The lecturers are listed in alphabetical order.
Improvement of the energy efficiency in the energy production is a key aim of economy and this trend will continue to increase in the near future. Energy consumption is one of the most important indicator showing the development stages of countries and living standards of communities. Population increment, urbanization, industrializing, and technologic development result directly in increasing energy consumption. This rapid growing trend brings about the crucial environmental problems such as contamination and greenhouse effect. It can be expected that performing an analysis based on the same definition of performance criteria will be meaningful for performance comparisons, assessments and improvement for thermal power plants. Additionally, considering both the energetic and exergetic performance criteria together can guide the ways of efficient and effective usage of fuel resources by taking into account the quality and quantity of the energy used in the generation of electric power in thermal power plants. It is known that the most effective way to use energy more efficiently is the energy and exergy analysis. The purpose of this study presented here is to carry out energetic and exergetic performance analyses, at the design conditions, for the existing coal and gas-fired thermal power plants in order to identify the needed improvement. In addition, energy and exergy results in this study will help to the rehabilitation, improvement of the efficiency, reduction on investment and production cost.
Wind energy conversion systems are very important in the research of renewable energy sources. The rapid advances in the size of wind generators and the development of power electronics and their applicability in wind energy generation have drawn substantial attention. This presentation will provide a short review of permanent magnet generators, induction generators, synchronous generators and doubly fed induction generators and also converter topologies applicable to the generators. Different combinations of generator-converter will be compared on the basis such as used topology and control techniques, efficiency and power consumption and cost. In wind turbine systems which combination of generator-converter with promising features will be discussed.
Electric Energy is a vital input for industrial development. Since the global warming and climate change are recognized as real concerns, attention of power system planner's developers in the world including Turkey is focused on using alternative and clean energy technologies for electric energy production. Renewable energies are considered as clean sources of energy and optimal use of these resources minimize environmental impacts, wastes. Therefore, there is increasing demand for the use of alternative renewable energy sources to achieve clean and low-cost electric energy for loads. Wind and solar energies are some of the renewable energy sources which are mostly available in the world. Despite the obvious advantages of renewable energy, it presents important drawbacks, such as the discontinuity of generation, complex design, planning and control methods. My courses will introduce building and operation of a wind and a solar power sources as a clean energy park.
My talk will cover the expectations in EU in the field of renewable energy, potential of Romania in the field of renewable energy, use of induction machines in renewable energy systems, especially in wind energy applications, defects of induction machines and the detection of defects of induction machines.
In projected presentation will be firstly analyzed basic Fuel Cell (FC) Hybrid Power Source (HPS) topologies. Secondly, an advanced topology of FC HPS, which are proposed for an efficient mitigation of inverter current ripple and to assure a high reliability of system, will be analized. The case of FC inverter systems used in vehicle applications is considered, too. The operation conditions and the performance indicators for efficient energy conversion and high reliability of FC HPS are defined in relation with use of hybrid Energy Storage System (ESS) as auxiliary low power DC source for improving the HPS energy management. A brief overview of current and future batteries' technologies used in vehicle ESS is presented, too. Secondly, in this chapter is analyzed the ripple that is back propagated from the inverter system. A nonlinear control of the FC HPS topology that improves the performance and durability of FC stack is analyzed. The buck converter from the HPS topology operates as active parallel filter to mitigate the low frequency components of current ripple that is back propagated to HPS from the inverter system. In fact, the buck converter operates as a Controlled Current Source (CCS), injecting an anti-ripple current on common point of HPS and inverter system.Simulation results have shown the effectiveness of this active mitigation control.
The synchronous generators, known as alternators, driven either by steam, hydro, gas or wind turbines, represent the main way of generating electrical energy. In this presentation the idea of co-simulation applied to a synchronous generator modeling and also to a certain electromechanical systems is described. This means to merge the computing power of a finite element software and of the Simulink facilities, for a comprehensive simulation of the device. This technique allows incorporating more details of the modeled system in their Simulink simulations, leading to better understanding of system behavior and computational efficiency. This approach combines the solution of the magnetic field equations, described by partial differential equations, using finite element method, with the strength of Simulink in system-level drive, control and power electronics simulation. Studying the dynamics of a synchronous generator needs the modeling of the main machine, of the exciter and of the diode bridge. We will present here the model of the exciter.
