Thesis (M.A.)--Western Kentucky University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-63).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1987. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-137).

Thesis (M.A.) in History--University of Maine, 2003. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-71).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1982. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-137).

Over the coming decades, renewable energy sources, namely wind and solar, will need to play a larger role in our nation’s energy mix as we seek to lower greenhouse emissions and respond to renewable energy policies and the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. This thesis assesses the role of wider-area power system operations in the U.S. as a powerful solution in supporting the integration of these weather-driven, variable energy resources that pose substantial challenges to grid reliability. The expansion and integration of organized electricity markets and transmission networks over wider geographic areas can (1) help reduce net-variability in wind and solar power generation while improving reliability; (2) provide an outlet for over-generation while reducing curtailment; (3) improve resource utilization while enabling resource sharing and lowering electricity costs; and (4) enable low-cost pollution reduction by providing a cheap alternative to fossil-fuel generation. Through power industry assessment, case-study analyses, and modeling research using NOAA’s National Energy with Weather System Simulator to compare scenarios of regional expansion versus a nation power system, this paper evaluates the feasibility and role of wide-area expansion and integration in achieving higher levels of variable renewable energy than our current system is capable of supporting.

Facing a rapidly-changing power industry, the electrical engineering department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo proposed Advanced Power Systems Initiatives to better prepare its students for entering the power industry. These initiatives call for the creation of a new laboratory curriculum that uses microprocessor-based relays to reinforce the fundamental concepts of power system protection. This paper summarizes a laboratory system fit for this task and presents a set of proposed laboratory experiments to establish a new laboratory course at Cal Poly. The experiments expose students to the capabilities of industry-standard microprocessor-based relays through hands-on procedures that demonstrate common power system protection schemes. Relays studied in this project support transformer, transmission line, and induction motor protection.

A standard home in the United States has access to the 120V AC power grid for use with home appliances. Many electronics used at home are powered by a DC power supply, which loses energy in the conversion from AC power. The DC House project avoids any conversion between AC and DC by storing energy in batteries as DC power and supplying it directly to DC appliances. While AC systems feature a standardized output voltage, no such standard exists for DC systems. The Smart DC Wall Outlet solves this by automatically adjusting its output voltage to meet any required DC load voltage. A hardware solution was developed using a microcontroller in tandem with a DC to DC Buck converter to monitor trends in the output current and set the output voltage accordingly. The Smart DC Wall Outlet features two 100W output channels that were able to correctly identify the required output voltage of five out of seven test devices. Results indicate that it is possible to generalize the turn on characteristics of DC devices, but that other solutions may find more success.

This thesis provides insight into the different aspects of compulsator design for use with railgun systems. Specifically, the design space is explored for passively compensated, permanent magnet iron-core compulsators. Seven design parameters are varied within a compulsator model developed for the Cal Poly Compulsator (CPCPA). The Matlab code for this model is included within the appendix. Efforts were made to compare and validate this compulsator model to published data from existing systems. The compulsator model was found to match closely with discharge pulse length, but resulted in lower values for peak current and projectile velocity by 50% and 30% respectively when compared to published data.

The power requirements for microprocessors have been increasing per Moore's Law. According to International Technology Roadmap (ITRS), Voltage Regulator Module (VRM) for microprocessors will be about 200 W at 1 V output in 2010. With the VRM’s topology of synchronous buck, serious technical challenges such as small duty cycle, high switching frequencies, and higher current demands, contribute to decreased power density and increased cost. This thesis proposes a Continuous Input Current Multiphase Interleaved Buck topology to solve the technical challenges of powering future microprocessors. This new topology is aimed to improve past topologies by providing continuous input current and improved efficiency. An open loop system of the proposed new topology is simulated using OrCAD PSpice to evaluate the performance criteria of the VRM. A hardware prototype of a four-phase Continuous Input Current Multiphase Interleaved Buck Converter is constructed and tested to assess the targeted improvements.

Multilevel inverters offer many well-known advantages for use in high-voltage and high-power applications, but they are also well suited for low-power applications. A single phase inverter is developed in this paper to deliver power from a residential-scale system of Photovoltaic panels to the utility grid. The single-stage inverter implements a novel control technique for the reversing voltage topology to produce a stepped output waveform. This approach increases the granularity of control over the PV systems, modularizing key components of the inverter and allowing the inverter to extract the maximum power from the systems. The adaptive controller minimizes harmonic distortion in its output and controls the level of reactive power injected to the grid. A computer model of the controller is designed and tested in the MATLAB program Simulink to assess the performance of the controller. To validate the results, the performance of the proposed inverter is compared to that of a comparable voltage-sourced inverter.