The removal of heat from the containment building is an important consideration in the design of a nuclear power plant. In this investigation a simple rectangular natural circulation loop was simulated to determine whether it could possibly be used to remove usable quantities of heat from a containment building. The loop had a vertical pipe on the inside and outside of the containment building. These pipes acted as heat exchangers. Single phase and two phase cases were simulated by imposing a temperature on the respective vertical leg pipe walls and determining the heat absorption from the containment building. The heat was conveyed from the inside of the building to the outside via the natural circulation phenomenon. A literature study was done to cover topics relevant to this investigation. A theoretical model using conservation equations and control volumes was derived. This model was based largely on knowledge gleaned from the literature study. The theoretical model was a simple homogenous model, which was sufficiently detailed for a conceptual investigation. The theoretical model was then manipulated into a form suitable for use in a computer simulation program. Simplifications were made to the simulation model and underlying theory due to the nature of the investigation. The simulation model was validated against published experimental results. During the simulation phase a number of cases were investigated. These cases were divided into base cases and parametric studies. During the base case simulations the change of key fluid variables along the loop was examined. During the parametric studies the hot and cold leg inside wall temperatures, loop geometry and pipe diameter were varied. The effect of these parameters on the heat absorption from the containment was determined. The simulations showed that with the current assumptions about 75 to 120 of the natural circulation loops are needed depending on their geometry and containment conditions. The heat removal rates that were calculated varied from 50 kW to 600 kW for a single loop. As explained in the final chapter, there are many factors that influence the results obtained. The natural circulation concept was deemed to be able to remove usable quantities of heat from the containment building. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Nuclear Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Transformers form a very important part of the power transmissions and distribution network; as they are responsible for the transfer of electrical energy from the power generation sites onto the transmission lines and finally to the distribution stage. Dry-type and oil-filled single-phase transformers, either alone or as a part of three-phase banks, are used extensively in the power distribution network, ultimately providing power to the domestic consumers. Any faults in the single-phase transformers leading to power outages or catastrophic power systems failures cause huge loss of capital, property and in some cases even human casualties. Gradual deterioration of the electrical winding insulation ultimately leads to inter-turn winding short circuit faults; which account for a significant proportion of all transformer failures. Incipient stages of inter-turn winding faults have negligible impact on the terminal voltages and currents of transformers; thus these faults often go undetected by the traditional differential relay based protection mechanisms. By the time, the faults manifest themselves into severe winding short-circuit faults consequently forcing the differential relays to operate for tripping the circuit breakers; a significant part of the transformer windings and core may get extensively damaged. Over the years, various techniques have been developed for detecting and studying inter-turn winding faults; however their practical implementation involves quite a few challenges such as high cost, lack of reliability, low accuracy and need for mounting additional equipment inside the transformer casing. Additionally, none of the existing techniques are suitable for online and real-time condition monitoring of the transformers. This absence of any proven technique to detect incipient levels of inter-turn winding faults in single-phase transformers has motivated the research of this thesis. In the thesis, firstly, a non-invasive technique for modeling single-phase transformers has been developed which is based solely on the terminal measurements of voltages and currents. The effects of transformer core saturation, non-linearity, hysteresis are incorporated in the model by considering a time-varying magnetizing inductance comprising of any desired number of harmonic components. The coefficients of the magnetizing inductance are computed from the instantaneous values of flux linkage and magnetizing current over one complete cycle. The model is found to replicate the behaviour of the single-phase transformer with an extremely high level of accuracy, under any load conditions for healthy as well as faulty operations. Detailed simulation and experiment based studies have been performed for corroborating the effectiveness of the proposed terminal measurement based modeling technique not only in detecting incipient stages of inter-turn winding faults (involving less than 1% of the turns) but also in estimating fault severity. Also, a non-invasive, online and real-time implementation of the proposed inter-turn winding fault detection technique for continuous monitoring of the transformer health has been suggested. Firstly, with the experimentally acquired primary line voltage and line current data of the healthy transformer, a healthy no-load model of the transformer is generated. Next, a healthy estimated indicator value, computed from this model under the given input voltage condition, is compared with the actual indicator value for detecting the presence of an inter-turn winding fault. It involves minimum hardware (only two current sensors and one voltage sensor), low memory requirements and low computational complexity and thus holds a good promise for practical applications. Further discussion is made on the possible challenges for realizing the proposed fault diagnostic technique in the industry and suitable recommendations have been made for further improvement. / Graduate / 0544 / bhowmick@uvic.ca

This thesis presents a new power circuit configuration to be used in shunt active power filters. A new control algorithm based on the linear voltage control suitable for the proposed circuit is introduced. The system is analysed both in time and frequency domains. The practical implementation of the system proves its suitability for the proposed task. The switching frequency of the proposed circuit is much lower than that in other active filters. The switching losses are then considerably reduced, in addition to the fact that the switching devices can withstand larger values of currents being switched on and off at lower frequencies which is an advantage to this circuit. The component sizes (capacitors and inductors) in the proposed circuit are also much smaller than those in other filter configurations. In addition, the thesis presents a new method for categorising the active filter systems proposed in the surveyed literature. The survey includes a comparison of these techniques showing their respective merits and drawbacks. The thesis also includes an implementation of a reference current generator that is suitable for single-phase applications without the need for excessive computations. The technique involves a modified Fourier analysis, which is suitable for active filtering applications.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-76).