Self-powering, maintenance free and long-lasting wireless sensor networks are becoming a feasible perspective thanks to the parallel advancements of energy harvesting technologies and ultra-low power electronics. In particular, kinetic energy from vibrations is a reliable complementary resource to solar and thermal energy to power sub-milliwatts electronics. Vibrations sources are present almost everywhere: industrial machineries, bridges, buildings, transportations and human movements. However, these vibrations sources are time-frequency variable and, usually, abundant below hundreds hertz. Main mechanical-to- electrical converters use piezoelectric, electromagnetics and electrostatic transduction methods. However, most of the available vibration harvesting generators are based on resonant transducers which suffer from a series of strong limits such as narrow frequency response, frequency tuning issues and poor efficiency at small scale. Independently from the transduction technique, nonlinear vibration harvesters, instead, show a larger bandwidth response and flexibility to convert kinetic energy off the natural frequency of the sources. Bistable nonlinear piezoelectric systems have been proven to outperform resonant harvesters when excited by random vibrations in terms of bandwidth response and power output. Another method for widening the frequency spectrum is the use of oscillator arrays with different resonant frequencies. More recently, other research groups have proposed frequency-up conversion methods which allow to transfer kinetic energy from low-frequency vibration sources to suitable bandwidth for the transducer. In this seminar, an introduction to vibration energy harvesting will be presented along with an overview of different transduction techniques. Then, linear resonant and nonlinear vibration harvesting systems will discussed focusing on main advantages and drawbacks for various targeted applications.
There is a wide range of modeling and controlling techniques that belong to the Computational Intelligence field. It is a set of nature-inspired computational methodologies and approaches to address complex problems of the real world applications to which traditional (first principles, probabilistic, black-box, etc.) methodologies and approaches are ineffective or infeasible. In the course, we will make a brief tour of the best known techniques for modeling and control within the scope of Computational Intelligence, addressing to cases of use in the field of Renewable Energies. In addition, there will be a more detailed presentation on neural networks and the ability to learn models which have interesting properties and can then be used for simulation and control.
Although solar thermal power plants are now profitable in a few countries due to public incentives in the form of feed-in tariffs or tax credits, it is clear that ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs must be found, because the current public incentives will be progressively reduced in the future. The main goal of current incentives is to make the first commercial projects financially feasible for investors, thereby stimulating the implementation of first plants. Pushed by the need to improve the technology and reduce the cost of the electricity generated, many private and public entities worldwide are carrying out a significant number of R&D projects to improve components, operation and maintenance procedures, and solar system-to-power block connection. An overview of current technical challenges to be solved in order to achieve a significant cost reduction and a higher environmental sustainability of CSP plants will be made in the lectures proposed, pointing out the objectives that should be defined for R+D activities related to CSP in a short to medium term. My courses will focus on thermal storage for solar thermal power plants and commercial potential for solar thermal power plants.
This lecture deals with the strategies and policies on bioenergy utilization at the EU level. Policy instruments play a vital role in the promotion of biomass use for energy provision and thus to achieve a larger share of renewable energy sources in our energy mix. Thereby the type, design and set of chosen policy instruments are crucial for a successful implementation of an energy policy for a sustainable energy supply. Policy instruments can be grouped into three main categories: regulatory, economic and educational measures. These categories primarily differ in their degree of enforcement and degree of interference in the market. Hence, it is the aim to show and discuss the pros and cons of the different measures and to develop recommendations on an effective design and mix of policy instruments to achieve an increased share of bioenergy in the overall energy mix.
Generally, grid connected PV systems are small domestic installations which are connected to the distribution system at low voltage, at the same site of generation. Each installation itself, should not create problems in the distribution system, but the problem starts with the currently existing high number of this type of facilities. I.e., the comprehensive amount of energy generated is already beginning to have a considerable value.
This situation leads to some new challenges. This will require thinking in new engineering solutions that can predict the behavior of the system, identify potential problems that may occur and control of optimal energy flows. Therefore, it is very interesting and necessary to have mathematical models of photovoltaic system components in order to study and predict their behavior.
Sustainable energy supply and demand is a pressing problem. Finite fossil resources, climate change and the dangers of nuclear power have put the topic high on the inner politic agenda of various countries. But what does sustainability actually mean and how does this apply to energy technologies. In this lecture, we address this issue from an inter- and multidisciplinary perspective.
There seems a unanimous consensus that sustainability rests on three pillars - an economic, an ecological and a social one. While there are widely accepted criteria as to how to measure progress or decline within the economical and ecological domain, it is uncertain as to how to evaluate the social aspects of sustainability. Particular for energy technologies, where the socially relevant side effects also touch on future generations, this constitutes a severe problem. We will discuss various way as to how to assess the social aspects of sustainability and applied to an evaluation of energy technologies and thereby learn that not only the three-pillar view on sustainability is untenable, but also the distinction between weak and strong sustainability becomes obsolete.
This course will cover some introductory aspects of the following issues: Hydrogen Production, Storage and Transportation, Hydrogenated Energy Producers, Hydrogen Protatif Energy Manufacturer Batteries, Thermodynamics of hydrogen energy producers, Definition of the Cell, Energy generator hydrogen generator, hydrogen Energy Installations and Power Plants, Hydrogen power generators, Auxiliary Systems, Storage Systems, Advantages and disadvantages of hydrogen energy systems.Hydrogen security and recent developments.
