in the region from 1800-1700 cm -1, which attributes to the stretching of -C=O, typical of esters. Thus, the present article provides the efficacy for high oil yields with the use of various solvents as a part of solvent extraction methods and obtained oil qualitatively analyzed with parameters on commercial scale, which is an urgent need to scale-up the process for economic sustainability.

The essential purpose of this study was to improve the solubility of tar model compounds - benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene in water by using three different surfactants namely Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate (SDBS), Sodium Deoxycholate (SDO), and Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate (ALS). The entire samples in the experiment would be designed and tested for 24 hours based on Taguchi's L9 Orthogonal Array with optimization analysis were done by using Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio of 'Larger-Is-Better' criterion. The parameters involved include agitation speed, solvent temperature and solvent concentration at 100 rpm, 200rpm, 300 rpm, 20⁰C, 30⁰C, 40⁰ rpm and 333 ppm, 500 ppm, 1000 ppm respectively. Based on the result, the solvent concentration (ppm) at 1000 ppm was the dominant factor that affect solubility of tar the most while the solvent temperature (⁰C) was ranked at second place with the optimum result being observed at temperature of 20⁰C. On the other hand, the agitation speed (rpm) is the least factor affecting the rate of solubility which occurred at 300 rpm. Finally, the best surfactant that exhibit an optimum performance, capable of enhancing the rate of benzene solubility is to be SDBS which has the lowest CMC value of 1.6 mM.

The development of palm oil industry in Malaysia has turned into a phenomenum in which the area of plantation expanded from year to year. In the meantime, the rapid growth of the industries additionally caused detrimental effect to the environment due to its downstream and upstream processing activities. In the early ages, the residue from the production process was burned and the effluent was discharged untreated into the waterways which caused serious problem to the environment. Therefore, new technology is sought to reduce the impact on environment and at the same time the biogas is recovered as an alternative energy source in the palm oil mill. The Ultrasonic-assisted Membrane Anaerobic System (UMAS) is one of the promising technologies that can be used to overcome these issues. POME samples were taken from two different sources, i.e. final discharge pond and three-phase decanter so as to observe their performances in terms of percentage Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal efficiency and methane (CH4) production. From the study, overall results demonstrated that the sample from decanter was better in its performances compared to the final discharge pond as it produced higher COD removal efficiency (94.7%) and CH4 gas production of 24933 mL at 7 days HRT.

Automotive paint sludge (APS) consists of chemicals predominantly from hydrocarbon based chemical which originated from base and clear paint and even thinner that has been sprayed on raw body of a car. Hence, it is hazardous and needs proper disposal treatment. In this study, the APS has been recovered by using microwave pyrolysis technique at 300W microwave power with 30-minute radiation time. Four different sample weight loadings with and without additional activated carbon as microwave absorber were tested; 200g, 300g, 400g and 500g. The liquid oil was collected and evaluated by using FTIR and GCMS. The results showed that microwave absorber has increased the liquid oil yield from 0.01g to 0.3g. By recovering the paint sludge, all hazardous chemicals that have the potential to be used as energy can be retrieved.

This work articulates double carrier based five-level pulse-width modulation for a nine-phase hex-tuple inverter AC drive. A set of standard three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) with slight modification is used for framing the nine-phase AC drive. In particular VSI packed with one bi-directional device (MOSFET/IGBT) per each phase and neutral point are established by linking two capacitors. A double carrier zero-shifted five-level pulse width modulation (DCZSFM) algorithm is adapted to regulate each VSI. Therefore, each VSI behaves as five-level output generator as a classical five-level multilevel inverter (MLI) types. Complete power modules along with modulation techniques are numerically developed in Matlab/PLECS software. Detailed set of results is provided in this paper on the basis of balanced operation and confirms the theoretical background always. Investigation of the nine-phase AC drives suits the needs of low-voltage/high current application to electric vehicle, traction systems and 'More-Electric Aircraft'.

Recently, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) integrated with battery-based interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) and conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) has flourished and their effective use for transportation purpose has reduced greenhouse effect and global warming. Even though IPMSM is considered successful electric motor for use in HEVs, however its limitations such as constant permanent magnet (PM) flux, distributed armature windings, and higher rotor mechanical stress remain to be resolved. A new structure of E-Core hybrid excitation switched-flux motor (EHESFM) with advantages of concentrated armature windings, variable flux capability via DC field excitation coil (FEC) and robust rotor structure as future prospect for HEV drives has been proposed in this paper. The evolution of EHESFM is addressed and performances of single-phase with 4 stator slot and 4, 6, 8, 10 rotor poles are investigated. Under similar restrictions and specifications of IPMSM employed in commercial HEV, deterministic optimization method is adopted to enhance the characteristics of 4S-10P EHESFM. The optimized design achieves average torque and output power of 208.9Nm and 49.3kW, respectively with average efficiency of 89.3%. The proposed EHESFM is definitely suitable for various applications with rigorous performance requirements—one of which is unquestionably the HEV.

