In this thesis I deal with the issue of stand-alone solar system development. This system ensures the supply of all the energy needed for a reference house. It consists of a solar concentrator and a heat reservoir. I used mathematical models to solve this issue. The calculations showed, that the concentration of solar radiation into the heat reservoir can usually achieve 69 % efficiency. The efficiency can be even higher when using a very reflective materials of the solar concentrator. In this thesis, the thermal reservoir is described and its improvements are suggested based on the optimization calculations. Thanks to knowledge gained during solving this issue, a prototype of the stand-alone solar system is going to be built. All findings will be experimentally verified with this prototype.

Depuis le début des années 2000, les performances des diodes électroluminescentes (LED) ne cessent de s’améliorer alors que leur prix connait une diminution spectaculaire grâce à une production à grande échelle liée au marché de l'éclairage. Ainsi, les LED deviennent une source de lumière intéressante pour le pompage de lasers solides, intermédiaire entre les lampes flash et les diodes laser. C’est pourquoi, nous proposons dans cette thèse, de revisiter le pompage laser par LED, 40 ans après la première démonstration. Nous avons démontré le premier système laser Nd:YVO4 pompé directement par LED. La brillance des LEDs limitant fortement les performances, nous nous sommes intéressé au concept de concentrateur luminescent (en Ce:YAG) pompé par LED. Nous avons ainsi développé une nouvelle source d’éclairage haute brillance, améliorant les performances des LEDs d’un facteur 20 pour aboutir à des éclairements comparables à ceux des diodes laser (de l’ordre de plusieurs kW/cm²). Le pompage laser par cette nouvelle source de pompage a été validé pour la première fois sur les cristaux laser de Nd:YVO4 (3 mJ obtenus avec un profil monomode et 6 mJ en multimode) ainsi que sur des cristaux de Nd:YAG. Dans ce dernier cas, un déclenchement passif à l’aide d’absorbants saturables a permis d'obtenir ainsi des performances encore jamais atteintes pour un laser pompé par LED. Ainsi, les concentrateurs pompés par LED ouvrent de nouvelles possibilités pour le pompage de matériaux laser nécessitant de forte brillance de pompage. Les premiers essais sur le saphir dopé au titane montrent qu'il est possible d'obtenir du gain sur ce matériau en pompage par LED. / Since the early 2000s, the lighting market is constantly growing up, pulling the Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) performance forward and pushing their cost down. LED is becoming an interesting source of light for laser pumping, between flashlamp and laser diodes. Thus, 40 years after the first demonstration, we suggest to revisit laser LED pumping. In this work, we demonstrated for the first time a Nd:YVO4 laser directly LED-pumped. LED radiance being limited, we took interest in LED-pumped luminescent concentrators. By developing Ce:YAG concentrator, we were able to overcome the LEDs irradiance by a factor of 20, leading to output irradiances similar to the laser diode ones (of the order of multi-kW/cm²). We validated the concept by pumping for the first time a Nd:YVO4 crystal and a Nd:YAG crystal with luminescent concentrators. Output energies of several mJ were obtained. In addition, we succeeded to get a passively Q-switched regime for the Nd:YAG laser by using saturable absorbers leading to unpreceded performance for a LED-pumped laser. Finally, LED-pumped concentrators pave the way for new possibilities for high-radiance source pumped media. Our first tests on titanium doped sapphire show that a laser gain with a LED pumping is achievable.

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<p> A virtual impactor type dust flow concentrator was developed and an experimental investigation was performed to characterize the hydraulic and particulate matter (PM) separation performance of the device. In particular, the pressure drop characteristics, the ratio of the flow through the two branches, and the PM concentration in the minor and main branch of the flow concentrator were evaluated using experiments on a diesel exhaust rig and an air rig. Tests were performed to examine the effect of the inlet flow Reynolds number, the inlet tube lip position relative to the concentration probe, and the flow distribution between the minor and main branches. Numerical simulations were also performed for a simplified concentrator geometry to examine the flow streamlines and pressure drop. The results showed that the ratio of the concentration in the minor and main flow branches changed as the flow rate in these branches changed, reaching a maximum at a minor flow ratio that depended on the lip position. It was observed the difference of the particulate matter concentration in the minor and main branch was greater for higher inlet Reynolds number. For example, the concentration ratio increased 50% as the Reynolds number increased from 2,200 to 25,700. A similar result was observed when the inlet tube lip was moved further into the concentration body. The pressure losses seem to be mainly caused by the changes in flow directions and the change in the cross sectional areas.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

To improve the performance of solar energy converters and its implementation as a more sustainable electricity source worldwide, researchers have been trying to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic devices while lowering their costs. Conversion efficiency of solar cells can be enhanced through light trapping structures and concentration of incoming light. Light trapping is usually realized by texturization of the solar cell’s surfaces, while concentration is achieved by addition of external apparatus, such as reflectors. A novel design for silicon solar cells is proposed in this thesis, which contains hemispherical dish microconcentrators for light trapping purposes. Through a process flow that includes maskless photolithography, thermal reflow, and metallization via sputtering, the microconcentrators were fabricated and demonstrated to have good concentration properties. Further studies need to be done for optimization of the hemispherical structures, as well as successfully perform the proposed upconverting photolithography for auto-aligned exposure of the photoresist at the microconcentrator’s focus, thus allowing a complete solar cell to be created based on this design. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The power grid is interconnected in many ways; so that when disturbances occur in a small region, their effects can be seen across large areas causing major blackouts. In order to isolate the fault, measurements taken at different times throughout the blackout need to be collected and analyzed. With each measurement device having its own time source, time alignment can be a quite tedious and lengthy process. The need for a new time synchronized measurement device has arrived. The Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) is not only GPS time synchronized, but it also takes measurements as voltage and current phasors. PMUs are becoming an integral part in many power system applications from load flow analysis and state estimation to analyzing blackout causes. Phasor Data Concentrators (PDC) collect and process PMU data. As such, it is important that PMU and PDC communication is seamless. PDCs are set up at multiple utilities and power authorities and also need to be able to communicate and send data to one another seamlessly to encompass analysis of large measurement systems. If these devices are not working similarly when processing and sending/receiving data, unnecessary problems may arise. Therefore it is important that there is an expectation as to how they should work. However, what is expected from these devices is not entirely clear. For this reason, standards such as IEEE C37.118.2-2011 [5] have been proposed to help make operation as uniform as possible. Unfortunately, the standards for PDCs are lacking and tend to only set up communication protocols. To help normalize PDCs, these standards need to be expanded to include all PDC operations and give little room for discrepancy as to what a PDC should do in any given situation. Tests have been performed on PDCs not only to see how they match up to current standards but on how they act outside of the standards. / Master of Science

As the world moves further into the 21st century, the electricity demand worldwide continues to rapidly grow. The power systems that supply this growing demand continue to be pushed closer to their limits. When those limits are exceeded, system blackouts occur that have massive societal and economical impact. Power system protection relays make up a piece of these limits and can be important factors in preventing or causing a system blackout. The purpose of this thesis is to present a working implementation of an adaptive protection scheme known as the adaptive voting scheme, used to alter the security/dependability balance of protection schemes. It is argued that as power system conditions change, the ability of protection relays to adjust the security/dependability balance based on those conditions can allow relays to play a part in preventing power system catastrophes. It is shown that the adaptive voting scheme can be implemented on existing protection technology given Wide Area Measurements (WAMs) provided by Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). The proposed implementation characteristics allow numerous existing protection practices to be used without changing the basic operation of the practices. / Master of Science