This presentation will focus on the importance of the useful work potential of energy aka exergy in achieving solid steps towards sustainability at large with main focus on wind energy. The direct relationship between exergy destruction and CO2 emissions will be discussed and two green buildings with on-site wind turbines designed and built on exergy use rationality principles will be introduced and explained in detail.
This lecture consists of the experimental and the theoretical surveys on a newly-proposed piezoelectric energy harvester. The nonlinear features of the harvester under the changeable flux will be pointed out. The energy generation mechanism will be examined in terms of different external magnetic excitations. A theoretical model which determines the amplitude of the buckling beam and the velocity of the beam tip will be constructed and the dependence to voltage generation will be discussed. The lecture also includes a comparison between the simulation results based on the constructed model and the experimental results. It will be proven that the magnetic excitation can yield to different dynamics on the harvester and the leading system parameters such as the excitation amplitude, frequency and the distance play important role to estimate the energy generation mechanism.
Cities and built environment consume up to 75% of all energy. Finding sustainable urban energy solutions can thus have a major impact on the global energy and climate issues. Cities offer as such excellent platforms for distributed electricity generation due to closeness of demand and supply, and versatile options to cope with energy resource variability.
Considering large-scale utilization of renewable energy (RES) in urban context, e.g. solar or wind energy, implies new challenges from a technical point of view on present energy systems e.g. due to the mismatch of demand and supply, both in time and space. This is particularly true in electrical systems requiring instantaneous balance between supply and demand, whereas in thermal systems providing storage over a few days is easy and cheap. It is well-known that present rigid electricity infrastructure has problems in coping with high power variations and would require more flexible arrangements such as smart grids.
This lecture will cover planning fundamentals of urban renewable electricity systems including understanding how RES systems are integrated and interface with present energy systems. Modelling urban energy densities and spatial energy transfer and dimensioning of urban RES will be discussed. As high solar or intermittent renewable electricity fractions may lead to more complicated mismatch situations, "smart grid"-type strategies will also be included. Real case studies from Europe and China will be demonstrated to show how much RES could be optimally be integrated into cities. Through optimum control, variable renewables could meet even up to 50% of the urban power demand.
In this century, environment impact and energy conservation are very important and growing concerns. The development of electric vehicles is of vital importance because combustion based vehicles is not a sustainable option for a near future. Moreover, policy incentives together with pollution and noise concerns and the use of renewable energy have made commercially viable electric and hybrid vehicles a reality.
This lecture will give an overview of the history of electric vehicles, the present status, and the future research lines. The main problems associated with electric vehicles development and effective implementation such as energy storage, electronics and control will be analysed. Finally, standardization will be addressed.
In this paper are presented the results of the research regarding modeling and validation of models for the main clean sources of energy (fuel cell, photovoltaic panel, wind turbine). In the case of the photovoltaic panel, the results from simulations were compared with results obtained by measuring the parameters of existing solar panels in the laboratory. When comparing, we could validate the proposed models for photovoltaic panel. Since an objective pursued in research was related to the design and implementation of a hardware emulator for clean energy sources, a modeling of the sources of energy was needed, comparatively implemented both in Matlab Simulink ®, and the programming language Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 ®. The software implemented in Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 for modeling cell / photovoltaic panels allows a flexible analysis of their static operating characteristics. With minimal effort, this simulator can be extended to model any type of energy source. For the fuel cell I proposed and implemented both a detailed model and a simplified model, which were compared in terms of static (same characteristics) and dynamic (small differences) characteristics. The latter was used when more speed was needed in the simulation. The validation of models was made using parameters was offered by the manufacturers of fuel cells, comparing results with those reported by manufacturers.
Energy is the most important problem for countries as well as the world. It is expected that it will continue to be more important in the future. Result of the increasing threat and the dangers of cyber-environment, the vulnerability or security of these systems is one of the topics to be addressed over the last few years. Today, cyber security threatens not only information assets of a country but also just as in conventional wars, threatens economy, physical facilities, and lives. Because of those energy-related businesses, institutions and organizations to define the duties and responsibilities against a possible war in cyberspace should bu always considered and necessary precautions should be taken. In the presentation, elements and scope of cyber security, vulnerabilities threatening the energy systems and information assesses will be explained and possible measures and defense methodologies will be summarized. Some live demo will be presented if it is possible.
