Parking garages have remained fairly outdated even as embedded systems have been introduced virtually everywhere to improve the human existence. Some provide information about whether they are full or not, but that does not offer a better parking experience, it only informs people once they are already there and is inconvenient. This causes people to circle the parking lot numerous times, making the process inefficient and wasteful. The SmartPark parking system fills that gap by providing an automated infrastructure that collects information regarding the availability of parking spaces in a garage. As modern technology grows and expands the connectivity available on automobiles, it would be even possible to interface with the car itself to provide parking information. Each space has an ultrasonic sensor attached to a microcontroller that communicates with a master, who keeps and displays the overall count of spaces available. The purpose of this paper is to provide the capability of dynamically adding and removing slaves, without requiring individual configuration for each slave prior to its deployment. A sequence of communication exchanges will be described in order for a slave to register itself with its master. Through a series of messages, the slave will be able to identify its location and begin reporting the state of its space, and the master will continue to keep track of existing slaves and their states. The result of the research is a protocol that allows successful pairing of a new slave with its master without previous static configuration, which allows an easy deployment of the system without dependence on its original configuration. This functionality will make the system more scalable, allowing the parking system to be extended by connecting new slaves wherever they are needed. It will also make it more maintainable, since slave replacement or relocation will become an easy task. SmartPark can easily be adapted to existing parking structures with only the installation of the master and slave nodes, due to its limited resource requirements. Related work is also discussed and an insight into how this methodology can be used to modernize current automated parking systems is provided. / text

There are unique challenges and opportunities related to the integration of electric vehicles into the future power grid, especially the modern distribution grid since electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities and fast-charging stations are usually tied to low-voltage and medium-voltage power networks. The grid-connected EVs, if properly controlled, can operate as distributed energy storage and provide various ancillary services, such as peak shaving, fast-response reserve capacity, frequency regulation, voltage control and reactive supports. The purpose of this thesis is to integrate EVs to the power grid and provides suitable ancillary services to improve the grid reliability and stability. The larger future penetration of EVs and renewable energies is also taken into account to develop the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) control scheme with the constraints of EV charging and communication infrastructures. The main contents include: V2G mathematical model and system configuration; impact evaluation of EV integration and the V2G control framework; energy scheduling of EVs integration; V2G dynamic regulation services; control method of EV aggregator for dispatching a fleet of EVs; and the evaluation of V2G control scheme and hardware-in-the-loop experimental system design. 　　In the thesis, the impact of EV charging demand on the conventional distribution grid is firstly estimated to reveal the negative effects of the arbitrary EV charging and the necessity to control the EV charging process. The potential benefits EVs can bring into the power grid support are discussed and a V2G control framework is proposed to perform the V2G optimization and various regulation services. The current power electronics applied EV charging facilities and communication network are integrated into the V2G operation in the future distribution grid with microgrid and smaller installation of renewable generation units. 　　Next, mathematical model of V2G power control is formulated. Two optimization methods are proposed to schedule the EV charging and discharging energy to minimize the power losses and the operating cost while satisfying the mobility needs and the power system limitations. Subsequently, the dynamic regulation of V2G power is investigated to unleash the potential of EVs to provide multiple ancillary services simultaneously. In addition to V2G optimal energy scheduling, EVs can also be employed for dynamic power regulation which requires the fast response to the instantaneous imbalance between the power supply and demand. V2G power is controlled to mitigate the power fluctuation caused by the intermittent wind energy resources, and thus stabilize the system frequency and voltage. Finally, an EV-centric hybrid energy storage system is proposed, which combines the merits of V2G operation and superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) to enhance the power quality and system frequency stability. The critical issues in V2G applications are summarized in the end. / published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In recent years, since the concept of smart grid rises and the existing power grids are continuously modernized, more and more electric vehicles (EVs) are integrated into the power grid. In the power grid, EVs are expected to provide various energy services, such as spinning reserves, regulation services, optimization services, stability improvement, reactive compensation and grid security. This thesis is to model, analyze and implement these energy services of EVs. 　　Firstly, a multilayer framework of a power system with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) operation is proposed. Its fundamental components including batteries, renewable energy sources are modeled for system analysis. Moreover, a general model for multiply purposes is presented. 　　Secondly, based on the modeling of EVs and the power systems, the analysis on frequency regulation and transient stability of the V2G system can be carried out effectively. The objectives of the frequency regulation are to keep the system frequency constant, and eliminate the deviations fast and effectively. While, the transient stability is to observe the performances of the power systems integrated with EVs and superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) during emergency cases. The results illustrate that EVs are valuable for improve the frequency and transient stability of the power systems. 　　Finally, the coordination and optimization of the power systems with EVs are studied. Unit commitment involving EVs is analyzed, which uses EVs to replace some expensive generating units to achieve minimum operating cost and emissions. In addition, the optimal sizing of EV aggregations in the distribution power system is conducted to minimize the total power loss. And the individual EV in the aggregations is dispatched to achieve minimum charging cost by satisfying the optimal sized demand and the real-time pricing. The results verified that EVs can be used to achieve optimized goals, such as minimum costs, emissions and losses. / published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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Due to recent concerns regarding energy conservation and dependence on fossil fuels, the efficient integration of electric vehicle populations’ in the future smart grid has become a significant area of research. Despite the heavy penetration of smart meters throughout North America and Europe a lack of research exists utilizing real consumption data. Making use of smart meter data, a model of a prototypical residential feeder was created to observe the effects of increased electric vehicle penetration on the selected feeder. Simulations of the current operation of the feeder were performed along with modeled uncoordinated, coordinated, and coordinated vehicle to grid charging of electric vehicles. As expected, it was found that the normal operation of the feeder is subject to several inefficiencies which are made worse by uncoordinated charging of electric vehicles. Significant improvements in the considered operational parameters were found as a result of the coordinated charging of vehicles using a quadratic programming based control algorithm. Further it was found, that the use of coordinated vehicle to grid connections only produces marginal benefits over standard connections. Leading to the conclusion that development of charging controls is more significant to the mitigation of electric vehicle charging effects than the integration of vehicle to grid connections. / Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2014-01-31 16:02:37.201

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Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-105). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the Internet.