Centrifugal pump is most common and frequently used in industry for many applications. Protection on the pump is very important and must be monitored continuously to have reliable operation. The main objectives of this work are to design and develop fault detection and isolation (FDI) for water-pump system using Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). This work also presents a signal-based approach for fault detection and isolation of water-pump system. To achieve this, the signals were measured through a Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) and processed with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed using Visual Studio 2008. The experimental results have shown that the signal-based approach using SCADA can be used successfully on fault detection and isolation of water-pump system.

A successful design of E-Core HEFSM had been developed to compensate the disadvantages of Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (IPMSM) installed Lexus RX400h'05. The previous research targeted that the E-Core able to reduce copper loss, have a sturdy structure, produce finer flux control and use lesser rare-earth magnet for HEV applications. However, the optimized design leaves disparity such as incongruous size, lesser PM volume ill-equipped for single-phase motor application. Therefore, this research is an initial comparison study of single phase E-Core Hybrid Excitation Flux Switching Motor (HEFSM) as the succession design which acquire quarter the size of the previous design acquiring smaller volume of rare-earth permanent magnet (PM) which contribute to high torque density. The new singe-phase E-Core HEFSM designs are addressed and performance of single-phase 4S-2P, 4S-6P, 4S-8P, 4S-10P, 6S-3P, 6S-9P, 6S-12P and 6S-18P are investigated. Preliminary study of the performance of the single phase E-Core HEFSM including armature coil test, flux enhancing, flux distribution and torque are analyzed verified based on 2D-FEA for various rotor pole topologies. It is shown that 6S-12 acquire justify flux linkage characteristics and load-torque characteristic viable for further analysis.

The implementation of long cable connection to AC drives creates harmonic in motor current and voltage, which in turn affects the power quality of the system. This paper presents a detailed analysis of harmonics at motor terminal of vector controlled AC drives for long cable applications. The long cable is represented by 50-m and 100-m cable. Experimental tests are conducted under no-load and load operating conditions with respect to various switching frequency and speed. The real-time implementation of AC drives is done using MATLAB/Simulink program and dSPACE DS1103 controller board. From the analysis, the cable length does not affect the speed response due to high-frequency switching operation of PWM signal. However, it increases the harmonic content in current and voltage of the motor. The THD current and THD voltage increase 5.5% and 12.5% in average respectively when long cable is applied. It is found that the THD voltage is greatly affected by long cable compared to the THD current. These findings provide important insight for future research which is mitigation method of voltage harmonics for the AC drives with long cable connection.

Eclimo electric scooter is a two in-wheel battery powered electric vehicle that is currently operating at the torque of 110Nm and power output of 6kW. However, taking its size of electric motor 11 inches, performance is less suitable for long distance travel. Again, type of motor employed in it is a surface mounted permanent magnet which experiences excessive loss during operation. To solve this challenge, 12S-14P flux switching permanent motor employing segmental rotor in outer rotor configuration has been presented in which all active parts are located on the stationary stator leaving rotor completely passive for speed application. The initial design of proposed motor did not achieve the target torque of 439Nm with 45kW for excellent performance of conventional eclimo and also increase its efficiency. This paper presents the optimization of the motor to achieve the needed target of 439Nm and 41kW suitable for long distance travel. Optimization, simulation and analysis are done using 2D-FEA released by JMAG Designer version 14.1. Furthermore, results show that motor's performance in terms of torque is 69% and output power is 85%. These results are higher than the performance of SPMSM installed in electric scooter and would sustain eclimo electric for long distance travel of 131km before recharging its battery.

Surface tilt angle of a photovoltaic (PV) module is one of the most important parameters for receiving maximum solar irradiation falling on the solar arrays. However, this angle is site specific because it is dependent on the daily, monthly and yearly position of the Sun. Moreover, it is essential to determine the optimal tilt angle for the location in order to get the maximum energy from the solar PV system. Different methods have been used for determining the tilt angle at different locations worldwide. The performance of the PV system greatly depends on fixed and tracking system to adjust tilt angle. This article presents the up-to-date status of research and applications of different methods for analyzing the impact of tilt angle on the PV performance using various optimization methods. This article also puts forward analysis of the optimal tilt angle for acquiring maximum energy gain in Malaysia. From the study it is found that the optimal tilt angle in Malaysia is 15o. This review will extend knowledge for designers and researchers to determine the optimal tilt angle for the solar PV systems at any region in the Malaysia.