In this lecture we talk about the Wind Turbines and Photovoltaic Electricity Generation Systems. We investigate wind generators, working principles and topologies of turbines, and generator types (Induction generators, wounded rotor (slip ring) induction generators, excited synchronous generators, permanent magnet synchronous generators). The components of the wind turbine such as the blade and tower, gear boxes and shafts, power control units (yaw and pitch control mechanisms), protection, and monitoring systems are also introduced. In addition on-shore and off-shore wind farms structures and wind turbine measuring devices are presented. Photovoltaic System is the second main subject of our course. Photovoltaic modules, importance of the maximum power point tracking systems and structures (solar tracking mechanisms and maximum power point tracking techniques with static power converters) are presented. DC-DC converters, DC-AC converters and energy storage equipments which are used in photovoltaic systems are given. Stand alone and grid interactive structures, high power grid interactive topologies and international standarts are explained.
Nuclear Energy is released as a result of nuclear reactions. Out of many nuclear reactions known, those resulting in fission and fusion have at present the greatest practical significance for energy production.
The absorption of a neutron can split the nucleus in certain heavy elements into two massive fragments, notably uranium and plutonium and other actinides, a process called fission. Each fission reaction releases energy of ~ 200 MeV/nucleus. We note that 1 eV = 10-19 Joule.
When two light nuclear particles combine or "fuse" together, energy is also released because the product nuclei have less mass than the original particles. The most promising fusion reactions make use of the isotope deuterium, 2H1, abbreviated D. They are (D,T), (D,D) and (D,3He2). D is present in water as heavy hydrogen with abundance of only 0.015%, i.e., there is one atom of 2H1 for every 6700 atoms of 1H1. However, the tiny amount of D in 1 liter of natural water releases fusion energy equivalent to as much as 300 liters of gasoline.
The abundance of 3He2 in natural helium is 0.0138 %, i. e., ~ 1/8000. Earth has very scarce 3He2 resources. On the other hand, it is estimated, based on sample measurements that the first 50 cm of Moon dust contains ~ 109 kg 3He2. Jupiter and Saturn atmospheres contain each ~ 1022 kg 3He2. Uranus and Neptun atmospheres contain each ~ 1020 kg 3He2. Their fusion energy potential would be sufficient mankind's energy needs for millions of years, i.e., forever.
Current Nuclear power reactors in use can be classified as CANDU reactors, BWRs and PWRs. Presently, Generation III and Generation III+ reactors are offered by reactor constructors, which have the advantage of higher operation safety, longer lifetimes of 60 up to 100 years, Earthquake protection safety at 9 Richter scale, lower construction and operation costs, etc.
Intensive research is pursued on the development of Generation IV reactors for electricity generation with higher efficiency, lower cost, process heat, hydrogen production, thorium utilization and nuclear waste incineration.
Independently, fusion technology research is also making great progress. Progress on The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) brings fusion a viable energy source in foreseeable future. Fusion reactors have the potential to operate also as fusion/fission hybrids, opening new horizons in the utilization of nuclear energy.
Nuclear hydrogen production could be considered as a suitable candidate to replace current fossil fuel-based processes and reduce green house gas effects. The future perspective for hydrogen production would be based on higher efficiency processes using very high temperatures produced through new designs of nuclear reactors. Hence, mid and far term demands may rely on higher efficiency thermochemical processes coupled to high temperature nuclear reactors. Economical hydrogen production processes are required for a successful hydrogen economy. The hydrogen economy is getting higher visibility and stronger political support in several parts of the world. Unlike electricity, hydrogen as an energy carrier can be stored in large quantities and converted into electricity in fuel cells, with only heat and water as by-products.
Helium gas-cooled reactors and molten salt-cooled reactors can be recommended as the baseline choice for a reactor heat source for a Sulphur-Iodine thermo chemical cycle for hydrogen production. In the present paper, special attention will be focused on molten salt reactors.
Hydrogen economy will consume a great amount of hydrogen which can be supplied only by means of advanced nuclear technology in an environmentally clean manner. Most promising candidates are helium based high temperature reactors or molten salt reactors. MSRs are primary candidates for a most compact reactor design and operate at low pressures.
Although solar thermal power plants are now profitable in a few countries due to public incentives in the form of feed-in tariffs or tax credits, it is clear that ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs must be found, because the current public incentives will be progressively reduced in the future. The main goal of current incentives is to make the first commercial projects financially feasible for investors, thereby stimulating the implementation of first plants. Pushed by the need to improve the technology and reduce the cost of the electricity generated, many private and public entities worldwide are carrying out a significant number of R&D projects to improve components, operation and maintenance procedures, and solar system-to-power block connection. An overview of current technical challenges to be solved in order to achieve a significant cost reduction and a higher environmental sustainability of CSP plants will be made in the lectures proposed, pointing out the objectives that should be defined for R+D activities related to CSP in a short to medium term. My courses will be on solar thermal concentrating technologies and solar thermal power plants.