Thesis (M. S.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Dr. Seyed M. Ghiaasiaan; Committee Member: Dr. Marc K. Smith; Committee Member: Dr. Sheldon M. Jeter

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-189).

Σκοπός της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η ανάλυση των βασικών διατάξεων από τις οποίες αποτελείται ένα μονοφασικό φωτοβολταϊκό σύστημα που συνδέεται στο δίκτυο, ο σχεδιασμός του καθώς επίσης και η εξομοίωσή του με χρήση του πακέτου MATLAB/SIMULINK. Το σύστημα περιλαμβάνει την φωτοβολταϊκή γεννήτρια, τον μονοφασικό αντιστροφέα, τον dc πυκνωτή στην είσοδο του αντιστροφέα, ένα L-C φίλτρο στην έξοδο του αντιστροφέα καθώς επίσης και φορτίο, το οποίο μεσολαβεί μεταξύ φίλτρου και δικτύου. Ο σχεδιασμός ενός συνδεδεμένου στο δίκτυο φωτοβολταϊκού συστήματος περιλαμβάνει: τον προσδιορισμό του αριθμού των κυττάρων ή πλαισίων που θα συνδεθούν σε σειρά και παράλληλα, της χωρητικότητας του dc πυκνωτή στην είσοδο του αντιστροφέα και του μεγέθους του L-C φίλτρου. Η εξομοίωση στο γραφικό περιβάλλον SIMULINK είχε σαν στόχο την απεικόνιση των κυματομορφών ρεύματος και τάσης σε διάφορα σημεία του κυκλώματος καθώς επίσης και την καταγραφή των αρμονικών μέχρι και 49ης τάξης της τάσης στο φορτίο και του ρεύματος στον κλάδο πριν το φορτίο. Οι συνθήκες που έπρεπε να πληρούνται κατά την εξομοίωση ήταν: 1) η dc τάση στην είσοδο του αντιστροφέα να κυμαίνεται κοντά στην τιμή της τάσης που αντιστοιχούσε στο σημείο μέγιστης ισχύος 2) η διαφορά φάσης μεταξύ τάσης στο φορτίο και ρεύματος στον κλάδο πριν το φορτίο να είναι σχεδόν μηδενική. / -