Module temperature (MT) plays an important role in the conversion of photovoltaic (PV) array production. Due to that, the accuracy of MT prediction or MT model is significant in any design and performance software or prediction tools. Presently, there are a few MT models developed for equatorial (Af) region such as Malaysia. In Malaysia, retrofitted PV mounting configurations is getting much attention because the ample roof availability especially roof of factories and warehouses. In this study, a hybrid technique of principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regressions (MLR) is applied to develop a MT model and to quantify the relative contribution of each predictor in the MT model for Malaysia.

In renewable energy resources increasing environmental concerns and the escalating conventional energy supply costs are creating a resurrection of interest. Photovoltaic-Thermal (PVT) solar technology is a relatively new solar conversion technology. It converts the incident solar radiation into usable electrical and thermal energy at the same time. The negative temperature coefficient of the electrical conversion efficiency of crystalline PV cells is the basis of this technology. It leads to reduction in performance of installed PV panels at high irradiance levels. A low temperature fluid is circulated through the heat exchanger attached to PV back to extract the excess heat from the panel hence cooling it in the process. In this study, a steady state thermal model of a PVT solar collector is developed, validated from experimental data and then used to study the effect of solar irradiation on the performance of the system. The numerical procedure to solve the governing equations involving continuity, momentum, energy equations are done by finite element formulation based on the Galerkin weighted residual method. The result indicates that increasing the solar irradiation increases thermal efficiency but decreases electrical efficiency of the system.

Although water, in some parts of the world is as abundant as the air that we breathe, it is still a precious resource in dry regions. Such regions must use it carefully and efficiently because of its scarcity. However, the irrigation systems are still wasteful as they unnecessarily flood the farms. This results into wastage of water and energy that is used for pumping the water. With the improvement of the technological infrastructure, effective management of water usage and power consumption of irrigation systems can be achieved. This can be done by enabling the irrigation system to identify specific areas to irrigate. This paper presents a smart irrigation system that uses environmental information to determine when and where irrigation is required. A truth table is developed to help the system determine the necessity to irrigate basing on the collected environment information.

A Wind Turbine Simulator is developed and presented in this paper to model and analyse the performance of a horizontal axis wind turbine mechanical power with its effective and improve factors. The effective factor is used to determine the effectiveness of wind turbines to extract wind energy for a specific wind speed with different number of blades. The improved factor is used to determine the improved performance of wind turbine with the increment of turbine blades. The improve factor for one to six blades of a wind turbine is evaluated based on three different commercial wind turbine parameters. The experimental results show that wind turbines rotating at low wind speed performs better with more turbines blades due to unity effective factor. High improve factors of a wind turbine can be achieved from the increment of one to two blades and two to three blades. This paper contributes to the experimental evaluation of effective and improve factors for the determination of a suitable blade configuration in a wind turbine design with a given constraint on the mechanical output power.

The wind turbine power curve presents the relation between hub height wind speed and wind turbine power. It essentially captures the performance of the wind turbine. Moreover, it serves as wind power forecasting tool if the predicted wind speed is available. This paper presents a new parametric model with nine coefficients for characterizing power curve of the wind turbine. To evaluate the performance of the proposed model, it is compared to four and five-parameter logistic function. Two models, namely, auto-regression moving average (ARMA) and multilayer perceptron (MLP) are applied to forecast wind speed. Results show that proposed model outperforms some other existing parametric wind turbine models.

The emergence of Statistical Learning Theory (SLT) based algorithm namely Least Squares Support Vector Machines (LSSVM) has evidenced its efficacy in solving regression and classification problems. In this study, LSSVM is employed as a predictor to predict water level. Accurate water levels modeling and prediction is vital for safety especially during the monsoon season. It is worth noting that, mitigating the effects of floods can be accomplished by using either structural or non-structural measures, or by a combination of both. Structural measures incorporated of engineering works, such as channelization or flood reservoirs which changes the shape of the flood hydrograph. On the other hand, non-structural measures such as flood warning scheme is intended to reduce the economic losses in a flood situation. In most cases, disaster prevention operation such flood warning scheme proved to be more efficient in mitigating the effects of major floods than structural measures. Thus, for this study, a hybrid algorithm of LSSVM with one of the recent bio-inspired optimization algorithm, namely Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO-LSSVM) is presented for water level prediction. The GWO is utilized to optimize the parameters of LSSVM. The feasibility of GWO-LSSVM is compared against LSSVM optimized by Firefly Algorithm (FA-LSSVM) and single GWO. Findings of the study demonstrated that the GWO-LSSVM able to provide competitive results and able to perform well for the problem under study.

