Detta examensarbete behandlar produktframtagningsprocessen för en portabel laddningsstation för mobila enheter. Arbetet är utfört tillsammans med Thule Groups R&D-avdelning. Arbetet syftar till att presentera en produktidé inom segmentet Bags & Outdoor som ska presenteras genom CAD och renderingar.Det som lägger grunden för arbetet är att det vid vistelse i naturen inte finns tillgång till strömkälla, vilket kan leda till onödig stress och oro för att ens handhållna enhet skall laddas ur. Detta kan vid olycka vara livshotande då räddningstjänst bör påkallas. Det är dessutom viktigt att kunna säkerställa att laddningsstationen kan skydda enheten från yttre påfrestningar.Arbetets bakgrund bottnar i en förstudie där en marknadsanalys har gjorts för att etablera en bild av vad marknaden vill ha. En konkurrensanalys har också gjorts för att hitta potentiella marknadsluckor. Teorin är i första hand hämtad från kurslitteratur där främst metoder som författarna har erfarenhet inom har valts. Vidare har en konceptutveckling genomförts där skisser och enkla CAD-underlag har genererat relevanta beslutsmatriser för att enkelt se vilka koncept som är genomförbara eller inte.Arbetet har resulterat i en skyddande container som laddar enheten via sladdkoppling. Strömförsörjningen sker genom extern strömkälla som placeras i eller på ryggsäcken. Containern hängs runt halsen med hjälp av en loop där ett USB-uttag finns tillgänglig i nacken för att förenkla laddningsprocessen.Arbetet fungerar som grund för vidare arbete med produkten. För att produkten ska kunna realiseras bör Thule ta fram produktionsunderlag samt göra en analys kring IP-klassning för väderbeständigheten samt materialval. / This report processes the product development regarding a portable charging station for handheld devices. It has been done in collaboration with the R&D-department on Thule Group. The thesis aims to project an idea for a product in the Bags & Outdoor segment and will be presented through CAD and renderings.The fundamental problem behind the report is that the lack of charging possibilities when hiking in nature, which can lead to concerns that the device’s battery will discharge. This can be fatal in the event of an accident where rescue services should be invoked. It is also important that the charging station can perform as a protective casing to withstand external shocks and ingress of dust and moisture.The thesis background stems from a pilot study where a market analysis has been made to create an understanding of what the market wants form this kind of product. To find possible market segments a competitive analysis has been made. The theory has been found in course literature where methods that are known to the authors have been chosen. Furthermore, a concept development has been done where sketches and simple CAD have generated relevant decision matrices. This is to see which concepts are feasible or not.The thesis has resulted in a protective hard case that also charges the device through a wired connection. The power supply comes from an external charger or solar panel that is mounted on or inside the backpack. The hard case is suspended around the neck with a loop, where in the back, an USB-port is located to simplify charging capability.This thesis will serve as a basis for further development of the product. To realize the product, Thule must develop production documentation and make an adequate analysis regarding IP-classification and materials.

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The global shift towards Electric Vehicles (EVs) is driven by their energy efficiency, lower emissions, and reduced dependence on fossil fuels. As the demand for EVs continues to rise, the need for EV ultra-fast chargers becomes paramount to enable faster charging times and facilitate long-distance travel without compromising convenience. In this context, solid-state transformers (SSTs) have emerged as a promising technology to replace traditional line-frequency transformers (LFTs) in various applications, including EV charging stations. SSTs offer improved system controllability, power factor correction capabilities, and reduced size and weight through the utilization of medium-frequency transformers (MFTs). This thesis focuses on enhancing the efficiency and power density of the MFT used in SSTs. A 1.2 MVA SST for EV ultra-fast charging stations is designed and simulated. The SST incorporates average controllers responsible for regulating the output voltage and the input power factor, as well as, voltage and power balancing controllers to ensure stable operation among its cells. Furthermore, a design methodology for optimizing the MFT used in DC-to-DC converters for SST-based ultra-fast chargers is introduced. The methodology is optimizing the efficiency and power density of the transformer based on the transformer parameters input by the designer. A software tool is developed to streamline the design process and enable the optimization of various parameters, such as core material, size, and winding configurations. The tool facilitates the development of high-performance MFTs for SST applications. The developed MFT optimization methodology is utilized to design a 100 kW, 20 kHz MFT, resulting in a remarkable 22.7% improvement in power density compared to conventional design methods. The transformer showed superior efficiency and power density compared to MFT designs in literature. Additionally, two scaled-down transformers are designed and tested at 5 kW, employing both conventional and optimization methods. The results demonstrate a significant 57.8% improvement in specific power. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

For a successful market take-up of plug-in electric vehicles, fast-charging stations along the highway network play a significant role. This paper provides results from a first study on estimating the minimum number of fast-charging stations along the European highway network of selected countries (i.e., France, Germany, the Benelux countries, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Poland) and gives an estimate on their future profitability. The combination of a comprehensive dataset of passenger car trips in Europe and an efficient arc-cover-path-cover flow-refueling location model allows generating results for such a comprehensive transnational highway network for the first time. Besides the minimum number of required fast-charging stations which results from the applied flow-refueling location model (FRLM), an estimation of their profitability as well as some country-specific results are also identified. According to these results the operation of fast-charging stations along the highway will be attractive in 2030 because the number of customers per day and their willingness to pay for a charge is high compared to inner-city charging stations. Their location-specific workloads as well as revenues differ significantly and a careful selection of locations is decisive for their economic operation.