Κατά τη μελέτη ηλεκτρικών μεγεθών υπό μη ημιτονοειδείς συνθήκες ιδιαίτερο αντικείμενο μελέτης αποτελούν τα φαινόμενα που σχετίζονται με την ισχύ. Οι γνωστές προσεγγίσεις για την ισχύ σε ημιτονοειδείς καταστάσεις δεν επαρκούν και είναι εσφαλμένες. Η παρουσία ανώτερων αρμονικών, καθώς και επίσης η ασυμμετρία τάσεων και ρευμάτων μας οδηγούν σε μία διαφορετική προσέγγιση της ηλεκτρικής ισχύος. Είναι φανερό λοιπόν γιατί έχει προκύψει η ανάγκη να ορισθούν ορθά οι συνιστώσες ισχύος ώστε να: 1) Περιγράψουμε τα φυσικά φαινόμενα ισχύος και τις ιδιότητες των κυκλωμάτων παρουσία αρμονικών 2) Αντισταθμίσουμε κάποιες συνιστώσες ώστε να επιτύχουμε διόρθωση του συντελεστή ισχύος 3) Μετρηθούν κάποιες ποσότητες για τη διαμόρφωση κατάλληλου τιμολογίου ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας 4) Καθορισθούν δείκτες για την επίπτωση αρμονικών στον εξοπλισμό Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία ασχολείται με τα άνωθεν και περιλαμβάνει τα ακόλουθα κεφάλαια: Το κεφάλαιο 1 αποτελεί μια γενική εισαγωγή του θέματος που πραγματεύεται η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία Το κεφάλαιο 2 ασχολείται με τη παρουσία αρμονικών στα συστήματα ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας Το κεφάλαιο 3 και 4 ασχολείται με την ισχύ σε ημιτονοειδή και μη ημιτονοειδή μονοφασικά κυκλώματα αντιστοίχως Τα κεφάλαια 5 έως 10 παρουσιάζουν τις κυριότερες θεωρίες ισχύος σε μονοφασικά συστήματα παρουσία αρμονικών Συγκεκριμένα, το κεφάλαιο 5 ασχολείται με τη μέθοδο BUDEANU, το κεφάλαιο 6 με τη μέθοδο FRYZE, το κεφάλαιο 7 με τη μέθοδο SHEPHERD-ZAKIKHANI, το κεφάλαιο 8 με τη μέθοδο CZARNECKI, το κεφάλαιο 9 με τη μέθοδο IEEE και τέλος το κεφάλαιο 10 με τη μέθοδο της ΓΕΩΜΕΤΡΙΚΗΣ ΑΛΓΕΒΡΑΣ Τέλος, το κεφάλαιο 11 παρουσιάζει τα συμπεράσματα που προκύπτουν από τη παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία / When studying electrical quantities under nonsinusoidal conditions are particularly studied the phenomena related to the force. Major approaches to power in sinusoidal conditions are inadequate and incorrect. The presence of higher harmonics and also the asymmetry of voltages and currents lead us to a different approach of power. It is obvious, then, why the need has arisen to define correctly the power components to: 1) Describe physical phenomena and power properties of circuits in the presence of harmonics 2) Offsetting components to achieve power factor correction 3) Measure some quantities to formulate appropriate energy tariff 4) Determine the impact indicators for harmonic equipment This thesis addresses the above and includes the following chapters: Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to the topic discussed in this thesis Chapter 2 deals with the presence of harmonics in power systems Chapter 3 and 4 deal with the power in sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal single-phase circuits respectively Chapters 5 to 10 are the main theories of power in single-phase systems in the presence of harmonics Specifically, Chapter 5 deals with the method BUDEANU, Chapter 6 deals with the method FRYZE, chapter 7 deals with SHEPHERD-ZAKIKHANI, Chapter 8 deals with method CZARNECKI, Chapter 9 deals with method IEEE and finally Chapter 10 deals with method of GEOMETRIC ALGEVRA Finally, Chapter 11 presents the conclusions from this thesis

abstract: Voltage stability is always a major concern in power system operation. Recently Fault Induced Delayed Voltage Recovery (FIDVR) has gained increased attention. It is widely believed that the motor-driven loads of high efficiency, low inertia air conditioners are one of the main causes of FIDVR events. Simulation tools that assist power system operation and planning have been found insufficient to reproduce FIDVR events. This is because of their inaccurate load modeling of single-phase motor loads. Conventionally three-phase motor models have been used to represent the aggregation effect of single-phase motor load. However researchers have found that this modeling method is far from an accurate representation of single-phase induction motors. In this work a simulation method is proposed to study the precise influence of single-phase motor load in context of FIDVR. The load, as seen the transmission bus, is replaced with a detailed distribution system. Each single-phase motor in the distribution system is represented by an equipment-level model for best accuracy. This is to enable the simulation to capture stalling effects of air conditioner compressor motors as they are related to FIDVR events. The single phase motor models are compared against the traditional three phase aggregate approximation. Also different percentages of single-phase motor load are compared and analyzed. Simulation result shows that proposed method is able to reproduce FIDVR events. This method also provides a reasonable estimation of the power system voltage stability under the contingencies. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2012

abstract: A new photovoltaic (PV) array power converter circuit is presented. The salient features of this inverter are: transformerless topology, grounded PV array, and only film capacitors. The motivations are to reduce cost, eliminate leakage ground currents, and improve reliability. The use of Silicon Carbide (SiC) transistors is the key enabling technology for this particular circuit to attain good efficiency. Traditionally, grid connected PV inverters required a transformer for isolation and safety. The disadvantage of high frequency transformer based inverters is complexity and cost. Transformerless inverters have become more popular recently, although they can be challenging to implement because of possible high frequency currents through the PV array's stay capacitance to earth ground. Conventional PV inverters also typically utilize electrolytic capacitors for bulk power buffering. However such capacitors can be prone to decreased reliability. The solution proposed here to solve these problems is a bi directional buck boost converter combined with half bridge inverters. This configuration enables grounding of the array's negative terminal and passive power decoupling with only film capacitors. Several aspects of the proposed converter are discussed. First a literature review is presented on the issues to be addressed. The proposed circuit is then presented and examined in detail. This includes theory of operation, component selection, and control systems. An efficiency analysis is also conducted. Simulation results are then presented that show correct functionality. A hardware prototype is built and experiment results also prove the concept. Finally some further developments are mentioned. As a summary of the research a new topology and control technique were developed. The resultant circuit is a high performance transformerless PV inverter with upwards of 97% efficiency. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2014