This paper proposed the development of Alternative-Remote Terminal Unit (A-RTU) for data speed, data security, data validation, and data control management. Each development was essential to implement a reliable and systematic process of A-RTU device for a general purpose in Electric Vehicles like electric cars. The data speed was achieved by reducing the arrival and departure time based on hardware designation, the data security was prevented from energy theft for an unlimited area, the data validation process was validated based on parameter use only; and data control management was controlled and managed based on the sub-component of RTU for a general purpose use. The A-RTU was implemented by combining the Programmable Integrated Circuit (PIC), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA), and Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) using area code of each state to unlimited area, validating the battery State of Charge (SOC) parameter, and controlling and managing the battery charging and discharging process, and the remote device process based on MATLAB Simulink. The findings should reduce the arrival and departure time for less than milliseconds to increase the data speed that were being sent and received.

This project is to apply a Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP) protocol to the active power filter (APF) application at the nonlinear load. Here, the RCP is been tested on the RPi because this microcontroller is known as a low cost microcontroller and easy to implement. The advantage of using the RCP is where the respond of the controller can be modeled in the MATLAB and at meantime the output can be observed in real time mode. At the meantime, this APF is used to inject the required current signal to improve the characteristics of the supply current due to nonlinear load by using a Proportional Integration (PI) control at the APF. At the end of this project, it shows that, the RPi is a suitable candidate for RCP process that suitable to be taught in undergraduate level.

This paper employs Shan-Chen (SC) Multiphase Lattice Boltzmann Model (LBM) to test its ability to model the liquid-gas interface in multiphase flow. One of the challenges in multiphase flow modeling is being able to capture correctly the interface where liquid/gas phase transition happens. In this study, we analyse the parameters such as unphysical velocity at the interface, density ratio, and temperature range that have significant effects on the model performance. The assessment of the model is performed by observing the magnitude of unphysical velocity at the vicinity of the interface under allowed temperature range and liquid-gas density ratio, as the result of discretization limits. Several tests (static droplet tests) were performed with different conditions of observed variables using DL_MESO Lattice Boltzmann Equation (LBE) computational platform developed at Daresbury Laboratory (UK). The SC model is found to present numerical instability for liquid-gas density ratios above 33 and the magnitude of unphysical velocity (also called spurious current) increases drastically As the result of the assessment, it is concluded that SC LBM is limited to higher temperatures cases and liquid-gas density ratio smaller than 33, for a reasonably refined discretization.

High alkali and alkaline earth metals (AAEMs) present in oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) can cause the secondary reaction during the pyrolysis and this problem leads to the low bio-oil yield with high formation of char. In this study, a new effective technique to eliminate the AAEMs from EFB was revealed by sonication using ultrasonic bath in the presence of nitric acid. The operating variables such as different AAEMs removal techniques, leaching solutions and leaching time were investigated. The results indicated that the demineralization process was an effective pre-treatment due to the reduction of moisture and ash contents from 6.5 % to 2.3 % and 4.5 % to 0.95 %, respectively in the treated EFB. In addition, about 82.42 % of ash was eliminated from EFB using 1 % of nitric acid at 10 minutes of sonicating time. Demineralization efficiency of AAEMs was monitored using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES). The results showed that leaching with nitric acid eliminated all alkali metals (K and Na) from EFB, while, alkaline earth metals (Mg, Ca and Fe) had different degree of demineralization efficiency in comparison to water soaking technique. Therefore, these findings showed that sonication with nitric acid was an effective leaching technique with comparison to water soaking. This work discloses a favourable demineralization process as biomass pre-treatment for bio-oil upgrading with shorter time ash removal from EFB.

The objective of the study is to observe the characteristics of hydrogel biochar derived from biomass which are fly ash(FA) and sugar cane bagasse(SB) potentially for heavy metal and hazardous gas removal. Hydrogel biochar is an alternative cheap and efficient adsorbent produced from biomass while blending hydrogel biochar is an adsorbent produced by blending two different biomass as its raw materials. The preparation of the blending hydrogel biochar is done by pyrolysis process of sugarcane bagasse to produce sugarcane bagasse biochar. The biochar is then washed with 1.0M of HCl and then mixed with polymers; Acrylamide (AAm), N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) and ammonium persulfate (APS); and mix together with fly ash, producing blending hydrogel biochar. The characteristics of blending hydrogel biochar is analyse using Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Field Emission Electron Microscopy (FESEM). Proximate analysis shows that blending hydrogel with ratio of 0.7 to 0.3 of fly ash to sugarcane bagasse has the highest fixed carbon content compared to the other ratio with 21.80 wt%. FESEM image shows that Both hydrogel is suitable source of blending since the pore size is vary and can be function as a good adsorbent. The best ratio for blending hydrogel biochar is 0.2 of sugarcane bagasse to 0.8 fly ash since it has the highest pore volume distribution with 0.00063 cm3/g.