abstract: Transmission line capacity is an obstacle for the utilities because there is a load increment annually, and new power plants are being connected, which requires an update. Energy router (ER) is a device that provides an additional degree of freedom to the utilities by controlling the reactive power. The ER reactive power injection is demonstrated by changing the line's reactance value to increase its capacity and give the utility a deferral time for the project upgrade date. Changing the reactance manually and attaching Smart Wire's device to the branches have effectively solved the overload in three locations of a local utility in Arizona (LUA) system. Furthermore, electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs) have been increasing to meet EV needs, which calls for an optimal planning model to maximize the profits. The model must consider both the transportation and power systems to avoid damages and costly operation. Instead of coupling the transportation and power systems, EVCS records have been analyzed to fill the gap of EV demand. For example, by accessing charging station records, the moment knowledge of EV demand, especially in the lower order, can be found. Theoretically, the obtained low-order moment knowledge of EV demand is equivalent to a second-order cone constraint, which is proved. Based on such characteristics, a chance-constrained (CC) stochastic integer program for the planning problem is formulated. For planning EV charging stations with ER, this method develops a simple ER model to investigate the interaction between the mobile placement of power flow controller and the daily pattern of EV power demand. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2020

In this thesis, a method was developed to evaluate the impact of bidirectional electric vehicle (EV) charging on power system reliability using Synergi Electric software. Load profiles, EV availability, EV state-of-charge (SOC) were important factors considered in this study. The analysis in this study is based on local and interregional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) implementation at different load points in the system. In general, local V2G implementation is observed to be more effective in improving system reliability over interregional V2G power flow. System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) improvements were observed to increase with increasing SOC but are less progressive between higher SOCs. Based on the simulation results, the method proves to be sufficient in calculating SAIDI and SAIFI reliability indices as the simulation results are corroborated with theory.

The promotion of Electric Vehicles (EV) has become a key measure of the governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, range anxiety is a big barrier for drivers to choose EVs over traditional vehicles. Installing more charging stations in appropriate locations can relieve EV drivers’ range anxiety. To help decide the location and number of public charging stations, we propose two optimization models for two different charging modes - fast and slow charging, which aim at minimizing the total cost while satisfying certain spatial coverage goals. Instead of using discrete points we employ network and polygons to represent charging demands. Importantly, we resolve the partial coverage problem (PCP) by segmenting the geometric objects into smaller ones using Geographic Information System (GIS) functions. We compare the geometric segmentation method (GS) and the complementary partial coverage method (CP) developed by Murray (2005) to solve the PCP. After applying the models to Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and to Downtown Toronto, we show that that the proposed models are practical and effective in determining the locations and number of required charging stations. Moreover, comparison of the two methods shows that GS can fully eliminate PCP and provide much more accurate result than CP. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Between 250.000 and  300.000 people live with psoriasis in Sweden today. 50% develop psoriasis before they are 25 years old. When living with psoriasis, one have an increased risk of developing comorbidities, which include overweight, joint problems, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and depression, among others. Based on recent findings, people living with psoriasis can achieve health benefits and improve the symptoms of the condition through living and good life style. I have developed a lifestyle system named "núna", which will empower the patient, encourage a good lifestyle, prevent comorbidities and improve the healthcare personnel and patient communication. The system includes an application which consists of five different main categories (Activity, diet, quit smoking, photography documentation and administrating issues related to ones healthcare providers), and an activity tracker with two different portable docks and a charging station.

To promote higher air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Californian government is investing heavily in developing public charging infrastructure to meet its electric vehicle adoption goal of five million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2030. This thesis investigates the effect of public charging infrastructure availability on electric vehicle adoption at the zip code level in California. The analysis considers other factors that may influence electric vehicle adoption such as education level, income, commute time, gas prices, and public transportation rate. The findings suggest that public charging infrastructure availability does significantly positively correlate with electric vehicle registrations. Linear regressions were run using data from the U.S Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center, IHS Markit vehicle registration data, and the US Census Bureau. The findings support continued investment in public charging infrastructure as a means of promoting electric vehicle adoption.

Power converters are used in many distributed energy resources (DER) applications. With proper controls, DER systems can reduce losses and achieve higher energy efficiency if various power sources and loads are integrated through DC bus. High voltage electric vehicle (EV) DC charging station is becoming popular in order to reduce charging time and improve energy efficiency. A DC EV charging station model involving photovoltaic, energy storage system (ESS), fuel cell and DC loads is studied in this work. A dynamic programming technique that considers various uncertainties involved in the system is adopted to obtain optimal dispatch of ESS and fuel cell system. The effects of different tariffs, demand response programs and contract capacities of demand in the power scheduling are investigated and the results are presented.